"THE OFFICE" WITH BECCA
BECCA SEEL
Issue date: 11/6/08 Section: Arts and Entertainment
Well, it was fun while it lasted. After smooching in front of David Wallace in last week's episode, Holly is forced to transfer back to New Hampshire. So Holly, Michael, and Darryl take a seven hour trip to NH in one of the warehouse trucks to move Holly back up. The pair is optimistic; they'll visit on weekends and talk over the phone, but as the ride drags on they begin to realize how difficult their relationship will become. Holly begins to cry and tells Michael she thinks it would just be best to break up. Michael refuses to listen to her, then swears to make it "way harder than it needs to be." He spends the rest of the ride guilt-tripping Holly into feeling bad about breaking it off, only making her more upset. The ride becomes more and more painfully uncomfortable; their entire breakup occurred in a cramped cab of one of the warehouse's trucks. Sure, it's sad to see Michael sustain more heartache because it brings out the worst in him, but the show was slowly being dominated by their relationship. Hopefully focus will shift away from Michael's romantic life and back on characters in the show who have been unjustly neglected.
Indeed, so far this season the show has had three foci: Michael and Holly, Jim and New York Pam, and the Andy-Dwight-Angela triangle. The show needs to branch out and diversify its story lines if it has any hope of having a good season. However, this week Dwight and Andy's rivalry was hilarious. Dwight has decided he's applying to go to Cornell to pursue a "higher education," since without the agricultural school, "we probably wouldn't have cabbage. At least modern cabbage." Andy, an alum who partied through his undergrad years, is fiercely devoted to his alma mater and is enraged by Dwight's Cornell sweatshirt, pennant, coffee mug, and bobblehead. Luckily for Andy, as Cornell's alumni rep for the area, he is Dwight's alumni interviewer, and as Andy tells the camera Dwight has a "none percent chance." And just as I hoped, it was hilarious, ending with Dwight swearing to instead apply to the "vastly superior Dartmouth," and a pulling fight with the table.
Apparently pranks run in the Halpert family. Pam, Jim, and his two brothers have a lunch in the city to get to know each other (i.e. for sibling approval of Jim's engagement). Pam wanted to trick Jim into thinking she lost her ring, but the brothers decide that it would be funnier to make fun of Pam's future profession. Instead of being amused, Jim is visibly aggravated, and Pam glances at the camera, assumingly doubting her choice to pursue art. The couple walks out of the restaurant initially agitated, until Jim gets a text message from one of his brothers "Pam-cool, welcome to the family." (Btw, Jim's Halloween costume was my favorite.)
Indeed, so far this season the show has had three foci: Michael and Holly, Jim and New York Pam, and the Andy-Dwight-Angela triangle. The show needs to branch out and diversify its story lines if it has any hope of having a good season. However, this week Dwight and Andy's rivalry was hilarious. Dwight has decided he's applying to go to Cornell to pursue a "higher education," since without the agricultural school, "we probably wouldn't have cabbage. At least modern cabbage." Andy, an alum who partied through his undergrad years, is fiercely devoted to his alma mater and is enraged by Dwight's Cornell sweatshirt, pennant, coffee mug, and bobblehead. Luckily for Andy, as Cornell's alumni rep for the area, he is Dwight's alumni interviewer, and as Andy tells the camera Dwight has a "none percent chance." And just as I hoped, it was hilarious, ending with Dwight swearing to instead apply to the "vastly superior Dartmouth," and a pulling fight with the table.
Apparently pranks run in the Halpert family. Pam, Jim, and his two brothers have a lunch in the city to get to know each other (i.e. for sibling approval of Jim's engagement). Pam wanted to trick Jim into thinking she lost her ring, but the brothers decide that it would be funnier to make fun of Pam's future profession. Instead of being amused, Jim is visibly aggravated, and Pam glances at the camera, assumingly doubting her choice to pursue art. The couple walks out of the restaurant initially agitated, until Jim gets a text message from one of his brothers "Pam-cool, welcome to the family." (Btw, Jim's Halloween costume was my favorite.)
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