“The Office” — Survivor Man
“I fashioned my hat back into my pants.”
Steve Carell gets Michael Scott. I mean, really understands the man. Since he also happens to play Michael Scott it is expected that his level of understanding should, in fact, be a tad deeper than most, so perhaps I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am by how well he writes Michael Scott. Carell, who penned Thursday’s episode, captures like few can the duality of Michael Scott’s idiocy and humanity — how the character can be so overcome with jealousy he (pardon the expression) can’t see the forest for the trees, and yet can snap back to reality at a moments notice. More after the jump…
For reasons I’m not completely sure of, The Office has stopped being a show I tune in to for comedy. In a way I’m no longer concerned with the show either being funny or unfunny, but instead as either good or not (though with “good” typically comes “funny”). I suppose this is why my favorite moment from this week’s very good episode was not Michael’s Survivor Man antics (though his Letterman-esque turning of pants to shorts (and back again) was certainly funny), but the end of the episode with his very knowing discussion with Jim (over three flavors of birthday cake) about rookie office-management mistakes. I love that he had tried to group together all the birthdays on one day but had also failed, punctuated by his assessment that he too thought he wouldn’t work for Dunder Mifflin ten years prior. It was pretty brilliant and underscored why Michael Scott has the job he has despite the other side of his personality’s endless attempts to get himself fired.
(We should probably also remember that this is suppose to be a documentary television show and that we only see a snippet of these people’s days. One must assume there are endless hours of fictional footage of Michael, and everyone else in the office, actually doing the work they are paid to do.)
The real trick to writing Michael Scott is to understand these opposing forces within the same character and to treat each with a very specific amount of give. What can Michael do that is stupid, but not so stupid we wouldn’t believe him as a manager of adults? What can Michael do that is impressive in the business world, but not so impressive that we can’t figure out why he’s so idiotic the rest of the time? Perhaps part of the problem is each viewer has a different definition of what is and is not acceptable for the character. For me: Michael driving his car into a lake is wholly within his personality, but making a very good commercial is not. This week worked for me because I completely bought him in the wild and at the office. Both sides were extreme in their own way, though within the rules of what I believe makes a Michael Scott.
Back to Jim, his role this week as pre-Michael Scott was an important one. It highlighted that very important fact that Jim is just as capable at failing as everyone else. It’s been kind of nice to seeing him struggle these past two weeks. Jim is no more a superhero than anyone else in the cast (he just might happen to be the most self-aware), and is certainly prone to his own goofs. If he should know anything it is how fragile the inner-office ecosystem actually is and how it is not a beast that takes kindly to tampering.
Creed’s desire for peach-pie (or cobbler, rather) was awesome. This sentence doesn’t really fit in to my general assessment for the episode, but is worthy of being mentioned nonetheless.
Too bad the writer’s strike will likely shorten The Office’s season order, because I’d love to see some more episodes written by Carell. Talk about your double-threats.
Tags: NBC. The Office
November 9th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
I’m sorry, but I still don’t get this show….
As far as the strike goes, what if the goal is to break the union? And furthermore, why can’t the fine folks at The Office hire non-union writers to fill up the order during the strike? Is Steve Carell a member of the WGA?
November 9th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Carell is a WGA member, I believe. While I don’t know the ins and outs of strike-theory, it would seem to me that the actors and directors won’t work for scab writers as their contracts are up in June and will likely be fighting for the same demands. It’s in their best interest that the writers get a piece of new media.
Your questions are probably better answered here.
As for not getting the show, that’s too bad. It’s kind of fantastic (most of the time).