Last night's post-Super Bowl episode of The Office perplexed me to the point where all the nagging thoughts I've had about whether or not the show is past its peak started to overtake my brain with a resounding yes, it has.
To recap, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) lights a fire in the office because his co-workers weren't paying attention to his lecture on fire safety. It causes panic and pandemonium of the ridiculous kind, including broken windows, the tossing of a cat and Andy (Ed Helms) shouting, "The fire is shooting at us!" It was an inspired, over the top and ridiculous bit, all while Dwight, at his most machiavellian, trying to condescend and take charge. As the scene ends, Stanley (Leslie David Baker) is on the floor, suffering a heart attack.
For some Cardinal fans, it was the perfect bit of hilarity to follow a great game. But something rang false about this scene for me. It crossed a line of insanity that show had only skirted at this point. "The only way for this to end," I thought to myself, "is that Michael or Dwight will get fired. Or seriously punished." I figured that'd be a pretty big plot point to coincide with it being a Super Bowl-following program.
But they didn't get punished. Both Michael and Dwight got a stern talking to from the higher-ups in New York, but aside from a half-assed letter of apology, they're still running strong. In fact, they got sent to New York twice, after Dwight cut the face off of a CPR test dummy.
Of course this isn't the first time a character on this show has gotten away with a fireable offense. It happens at least twice a show on good nights. But this was the point where I think the show went a little too far, with all the humor based on the bit's extremities. It felt like something advertisers would have liked to pitch as "Dwight's biggest office blunder yet!" That the show much more silly than the depressingly realistic British counterpart (which I haven't seen yet...) is one of it's strengths, something that helped it break out of Ricky Gervais's shadow and become it's own beast. But like The Simpsons or Family Guy, when you base your humor on how much batshit crazy stuff you can get away with, you're not saying anything funny. You're just pulling off a stunt. And anyone could do that.
Perhaps I'm taking the show too seriously. This season, there have been moments of clarity, where Michael Scott's bosses have turned a blind eye towards the unethical and inept behavior because their business is somehow profitable. Perhaps this is just an extension of what they're willing to accept in order to keep the company afloat. Or many it's one big homage to Christopher Durang. I suppse that maybe this could be addressed in a few more weeks. But it's getting to the point where I'm beginning to think it all should have ended like Arrested Development - three seasons and finish.
On a lighter and not entirely unrelated note, here's the best Super Bowl commercial of the night.
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