The fourth season of the American version of The Office is a bit shorter than expected. It is only 19 episodes long. The show is set in a typical office environment of the paper company Dunder Mifflin. It follows an ensemble cast but mainly around the regional manager of the Scranton branch, Michael Scott. Dunder Mifflin is a small company and thus they struggle to gain sales compared to the bigger companies. Dunder Mifflin noticeably lags behind in technology and sales technique.
Once again, the opening episode shows that some time has passed since the end of the last season. The paradigm has significantly changed and there is a new status quo. Jim and Pam’s relationship is as complicated as ever. They tend to gravitate towards each other, then separate, before gravitating again. While Ryan has accepted the surprising role at the end of the last season and becomes more and more of an unpleasant, cold-hearted person. It gets to the point where you will dislike him so much you cannot wait to see his downfall.
There are a lot of two-parters in the season, with a story arc that spans over two episodes. While these are fairly average themes for each episode, the writers manages to make it interesting, from accidentally getting locked up in the office to birthday work parties. At the same time, the show is ramping up a lot of references to events from previous episodes. These are nice bonuses to viewers who had watched all the way up til now while at the same time, are not significant enough to detract new viewers from understanding what is happening.
Relationships take on a large focus in the season. The various pairs are complicated and form a lot of the conflict within the season. Toby likes Pam but she likes Jim. Or how Dwight and Angela are seemingly arguing. There is a theme of dysfunctional relationships. Michael and Jan’s relationship was always dysfunctional and not ideal but it gets progressively worse over this season. With the threat of being closed down and made redundant now gone, there are still a lot of changes happening to the company due to new leadership. Michael Scott, being stuck in the past as he is (with behavior that is acceptable probably 50 years ago) finds it hard to adapt and feels threatened.
The stupid and cringeworthy moments of Michael never let up. He often mistakes one thing for another and does the exact thing that he shouldn’t, making the situation worse. He misinterprets, gets jealous easily, and is just all around a selfish and self-centered guy who knows no boundaries. Michael is loyal to Dunder Mifflin to a fault. There are times where he does not understand the gravity of the situation and how to act appropriately during it. It is unbelievable how stupid he could be at times.
Despite showing off all the characters’ most negative traits, at the end of the day, there are some moments where they truly care for each other. No matter how often Jim and Pam play pranks on Dwight, and how annoying he could be, Jim comforts Dwight in times of stress and need. Even if you were annoyed by Dwight in previous seasons, you can’t help but feel sympathetic to his character. The humor has come a long way and is a lot more natural. However, each character has at least one personality flaw or quirk that makes it hard to completely like them. Whether this be that they are weird, or too uptight, or too cruel, there is always something.
Like the previous seasons, what a way to end the whole season but with something crazy and completely unexpected. That is one good thing about The Office, it isn’t afraid to risk it all with surprising developments. Overall, the fourth season of The Office is effectively more of the same shenanigans. The show seriously hinges on its main characters, Michael, Jim and Dwight, on how much you will like the show.
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