What I'm Watching: The Office

The Office: Season 4, Episode 10 “The Chair Model” (B+)

This episode isn’t quite as overwhelmingly funny as last week’s, but it’s still a hoot. Plotlines such as that of Michael’s crush on the chair model make good fodder for jokes but diminish the seriousness of the series, which is not something terribly important for the show. Michael seems just a bit too unlikeable when he is made out to be such a despicable person who bases his opinions of people purely on their looks. Nonetheless, Michael’s graveyard song tribute is a lot of fun. Kevin and Andy’s dogged pursuit of justice and the whole Five Families business is simply terrific. The most wonderful and affecting part of this episode is the relationship between Jim and Pam. Their joking banter about getting engaged is very amusing. My heart did actually stop for a second when Jim got down on one knee but I was even more impressed with his little joke to freak Pam out. I’m thrilled to see where this goes and I think this is a convincing argument for why Jim and Pam are TV’s number one couple.