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Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: Tempo

After the first two episodes of the new season of "The Office", fear spread throughout the shows fan base. Hour long episodes pushed the show beyond its limits and much of the hilarity and incredibly consistent characters suffered. The second episode of the season, "Dunder Mifflin Infinity", found some predictable developments and answered some questions. Ryan's grand return to Scranton is less than stellar for Michael who, as expected, wants all the praise as grooming Ryan for the position. When Michael later tries to associate as a peer, Ryan's words are immortalized in his threat to Michael, "I know exactly how much manpower is wasted at this branch." Obviously, things are not "business as usual."

This first part of the episode was excellent. Toby had a hilarious and edgy character moment when he made his own complaint about PB&J and instead of being opening mocked by Michael, he was laughingly thanked by Pam for his "joke." Ryan was shown to be the young jerk he always had a hard time concealing in the last three seasons, including his insecurity about looking older. Creed dyes his hair to look younger and constantly claims they'll all be fired. Michael has a meeting that reuses the same visual aids from earlier episodes; it seems like this episode can't miss.

Again, the hour long format is the murderer. The second half of the episode pumps a ridiculous premise that Michael can't accept the modernization of the business model. The Michael Scott character has been all over the board so far. Blame it on Jan if you want, but where Michael used to come off as a guy with no social skills, he has been coming off as totally without mental facilities so far this season. The ridiculous run for rabies was silly at best, but driving the car into the water did not work at all. It came off as a terrible twist for him to discover technology isn't the way to go. It seemed forced and unimaginative, pushing the suspension of disbelief far beyond reason. He does manage a branch of a mid-sized company and is somewhat of a success. He has good numbers and can retain clients (The Job). However, where a season three mistake would be a entering the incorrect email of "Jamaica Jan Sun Princess", season four plot pushing mistakes involve crashing a car into a lake or raising money for a cured disease.

Lets get to the good news though; the third episode of the season, "Launch Party," has helped the show turn a corner for this season. The big development was, of course, the launching of the brand new Dunder Mifflin Infinity website. To coincide the event, Dwight has to prove that he is better than the computer at selling paper. The John Henry performance by Dwight, with excellent assistance from Andy, really sells the episode. Dwight looks unkempt and on edge, perfect for the post-Angela days. We even see a little action from Stanley when he dances to the song on the new DMI website.

Continued...

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