The last thing anyone expects from the first episode of The Office, season nine, is a glimmer of hope. After last season’s excruciating belly flop, in which a new and promising character, Robert California (James Spader), was squandered with insipid writing and incoherent characterization, and everyone else seemed lost and confused as to who their characters were anymore, the only reason to tune into the final season is some sense of loyalty for the show’s glory days. You don’t abandon a loved one just because they’ve gotten so sick and feeble that they’re hard to deal with—you stick around to the end.
But “New Guys†came full of surprises, even if it is far from perfect.
A lot of the same flaws are still there. Characters continue to be incoherent. Andy Bernard returns from an Outward Bound trip with a vitriolic vendetta against Nellie Bertram that is as puzzling as it is unsettling. Over the years, Andy has been volatile at times, but he has never been mean or vindictive, making his behavior in this episode baffling.
Also, last season’s irritating storyline involving Dwight possibly being the father of Angela’s new child is resolved quickly, thrown away like the refuse it was. Last season’s proclivity for recycling tired plotlines (read: Ryan and Kelly, Dwight and Angela) has been quickly abandoned. Greg Daniels, the show’s creator, has returned as show runner after a few seasons at Parks and Recreation, and he is clearly interested in nursing his baby back to health.
Promising signs are there. Jim and Pam do their first sit down after the summer, and we get a breakthrough: we hear the documentary makers speak for the very first time. The Office becomes aware of what it is, and one of the most nagging questions—who are these people behind the camera?—may finally be answered. They tell Jim and Pam that they’re interested in seeing how their marriage works out, and Pam says it is unlikely that anything exciting will ever happen to them.
Jim grimaces.
Yes, there is a story to be told this season, and the new Daniels team doesn’t waste any time making it happen. Jim has stumbled upon one last opportunity to really make something out of himself. A man who many assume is content if he has his Pam apparently burns with more ambition that you might think.
The Office has always felt like the story of Jim and Pam—they are the audience’s stand-ins, who react to Dunder-Mifflin the way we’d like to think we would. For their relationship to be challenged, strained, or even ended this season would give the program a nice sense of closure.
The Office is still damaged, but for the first time in quite a while, we are being given a reason to watch. And that was what brought us here in the first place.
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