Episode 1 - Gossip
18 September 2009
Review
Synopsis: Scranton has had three interns working for them over the summer. When Michal discovers gossip about them which he wasn’t a part of he craves to be included. He discovers that Stanley is having an affair and spreads the rumour as widely as he can. When he confronts Stanley, he finds that it is true and he has to figure out how to make everyone else not believe it. So he begins spreading false rumours about everyone else in the office. One of those rumours, that Pam is pregnant, happens to be true. When he is forced to come clean about his lies, Jim and Pam admit to the pregnancy to protect Stanley. Unfortunately Michael just can’t keep his big mouth shut.
The Good: Season five of The Office was built around the flowering of Michael as a sit com character. The plots began to focus on his childlike behaviour getting him into trouble and then his more likeable innocence getting him out of it. It’s a formula which managed that rarest of achievements. It made a show better with age. This is so rare that the opening episode of season six is a great sign of encouragement to viewers who think The Office had a great season five.
For Michael comes to the fore once more. He really has morphed into one of the great, enjoyable sit com characters. Instead of his ignorance being used to humiliate, denigrate or offend, it is now the source of much mirth. At the base of it all is that Michael’s character is consistent and well written. Michael grew up as an oblivious loser. He desperately wanted to be loved, to be popular and to be accepted but never was. Now that he has an office all to himself he works out those issues on his employees, always in deluded and oblivious ways, pursuing only his own gratification. But despite his selfishness, he is trying to be nice and loving through it all and it is that that redeems him.
So hearing gossip he isn’t a part of drives him mad, bringing forth those feelings from childhood. When he hears the news that Stanley had an affair he is ecstatic. Finally he can spread the gossip and be the centre of attention and part of the group. When Jim points out the negative consequences that this might cause, Michael rushes to find out the truth. Again, not for Stanley’s benefit but because Michael doesn’t want to be blamed for bad things happening. Once he learns the truth he is faced with dilemma of how to make people not know that Stanley is cheating on his wife.
His solution is to spread lots of false rumours in order to undermine the credibility of his original statement. It’s a genius idea from the writers in several ways. First of course it’s both a good and bad plan. On the one hand it works pretty well and in that sense shows the misdirected intelligence which Michael possesses. On the other hand of course it is bound to cause hurt and suspicion amongst the Scranton employees. At the level of the plot structure of course the false rumours is a great plot device. It allows for a string of easy jokes and plays into a classic sit com formula. That formula is one that live audience sit coms used a thousand times: having characters believe different things about one another and the fun coming because the audience are the only ones who know the truth and see the comedy in the misunderstandings which follow.
The writing once more deserves great credit for the way the lies come out. They flow from Michael’s brain and reflect his shallow feelings about his employees. You can almost see his thought process at work. Jim and Pam are a couple, so I will say that she is pregnant. Dwight owns a farm so I will say manure, Kelly talks about her figure so I will say anorexia, Andy is a bit weird so I will say that he’s gay and of course I don’t like Toby, so I will call him a virgin. That Toby line came about very subtly and only on repeated viewings will the audience see the way Michael came up with it.
Meanwhile the characters react to the lies in a pretty fun way. The surprising hit is Andy Bernard who is thrown into self doubt and confusion by the “revelation” that he is gay. I have often found Andy an unconvincing character because I feel the writers often put jokes into his mouth which don’t flow from his established personality. But here he played his complete bewilderment so convincingly that I really enjoyed it. His naïve innocence, like Michael’s, make him endearing and it becomes more plausible that he would just admit to his homosexual curiosity without realising how it makes him appear to others.
Kevin’s childish amusement at the gay revelation was predictably enjoyable. More witty was Dwight’s outrage at it being implied that he buys his manure. Or indeed Kelly’s self absorbed reaction of “Me too!” to Erin’s heartfelt comment that she was “so happy you’re eating again.”
The rumour that was true was of course Pam’s pregnancy and in clever fashion and typical sit com fashion it has to be said, that revelation saves the day. Jim and Pam step in to clean up Michael’s mess and selflessly reveal their news to save Stanley’s blushes.
Of course Michael can’t keep his mouth shut and when Stanley’s wife calls up you just know that he will reveal the truth somehow (see Comic Highlight). That is the genius and simplicity of The Office and the Michael Scott character. You know he is going to panic and say the wrong thing, you just don’t know how. When the payoff comes it is worth it.
The Bad: Stanley has two rather false moments here. First he admits to the affair while sitting in the car park with Michael. By now he and everyone else should know that the microphones are on and so are the cameras. I think he could have made more of an effort to shield the truth from them. Michael could easily have then revealed the truth to the camera while protecting Stanley’s credibility.
Then at the end of the episode Stanley smashes Michael’s car up. Everything about that seemed wrong. He is being filmed destroying a company car (presumably) which again makes him look foolish and needs to be followed up on. His anger also seems to go against his past storylines where he has learnt to deal with his feelings toward Michael (412, 513). It also seems odd that Michael is so carefree and happy about his car being mashed up. Normally you would think that and Stanley’s fury at him would drive him into attempts to get everyone to love him again.
It seemed like a slight waste of having the interns present, not to base more of the story around them. Anytime outsiders work in the office I would make use of their fresh perspective to draw out more jokes and character moments.
Comic Highlight: Michael called Stanley’s wife Terri to see if she was out of town as Phyllis claimed. She finally calls him back as he is with Jim and Pam, thinking he is out of the woods. They tell him not to speak to her because they know he will reveal the truth about Stanley’s affair with Cynthia. In hilariously misguided fashion Michael thinks he can handle it “I am going to tell her that I need to redecorate my condo and that I need her help. We will haggle about money and I will back down and then, I won’t talk to her until this whole Cynthia thing has blown over.” You just know it will go wrong, the only question is how. In unexpectedly swift fashion Michael picks up the phone and begins “Hey what up Cynthia?” He freezes with a wonderful defeated look.
That’s what I said: The Office was meant to be the answer to those who were bored with studio based sit coms. Yet the show has learnt that that formula worked for a reason. Here they present the classic misunderstandings plot and pull it off with great aplomb. In Michael Scott they have a great sit com character, a wonderful blend of consistent writing and believable acting. Long may it continue.
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