The Office (US): Season 6

Plot

Thinking about the future with his upcoming wedding to Pam (Fischer) and a child on the way, Jim (Krasinski) gets promoted to co-manage the Scranton branch along with Michael (Carrel). However, there’s bigger changes ahead as hardworking Southern CEO Jo Bennett (Bates) and her large corporation Sabre buy Dunder Mifflin over…

Review

Six years in and you’ve got to wonder how much more mileage the yanks can get out of office life. After all, Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant decided to call it a day after only 12 episodes and a Christmas special of the original. But then, Greg Daniels’ Americanisation has been a different photocopying-beast ever since it (wisely) moved away from its rightly-adored British predecessor in season two, and has stayed consistently funny ever since. Happily, the sixth season proves Daniels and co won’t be getting their P45 yet…

Is it better than the last two seasons? Arguably, yes. Is it up there with the peak second and third years? No, not quite. Still, given that the forays into over-the-topness (‘Date Mike’ for example) don’t feel as frequent, the sixth instalment is another delight. Again, there’s a few ‘name’ directors getting in on the action (Harold Ramis, Mark Webb, half the cast), but the real spark remains in the writing…

Again, the office-related barbs are sharp (“the lost and found is missing!”), the characterisation spot-on and dialogue worth quoting. Debatably, the best material goes to Rainn Wilson’s power-hungry suck-up Dwight (“5 minutes ahead of schedule. Right on schedule”) and his banter with Steve Carrel’s man-child bossman shines as always (“Dwight, I want your undivided attention”… “You couldn’t handle my undivided attention”). As for Carrel, he holds everything together admirably with some truly brilliant facial expressions, but once more it’s the supporting characters who often steal the show. Just check out Kelly (a frequently-hilarious Mindy Kaling) applying for the ethnic minority management fast-track-programme. Genius.

Still, for all the hilarity, there’s also plenty of substance. With Jim and Pam’s long-awaited wedding moving them firmly into happily-married territory and even further away from romantic tension, it’s up to the other office budding relationships to carry Cupid’s can – and most of them manage it. Best of all though are the small, subtle moments, such as Michael admitting he likes having a co-manager to share the brunt of employee anger after a bad decision. And, so he can give him a ‘World’s Best Boss’ mug.