The Office – “Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager” – review

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Where has this The Office been hiding all season? Much of Season 6 has been hit or miss (mostly miss), at times being hard to watch, and others surprisingly sweet but weak in the B plot. I felt like I was watching something from the show’s earlier seasons last night.

First off, Jim. JIM!. I have missed you so much. Last week you came out of your shell a bit, getting more involved in things, but now you’re back to your old pranking self, it seems. Admittedly that has a lot to do with Dwight becoming acting manager. Anybody who watches The Office knows that Dwight has a bizarre managing style that’s very heavy-handed (he installs an old punch clock and makes all breaks staggered so there’s no eating together). Naturally Jim feels the need start a rebellion. Sorry, I mean a social club. A social club that plans to overthrow the leadership…of the office. Classic Jim. He is at his best when he’s playing mind games with Dwight.

Dwight being Dwight, he goes too far with his power trip. He starts walking around with a gun so he has something to put in his holster (backwards logic if you ask me), and it accidentally goes off, leaving a hole in the floor, Andy partially deaf, and his job in jeopardy. Everyone uses this opportunity to extort Dwight for things like massages (for Kevin) and reinstituting pet day (for Angela. No dogs.). Always putting honor above everything else, Dwight admits the incident to Jo (returning guest star Kathy Bates), who takes away his position.

I enjoyed Dwight’s time as acting manager. I think he took something away from it. Specifically, it seemed like he realized that his eccentricities can be a bit much, especially when he’s given power. He knew he was in the wrong. As Jim points out, aside from the gunshot, the day-to-day business was handled perfectly, and if Dwight wasn’t so crazy he might have been a good fit for the job.

I’ve never liked Gabe. He’s boring and a butt kisser. But now that his heart has been broken and he wears his emotions on his sleeve, he’s become a lot more fun to watch. You just never know when or what his next outburst will be. Will he break down and cry like he did when asking Andy to never date Erin, or will he randomly shout “NO!” when Andy needs to go to the hospital and Erin offers to take him? It at least gives him something more to do. I’d be careful with it, because it could get old pretty fast.

At the end of the episode, Jo puts together a search committee for the new manager, consisting of Gabe, Jim, and Toby. This leads into next week’s hour-long finale. I’m kind of excited right now. There’s been this energy in the show every week since Steve Carell left, and I hope it will continue.