The Office – Season Two

Posted by Jessica 5 comments


Description It’s time to clock in for Season Two of The Office, the hilarious and witty TV-mockumentary starring Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) in his Golden Globe Award-winning role. From sexual politics to performance reviews to email espionage, the employees at Dunder-Mifflin are there to get the job done…or not. Join earnest but clueless boss Michael Scott (Carell), Assistant to the Regional Manager Dwight (Rainn Wilson), receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer), sales rep Jim (John Krasinski), and the office temp, Ryan (B. J. Novak), as they make the daily grind a lot more laughable. Fully staffed with 22 outrageous episodes and hours of side-splitting bonus features, it’s the must-own collection that caused Time magazine to declare “Never has a lousy job been so much fun. “Amazon. comThank goodness for second seasons. While the first season of The Office started dubiously with a pilot that was just a poor copy of the original British version, it did manage to provide enough good material to stay on the air and hint that better was yet to come. And here it is. The second season of The Office finds its own footing and manages to do the near-impossible by not only breaking free of the gravity of that excellent BBC version to stand solidly on its own, but establishing it as one of the best comedies on TV. Season 2 starts out strong with “The Dundies,” where Regional Manager, Michael Scott (Steve Carell, The 40 Year Old Virgin) hosts the company’s annual office-awards event with his signature less-than-perfect grace. Things seem to only get worse for him this season as he bumbles a potential affair with his boss, Jan (Melora Harding), angers his employees by reading their emails (“Email Surveillance”), cooks his foot (“The Injury”), and accidentally destroys the warehouse with a forklift in “Boys and Girls,” one of the season’s highlight episodes. Always at his side is the clueless paranoid Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), the Assistant Regional Manager (“Assistant to the Regional Manager,” Michael always reminds him in one of the show’s running jokes). One of the reasons for the show’s improvement in the second season is increased focus on Dwight’s character, who’s becoming something of a pop-culture icon right down to having his own bobblehead. He in turn provides so much good material for Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinsky) to play off of, to their own amusement. But of course, Pam and Jim’s simmering relationship is the real meat of the show, as their compatibility becomes more obvious, Jim’s feelings for her continue to grow, and Pam struggles with the impending marriage to her less-than-caring boyfriend, Roy (David Denman). Things have to come to a head, and they do nicely in the final episode, “Casino Night. ” As strong as the leading characters are in The Office, it’s the excellent peripheral characters that really make the show hilarious, especially dimwitted office-slug Kevin (Brian Baumgartner), long-suffering intern Ryan (B. J. Novak), office-ditz Kelly (Mindy Kaling), and ultra-conservative Angela (Angela Kinsey). As with season 1, this season contains excellent bonus features to give you an excuse to spend more time at The Office, including the fake PSAs, commentaries, Michael’s The Faces of Scranton movie, the ten stand-alone webisodes, and deleted scenes. –Daniel Vancini
The Office – Season Two

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Dec 17, 2009
4:57 am
#1 Denver Guy :

I think that the BBC version is one of the funniest things that I have ever seen. Clever, witty, outrageously funny. . . .

I saw 3 episodes of the NBC version and didn’t even smile. Very boring, unfunny stuff. Maybe it’s me, or I just saw 3 unfunny episodes.

The BBC version had to be dumbed down for American audiences, I guess. In doing so, it lost all of its punch.

Rating: 1 / 5

Dec 17, 2009
5:53 am
#2 Anonymous :

I loved the UK Office. I loved the earnest characters, the drab office backdrop and the razor wit of Ricky Gervais. I also enjoy Steve Carrel, but this show has done nothing to grab me. Believe me, I have tried. I’ve watched all of season one and got one fourth the way through this season. The actors portray their characters so deliberately, not subtly. The jokes seem so forced. I did my best, but Gervais’ Office will always be THE Office to me.

Why do we Americans feel the need to remake and repackage everything popular that exists outside of our borders? If you asks me, it does not speak well of us as a nation and makes us come off as very close-minded and self-centered.
Rating: 1 / 5

Dec 17, 2009
6:12 am
#3 Anonymous :

the office i would not recommend to any one under 13 because of some crude humor but over all i love it! its like the best thing thats happend to the network that aired the show
Rating: 5 / 5

Dec 17, 2009
7:59 am
#4 Lourdes :

I am a huge fan of the original British version of “The Office”. I had serious doubts the American version could be anywhere near as good (I am American, by the way), simply because when you do a remake, it has to breathe and have a life of its own, not merely copy the original. This is not easy to do. But I was swayed by the glowing reviews of fans on Amazon. To my immense disappointment, I could not tolerate more than a few minutes of any episode of Season Two. Hard to say why. . . Probably it’s because I’ve seen it all before. There is nothing new here. I was hoping for a fresh creation from the same source, not merely a copy of the original (and a less funny one, at that). For example, it’s weird that the characters have so many of the same gestures, tics, and even appearance as their British counterparts. For heaven’s sake, couldn’t the writers take the idea and run with it? Did they have to slavishly copy the original? If you have already seen the British version, watching this is like seeing the same thing over again, but not as good. It is NOT like seeing an additional season of a show you already know and love.
Rating: 1 / 5

Dec 17, 2009
8:45 am
#5 Alex :

The Office is a mockumentary surrounding a group of typical office workers, where their workday consists of ego clashes, inappropriate behavior, and tedium.

What worked so well in the BBC program fails to translate in the American version. The awkward silences, the confessionals, and the naturalism seem artificial. Unfortunately the majority of the actors seem overly in on the joke and preoccupied with trying to recreate what made the British version flow so well, causing the show to feel unnatural and forced. The subtle blink-and-you-miss-um jokes feel all too unsubtle and sometimes over the top. The only actor who manages to rise above this is Steve Carell, the star of the show. Somehow I feel the American version of “The Office” is worthy of a laugh-track, and that’s never a good thing. Although I will finish by saying that as season two has moved on from imitating the British version it seems to be laying out its own ground which is promising. It’s starting to feel less like a phoney rip-off and more like a new creation.
Rating: 3 / 5

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