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THE OFFICE, an unexpected surprise

 



In this last month I've been doing a full immersion in a tv show that I had only heard about before, but always underestimated; i'm talking about "The Office", US version.

I approached this show after watching, under advice, a couple of very funny scenes and so I decided to start from the beginning and try to give a closer look. And so during my smartworking every lunch break and every evening my TV or pc was tuned to Netflix or Amazon Prime Video to watch a few episodes.

Well I must say that I haven't regretted it at all, in fact I found all seasons always funny, very good characters especially as representatives of different types of employees (I know something about it being also a character in my "the office"), the dynamics always exaggerated but never too far from the real dynamics that you can live in an office.

There are 9 seasons in total and certainly the first 7 fly away very, very quickly and there is always something to laugh about; then the last two are a little weaker than the previous ones, but mainly for the lack of the character that before somehow always dragged the rest of the group, that is the boss Micheal Scott, played by Steve Carrell. Let's say that in the last two seasons, given the lack of the character and perhaps even the most charismatic actor, we tried to enhance the same way all the other characters and then lead them in the last episodes of season 9 to an end more appropriate for each personal story. So at the end I can only recommend these last two seasons too.

What are the five things I will take with me from watching The Office?

1- The representation of some extreme, but realistic work dynamics. The competition between colleagues forced to share the crumbs, the time wasted in the office pretending to work (almost every PC screen in the office during working hours shows a game of solitaire in progress), an incompetent boss who in his stupidity is sometimes even sympathetic and human, the love stories or affairs that arise between the desks of the offices and finally many, but really many masks with their foibles, small and big badness, acts of generosity, envy and a lot of humanity;

2- The evolution of some characters over the seasons. For example, Michael Scott in first episodes was a total idiot, but as we get to know him better, it becomes clear that he also has some qualities, he can handle himself in some situations and perhaps it was his life in "the office" that made him so. One sentence that strikes me is when he says to Jim, who had replaced him for a short period of time and who was complaining to him about the difficulties of managing his colleagues and about the fact that he would never have remained other 10 years working as employee: "I've been there. You'll see in 10 years." Or even the character of Dwight, hateful at the beginning, but more and more human during the the season and in the end almost tender in his obsessions and his attachment to the work;

3- the fact of always being able to invent new and funny sketches for the beauty of 204 episodes. Something not simple at all;

4- the importance of watching the episodes in original language. Yes, because even if you do not understand English well, I guarantee you that seeing the guys from The Office dubbed is not the same thing. So it is a show to watch only in the original language, at most help yourself with subtitles.

5- the final sentence by Pam's character in the last episode that perhaps can represent not only the protagonists of the show, but also most of their viewers: "I thought it was weird when you picked us to make a documentary, but, all in all, I think an ordinary paper company like Dunder Mifflin was a great subject for a documentary. There's a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn't that kind of the point?"

In conclusion, if you want to have a laugh, lose twenty minutes without thinking (and in these days you need it a lot) I suggest you give a chance to this hilarious tv show.

 

PS: links to some very hilarious sketches that convinced me to watch the office:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmb1tqYqyII

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO8N3L_aERg

 

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