The Office: Season 6 Episode 14: Sabre – TV Review

“The Office” showcased some fresh faces this week, with cameos by Kathy Bates and Christian Slater as the Dunder-Mifflin crew was forced to endure a merger with Sabre, the electronics giant that’s purchased the infamous paper company. With a new company and new characters added to the mix, this week’s episode could have skyrocketed to another level, unfortunately, it fell far below the bar.

The Players:

• Director: John Krasinski
• Writer: Jennifer Celotta
• Cast: Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak, Ed Helms, Melora Hardin, David Denman, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Creed Bratton, Kate Flannery, Mindy Kaling, Ellie Kemper, Angela Kinsey, Paul Lieberstein, Oscar Nuñez, Craig Robinson, Phyllis Smith, Christian Slater, Kathy Bates.

The Shows Plot

“The Office” is a mockumentary following the mundane, yet hilarious, lives of employees of the paper company, Dunder-Mifflin, in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Title of this Week’s Episode: “Sabre” Season 6: Episode 14

When Sabre comes in to take over Dunder-Mifflin, Michael (Steve Carell) struggles to accept their new policies. Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinski) have an interview for a local daycare they really want to get into, while Andy (Ed Helms) and Erin (Ellie Kemper) work on a welcome song for Sabre as Erin patiently waits for Andy to ask her out.

The Good:

• Andy’s Welcome Song to Sabre: Perfectly silly, relevant, catchy and dorky, Andy’s song to Sabre awkwardly mispronounced the companies name over and over and over forcing some great awkward laughter.
• “Retired” David Wallace: Michael’s ex-boss is having a difficult time adjusting to his down time, now that he’s no longer working at Dunder-Mifflin, which is sadly hysterical.
• Yet Another Fantastic Soundbite: Sure to make 2011′s “The Office” daily calender: “Too much change is not a good thing, ask the climate.”

The Bad:

• Celebrity Cameos: Christian Slater was even more pointless than usual: which is saying a lot, while Kathy Bates was too mean and not funny enough. “The Office” is a comedy, and it seems like  these two actors missed that memo.
• Storyline: The merger of Sabre with Dunder-Mifflin is a fine way to move the story of “The Office” forward but instead of adding to the show, it lacked laugh out loud moments.
• Pam and Jim: Pam and Jim’s storyline is sweet and, in many ways, is the heart of the show. This episode however seemed far too premature and really far fetched (interviewing for daycare in a small town as though they lived in Manhattan, really?). I’d suspend my disbelief if it was at least funny, which it wasn’t.

Overall:

“The Office” is never bad but, every rare once in a while (like last night) it wasn’t very good. With so many celebrities out there, Christian Slater and Kathy Bates seemed like bottom of the barrel casting and instead of proving they were a good fit for a show as hysterical as “The Office,” both actors fell really short and took away from the great chemistry of the ensemble. While there were a couple moments that made me smile (Andy’s song, Michael’s childish anger over the inevitable change) this episode was certainly not must see TV.  Hopefully, as this story progresses (along with Kathy Bates’ character) things get much more interesting and in turn, much funnier.

Rating: 5/10

“The Office” airs Thursdays at 9pm on NBC