What I’m Watching: The Office

The Office: Season 7, Episode 17 “Threat Level Midnight” (B)

For me, this wasn’t an excellent episode, though it certainly was enjoyable. While some people really love the Agent Michael Scarn and "Threat Level Midnight" stuff, I've never been particularly into it. That said, it's pretty nutty and entertaining. There's a remarkable amount of suspension of disbelief necessary to get through this episode, though that's generally always the case on this show. Any kind of logical discrepancies are well worth it because of the hilarity that ensues here, especially having Jim star as the villain. I like the hold this show seems to have over some of its former cast members, such as Melora Hardin as Jan, which was predictable, and somewhat more surprisingly, Rashida Jones as Karen, uttering one of the episode’s best lines and then defending it when interviewed by the cameras. While I might often get on the case of a show like “Glee” for tossing out diegetic coherence for the sake of creating some sort of spectacle, I’m actually rather content about it because it just makes this episode so much more enjoyable. I don’t know how much it factors into the overall trajectory of the season, though it’s considerably better than a clip show, and I say that particularly in relation to the clip show that aired around this time last year and was quite negatively received. It’s interesting to see the culmination of Michael’s work through the eyes of a newbie like Holly or Erin who hasn’t been there for everything, and this episode definitely included some great throwbacks. Nothing besides Andy’s accent sticks out too much in my memory – any favorite moments?