The Office: Season 6 Episode 20: New Leads – TV Review

“The Office” returned to its roots. No baby special, no St. Patrick’s Day “celebration,” no Kathy Bates, just the simple over the top office antics as portrayed by one of the best ensembles on television. Ever. This episode, entitled “New Leads” has tensions rising at Dunder-Mifflin as a new “Sales is King” policy is implemented. Does the return to office basics that viewers know and love pay off with laughs and an all-around great episode? Let’s discuss…

The Players:

• Director: Brent Forrester
• Writer: Brent Forrester
• Honorable Mentions: Greg Daniels (Developer), Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant (Creators)
• 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, 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: “New Leads” Season 6: Episode 20

“Sales is King” has the Dunder-Mifflin sales team thinking they are, quite literally king. Michael, as the ever lovable yet crappy boss decides it would be in the office’s best interest to hide a new set of leads in order to bring the hysterically hysterical salesmen (and women) back to earth. As with any good episode of “The Office,” a simple premise equates to one memorable half-hour.

The Good:

• Michal’s Scavenger Hunt: Just the thing Michael would do: hide the new leads around the office and provide Jim with “clues” to find them. Each clue was absurdly funny and “NOW that’s Italian!” can be added to “The Office’s” one-liner hall-of-fame.
• Dwight’s Arrogance: Dwight is once again ah-ma-zing. Always a great character, thanks to Rainn Wilson’s comedic perfection, it seems like he’s getting even funnier with age. The”king of kings” comment was so self-righteous one could not help but roll his/her eyes while laughing at the same time.
• The Dump: Starting with Dwight saying, “This place has gone to hell,” the scene at the dump was a great moment for Michael and Dwight and a real treat for the viewers. This moment was physical comedy at its finest and the influence of Lucy Ricardo in the creation and execution of Michael was wonderfully apparent.

The Bad:

• Jim’s Arrogance: Jim comes off as the most arrogant of the sales people in the beginning of the episode, which is quite off-putting. Thankfully, in the second half he comes around and returns to his lovable self, turning this negative into a positive.
• Andy and Erin: Their interaction this episode was not as heart-warming, not as cute and not as funny as it has been in the past. Sadly, what was great chemistry in recent episodes was a low point in this episode and, in many ways, the episode’s only flaw.

Overall:

“New Leads” is exactly the kind of episode that the fairly drab season six needed as the finale quickly approaches. This episode did everything right.  Every character was given laugh out loud moments and even Creed, without a word, was hysterical with a simple glance at the camera in his ridiculous glasses.

Michael and Dwight’s reunion in the dump was the kind of Michael/Dwight moment fans of the show have been waiting to see; the fact that it ended with a purple bean bag chair on the roof of Michael’s car and a fist-pound between the two anti-heroes was icing on the cake.

Overall, it was really nice to see “The Office” go full force with a well-written, directed and executed half-hour of great TV. The curse of Kathy Bates has been lifted with her departure and the Dunder-Mifflin crew is back with a vengeance!

Rating: 9/10

“The Office” airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9PM