Episode Rankings: The Office

I don't think there's much I can say about The Office that hasn't already been said. It's one of the best sitcoms ever, Michael Scott is an amazing character, Seasons 2 & 3 are two of the best sitcoms ever, and you've probably already watched it yourself. Here's my ranking of the episodes up until Michael leaves the show, since I only reviewed up until that point:

1. Casino Night (S2.22)
2. Dinner Party (S4.13)
3. Stress Relief: Part 1 (S5.14)
4. Goodbye, Michael (S7.22)
5. Goodbye Toby: Part 2 (S4.19)
6. Threat Level Midnight (S7.17)
7. The Return (S3.14)
8. Weight Loss (S5.02)
9. Stress Relief: Part 2 (S5.15)
10. The Job: Part 2 (S3.25)
11. The Injury (S2.12)
12. Business School (S3.17)
13. Niagra: Part 2 (S6.05)
14. Beach Games (S3.23)
15. Safety Training (S3.20)
16. Garage Sale (S7.19)
17. The Deposition (S4.12)
18. The Merger (S3.08)
19. Christmas Party (S2.10)
20. Goodbye Toby: Part 1 (S4.18)
21. The Duel (S5.12)
22. The Negotation (S3.19)
23. Weight Loss: Part 1 (S5.01)
24. Broke (S5.25)
25. A Benihana Christmas: Part 2 (S3.11)
26. Branch Closing (S3.07)
27. The Client (S2.07)
28. Classy Christmas: Part 2 (S7.12)
29. Niagra: Part 1 (S6.04)
30. The Dundies (S2.01)
31. Initation (S3.05)
32. Booze Cruise (S2.11)
33. The Convict (S3.09)
34. Cafe Disco (S5.27)
35. Launch Party: Part 1 (S4.05)
36. Conflict Resolution (S2.21)
37. China (S7.10)
38. The Job: Part 1 (S3.24)
39. Local Ad (S4.09)
40. Cocktails (S3.18)
41. The Fire (S2.04)
42. Happy Hour (S6.21)
43. A Benihana Christmas: Part 1 (S3.10)
44. PDA (S7.16)
45. Office Olympics (S2.03)
46. Diversity Day (S1.02)
47. Gossip (S6.01)
48. Grief Counseling (S3.04)
49. Company Picnic (S5.28)
50. Fun Run: Part 1 (S4.01)
51. Murder (S6.10)
52. Drug Testing (S2.20)
    
53. Gay Witch Hunt (S3.01)
54. Michael Scott Paper Company (S5.23)
55. Email Surveillance (S2.09)
56. Sabre (S6.15)
57. Women Appreciation (S3.22)
58. Crime Aid (S5.05)
59. Classy Christmas: Part 1 (S7.11)
60. The Lover (S6.07)
61. Money: Part 1 (S4.07)
62. Counseling (S7.02)
63. Michael's Birthday (S2.19)
64. Casual Friday (S5.26)
65. Valentine's Day (S2.16)
66. Diwali (S3.06)
67. Halloween (S2.05)
68. Nepotism (S7.01)
69. New Boss (S5.20)
70. Launch Party: Part 2 (S4.06)
71. Product Recall (S3.21)
72. New Leads (S6.20)
73. Fun Run: Part 2 (S4.02)
74. Dwight's Speech (S2.17)
75. The Search (S7.15)
76. Blood Drive (S5.18)
77. Traveling Salesman (S3.13)
78. The Delivery: Part 2 (S6.18)
79. Heavy Competition (S5.24)
80. Performance Review (S2.08)
81. Costume Contest (S7.06)
82. The Surplus (S5.10)
83. Dunder Mifflin Infinity: Part 2 (S4.04)
84. The Convention (S3.02)
85. Health Care (S1.03)
86. Whistleblower (S6.26)
87. Sexual Harrassment (S2.02)
88. Viewing Party (S7.08)
89. Dream Team (S5.22)
90. Survivor Man (S4.11)
91. Take Your Daughter To Work Day (S2.18)
92. Koi Pond (S6.08)
93. The Fight (S2.06)
94. The Sting (S7.05)
95. Lecture Circuit: Part 2 (S5.17)
96. The Alliance (S1.04)
97. Two Weeks (S5.21)
98. Wuphf (S7.09)
99. Money: Part 2 (S4.08)
100. Todd Packer (S7.18)
101. Shareholder's Meeting (S6.11)
102. Boys And Girls (S2.15)
103. St Patrick's Day (S6.19)
104. Customer Survey (S5.07)
105. Back From Vacation (S3.12)
106. The Seminar (S7.14)
107. The Delivery: Part 1 (S6.17)
108. Frame Toby (S5.09)
109. Dunder-Mifflin Infinity: Part 1 (S4.03)
110. Michael's Last Dundies (S7.21)
111. Secret Santa (S6.13)
112. Business Ethics (S5.03)
113. Secretary's Day (S6.22)
114. Lecture Circuit: Part 1 (S5.16)
115. Basketball (S1.05)
116. Did I Stutter? (S4.16)
117. Ben Franklin (S3.15)
118. Andy's Play (S7.03)
119. The Manager And The Salesman (S6.16)
120. Business Trip (S5.08)
121. Chair Model (S4.14)
122. Baby Shower (S5.04)
123. The Secret (S2.13)
124. The Meeting (S6.02)
125. Phyllis's Wedding (S3.16)
126. Golden Ticket (S5.19)
127. Ultimatum (S7.13)
128. Hot Girl (S1.06)
129. Moroccan Christmas (S5.11)
130. Training Day (S7.20)
131. The Promotion (S6.03)
132. Branch Wars (S4.10)
133. The Carpet (S2.14)
134. The Cover-Up (S6.24)
135. Employee Transfer (S5.06)
136. The Coup (S3.03)
137. Sex Ed (S7.04)
138. Job Fair (S4.17)
139. Pilot (S1.01)
140. The Chump (S6.25)
141. Body Language (S6.23)
142. Night Out (S4.15)
143. Prince Family Paper (S5.13)
144. Mafia (S6.06)
145. The Banker (S6.14)
146. Double Date (S6.09)
147. Christening (S7.07)
148. Scott's Tots (S6.12) - To this day, I have never been more uncomfortable watching an episode than I was with Scott's Tots. They crossed a line here, and not just with Michael's storyline.

The Office (Season 7)

A general improvement over Season 7 works as a beautiful farewell to Michael Scott. One that could've been one of the show's best seasons if they had just stopped there.

Focusing almost entirely on Michael Scott's departure, Season 7 can be split into thirds fairly easily. The first ten episodes have Michael play off some other character in the cast, whether it's Toby during Counseling, his ex-girlfriends during Sex Ed, or Oscar during China. I think it's a great way to reflect on how much he has affected many of the side characters throughout the show. Once Holly arrives in the midseason finale, however, the season becomes amazing.

At this point, Season 7 packs in tons of callbacks and references to past moments in the show. David Brent appears in one episode, we get to see the full version of Threat Level Midnight, Michael finally calls out Todd Packer, and we see the final Dundies ever held. It all builds up to the amazing farewell episode that has Michael say his goodbyes to everyone in the cast. It's the perfect end to the show, or at least, it should have been.

Sadly, once Michael leaves, Season 7 has four more episodes about the office looking for a replacement, and they are not good. It feels like the writing just took a massive step-down, even lower than Season 6, and without Michael, The Office just lacks its energy. The season (or even the series) should have ended with Michael leaving, but these tacked-on last four episodes drag the season down as a whole.

I'm not writing a full review for Seasons 8 & 9, but they weren't great. Season 9 had some good episodes and an excellent last bunch of episodes, but Season 8 was an unfunny slog. I'm not a fan of Robert California or Andy's portrayal, and the lack of Michael Scott removes a lot of the show's energy.

Despite this weak ending, Season 7 does have a lot of strong episodes, especially around the middle:

China: This episode was just plain funny. Michael's dynamic with Oscar always leads to some embarrassment, but the conflict between the two of them was particularly humorous this time around. The subplots about Dwight and Andy were also pretty fun.

Threat Level Midnight: Easily one of the show's best episodes, I adore the home film vibe of Michael Scott's magnum opus of a film. It's consistently hilarious and packs in tons of cute details that demand rewatching. I also highly recommend watching the full version on YouTube.

Garage Sale: The titular garage sale is a fun and cute storyline for most of the episode that contains some fun character interactions, but the real highlight is the beautiful and heartwarming proposal that ends the episode.

Goodbye, Michael: I already mentioned why I love this episode so much. Michael's goodbyes are sweet and every character gets a time to shine. It's funny, sad, and heart-warming in equal measures. A perfect goodbye to one of the best TV characters of all time.

When its focusing on saying goodbye to Michael Scott, Season 7 of The Office is pretty much perfect, with tons of heartwarming callbacks and funny moments. However, the season does also suffer from a slow start, tacked-on ending, and the awful decision to keep the show running after Michael leaves.

3.5/5 Stars

My ranking of the seasons (including 8 & 9) would be:

1. Season 3: One of the best comedy seasons ever. Pretty much every episode is iconic in its own way, and the main storyline about the merger is easily the show's most compelling.
2. Season 2: Season 2 is The Office at its absolute purest. It focuses squarely on the slice of life elements, but makes up for that small scale with consistently great comedy and characterization.
3. Season 4: While it loses a bit of steam after the Writer's Strike, Season 4 still has so many iconic episodes that it's hard to rank it any lower than this.
4. Season 5: A very uneven season with episode quality ranging from super high highs to horribly low lows, but the high points are soaring and the Michael Scott Paper Company arc is fantastic.
5. Season 7: While not super consistent, Season 7 is at its best when it focuses on giving a satisfying farewell to Michael Scott, and it does that excellently.
6. Season 1: Though the pilot is just a poor man's The Office UK, the rest of the season is actually fairly solid and Season 1 otherwise mostly suffers from its short length.
7. Season 6: I'm not a fan from this one. It has its few highlights like the wedding, but the whole Sabre storyline is lacking in stakes and Scott's Tots is my least favorite episode of the show.
8. Season 9: Don't get me wrong, most of this season is still bad, but there were some good episodes here or there, and the final stretch did a great job at bringing the show to a somewhat schmaltzy close.
9. Season 8: This season is awful, one of my least favorites ever. There's not a single good episode, Robert California drives me up the wall, and all of the characters (especially Andy) have basically been ruined.

And my ranking The Office's season finales is:

1. Casino Night: Still one of my favorite finales ever. The premise is fun, every character gets time to shine, and Jim's confession to Pam is an absolutely perfect scene of television.
2. Finale: Perhaps a bit too grandiose for the show's premise, but Finale is a satisfying, emotional, and heartwarming farewell to the entire case of The Office, including Michael Scott.
3. Goodbye, Toby: Goodbye, Toby uses its double-length runtime to stuff itself full with cliffhangers and plot twists. It's as shameless of a sitcom season finale as it gets and I love that about it.
4. The Job: It's predictable that Michael wouldn't get the job, but the show knew this and tossed in a bunch of other curveballs that really made this episode a joy to watch on first viewing.
5. Company Picnic: Probably a bit low-key coming off the Michael Scott Paper Company arc, but that big cliffhanger at the end is worth it alone.
6. Whistleblower: It suffers from the lack of stakes that most of Season 6 has, but Whistleblower is still an above average episode on its own, and I like the promise of Holly's return.
7. Free Family Portrait Studio: This finale resolves all of Season 8's subplots in the most unremarkable and dull way possible. David Wallace coming back and saving Dunder-Mifflin should feel big, but it doesn't. All of this finale is just meh.
8. Hot Girl: Really just suffers from being part of Season 1. All that really happens is that Jim gets a girlfriend, but it's also not like the rest of the season was really building to anything anyway.
9. Search Committee: Creed as boss will always be hilarious, but Search Committee is drawn out, lacks any sort of resolution, and suffers from the misguided decision to continue the show after Michael had left.

Favorite Episode: Casino Night

The Office (Season 6)

Coming after the relatively strong Seasons 4 & 5, Season 6 of The Office felt like a massive step-down. It's more uncomfortable than funny, and the overall story just feels stateless at times.

Season 6 does have a more well-defined plot than most seasons of The Office, pretty much entirely focused on Dunder-Mifflin going out of business and having to be sold to another company called Sabre. Despite this otherwise interesting premise, however, the season feels stakesless. It never feels like the company is in danger, or that Sabre is causing any major chances. Even worse, Sabre actively detracts from the comedy, as the moments involving them just feel less funny. As a result, Season 6 can feel like an utter slog to sit through, especially in its second half after the buyout happens.

There are also a few other subplots that fare a bit better. Jim and Pam's wedding is definitely the best part of the season, but it ends fairly early on in the season. There's also storyline about Jim becoming assistant manager, which feels like it was built up to in the last few seasons. However, Dwight's unsympathetic behavior during this subplot makes it fairly lackluster as well. I'd also be remiss not to mention Scott's Tots, which is not an episode I particularly enjoy watching. It's heavy on the cringe, and light on the comedy, with both Michael and Jim going through some awful and embarrassing experiences. There's a reason why there's a subreddit about how hard this episode is to watch.

I also think the season ends on a pretty lackluster note. There's a fairly interesting storyline about Sabre having a scandal, but it lacks consequences or stakes, meaning that the season finale feels fairly uneventful. No one got fired, Sabre didn't face any backlash that stuck, it just felt like a waste of potential.

Despite my many issues with the season, there were some solid episodes:

Gossip: The general gossip storyline was a lot of fun on its own, but the parkour cold open alone was worth the price of admission.

Niagra: Jim and Pam's wedding was easily the best part of the season. It was heart-warming and sweet, culminating in that iconic dance down the aisle. I thought it was pretty much perfect.

Happy Hour: This episode was just plain funny throughout. Date Mike was a lot of fun to watch, the warehouse workers had some highlights, and just seeing the cast let loose during Happy Hour added some levity to an otherwise drab season.

Season 6 was a massive step down in quality for the series. The storylines were uninteresting and lacked stakes, the cringe comedy lacked humor, and Sabre seemed to just drag the show down. There were some good episodes, but overall, Season 6 was easily one of the show's worst seasons so far.

2/5 Stars

The Office (Season 5)

Coming after the relatively darker Season 4, Season 5 of The Office is arguably the lightest and most comedic to date. This results in probably the show's funniest season, even if it means it's slightly light on plot at times.

Season 5 has a strong start and a strong end, at least when plot is concerned. The first few episodes are about Michael and Holly's relationship, but it sadly ends way too quickly. From then on, the season doesn't have much in the way of plot until Episode 19, which introduces the amazing Michael Scott Paper Company arc, in which Michael leaves Dunder-Mifflin to form his own paper company. This arc is one of the best in the whole show, fleshing out pretty much the entire cast and adding a great sense of conflict and propulsion, even if it doesn't impact the show all that much.

Despite the lack of direction at times, the comedy is pretty top-notch throughout the season, reaching its height in the iconic fire drill scene, which I will elaborate on further later. The tone is also a lot lighter, for the most part, and there are some great moments of character development, especially during the penultimate episode which is pretty much just one long dance off. This season also introduces Erin, who is definitely one of the best new characters the show introduced in its second half. Her optimism and naivety leads to a lot of great humor.

As expected, Season 5 has a lot of really great episodes, but here are the absolute best:

Weight Loss: An absolutely excellent season premiere that follows up on the plot points of the previous season finale, with more fun moments for Holly and a very heart-warming proposal for Jim and Pam. The main storyline of everyone's attempts at losing weight is also very funny.

The Duel: The conflict between Dwight and Andy over Angela reaches an excellent resolution during this episode, which is packed with the comedy you'd expect from pitting these two characters up against each other. There's also a cute subplot as Michael tries to figure out what he does so right as a boss.

Stress Relief: This episode has the best cold open out of any episode ever. That fire drill sequence is one of the greatest comedic sequences ever put to film. It's frantic, it's hectic, and it's gutbustingly hilarious. As funny as the rest of the episode is, it can never manage to top this brilliant sequence.

Broke: The resolution of the Michael Scott Paper Company arc is funny and very satisfying, as Michael Scott himself gets one of his most badass moments yet. I think it wraps up the conflict a bit too cleanly, but it doesn't take away just how much I enjoy this episode.

Despite its aimless plot and slow middles section, Season 5 is yet another strong season for The Office, taking a much lighter and comedic tone, and packing in one of the show's best arcs.

4/5 Stars

The Office (Season 4)

Season 4 of The Office aired during the Writer's Strike, meaning that it had a truncated length compared to the other seasons. Despite this, however, I don't feel like the strike negatively impacted this season at all. As a matter of fact, Season 4 is still one of The Office's best.

Season 4 takes a much darker tone than the last two, exploring the dysfunctional relationships of many of its characters, particularly Michael and Dwight. Michael's slow falling out with Jan is the most compelling part of the season and gives the first half of Season 4 a tragic sense of energy. Dwight losing Angela to Andy is also sad, and gives him a great amount of sympathy.

The first half of Season 4 is pretty great, for the most part. It has a great blend of comedic, dramatic, and cringe-worthy episodes scattered throughout, culminating in an amazing double-whammy of strong episodes in the middle of the season. The second half is a bit weaker, however. Losing Jan left the season feeling a bit directionless and some characters like Toby and Michael start to make some really iffy decisions that feel uncomfortable more for the sake of it. The first few episodes are also a bit strange, as the season starts with a series of four consecutive double-length episodes that could have easily been shortened or split into two separate episodes.

Despite my gripes, Season 4 was still a solid season with some of the best episodes in the show, many of which are listed below:

Local Ad: A simple but effective premise of Michael Scott trying to make an ad. I'm a huge fan of these types of filmmaking episodes and The Office executed it really well, packing in tons of cute and funny character interactions. I also like how Michael's ad was actually competent, a surprising subversion of the show's usual endings.

The Deposition: The titular deposition works as an analysis of Michael and Jan's dysfunctional relationship. Their entire past is explored, culminating in a realization in the audience that these two just don't belong together. Yet, Michael and Jan try to make it work anyway. There's still a lot of humor as well.

Dinner Party: This episode is iconic and for a very good reason. The cringe comedy is cranked up to 11 and pretty much every joke lands. Every character is brought together as Michael and Jan's faux-happy relationship slowly falls apart until it hits its brutal conclusion, which is simultaneously devastating, uncomfortable, and hilarious.

Goodbye, Toby: Despite the Writer's Strike, the writers behind The Office managed to end the season on a strong note. Goodbye, Toby is stuffed with comedic moments, big twists, huge status quo shifts, and a general feeling of finality. Toby's departure was a lot of fun, Holly's debut is great, and the cliffhangers are exciting.

Overall, Season 4 is a great time in spite of its truncated length and myriad flaws, taking a darker turn after the lighter Season 3 and packing in some of the show's best episodes to date.

4/5 Stars

The Office (Season 3)

Season 3 is The Office at its absolute finest, and arguably one of the greatest seasons of any comedy ever. It's honestly astonishing just how consistently amazing Season 3 is, stuffed to the brim with great episodes and high points aplenty. The character work and comedy is just excellent.

Unlike Seasons 1 & 2, Season 3 of The Office is far more story-driven. There's the merger between the Scranton and Stamford offices, Jim's new relationship with Karen, Michael's shaky relationship with Jan, Phyllis's wedding, and Andy's rivalry with Dwight. All of these plotlines weave throughout the season, all being resolved in a fairly satisfying manner by the finale. The sheer amount of storylines here allows for a blisteringly fast pace, where it never feels like there's a dull moment.

Season 3 boasts a large amount of new characters, many of whom are a lot of fun to watch. The highlights are Andy and Karen, however. Karen works as a great girlfriend for Jim, and her love triangle with him and Pam is compelling to watch. Andy is also a highlight as well, as his annoying and jerkish personality leads to a lot of funny situations and a great set-up for a character arc. All of the returning characters get a lot of strong moments of character development of their own, pretty much continuing where Season 2 left off. My biggest issue with Season 3 is that it lacks the slice-of-life feel of Season 2, but that's hardly a problem when the episodes are this good.

Speaking of which, as I mentioned before, it's truly impressive how many iconic, well-crafted, and notable episodes this season has, meaning that the usual list is going to be much longer than usual:

Branch Closing/The Merger: These episodes chronicle the titular merger between the Scranton and Stamford offices, and they're a lot of fun to watch. The former episode has a sense of dread as the Scranton office is scared they'll close down, but once the merger occurs, there are a ton of funny and fittingly cringy moments as Michael struggles to impress the new arrivals.

The Conflict: Prison Mike! This episode, directed by none other than Ricky Gervais himself, goes back to the uncomfortable feeling of the first two seasons and is stuffed with cringe comedy that is so awkward you can't help but laugh hysterically.

The Return: Probably my favorite episode of the season, The Return has to like whether it's the titular return of Oscar (who left in the season premiere) or Dwight working at a Staples, but the real highlight is Andy's hysterical mental breakdown that's still one of the funniest moments in the whole show.

Business School: This has always been one of my favorites. The main plotline of the titular school gives Michael a lot of sympathy, and culminates in a very heartwarming and affecting moment as he goes to see Pam's art gallery. The subplot about the bat in the office adds most of the comedy, and is a hilarious nod to the director's origins (Buffy).

The Negotiation: This episode gets off to a big start as Roy tries to attack Jim only for Dwight to save him with the use of pepper spray. The entire rest of this episode deals with the consequences, and explores Jim's relationships with both Pam and Dwight. Thankfully, Michael's funny negotiation storyline does a great job at adding some much needed levity.

Safety Training: It's honestly glorious to see just how much Michael and Dwight get mental health wrong, and their haphazard attempts at pulling a stunt to advocate for it is a lot of fun to watch, at least until the episode gets surprisingly deep and shows just how tragic of a character Michael Scott really is.

Beach Games: This episode could have felt gimmicky and cartoonish, but the titular games are a lot of fun to watch and do a great job of setting up for the finale. Pam speaking up was an especially memorable and iconic moment.

The Job: This entire double-length finale is built on the titular job, as you're left constantly guessing who's going to end up with it. It's packed with twists, misdirects, and surprises, culminating in the long-awaited moment where Jim and Pam finally get together. It's more subtle compared to the Season 2 finale, but definitely satisfying.

Overall, Season 3 is an absolute gem of a season and The Office at the height of its power. Pretty much every single episode is top-notch, the plot is compelling, and the comedy is consistently strong.

5/5 Stars

The Office (Season 2)

Season 2 of The Office is the season where the series became what it is today. The quality jump from the first season is absolutely astonishing right from the very first episode, and leads to one of the most consistently strong seasons I've ever seen from a comedic series.

This season continues where the first one left off. Michael is still trying to make his workers like him, while also having an odd on-and-off-relationship with his boss, Jan. Jim has a girlfriend, but he still has feelings for Pam, who's finally starting to go forward with her wedding, and Dwight is starting a secret relationship with his colleague Angela. There's also the threat of downsizing, but that's resolved super early on in the season. Like Season 1, most of these plot threads are in the background of most of the episodes, but there's a stronger continuity and a season finale where everything manages to tie together fairly well. Outside of this, however, the majority of the season is still focusing on silly office hijinks.

Most, if not all, of this season's storylines are pretty much entirely original from the UK version, which helps give it a much stronger sense of identity. It's much more earnest than the UK series, with Michael Scott being a more sympathetic character, in particular. His attempts at trying to be a well-liked boss make him more endearing than David Brent, and Steve Carrell plays him nearly perfectly. This season also introduces a fairly tragic aspect to his character, seen most clearly when he has to fire someone in his office. He spends the whole episode devastated about the prospect and it shows that even though he's not a great boss, you can't deny that he cares about his work. This combination of tragedy and comedy works wonders for the show's staple cringe comedy.

The other characters also get a lot more to do. Jim and Pam's will-they-won't-they relationship is more gripping than ever, and it's devastating to see Jim slowly lose faith as the wedding approaches. The minor office workers get a lot more focus and characterization as well, especially the accountants, Oscar, Angela, and Kevin. The episode quality is far more consistent as well, with my least favorite episode (The Carpet) still being really good. At its best, we get the season finale Casino Night, which is still one of my favorite episodes ever made. The camerawork is also a lot better in this season. Every shift and pan feels deliberate to make the documentary nature of the show feel more credible, and the camerawork even gets more shaky whenever the show gets dramatic. The whole production feels like the show at the peak of its craft.

Being one of the series' best seasons, there are a lot of notable episodes:

The Dundies: A strong season premiere that hits the ground running right off the bat. The whole premise of an office awards ceremony is excellent, and was hilariously executed. We also get the first Jim and Pam kiss to end the episode off on a big note.

The Client: This was the episode with Threat Level Midnight, which is just a hilarious subplot in its own right. This is also the start of Michael and Jan, easily one of the strangest romantic subplots in the series.

Christmas Party: The Office's Christmas episodes were always outstanding and this is one of the best. Michael's gift swap game is an absolute masterclass in hilarious cringe comedy, and the subplot with Jim's present for Pam did a great job added some heart to the proceedings.

Booze Cruise: Serving as the midpoint of the season, this episode could have been a season finale on its own. The hijinks on the cruise were amazing on their own, but what really made this episode was Roy re-proposing to Pam, Jim breaking up with his girlfriend, and Michael learning about Jim's feelings.

The Injury: This episode was just plain bonkers. Michael burning his foot on a George-Foreman grill is the type of thing you just don't make up, and Dwight's concussion/accidental friendship with Pam is so bizarre you can't help but love it. Even with how crazy the series gets, this was still one of its strangest episodes.

Casino Night: What an amazing finale. The titular casino night was a lot of fun, and it gave the whole ensemble something to do. Michael's love triangle was great, but the real highlight was Jim's painfully realistic and phenomenally acted confession of love to Pam, along with that excellent cliffhanger. This is still one of my favorite episodes ever made for bringing every storyline together and for balancing comedy and drama incredibly well.

Overall, Season 2 of The Office is a massive improvement over the first as the show finally starts to carve out its own identity. The writing, characterization, and production are all improved drastically to create one of the strongest seasons of the whole series.

5/5 Stars 

The Office (Season 1)

The first season of The Office is infamously different than all of the other seasons of the show, as it's far more based off of its UK counterpart. It's darker, more satirical, and the characters are far less sympathetic. Sadly, I don't think it pulls it off all that well most of the time.

There isn't much of a story to the first season of The Office. It's just an episodic series about a bunch of normal people working in a normal office. There's the boss Michael Scott (Steve Carell), the "assistant" Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), there's Jim Halpert (John Krakinski), and the secretary Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer). Jim hates his job and spends most of his time pranking Dwight, when he's not fawning over Pam in spite of the fact that she's engaged. For most of the show, Michael Scott is the main focus as the boss, and while he's an endearing and fleshed-out character in the later seasons, in Season 1, he's just kind of annoying. They tried to make Michael Scott more like David Brent, but it doesn't really play to Steve Carrell's strengths.

There are only six episodes in this season and most of them are fairly average. The mockumentary style is well-executed, the acting is good, and the show gets laughs out of me fairly frequently, but it's rarely anything spectacular. This is probably because for most of this season, it really does feel like the show runners are trying to emulate the UK version of the show, to the point where the pilot episode is a beat-for-beat recreation of the UK pilot. The UK version of the pilot is great and all, but they copy it so blatantly to the point where it feels like an inferior version. The season finale also retreads the same "Hot Girl" storyline that the UK series had as well. It's a big shame, because this season is at its best when it's allowed to try something new, which isn't more evident outside of the second episode of the season:

Diversity Day: This is easily the strongest episode of the season, mostly because it tries to do something new. Michael Scott is way more endearing here because it's made clear that his intentions are just even if he ends up accidentally offending everyone. The jokes are sharp and the entire cast is utilized incredibly well. There's a reason this is cited as one of the show's finest moments.

Overall, Season 1 could be a great first season if they just stopped copying the UK series. Instead, it feels like a poor-man's version of the show, with not enough strong episodes to make it stand out as a good season, even with the great cast and production values.

2/5 Stars