Last night’s episode of The Office, “Stress Relief,” has got to be one of the most disappointing episodes of that show I have ever seen. After hyping it for the duration of the Super Bowl, they delivered what was at best a mediocre episode with enough actual laughs for a 30-minute episode, and an additional 30 minutes of drivel. There definitely were funny parts, the cold opening with Angela flinging the cat through the ceiling being one of the more memorable moments in Office history, but overall it feels like the show’s writers are going down the path of Heroes and sacrificing their characters for short-term “gain.”
The characters on The Office was really what made the show unique—it was a comedy that actually bothered to develop their characters. Yet I found that “Stress Relief” maximized the characters into horrible caricatures of what they used to be. The recent transition of Michael Scott from socially awkward boss to complete idiot is a grave mistake, as is the conversion of Dwight from overzealous to completely over-the-top. Both were painfully salient in this episode. Stanley’s heart attack and subsequent focus on mortality made for an entire middle section of show that was depressing—the last time I checked, that is the opposite of funny. Contrast this with Meredith getting hit by Michael’s car last season in “Fun Run.”
The highly promoted appearances by Jack Black and Jessica Alba were abominable. The two seconds of Alba’s screen time were barely worth mentioning, and the little “movie” featuring Jack Black was the kind of excrement-passing-for-comedy I would expect from MADtv. Playing shock value for laughs died with the 90s; we just don’t get shocked anymore. Again, that’s the kind of mistake I would expect to find in a two-bit “comedy” like The Love Guru or a movie featuring Kevin James without Will Smith, and finding that in what has been my most favorite show was extremely disappointing.
Television writers and producers need realize that dumbing down a show to “attract new viewers” is exactly what kills good television. If there’s anything we’ve learned in the early part of the 21st century, it is that the most effective marketing strategy is viral. Person-to-person communication is best way to advertise in an age when the public has finally begun to doubt industry spoon-feeding. Turning The Office into a live-action cartoon eliminates the intelligence that made the show unique.
2 responses to “The Office: Stress Relief”
Dwight and Michael’s characters were amplified to an annoying level. I can’t say there weren’t funny parts (I thought the roast was good), but overall it was pretty piss poor. Michael’s stupidity was frustrating and Dwight came off as a complete asshole.
If that was the first episode I’d ever seen, I’d never watch it again.
I agree. There were definitely funny parts, but on the whole it was definitely inferior to other episodes.