Last Day at The Office

Last Thursday marked the U.S. airing of the two-hour final episode of the The Office, the brilliant British TV series that can still be seen on Thursdays at 10 on BBC America (or on DVD).

As expected, the special wrapped up the series in an entirely satisfying way. Anyone who has not seen this show (and has cable or a DVD player) should check it out. There are only 12 episodes and the two-hour special. The creators decided to stop there, to the dismay of many of the show's rabid fan base.

The show's premise: There is a BBC documentary crew filming at a company that is purported to be in the business of selling paper and paper products, though not much selling seems to be getting done. The camera captures the monotony of workaday life in this office in a drab, lifeless, industrial suburb of London called Slough. We are not spared the silences, the droning of office equipment or the over(or under?)whelming tedium of everyday events at a paper company.

The presence of the film crew elicits some show-off-y behavior from the office's inept and off-color boss, David Brent, a paunchy, goateed, forty-something, middle manager with a serious need to be the center of attention. Brent's antics don't inspire productivity in many of his employees, leading others within the company to conclude that the people at Slough are just 'having a laugh'. Brent is forever trying to joke around or get invited out to drinks with the younger employees. But he almost always comes across as inappropriate, misogynist and just embarassing.

Some examples:

1. Brent decides to get down to business one day early in the second season after receiving what amounts to a demotion for his first season antics. After kicking around some TV game show ideas instead of generating an important report, he concludes he must do something about safety and preparedness in the office. He conducts a fire drill with the help of lackey Gareth, but they have some trouble evacuating one of the new employees who is wheelchair bound. After a flight of stairs, they decide that it is just a drill, so they leave her on the staircase until the drill is over.

2. Brent hears an off-color joke from Gareth that has to do with the Queen of England and a part of the male anatomy, specifically that of a black man. He wastes no time in passing this joke on to the employees, but isn't sure what to do when Oliver 'The Office Black Guy' joins his audience mid-joke. One of the women in the Office complains about his inappropriate jokes, to which Brent argues, "He (Oliver) thought it was funny."

3. In the first episode, Brent feels compelled to tell the attractive, young receptionist Dawn, who is trying to eat lunch in the break room, about a 'scare' he had just had -- he thought he felt a lump in one of his testicles.

His employees react to his off-the-wall behavior with a mixture of indifference, disbelief and appeasement -- but their silences and stolen looks at the camera convey what words cannot.

Tim, the most relatable character in the office, has learned how to deal with Brent and spends much of his day amusing himself and trying to impress receptionist and partner-in-crime Dawn at the expense of his deskmate, the extremely self-serious, toadying 'team leader' Gareth, whose title, Tim always reminds him, was just given to get him to do things no one else wanted to do.

While most of the laughs come from David Brent (no surprise since co-creator Ricky Gervais plays him), the heart of the series lies in the unconsummated relationship between Tim and Dawn -- which is revealed in oft-unnoticed looks and awkward exchanges. Dawn is dating Lee, a thoughtless and unsupportive blue-collar guy who works in the shipping department. Tim tries to respect this, and is presumably also afraid of rejection -- but does take some chances, usually at the worst possible time and with embarassing results. Both Tim and Dawn have feelings for each other, but neither is willing enough to go out on a limb and disturb the status quo.

The great thing about this series is that they let situations develop slowly and naturally rather than forcing plot points into hour-long episodes.

The Office finds a great balance between humor and empathy, entertainment and awkwardness, cringeworthy moments and gutbusting laughs. Rent the DVDs, or buy the new complete DVD set which is due out on November 16th.