The Office: Season 8 Review

Note: Full spoilers for The Office: Season 8 follow.

Looking back at my review of The Office's Season 7, I concluded with the hope that the writing staff would plan the next year out ahead of time because having a destination in mind (in last year's case, sending off Michael Scott) seemed to have done the show some good. Too bad they didn't take that advice. Instead of a heading in a single, coherent direction in Season 8, the stories and the characters were all over the map.

Season 7 ended without revealing the next branch manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton, but the question was answered soon enough in the season premiere, "The List," with Andy sitting in the corner office. The choice wasn't out of left field, and it had some potential to bring a new flavor to the show – the insecure manager who is in over his head and knows it, rather than the incompetent manager who desperately wants to be one of the guys – but instead of properly cultivating Andy as a manager, they decided to have him share the spotlight with James Spader's Robert California, who wore out his welcome early on (as I feared he might). Even when Andy did try to flex his managerial muscles, as in "Garden Party" and "Gettysburg," the storylines were too absurd to accept as legitimate character development, yet not funny enough to make it worth pushing the reality of the show to an ever more extreme degree.

Speaking of "Garden Party" and "Gettysburg," there were quite a few outings that took the characters away from the office this year, including an entire arc set in Tallahassee, Florida (more on that storyline later). I suspect the motivation behind this was to change things up and keep them fresh, but it didn't always work. There were times, like in "Pool Party" when it felt like I was watching a different series – an Office spinoff, maybe – instead of the show I know and used to love. It wasn't always a problem with the locations themselves, but with the writing. By the time Andy and Erin crashed a stranger's bachelorette party to break up with his bland girlfriend, I wished they'd been part of a different show.

I haven't made it a secret that I'm not much of a fan of the Andy and Erin relationship. Last season, Andy pined for Erin while she was dating Gabe, so I guess it was Erin's turn to carry the torch. The writers fell back on the old love-triangle trope, giving Andy a girlfriend, but they didn't bother to give her any personality or defining characteristics. So I wasn't rooting for either side, really. There was also a potential romantic entanglement between Andy and Robert's wife (guest star Maura Tierney) in "Mrs. California," but that went nowhere. The last few episodes of the season devoted a good deal of screen time getting Andy and Erin back together, which proved to be a bit of a letdown after a run of some of the best episodes in a long time.

Those episodes made up the previously mentioned Tallahassee arc, which demonstrated that there is life, and laughs, left in this show when they get it right. Beginning with the 14th episode, "Special Project," we got a great business-related arc centered around the launch of the Sabre Store down in Florida. It was a silly idea, but the characters involved made it interesting and fun. Dwight got a chance to experience both the thrill and the stress of leadership while Jim had his hands full fending off the affections of crazy Cathy. That little drama resolved better than I'd hoped. I enjoyed seeing Jim squirm and being forced to turn to Dwight for help (their scenes together were some of the best of the whole season). Poor Cathy was punished for her actions by being banished from the show, never to be mentioned again. Ryan was true to character, talking a big game but ultimately choking when his big moment came. And of course, we'll never forget you, Florida Stanley.

For everyone else in the Office, the stories were relatively minor. Pam and Angela both had babies named Phillip, but the origin of Angela's pregnancy had much more intrigue to it. There were hints all along that the father of Angela's baby was not her possibly gay state senator husband, but the issue resided on the backburner for the majority of the season. It wasn't until the finale, "Free Family Portrait Studio" that Dwight finally took the initiative to get the kid tested. And we still don't even know the outcome (though they left little room for doubt).

The only other plot of note was the subdued and sweet courtship of Darryl and the new warehouse forewoman, Val. Grounded in realism, Val was one of the better new characters introduced this season. I also appreciated the expanded role of Nate, Dwight's former handyman who became a warehouse worker in "Lotto." He's like the Creed of the warehouse, stealing entire scenes with just a line or two (Creed continues to reign supreme in that regard, though).

While we're talking about new characters, I can't avoid mentioning Nellie (recurring guest star Catherine Tate), who first appeared briefly interviewing for the manager job in "Search Committee" and returned as the head of the Sabre Store project in "Tallahassee." I had hoped that Tate would be a colorful addition to the cast, but either the material failed her or she failed the material – I'm not sure which, but there was definitely some fail involved on some level. Hopefully the writers will tone her down next year and make her part of the ensemble rather than trying to make her into the new Michael Scott. And then they can focus on Andy as manager, which they should have been doing all along.

To be sure, every season of The Office has had its ups and downs. It used to be that the peaks were steeper than the valleys; now, it's the opposite. At this time last year I didn't think the writers and cast had another season in them, and yet here we are heading into Season 9. At this point, I'm too invested in the characters to give up on the show entirely – and I am looking forward to seeing David Wallace in charge again – but with the big changes in store and potential departures both in front of and behind the camera, it's hard to imagine that the show will recover the ground it's already lost.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/18/the-office-season-8-review