‘Office’ delivers laughs despite irritating boss

“The Office” prides itself on being “not a show for everyone, just anyone who works.” This is absurdly untrue.

While “The Office” appears to be returning to the splendor and comedic gold that was its second season, one looming fact remains: Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is the biggest idiot on television.

The series features a slew of loveable, fleshed-out characters, including former-receptionist and mom-to-be Pam Beesley (Jenna Fischer) and her goofy paper-salesman fiance Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), who pined over her for three excruciating seasons. Fischer and Krasinski both approach these characters with a subdued, natural style of acting that feels so normal that you imagine they really are the sweet couple at the table next to you in a restaurant. Their preformances are both Emmy-worthy.

In terms of normalcy, Dwight Schrute is anything but normal. Played to jaw-dropping effect by Rainn Wilson, Dwight’s maniac personality never comes off as exaggerated or unbelievable. The irritating co-worker at the desk next to you suddenly seems a lot more tolerable than a man who opperates a beet farm, is a volunteer sheriff’s deputy and who, on an off-screen occasion, brought a live goose into the workplace to kill and eat for lunch.

Unfortunately, the same amount of relatability is not extended to the show’s boss and resident moron, Michael Scott.

In the second episode of the fifth season, Scott’s hallmark selfishness and ignorance are on full display as he attempts to sabotage a co-worker who is in reality doing him a huge favor, simply because he was left in the dark about the negotiations. In the premiere episode, Michael spread nasty rumors about everyone at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company to compensate for spreading one true rumor about a colleague having an affair. This caused the unintended exposure of Pam’s pregnancy, as well as Michael’s car being destroyed by the adulterer. Michael would never have lasted a week in a real workplace, and in the UK version of the series, David Brent (played to excellence by U.S. “Office” executive producer Ricky Gervais) was fired after the second season.

While the rest of the cast is charming, Carell’s antics seem forced and cartoonish. Carell not only manages to make every viewer moan at the television with disgust every time he appears on screen, but it also seems as though the character has zero redeeeming qualities outside his career as a salesperson. Michael is never seen in action unless he is making a fool out of himself or sabatoging everything that comes into his childish, one-track mind. The series that is adored by millions is also the breeding ground for the biggest, nastiest parasite known to man.

Three stars.