The Office – “Michael’s Last Dundies” – review

The first (and until now only) time The Office did the Dundies was the first episode of season 2. That was five seasons ago, and a lot has happened since then. “Michael’s Last Dundies” brings all those changes front and center.

When The Office first started, it was a great mockumentary set in the real world, with real characters. Michael and Dwight were the craziest of the bunch, but they were still pretty down to earth. Nowsdays, everyone is caricature. All the situations are pretty wacky and would never have happened five years ago.

The biggest example is Jim and Pam. At the first Dundies, Pam was with Roy, and Jim adorably pined after her. They had a very sweet friendship, and it was painful to watch Jim suffer. Flash forward to season 7, when Pam and Jim are married and have a little girl. That’s good news for them, but for us? They’ve become stale and boring. Their stories aren’t even remotely interesting. The show has tried to recapture that magic by putting Erin with Gabe and have Andy pine after her, but those characters are far from real people. There’s no way to relate to such bizarre bunch. They’re occasionally funny on their own, but put the three of them together, and there’s no charm, no chemistry.

Thank goodness Erin finally broke up with Gabe. That was an incredibly awkward moment, and The Office does those very well. I cringed, and that’s what the show did so well in its first few seasons. It wasn’t the best moment, but I’ll take it. Plus it got Jim to make one of his best faces ever.

I’m still not comfortable with Will Ferrell guest starring. He has a great rapport with Steve Carell, but he doesn’t fit with the rest of the cast. I just want him to hurry up and leave.

This is the second to last episode for Michael Scott. His last Dundies ever. The whole office sang him a song at the end (modifying the lyrics to the opening song from Rent). It was nice, but also showed how different the show is now. That wouldn’t have happened in season 2. But it served a good purpose:  it made Michael realize how hard it’s going to be to leave his job and friends behind. Things are now set up for Michael Scott’s farewell episode next week.