"The Office" - Night Out

(From my TVFan blog)

All I can say is lopsided.

This week's episode was just strange. It struggled to show two competing stories - Michael and Dwight partying in the city with Ryan a.k.a. The Intern (former) while Jim gets the rest of the office crew stuck at work after hours on a Friday night.

The episode left me scratching my head with scenes and plots that didn't seem to go anywhere - like Dwight being completely out of character like when he was making out with the basketball player (how did he pull that off?) or taking charge and leading the group in the club. And then there was the story of Ryan on LSD and his hobbit friend.

And while those three were clubbing it up in New York, the rest of the crew was stuck at work after Jim had the bright idea of staying late to finish a project rather than coming in on Saturday. Too bad he forget to tell the security guard they were staying late and they found themselves locked in. It seems Jim isn't management material. His last idea, of having one big office birthday party for everyone, backfired as well . . . maybe he should see the sign that he isn't made out for a mid-size, northeastern paper company. And is it me or does Jim display very "Michael-esque" qualities. Like when he assumed the cleaning crew only spoke Spanish or when he forget the name of the security guard and asked if the guy on the phone was the "African-American who sits behind the desk." Jim better be careful before someone mistakenly calls him Michael . . . again!

And what was with Toby jumping the fence after placing his hand on Pam's thigh and then freaking out over it and telling everyone he was headed for Costa Rica? Is this the end for Toby? We all know he had the hots for Pam and it was hard for us to watch Toby watch Jim and Pam's love blossom. But I have a feeling Toby will be back at work on Monday. He adds too much to the makeup of the office, too often he is the only reasonable voice there...

I guess my biggest complaint is that the show didn't really seem to go anywhere. I think the writers are painting themselves in a corner and feel they need to take the characters out of the office for them to have stories, which I think is a bad idea.

I think the strength of this show lies in watching these co-workers interacting in the office, in scenarios that force them to interact. This is a sentiment shared with the show's original creator, Ricky Gervais, with an interview with Esquire magazine.

As the show moves more and more out of the Office, we lose those scenes of awkwardness and embarrassment. Though this season's "Dinner Party" was a wonderful amusing exception, I think most fans of the show would agree that the best scenes take place at the actual office.

Read my memo the "The Office" writers on my thoughts on how they can improve the show that seems to be falling in a slump.