“Prince Family Paper”
January 22nd, 2009
Well, if there was ever any doubt, we are definitely in a transition period with The Office: this, the last episode before the big one-hour Super Bowl episode with all of the big guest stars, never pretends that it is something substantial, its A plot admitting to being a result of transition and its B plot entering into the list of most insubstantial, office minutia plots the show has ever attempted.
But there is something very charming about that lack of substance in the second plot of the night, an epic battle over whether or not Hilary Swank is hot that divides the office. There will be no long term ramifications of this battle, or to any of this episode for that matter; it is an episode designed to bridge the gap between different periods in the show. Now that we know that Idris Elba (The Wire) will be arriving as the new Jan/Ryan, Michael filling in for them will be a thing of the past.
However, sitting within this transitional space isn’t particularly a bad thing: it may not hit any new notes, or any sustained ones, but I feel like it nonetheless chose the right beats for an episode that will be swept under the rug over time.
Cultural Learnings 