The Office: Season 9 Premiere

Dunder Mifflin will be closing its doors to our voyeuristic attention later this year, but not without wrapping up a few ongoing storylines. The Office is back for its final season and it has an endgame in sight. The season kicked off with a jam-packed episode that set up the storylines that will make up the critically acclaimed show’s final season.

The season premiere showcased many plot arcs, but none as prominent as Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam’s (Jenna Fischer). In the “A” storyline Pam and Jim are dealing with the now mundane life of raising their two kids. While Pam is happy with her life, Jim is lamenting a potential missed opportunity to pursue his lifelong dream of starting a sports marketing company in Philadelphia. Jim confides in the new guy that he has to be careful or he could end up at Dunder Mifflin his entire life. Heeding his own advice, Jim calls up his potential partner and takes the job founding a new sports marketing company, setting up a major conflict between Jim and Pam that is sure to mean major changes for the couple over the course of the final season. In other storylines: Oscar (Oscar Nuñez) is dating Angela’s (Angela Kinsey) husband, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) is taking the news of his failed paternity test poorly and has pseudo adopted one of the new kids (beginning a love/hate rivalry), and Andy (Ed Helms) is finally taking control of the office and acting like the boss.

Viewers familiar with the series will delight in knowing that the dryly-understated humor is back, replacing the hammy and sometimes dark humor of the previous season. Most of last season’s episodes left me feeling unsettled, like I was watching an imposter in The Office’s skin. The show never felt right without Michael (Steve Carell), despite the regular cast and a slew of guest stars doing its best to hold the show together. This episode thankfully brought back all of the quick-witted, emotionally charged punch lines, and glances to the camera that made The Office so endearing in seasons past. Whereas the previous season felt like a ship without a captain, Ed Helms is truly “taking the helm” this season. (Although I get the impression the managerial role isn’t going to work out for Andy…is Michael Scott coming back for the finale?)

Season nine’s premiere is not perfect, largely due to many of the storylines being crammed into a half hour format. The episode would have been better served in an hour format, as the rushed “on the nose” pace of Jim’s decision to leave Dunder Mifflin is too forced. Unfortunately, the writers did not have enough time to update us much on characters like Stanley (Leslie David Baker), Phyllis (Phyllis Smith), Meredith (Kate Flannery) or fan favorite Darryl (Craig Robinson). Darryl’s absence was the most surprising, as he’s been such an integral part of the show the past few seasons. Hopefully, we’ll get a good dose of the aforementioned characters in subsequent episodes, as each of them brings a different perspective on Dunder Mifflin to the table.

The episode did manage to set up many inter-office conflicts for the final season (Andy and Nellie, Andy and Toby, Jim and Pam, Oscar and Angela, Dwight and Everyone.) Sometimes a show is yanked before a faithful audience has had a chance to say goodbye (See Arrested Development, Firefly, or anything else with amazing underappreciated writing), but fortunately with The Office the viewers who have invested so much time with the cast will be delighted to see it through to the end.

The Office just feels like “The Office” again, and it is a comforting sight on my DVR menu. When the show debuted in 2005, there wasn’t any other program on (American) television like The Office. Years later, TV is full of Office clones that hope to live up to the expectations of the (American) original. Viewers will get a chance to follow the hijinks of the Scranton paper company’s employees one last time. Dunder Mifflin had better start the manufacturing of tissues, as the bittersweet conclusion of the series is rapidly approaching.