Super Bowl < The Office

Like the majority of my fellow Americans, I could not wait for this past Sunday (February 1st). Unlike most of them, however, I could not care less about sweaty, large men running around tackling eachother. As I sat with my family, eating pizza and watching the Super Bowl, all that was on my mind was what would come after the annual game. As 10:30 PM rolled around, I rushed to my TV and turned to NBC, overjoyed that The Office was finally on.

The Office, which is usually on every Thursday night on NBC at 8:00, is arguably the funniest show on TV at the moment. The writers have yet to create an episode that I dislike. The characters, unlike those of most modern TV shows, are loved for their sometimes strange and somewhat unlovable characteristics. There are no unrealistically thin & blonde girls with perfect fashion sense, no gorgeous Abercrombie&Fitch model-looking boys. The characters of The Office hardly ever say the right thing or look notably good. They do, however, present an unusual yet very real & natural charm that keeps the viewers laughing.

After seeing the hysterical commercial for this past Sunday's episode, I just couldn't wait to watch. I wondered, however, if the writers, directors, and actors could once again live up to the extremely high expectations I had. I worried that maybe they would run out of good jokes, or that the plot would be stupid.

My worries proved to be completely unnecessary. Once again, the team of The Office had me laughing through the entire 1-hour special episode. This episode, titled "Stress Relief", may have been one of the funniest and best episodes in the show's history, which almost never happens in a TV show's 5th season.

There were many different subplots to this episode. It opened with Dwight; the cocky, socially awkward, gullible, and lovable top sales man (and, as he so often points out, "assistant reigonal manager"), setting the office on fire to prove to his coworkers that they are not prepared for a "real" emergency. This ended with Stanley (the quite, stubborn, token black guy) on the floor having a heart attack. Of course, this was the perfect oppourtunity for Michael (the immature boss with no self-awareness who loves both himself and his job, played by the hysterical Steve Carell) to yet again prove how rediculous he is by saying (in an attempt to revive Stanley): "Stanley you will not die! Stanley! Stanley, Barack is president! You are BLACK, Stanley!"

It was all uphill from there. Michael attempts to de-stress the office in order to prevent a similar situation from reoccuring (in his words: "Nobody should have to go to work thinking, oh this is the place that I might die today. That's what a hospital is for. An office, is for not dying. An office is a place to... live life to the fullest. To the max. To... an office is a place where dreams come true."), which makes him realize that he is, infact, the one causing the stress. It is because of this that Michael organizes a Roast, which will bring everyone together to publicly bash him and, therefore, relieving the stress he is causing. He does not anticipate that his workers will have many things to say about him that would be better left unsaid. After a truly harsh bashing of Michael Scott (I must admit, it was very upsetting to watch), Michael goes off to contemplate his life and his problems on a playground. This saga ends with uplifting laughter among everyone at the office when Michael returns to the office and attempts to harshly roast his workers (epic fail).

While all this is going on, there is also the storyline of Jim and Pam, the best-friends-turned-lovers. Now engaged, they had yet to experience real problems in their relationship (aside from the insane sexual tension and obvious love connection confusion pre-lovers phase). But in this episode, Pam's parents are facing mariage troubles and, after talking to Jim, Pam's father tells his wife that he is moving out. Pam is convinced that Jim said something to her father that made him want to leave her mother. Turns out, she was right. "He (Pam's father) said that you (Jim) told him how much you love me (Pam). About how you feel when I walk in a room. And about, how you've never doubted for a second that I'm the woman you wanna spend the rest of your life with. I guess he had never felt that with my mom even at their best." CUTEST PAM-JIM MOMENT EVER. God, I love them.

So in conclusion, this episode was filled with fire, stress, singing and dancing to "Staying Alive", meditation, romance, a CPR dummie with no arms or legs, a new version of the song "What I Like About You", disses towards Michael, hysterical moments and a happy ending. AND to top it all off, there were cameo appearances made by Jack Black and Jessica Alba. It just doesn't get much better than that. Actually, knowing The Office, it just might get better than that.