“The Office” airs first two-part episode; a success or disappointment?
For the first time in the history of “The Office”, the show airs a two-part episode titled “Lecture Circuit”. Michael and Pam go on a road trip to deliver speeches to the other Dunder-Mifflin branches. Jim and Dwight, meanwhile, forget Kelly’s birthday as new heads of the Party Planning Committee.
Lecture Circuit (Pt. 1)-
Overall, a solid episode. There’s a nice balance of humor and story progression. The antics in the office itself provide most of the episode’s laughs, while Karen’s reappearence during Michael’s lecture circuit is a nice surprise that propels the story in an interesting direction.
Like Pam, the diehard “Office” fans gain closure from Karen’s brief recurrence. Who truly hasn’t wondered what happened to her? Before this episode, the question had been sitting in the back of my mind, waiting to be answered. Now, it can be put to rest.
Karen is happy, pregnant, and in a seemingly good relationship. Reflecting the audience’s immediate reaction, Michael briefly jokes, Is it Jim’s baby?! But (thankfully) it isn’t and Karen’s story is neatly resolved. Michael notices Pam’s happiness with her recently gained closure and realizes he never got that same closure with Holly Flax, his ex-girlfriend who moved to work in Nashua earlier this season.
Pam wants to go to Nashua to give MIchael the closure he wants and deserves. The episode ends with an unprecedented “to be continued“. Really? Did “The Office” actually just do that to us? Yes. Yes it did.
one week later…
Lecture Circuit (Pt. 2)-
Instead of the usual cold open, we have a special “previously on the office” montage. Bor-ing! And a little disappointing. Off to a less-than-stellar start. More Jim and Dwight party antics follow with a glimpse into Angela’s secret cat life. (She licks her newest cat, Princess Lady, to clean her. Come on…really?!)
Pam and Michael finally reach Nashua, but Holly is at some kind of H.R. meeting out of the office. A disappointed Michael becomes further hurt when he discovers that Holly has an office boyfriend named A.J. Unable to do the presentation, Michael makes Pam do it instead.
The episode, bland up to this point, has its one saving grace with the letter that Michael finds on Holly’s computer titled “Dear Michael”. He saves it on his USB drive and takes it with him. Pam reads it and assures Michael that Holly still has feelings for him. Michael somehow interprets this revelation as “closure,” but it is instead left quite open-ended. Does this mean we’ll be seeing Holly again? Soon? I sure hope so!
“Lecture Circuit” wasn’t without its problems, but the many good twists in the episode’s storyline made up for it. I think the biggest flaw of “The Office” right now is Mindy Kaling’s writing. She’s an excellent actress on the show, but if you compare the episodes that she has written (“Diwali”, “Phyllis’ Wedding”, “Lecture Circuit”) to the others — well, there is simply no comparison. Her sense of character is slightly off and most of the situations she creates are just not funny.
Would ditching Mindy as a writer help or hurt “The Office”? What’d YOU think of “Lecture Circuit”?
Sound off below!
