“I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.”

— Andy Bernard, S9E25 (Finale)

I recently finished watching The Office, often lauded as one of the most successful of American sitcoms. Running over 9 seasons¹, it chronicles the tale of a small American paper company and its employees in the form of a mockumentary - a scripted show shot as a documentary. The cut shots of characters clarifying or putting down their internal thoughts imbues the show with freshness and excitement. Of course, I loved the show (what’s there not to like?); the characters and their stories and how everything falls into place eventually. However, this post is about analysing the Office from a pragmatic psychological viewpoint. I intend to present what I learnt from the Office.

Micheal Scott

“I knew exactly what to do. But in a much more real sense, I had no idea what to do.”

— Michael Scott

Micheal Scott (played by Steve Carell) is the glue that binds the Office together. I was hooked on his character right from the first episode² and his quirky, whole-hearted approach to interacting with other people. Sometimes, I used to suspect if there’s another person inside Kevin Micheal who is devilishly oblivious to social etiquettes. And yet, through his obnoxious, scandalous ways shines through his legendary unorthodox management skills, fueled by charisma and an insane amount of self-obsession and esteem. Micheal is a beaming paragon of self-confidence and where it can take someone.

“Sometimes I’ll start a sentence and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way. Like an improv conversation.”

— Michael Scott

Dwight K. Schrute

“There’s too many people on this earth. We need a new plague.”

— Dwight K. Schrute

Second to Micheal is the ever schemer of evil deeds, a self-styled sadist, entrepreneur, Dwight - an…urhm…“esoteric” person who made me swoon countless times. As I recount his borderline maniacal activities at Dunder Mifflin with a silent smile, I am also reminded of a man who placed discipline and determination above everything else. And it is his strong-willed, singular focus in life (not to mention his fanatic devotion to Micheal) that enables him to triumph in the end, him eventually ending up as the new regional manager of the Scranton branch, fathering a child from the love of his life, and inheriting a 1600-acre farm as heirloom. Against all odds, discipline triumphs - that’s what Dwight stands for.

“R is among the most menacing of sounds. That’s why they call it murder and not muckduck.”

— Dwight K. Schrute

Jim Halpert

“Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica.”

— Jim Halpert (pretending to be Dwight)

There’s always this one person in a sitcom who you just wanna see happy from the first episode. Presenting to you Jim Halpert, a charming young fellow stuck in a small meaningless job at a paper company. And yet through his decade at Dunder Mifflin, he falls in love, marries, and raises a family and earns respect and fosters friendships.

It’s okay to goof around and it’s absolutely okay to feel lost. Everyone else is on the same boat because no one knows what’ll happen tomorrow. It’s truly a blessing to be clear on one’s priorities and be able to act on them.

Pam Beesly

The love interest of Jim Halpert in the obligatory office couple romance trope of every sitcom out there. Maybe one doesn’t have to search too far. What one seeks is inside of them or sitting right in front of them.

Angela Martin

I never thought I would be including Angela in this post but oh well. Angela is the short shrewd lady at DM and my personal first impressions of her were not that “great”. But I realised how she projects her own sense of self-importance and doesn’t give in to other people’s whims just to be likeable. You can be (sometimes overtly) hygienic or smug and still pull it off, who knows.

Darryl Philbin

Darryl is perhaps the only guy in the office with considerable sense and intelligence and yet being in the minority classes, he is adamant and steady, taking one step at the time and climbing the corporate ladder. He is a no-shit person who brings great ideas and yet can be a heartwarming and doting father when the need arises.

Andrew Bernard

I cannot talk about Office without talking about Andrew Bernard A.K.A. the “Nard dog” and possibly the most flamboyant of all DM employees. The one thing that stood out for me was his impossible relationship with Erin Hannon. Although they made an ideal cute couple, by showing that they didn’t end up together (which I internally prayed for even till the last episode), they show a starker side of reality - one not of meet cutes and romantic dates but one of life itself where things go wrong or they don’t work out and however endearing a thing might be, might not be meant to be. And that to me seems like a powerful lesson to learn from the office.

Criticism

“I’m not superstitious…but I’m a little stitious.”

— Michael Scott

Feel free to skip this section, it’s just me ranting about some scripting inconsistencies I found/felt in the office.

Micheal was pretty wild and unhinged in the beginning seasons and then they probably rewrote the character to make it more “irritable” (likeable still but not so much). I saw Micheal as a maverick which was not quite there towards his ending appearances.

Also, was it only me or did they cuss more often in the last seasons?

And of course, the bane of all sitcoms - romance subplots. Jim-Pam made sense, but I really don’t understand why they had to bring in Kelly-Ryan, Dwight-Angela, Micheal-Holly, Andy-Erin. At one point, it got confusing because literally everyone was suddenly involved in an office romance. Too many cooks spoil the broth. The initial seasons were good because they elegantly balanced Jim-Pam cute hideaway romances with relevant pressing office issues. It sort of lost that charm towards the ending seasons.

Conclusion

What started out as a depiction of an average American small business company turned out to be a masterclass in life itself complete with fostering friendships and relationships. I can go on about the office about how wholesome and tasteful it is and its marvellous treatment of entertainment and comedy.

“I feel like all my kids grew up, and then they married each other. It’s every parent’s dream.”

– Michael Scott S9E25, Finale

Oh Michael.

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FOOTNOTES

1: A very very bad time to binge on the series for which I got pretty heavily (and justifably) criticised by my mentor.

2: Fun fact: I actually started watching from the second episode “Diversity Day” I don’t know why but yeah. I watched the pilot after the finale.