"The Office" Watch-"Turf War"

Did this week's Office bring any surprises?

The Office: "Turf War"

While Community stumbled slightly this week The Office continued its run of ok episodes, it's sad that that now passes as compliment for the show but that is where we're at in season 8.

With Robert California getting wasted after finalizing his divorce, & then firing an entire branch in his drunkenness, he has finally become as big a problem for Dunder-Mifflin as he has been for the show. Now this is not to criticize James Spader, who has twisted every bit of comedy he could out of the character, but the writing staff that has continuously failed to give the character any real & defined motivations. At the end of "Turf War" the possibility developed for Robert to finally have something to do by warring with Andy but only seconds later Andy all but won. While Robert's melt down failed to give him much to do at least this time it spurred the rest of the cast into action. 

The A story followed Andy, Dwight, Jim & a member of the Syracuse branch (played by Chris Bauer, making him the 3rd alum of The Wire along with Amy Ryan as Holly & Idris Elba as Charles Minor to appear on The Office) as they attempted to nab the biggest client of the defunct branch. First off, thank God they gave Andy something to do besides wine & act like a petulant child, but the majority of the fun in this story revolved around the always dynamite Dwight & Jim pairing as they battled Bauer (now it sounds like I'm talking about 24). Most of the stuff the writers have tried this season has failed but whenever they've put Dwight & Jim together sparks fly & we're reminded why this used to be the best comedy on TV. Here they also got help from Toby, whose assumption of the role of made up salesman Lloyd proved to be the funniest moment of the episode. While Bauer's presence kept the whole thing grounded, a role I assume he fills on the ridiculous True Blood as well. 

When Andy wins the account we get the big reveal that he's going to try & usurp Robert California by convincing good 'ol David Wallace to buy Dunder-Mifflin. I'm unsure of whether having it revealed last week that David made millions off the army for his "Suck-It" idea in order to set all this up was brilliant or just a terrible deus ex machina, but I always liked Wallace & the show needs to do something to shake things up so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now.

The phone message storyline is a pretty cliche sitcom plot & the episode does little to enliven it but for the first time in a while Pam (who I used to love with all my heart) was likable & it continued the humanizing of Nellie so I'll take it.

Next week is the season finale, & with Dwight & Kelly possibly leaving, it will be very interesting to see the choices the show makes.*

*Or not according to Myles McNutt (that's his real, if ridiculous, name) who gives some great, if much harsher than my own, analysis of this episode & season. 

Grade: B**

*It should be noted that when I hand out grades they come on a curve. The quality of a B or an A grade episode of "Community" or "Parks and Rec" is roughly the same as they're the 2 best comedies on TV, but it's safe to say "The Office" is getting a full letter grade bonus in comparison to those 2, or the show it used to be 3 years ago. 

As always your thoughts on the episode are greatly appreciated.