The Office – Dwight’s a bit of a slumlord

As far as cold opens go, I wasn’t completely sold on the first few minutes of last night’s episode of The Office. Dwight exercising his foot dexterity every day … ignoring the obvious lapse in continuity — shouldn’t we have witnessed that at some point in 130+ episodes? — I also didn’t need to watch Dwight attempt to type an apology note to Pam with his toes. On the other hand, the coffee gag that Jim pulled on Dwight — which he appeared to almost regret — was great.

I’ve really been enjoying Dwight as the new owner of the office building this season. I feel like it’s been used well, woven into the fabric of the show so as to enhance all of the other things going on from week to week. And last night it served a second purpose: when juxtaposed with Jim versus Dwight in the cold open, Pam versus Dwight took the cake. Plus the new enemies seem primed to fill the void that boring Jim has left on the show.

What’s interesting about Dwight is his ability to withstand just about anything under the sun. Keep in mind that all of the money saving changes he made to the office affect him as well. Limiting the use of heat and air-conditioning, setting the lights on motion sensors (and obviously angling the sensors a bit too high for humans), and stocking half-ply toilet paper have all the makings of a slumlord. The little muffin and coffee corner in the lobby, on the other hand, is a great entrepreneurial initiative. And if you’re wondering, this story was the perfect expansion of a brief cold open idea into an extended, episode-length plot.

I definitely can’t ignore the fact that Dwight now has an assistant. I really liked the scene where Pam called Nate to schedule a meeting with Dwight the landlord, and Nate in turn called Dwight, who, sitting across from Pam, told Nate to make up an excuse for why Dwight couldn’t meet with her. Classy. I’m a little nervous about Dwight’s intentions in letting Pam win — from a show perspective, because evil and dark are a hop, skip, and a jump over a fine line — but I like that Pam is finally taking a side in the battle against Dwight.

I know that some of you haven’t been so happy with Andy and Darryl’s relationship, finding it empty and meaningless, but I’m really enjoying what’s going on between the two mismatched colleagues. When Darryl gets to a place where he’s a bit more open and expressive, he and Andy mesh in a highly amusing way. Remember the Sabre printer incident last season? Tough guy Darryl is sort of one-dimensional, but we know that he can do better. And I liked his warning to Andy to adjust his standard for what’s worthy of a text. That would kind of make more sense if Darryl was on a pay-as-you-go plan and it cost him money every time Andy texted him, but I see his point. I’m liking them.

As for the main plot of the episode … not even worth our time.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Dec 03, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT