What I'm Watching: The Office

The Office: Season 7, Episode 15 "The Search" (B-)

This installment may have a few strong moments, but as a whole, it had some serious structural problems. Field trips out of the office are always tricky, and I was impressed with the way this one was set up. Jim does tend to be a pretty panicky parent, and therefore his decision to leave Michael at the gas station in order to free Cece from the confines of a car made some sense. Accidentally taking Michael's wallet and phone with him led to an amusing series of events, but a magnificent episode of television does not that make. Michael's procedure made sense, but I had some trouble buying the crack team of office workers not so hot on his trail. Holly is like Michael, sure, but the idea that they could both think exactly the same got old pretty quick. Dwight is a rather inconsistent character and, by contrast, Erin is a very consistently stupid character. Holly has never really done a good job of fitting in with anyone except Michael at the office, so mostly it was just a bit awkward. The rooftop reunion, and Erin's reaction, was definitely cute though. Gabe's objections to the office contest make him stick out like such a sore thumb when there are already enough characters who don't quite fit in at the office. The captions were decently funny, but the storyline itself was hardly exceptional. Hopefully this latest turn of events with Michael and Holly should make for some superb upcoming episodes.