The Office Recap: Roy’s Wedding

Come on now, this one was supposed to be special.

They’re bringing back Roy (David Denman), Pam’s former fiancé, the brutish alpha male who stood between her and Jim for so many seasons. He’s getting married, and Dunder Mifflin’s power couple is invited to come.

Last week set up an interesting endgame: maybe Jim wants something more than just being with Pam. Who knows, maybe he’d even take worldly success in Philadelphia over her. If we knew what exactly that meant besides someone on the other side of a telephone, maybe we’d be interested. So far, that hasn’t happened. But we’d like it to.

This week, we learn he still has not told her. This doesn’t make a lot of sense. Why not? Wouldn’t she support him? Since Jim and Pam got together, they’ve been resolutely dull in their resolute commitment. This story seems to exist only because the producers need it in order to have something for Jim and Pam to do. There needs to be something more—say, a girl who Jim was in love with in high school who is part of the start-up—something that seems like a true existential threat to Jim and Pam. But it’s not there.
Roy, we learn, is a new man. Successful, in love, and showing a latent sensitive side that Pam could never unearth. “I dodged a bullet,” he quips to Jim, before surprising everyone by serenading his new wife. Jim seethes as much as Jim is capable of; he is working secretly on Pam’s behalf as well, but for those unclear reasons, he can’t tell her.

And then, maybe halfway through the episode, Roy is gone. The rest of the show takes place at the office, which is very, very far away from “The Office,” the show we fell in love with. The two new guys, who we do not like or sympathize with, make moves on Erin. The “New Jim,” who’s blank stare and stilted delivery is just plain weird, may have sparks with Erin. But who cares? Erin is a laugh, but she’s hard to take seriously. Ditto this guy. Dwight and Nellie go on about something involving the Taliban. It’s never very clear, nor very funny.

Greg Daniels: figure this Jim and Pam thing out soon. Otherwise, we’ll all realize that you are just marking time, and that this show really did end when Michael Scott pulled off his microphone.