Review: The Office (Spoilers)

Back in January, I did a review of Season 1 of the hit comedy The Office after watching it on DVD. I intended to do another review of it after I finished Season 6, but, in classic fashion, procrastinated until now. On the bright side, I can now say my brother and I have binged the entire series at least seven or eight times over the span of this year, made our parents very confused, and I can give a full review of the show.

#1: The Relationships

Jim and Pam are possibly the most well-written couple in the show because of the overall story of their relationship, though after watching every season, I would argue that my new favorite are Michael and Holly. They’re perfect for each other, their story (though much shorter) is a bit less like a total rom-com, and they’re that one couple that acts like the comedy duo.

As for Dwight and Angela…I have mixed feelings. Back in 2024, I wrote a post saying that Dwight and Angela are the worst couple in the show. I’m now retracting that statement (the worst couple is either Andy and Erin or Kelly and Ryan), but they aren’t the best. I still have problems with how strange that relationship is and how it’s portrayed.

#2: The Plot

After Season 1, The Office begins to pick up steam and get better. However, that lasts until Season 6 or 7 and then it starts going downhill. I think this is an issue a lot of shows with multiple seasons have when they mainly center on one storyline. They keep producing seasons, realize that they can’t keep the main plot going much longer, wrap it up, but because they have more seasons to make, they have to switch focus to something else while also trying to keep the viewers engaged with the old plot. This is pretty much what happened with The Office. Season 1 was setting up the conflict between Jim and Pam’s feelings for each other as Jim likes Pam (the receptionist) even though she’s engaged to her fiancé of three years, Roy. Then Season 2 continued it, flushing out Jim’s feelings for Pam more and Season 3 shifted its focus more towards Pam’s inner conflict as Jim dates Karen and she eventually dumps Roy. After that, it’s resolved as Jim and Pam start dating and get married over the course of Seasons 4-6. Within 6 seasons the main plot line is completed, leaving the show runners with a dilemma as they worked on the last three seasons. Now that Jim and Pam’s story was largely finished, anything trying to continue that plot felt like a lengthy, almost unnecessary epilogue, that, while being a more realistic portrayal of what marriage is like, felt contrived. Then the showrunners switched for a while to Holly and Michael, then Dwight and Angela (to a degree), and in Season 9, didn’t even try to hide that they had run out of ideas, introducing “New Jim” to flirt with Erin, the receptionist, basically trying to replay the Jim/Pam/Roy love triangle from Seasons 1-2.

Yeah, I now understand why there are so many video essays talking about how The Office quickly and obviously started declining in plot quality the longer it went.

#3: The Comedy

Most of the jokes in The Office still land 20 years later, but there are also quite a few that have aged poorly. For example, some of the jokes about SMS text, the floating DVD symbol, the Shrek jokes, etc. almost all feel like history lessons. Some of them totally went over my brother’s head.

Other than that, though, my biggest gripe with the comedy is the number of sex jokes in the show. Some of this is just personal preference, and some jokes are less obvious than others so if you’re watching with younger kids around, they will go over their heads. Other jokes, however, basically form the plot of entire episodes (such as the episode when Michael accidentally sends a raunchy picture to everyone in the office of him and his girlfriend on the beach), which makes them more suitable for older teens or adults rather than younger kids. If you’re worried about that type of thing popping up, I would suggest pre-screening episode if you’re going to be watching with kids.

Until next time,

M.J.