photo: nbc
The Office
Shareholder Meeting
Original Air Date: Nov 19, 2009
KP – Editor-in-Chief
kp@thetwocents.com
Hello gang! I’m brushing off the Recap & Review dust from my keyboard and subbing in for Shannon this week. Not a lot of shows have ever affected me the way The Office has, so I’m very happy to pinch hit this week.
Watching episodes from Season 2, 3 and 4 on TBS lately, it’s made me realize that The Office has come a long way. All of it good? No. All of it bad? No. Some of it ugly? Well, yes. So, for today, we’re going to look at Shareholder Meeting as we do the entire series now – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Let’s begin, shall we?
The Good:
– The cold open was great! Not necessarily for Dwight introducing us to Re-Cyclops, but because as Re-Cyclops progressed from year to year, we got to see the changes at reception. Jim hanging out at reception, Ryan taking the place of Pam, and even the triumphant return of Ronni!
– Erin believes the limo is like what high school kids take to the prom on TV. Why do I think this is good? Because, yeah, I totally took a limo to my prom. Jealous?
– The limo driver being the guy who puts up the privacy blind because of the morons in the back. HA!
– The former senator in the hotel suite? YEAH!! That’s The Oneder’s first manager, Phil, from That Thing You Do. And let’s face it – anyone from That Thing You Do is “good”.
– David Wallace. ANYtime that CFO is in the house, it’s good.
– When Michael gets the crowd going, he does a spin and finger point move. Looks like David Brent’s dance from the BBC Office – no?
The Bad:
– Can we not get a new opening theme song sequence? I mean, come on. Doesn’t Ed Helms deserve a little love in the opening credits? What about the really long version they did for the Superbowl episode where they showed everyone?
– Michael wants to bring everyone in the limo, until he finds out that he can only sit 8 people in the limo. How did he end up with just Andy, Oscar and Dwight? Many more people raised their hands – why wouldn’t they go too?
– Jim, what happened Jim? Why are you so spineless? It seems everyone is coming down on Jim and for the most part he just takes it. Hell, even his own wife had to remind herself to stick up for him. I miss funny confident Jim. Don’t you?
– That’s an AMAZING amount of extras in the shareholder scene. Why is this a bad thing? Because I wasn’t asked to be one… :::tear:::
– Michael accidentally makes problems much worse because he wants to be loved. Yup, the plot of The Office is upon us again.
– Where’s Creed?
– Oscar backed down. That was disappointing – yet not a surprise.
The Ugly:
– Michael is invited to appear with the Board of Directors at the annual Shareholder Meeting – of course, he thinks he is a very special guest well beyond the scale of what it really is. Haven’t we seen this? Dwight’s Speech? Business School?
– Ryan. Ok, can we talk about Ryan? How can someone they consider one of the “Big 5” stars of the show have just NO direction in the show. They have NO idea what to do with him. So now he’s just a slacker? Zzzzz.
– Twilight references in EVERY commercial break. It’s coming out this weekend, WE GET IT!!! But I don’t care. I’m not in love with vampires and I’m not a little girl. It’s a movie starring Cedric from Harry Potter and the dude who was Sharkboy. Get over it people!
– Remember how important Angela use to be to story lines? Does anyone miss her as much as I do?
And a Sub Category…
The Confusing:
Jim putting Ryan in the closet. This had sniffs of Jim’s old days of playing pranks, but still was a part of Jim not having the juevos to discipline him for real. I’m very torn on how I feel about this.
So, there we go. There was more “bad” than “good” in this episode, however I wouldn’t call it “ugly”. After last week’s great Murder episode, I was let down with Shareholder Meeting.
What about you guys? Am I right? Am I wrong? What’s YOUR thought on spineless Jim? Did I offend every TwoCents reader who loves Twilight? I want to know. Share those Cents in the comments folks! See you there!
TheTwoCents 
I completely miss Angela! If you have ever seen her in interviews, she is the most fun, effervecent, playful and happy woman you’ve ever seen! It’s almost too funny that she’s has a seemingly bit role, but I *always* watch for her parts and die at her personality because it’s so counter how she really is! She will go on to much greater things than The Office, but my guess is she’s a far, far greater part of the creative genius comedy of The Office than anyone suspects and she is certainly part of how they come up with plots and subplots. As an actress she’s outstanding with improv.
With Jim, things do seem to be waivering. In fact, it’s hard to tell where this season is really going. it seems to be filled with fits and starts. Wasn’t it just a week or so ago that there was the huge issue of Michael dating Pam’s mom? That subplot would have been a season on Cheers! I can’t ever miss it though! And what happened to Andy asking out Erin. I know that sort of died last week in that weird way at the end where neither realized that they both want to go out. This show more than most others seems to open a plot line and then leave it cold for weeks, but seems to eventually get back to it. Tonight made Michael almost seem like he was going to be genius by getting the board out of the bad situation, then he calls in Oscar and then it just kind of ends. I hate to say this, but we may be seeing the beginning of the end of The Office. Just a vibe, but the concept may not have enough cohesiveness for another season after this and you know many of the cast are getting offers, some probably very good offers for other things. I doubt this will emulate the staying power of Seinfeld or Friends, although I think it’s doubtless this cast will be friends for life. You can tell the off-set chemistry is there.
I thought Jim’s discipline of Ryan was appropriate of Jim’s former style and you could tell how much Ryan disliked it by his quick response to work harder and longer hours. The episode would’ve been much funnier if the focus was on Jim’s attempts to show authority in the office.
The episode could’ve been a big winner if Oscar turned out to be a hero, but they really missed out on that opportunity.
Here’s a suggestion, maybe it’s time to get rid of Michael’s character, because the co-manager theme isn’t that funny. And maybe a show with Jim as the manager of an office filled with goofs, slackers, and misfits would be much more entertaining than what is being aired now. Michael’s character is out of control and just not that funny to me anymore.
I watch the show every week, but I no longer expect it to be funny. At this point I just hope to be surprised by something funny.
I don’t think you are Ward Cleaver, but you were a little hard on the beaver. Jim isn’t spineless he’s simply adjusting. He put Ryan in his place without having to fire him. And it was kind of prankish in his nature. Overall the show is running out of gas. Not much left for plot and even the laughs are few and far between. Twilight may be the metaphor for this one’s demise.