"The Office" Review: The Job

The third season of "The Office" concluded Thursday with a supersized one hour special that saw Michael, Jim, and Karen head to New York to interview for a corporate position. Season three featured a number of story arcs, and actor contracts aside, "The Office" crew was provided with a variety of directions to take in this episode to lead into the next season. So how did it all fare?

This week's humour fell short of last week's "Beach Games" with more emphasis placed on exposition, and character emotion, but that is to be expected from a season finale where cliffhangers are abound. That's not to say "The Job" lacked laughs - Dwight and Pam's interplay during Michael's brief absence was wonderfully written, and Michael's discussion with the accountants about his decision to sell his condo (on eBay no less) quickly come to mind - but other parts noticably fell short. Dwight painting his office black was clever, but the idea of Dwight finally in charge of Dunder Mifflin was a concept with enough potential material to have received the season's best gags. Schrute-bucks, a joke played out similar to Dwight's citations given to Jim earlier this season, was not the best decision given their options.

Michael and Jan's reconciliation was not paticularly welcomed. I may be alone on this, but scenes with Jan are the most unbearable to watch, and the akward humour the writers hope to generate through the Jan/Michael relationship are strikingly off-beat with the show's 'fun' comedy style. I had hoped they realized the Jan plot was not one of their stronger storylines when they broke up in "Women's Appreciation", but with boob job and all, it appears that story will grow bigger as well. (that sounded more clever in my head)

Finally, there is the Jim/Karen/Pam love triangle that has so far garnered the show the most attention. This story was again treated very well, and I uncharacteristically found myself cheering and booing at the TV during various parts of these scenes. Karen revealed her claws for the first time, and like she has done the entire season, Jenna Fischer portrayed Pam as unavoidably likeable despite moments when the character could potentially become annoying. Jim's interview scene where he found a message from Pam (written on a yogurt lid from "Office Olympics") was touching, and although it nears the 'corny' label, it came across just right. As for when Jim asked Pam to dinner just before the closing credits, well, I must be a sucker because I cheered.

After finding "The Office" last September and literally downloading and watching every episode of the series, I was delighted to see season 3 build on the strong aspects of season 2 and continue to develop into TV's hands-down strongest comedy. I've tried to advertise the show to as many people as possible (despite receiving no cheques from NBC, yet) but it looks as though the TV public has taken notice. Here's hoping season 4 keeps "The Office" charm going.