The office (2001) was something else
You know, after finishing the American version, I thought it might be fun to go back & watch the series that started it all but let me tell you it is anything but. In fact, apart from corporate, this just might be the most dour series set in an office building I have ever seen & yet somehow, I think it kind of works. Ultimately, it’s just so bizarre.
Much like its successor, the series focuses on branch manager, David Brent, & his employees at Wernham Hogg (also a paper company) but tonally it’s just the complete opposite. There are so many shots of just people staring out into space or talking indistinctly over music at the local club where they hang after hours. Plus, I saw at least one zoom-in shot that borders on voyeurism. It almost feels like you’re watching some sort of home movie from a bygone era. Even apart from that, it still feels very somber. From the melancholic theme song to the constant shots of overcast skies just outside the slough trading estate, it’s clear this is not meant to be a setting where the characters are supposed to be even remotely happy or contented.
I’m not even sure what to make of its attempts at humor. I mean I couldn’t find anything that passes for a joke in the season one finale & their few & far between attempts to crack wise just don’t feel all that organic or even humorous for that matter. I mean I guess it’s not impossible for a porno image to be circulating around the office but it definitely does not feel like an organic source of conflict nor is it conducive to getting laughs. There is a character, Finchy, who’s always saying non-pc things which can be funny but it doesn’t feel like they really know how to use his character correctly. I mean there is nothing about what he says that I find amusing. At least Packer had some interesting aspects to his character but I just find Finchy a hard person to get behind.
Episode five is probably the worst of the bunch. I mean the whole plot just feels like an exercise in futility as we see, during an office nightclub outing, Gareth getting with a woman only to reject her upon finding out she’s married. It ultimately seems to go nowhere & I’m just left wondering, “what was the point of any of that?” It’s not funny; it’s not interesting; it’s just the excruciating minutiae of everyday life. It’s basically emulating the tone of seinfeld but with none of the actual high-quality humor that accompanies it.
I think it’s worth noting too that although they may appear similar, David Brent is a far cry from the iconic Michael Scott. Unlike his American counterpart, he seemingly has no redeeming qualities. At least Mikey boy actually seemed to care about his employees & later girlfriend. Underneath all his goofy antics, his heart always appeared to be in the right place but Brent just comes off as nothing more than a shallow, vainglorious buffoon. Not only that but he was abysmal at his job too. How he ever got anywhere in life is way beyond me. But Gervais’s performance is always on point here. I mean he never felt like a caricature but, rather, a real (albeit abysmal) person.
All of this is not to say I didn’t like it; on the contrary, I think the series has done a terrific job carving out its own unique niche in the tv landscape. I don’t know if this is one I would ever do a rewatch of anytime soon (or ever, for that matter) but I certainly don’t regret watching it the first time. If anything, it seems like if Corporate (a criminally underrated series, by the way) tried to inject some lighthearted humor into its writing. & I think it definitely does a good job depicting the often bleak circumstances that can arise when working a white-collar job. But ultimately I think it’s best it ended when it did because I don’t know how much fuel they had left in the gas tank after two seasons & a christmas special. So I think when you actually dig down deep, it’s not that difficult to see why this has set the gold standard for British tv for generations to come.