Showtracker: 'The Office'

He loves her
Friday, Jan. 19

Thursday's "The Office" continued a streak of relationship-development episodes, which are satisfying for fans of the documentary-style show but not exactly rife with the ha-ha's. The BBC “Office” closed after two seasons, so new characters and complications have been introduced to both follow in the British version’s footsteps and also expand upon it.

The Stamford and Scranton branches of Dunder Mifflin merged shortly after Jim (John Krasinski) transferred there to escape the humiliation of being spurned by receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer). Jim thus returned with a new girlfriend/coworker, Karen (Rashida Jones), as well as Andy (Ed Helms), an obnoxious a-capella-singing #2 man who made a nice foil to the equally subservient Dwight (Rainn Wilson.)

Gradually over the last several installments, various Stamford employees quit or were fired, until just Karen and Andy were left, and last night’s episode seemed to hint that natural order might finally be restored to “The Office.” As Jim and Pam return to their own particular method of courtship (pranks and jokes), Karen, in the straightforward manner she’s been drawn all season, asked Jim if he still has feelings for Pam. (Of course he does.)

Are the writers of the show going to blow their “Moonlighting” wad already and get Jim and Pam together? Good relationships don’t always make for good TV but too much ongoing trauma could be wearying and rob the show of the bland office reality that made it so genius when Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant first created it. Last night’s episode, as Pam and Jim seemed to flaunt their special relationship, gave us a glimpse that they might not be America’s Sweethearts after all. Pam can be wishy-washy and passive-aggressive, Jim, insensitive and immature. The allure of Karen, meanwhile, is that she has the humor but not too much of the angst (although, if viewers have seen her face crumple on the occasions that Jim has hurt her, they know she’s no ice queen.) She seems too proud to stick around and vie for Jim’s affections, yet too tough simply to pack her bags and leave after he encouraged her to move to Scranton instead of New York City.

Also, we’re left wondering where Andy will fit in. When he was first introduced he was portrayed as a swaggering frat boy who bragged about how he boozed and napped his way through Dartmouth. His particular brand of misguided cockiness was a breath of fresh air to the rest of the sad sacks in Scranton, but the last few episodes have made him more of a clown. Now that Dwight is back and Michael somehow found the awareness that Andy is a loser, what will his role be?

Regardless of the plot issues, it seems that the series owes its viewers some episodes that focus more on the laughs, because it feels that lately the show has been relying more on the bitter than the sweet.

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