TV Review: The Office 9.13, "Junior Salesman"
rating: 4.5
First of all, I dont care how much Meredith wants to boom him, I hate Brian. Secondly, I loved Junior Salesman and thought it was an excellent episode. It was another example of finding that sweet balance of humor and pathos. The episode was book-ended by very well restrained reminders of the Brian situation with a whole lot of Dwight in the middle and just enough contributions from the supporting cast to remind us they still have to exist in the world of Dunder Mifflin without crowding the episode by dragging on their own extraneous plot. While I dont necessarily think the now defunct, once proposed Dwight spin-off, The Farm, would have worked as a long term series, smaller doses of Dwights associates are clearly comedic gems when handled well and in this case they absolutely were. Its clearly been too long since Ive seen Mose run because when he panicked and abandoned his interview, bolting from the managers office to the street outside (and probably straight back to Schrute Farms), I was cracking up. Although each of Dwights friends, former lovers/babysitters, ex-X-Men, acquaintances had their own hilarious moments, like Gabors list of special mutant powers (played by the extremely talented Tim Heidegger of Tim and Eric fame), or Troys oops in the mens room (which Im sure was either hobbit or cobalt related), or Rolfs warning to Pam of his unrestrained preference for Norwegian black metal, or Dwights cousins (whom I definitely cant help but recognize as one of the hippie extras from the first season of Community) explanation of cow showers and dense, bread-like hair, the best part of the collectives presence was getting to see Dwight play the straight-man. You know youre a weirdo when you render Dwight Schrute speechless. And I know this was a great episode because I didnt even mind that Erin was hardly used at all. Even though we pretty much knew how the episode would end (with Clark getting the coveted junior sales rep. position, another character whom contributed some of the best laughs of the episode), Junior Salesman didnt work because of a lack of predictability; it worked because it demonstrated The Office still knows how to masterfully explore comedy and tragedy (the two sides of the coin of the human condition) with just the right sense of pacing and restraint. As someone who has been in more than one long distance relationship (they are THE WORST), I really appreciate this season for taking the efforts to anchor the series with Jim and Pams relationship, the series original primary focus, in a realistic way. Though many believe the series should have taken the opportunity to end on a high note after Michaels departure in season seven, despite Jim and Pam not having really mattered much to audiences since season four, I think this route can lead us to an even more meaningful and complete conclusion whether it will be satisfying is still very much up in the air.