The Office: Employee Transfer
By fred | October 31, 2008
(S05E05) One of the best thing that ever happened to The Office is without a doubt the addition of the great Amy Ryan to the show. At first I wasn’t sure how I would feel about something taking over, especially since it meant we would lose Toby, whom we pretty much haven’t seen since then, and it was always fun to see Michael hate on him. But once Holly walked in, I didn’t even remember who Toby was.
Michael had a pretty catastrophic love life so far, just look at the mess Jan is, but with Holly things weren’t just different, but also so great. For a moment there, and with Pam away in New-York, Michael and Holly had become the office’s cutest couple, they are perfect for each other, by her side Michael was actually not the same, he was better than his usual self, and Holly was able to see through Michael’s often disturbed behavior and knew how to deal with it.
But Amy Ryan isn’t part of the main cast, and that meant she might have to go. Last week I was hoping that, after Wallace found out Michael and Holly were seeing each other, writers would not go down the predictable way, but surprise us. Just like they often do with Jam, where it looks things are going a certain path but in fact, they’re not.
I really didn’t want Holly to leave, but she has been transferred, transferred far far away from Scranton, so sadly this is coming to an end. Once again, at the beginning of the episode they were still the cute happy couple in perfect harmony, they both joked the same, they were singing along like they’d been together forever and that would nor should ever change.
But alas, after 4 hours of travel and barely being halfway through the trip, it became obvious that it wouldn’t work. The breaking up in the van truly was heartbreaking, and once again both Ryan and Carell delivered amazing performances. The only “good” news we can take from this, I guess, is that Holly is still alive and part of the company, so it’s not entirely out of the question that she could come back later on – although we don’t want her for one episode or two, but to stay.
Now I just have a request: Michael is heartbroken, and despite everything he put Darryl through, it was great to see that he could tell Michael was really hurt, and that he helped cheering him up. Michael not fully grasping how singing the blues was supposed to be done, and yet making it work was completely Michael Scott. Now, when Michael broke and realized Holly would be gone, he admitted that he was weak and would return to Jan even though he hates her. Please, oh please writers, don’t make him do that.
I don’t care how badly hurt he is, I don’t care how low he might sink, Michael has suffered enough, Jan is a mess, a bitch, Michael was strong enough not to listen to her misplaced jealousy not long ago, and I really don’t want to see him going back there. (I really don’t want to see Jan anymore for that matter, actually.)
This week, the episode was made out of three stories completely independent from each other, three stories about three relationships. Michael and Holly, as we’ve seen, was the first one. The second one was, finally, some Jim & Pam. And just to get it out of the way right now, I’ll say that I was extremely happy to get to see Pam a little more, I’ve missed her lately, and my God she is gorgeous!
Posted in Reviews
Shows: The Office
