TV Review: The Office 9.4, "Work Bus"
Witnessing such a funny episode with genuine emotional resonance and thematic unity such as in “Work Bus” almost makes me wish the series would get one more season.
rating: 4
The Office continues to upend my expectations by delivering yet another successful episode in Work Bus, an episode which elicited much laughter but really worked hard to pluck the audiences heartstrings. The effort mostly paid off but suffered a bit because each of the two plots in the episode are founded on stories which have been pretty poorly defined throughout season eight. The primary plot was quite well structured though as what started off as a troublesome inspection for building owner Dwight not only facilitated a very subdued reconciliation of sorts between Jim and Pam, but also brought Dwight to confront a much more disturbing prospect than updating his buildings safety violations admitting his profound disappointment over not being the father of Angelas baby and his fear of never having kids of his own; plus there were pranks. Meanwhile, there was a similar triangular plot being carried out by Andy, Erin, and Nelly as Andy persisted in giving Nelly a hard time in her efforts to receive a recommendation towards her pursuit to adopt, something which really hits home for Erin, a former foster child whom never found a traditional family as a child. Although I stipulated that these plots worked despite their reliance on older, less effective storylines, I almost want to say that I admire an episode which unapologetically expects viewers to be aware of these characters histories. In a series final season, even a mainstream hit sitcom, after eight years a show deserves to not have to spell everything out. Well, Work Bus wasnt quite as unapologetic as the above may indicate. The episode did make sure to include enough exposition so that viewers unfamiliar with Dwights baby-mama drama or Jims recent dishonesty toward Pam regarding the business venture hes entered into could follow along without feeling left out, but it was the bare minimum. The supposed tension between Jim and Pam here isnt in any way palpable and any awkwardness between them isnt really all that evident; rather, seeing Jim rush to open doors for Pam and mention during a talking head how cool shes been since finding out are all we have to infer that Pam is upset. Otherwise the two seem to be getting on just fine. Although at the end of the episode in which Jim finally told Pam about the side business she mentioned how disappointed she was, this seems to have mostly dissipated, at least from the perspective of the documentary camera. Therefore Jims crusade to do something big for his wife doesnt resonate as strongly as I think the writers would have liked, however, in the moment at the end of the episode where we see the couple sitting on a bench finally enjoying their pie, Jenna Fischer totally sells the plot with the single line, You did it, and the loving look she gives Jim before resting her head on his shoulder, a nice little allusion to when this accidentally happened back in season two and it made Jims week. Its not easy to display a couple in the midst of an argument, especially if theyre a particularly well suited couple who even fight well together (which I assume they do because why wouldnt they?), but even if the episode couldnt quite pull that image together, they definitely nailed the reconciliation bit. Though my heart was sufficiently melted in regards to PB&J, there was even more emotion packed into this plot in the form of Dwights resistance to Jims effort to get his wife some delicious pie. As usual, Dwight is primarily concerned with nothing more of the situation than the cold, hard facts; the bottom line. Though Toby discovers some potentially hazardous violations during the building inspection, Dwight refuses to shell out the time and money required to fix the problem. That is until Jim sets up a fake electromagnetic hot-spot indicator just above Dwights desk and leaves an almost entirely uncooked bag of popcorn just underneath to suggest the zone Dwights bits occupy could be very much at risk for health problems, among them infertility. I really like this as Jims prank is only meant to convince Dwight to shut down the building for a week so Pam can enjoy some time off, but it inadvertently does so much more. It forces Dwight to consider the possibility that he wont be able to ever have kids of his own; something which he later realizes significantly disturbs him. I thought Jims pep talk to Dwight about how the staff is kind of like his children because they work in the building he owns was a bit too weak of a resolution, but its better than nothing which is something that occurred too frequently on this show last season. Plus, not only did I completely crack up when Dwight commented that Jims prank of actually creating several authentic health hazards was his best yet, but when Dwights sadness peaked he yelled at Jim calling him, the alpha male, which I saw as the first glimpse this season of why Dwight will eventually leave The Office to start The Farm, an enterprise Im not necessarily thrilled about, but one Im still willing to check out. Its one thing to make us feel sympathy for a generally unattractive (personally, not physically) character when that character is Dwight; its a whole other ball game when that character is Nelly. Sure, you would probably want to kill Dwight if you had to actually work next to him, but from an audiences perspective hes arguably the best character of the entire series. Nelly on the other hand is neither someone youd want to actually work with nor is she a character audiences love. However, the writers have been doing a bang-up job so far this season of making Nelly a more sympathetic human being. Now that she apparently is trying to adopt a baby (I loved Andys reaction to this A baby what? A human?!), Nelly has achieved (depending on who you ask) a complete 180 from her turn last season as the cruel and unusually inept corporate bureaucrat who usurped Andys job. Last episode Nelly was paired with Pam in the series ongoing campaign to humanize Nelly and this week they brought out the big guns in Erin, the cutest orphan ever. Ive been loving the dickish Andy whos hell-bent on making Nellys professional environment about as difficult as possible she did ask for it but I think its interesting to watch the writers turn a traditionally quintessential Nice Guy into an overbearing jerk (to one character, though hes been pushing boundaries with everyone as evidenced by the Fail Video cold open) while taking a universally despised character and doing everything possible to humanize her. Though Im sure not every viewer is jumping on the Nelly train, the writers efforts cannot go unrecognized and I appreciate them generating conflict for the audience (now were not so sure who to root for, supposedly) instead of making it a simple, clear-cut choice. Speaking of Andy, I mentioned in my review of the last episode how I thought the writers have just given up trying to make Andy the new boss while simultaneously distinguishing him from Michael and this episode just confirms it. The writers are totally just writing Andy as if he were Michael. From the Fail Video cold open in which Andy tries way too hard to make an effectively hilarious short (which definitely looked like a Great Scott ® production to me) to his wondering aloud as to how no one attempts to constantly murder Toby, Andys new persona has Michael Scott written all over it. Im more than fine with this as no one wanted Michael to leave in season seven to begin with and at least now the writers are just being honest. Plus, Ed Helms pulls it off wonderfully. I also liked Work Bus because of how efficiently and effectively nearly every single character was used. Whether it was as subtle as Petes expression when Andy dubbed his voice in the Fail Video or Stanley looking directly into the camera to happily shout, Next stop pies! almost every member of this ensemble got to contribute in worthwhile yet not overbearing ways. I loved Creed attempting to hitchhike his way out of work only to end up on the bus with all of his colleagues. Both exchanges between Clark and Darryl were brilliant. And I even enjoyed Oscar gently (and generously) smushing a piece of pie into Kevins eager face. Its fitting that the general theme of Work Bus would be the desire to be a part of a happy, loving family. Jim strives to do all he can to make his wife happy; both Nelly and Erin struggle to achieve whats necessary so that a lonely woman and a lonely child can hopefully come together; even Dwight is devastated at the prospect of never passing on the Schrute name. After eight years of spending time with this cast (well, most of them anyway) the idea of community, of individuals working together for a common good, whether united by genuine desire or forced by unwelcomed circumstances, is clearly a central conceit of the series. Witnessing such a funny episode with genuine emotional resonance and thematic unity such as in Work Bus almost makes me wish the series would get one more season.