Freelance Writing Jobs | Today's Articles | Sign In

The Office: The Meeting Review

Jim’s Promotion is the Only Highlight of an Average Episode

Sep 27, 2009 Tom Mitsos

The second episode of The Office premiered on Thursday. Although the episode had a few laughs here and there, "The Meeting" failed to deliver.

“The Meeting” begins with David Wallace and Jim having a meeting in the conference room. Michael tries to sit in on the meeting, but Jim and David insist on just the two of them.

Instead of being able to sit on Jim and David’s meeting, the camera follows Michael and his attempt to try and get into the meeting. This is very different from what Office fans are used to. The show is known for following the characters around and allowing the audience to “eavesdrop” on their conversations.

However, the audience is left to guess what Jim and David are having a meeting about. With Jim confessing Pam’s pregnancy in the last episode, one possibility is the two are discussing the pregnancy.

Jim Is Promoted to Co-Manager

In the end, it turns out David was discussing a promotion to regional manager for Jim. This promotion for Jim would give Michael the opportunity to oversee all of the branches of Dunder Mifflin.

Instead, the three agree that Michael and Jim will be “co-managers.” This is a very interesting move as it could add some tension between Jim and the other workers, especially Pam.

With Jim being promoted to manager, he is essentially Pam’s boss. He may be required to discipline or even fire Pam. This will obviously put strain on their relationship, and with a baby on the way, things could get ugly.

Clearly, the person that will be most upset with this decision will be Dwight. He has been trying to get promoted at Dunder Mifflin since season 1. He will no doubt fail to take Jim seriously and his loyalty to Michael could be tested. Now that Jim is Dwight’s superior, the show will definitely want to exploit that for a few laughs.

Lastly, this promotion will be awkward for Ryan. In season 4, Ryan was Jim’s boss. He treated Jim like a second-class citizen and nearly got him fired. Now that Jim is Ryan’s boss, it will be interesting to see if Jim repays the favor, or simply uses it to scare Ryan.

“The Meeting” Had Very Few Funny Moments

While the story progressed with Jim’s promotion, in the end it did not deliver the laughs that are expected from The Office. Most of the episode was spent around wondering what David and Jim were talking about.

The show did provide some comic relief when Dwight and Toby tried to figure out whether Darryl lied about being injured on the job. However, the laughs do not compare to past episodes.

So is The Office running out of ideas? Absolutely not. Every season has their great episodes, and their mediocre episodes. This was one of the mediocre episodes. However, it will be interesting to see how Jim and the rest of the office handle Jim’s promotion.

The copyright of the article The Office: The Meeting Review in Prime Time TV is owned by Tom Mitsos. Permission to republish The Office: The Meeting Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.