Product Description
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Scranton’s most outrageous workforce is back to give their
clients the business in the fifth hilarious season of The Office.
Join obnoxious regional manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and
his fellow paper pushers Dwight (Rainn Wilson), Jim (John
Krasinski), Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Ryan (B.J. Novak) as they
steal customers, frame co-workers, indulge in intra-office love
affairs and just plain behave badly while a documentary film crew
captures their every word and misdeed. Developed for American
television by Primetime Emmy® Award-winner Greg Daniels, The
Office: Season Five features 26 uproarious episodes – including
two one-hour specials, exclusive commentaries, webisodes, deleted
scenes and more in a sidesplitting five-disc collection no true
fan of The Office can afford to miss!
.com
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Season Five is not just another day at The Office, delivering
break-ups, corporate shake-ups, and a game-changing finale that,
as with Jim (John Krasinski), should leave you ecstatic and
speechless. The writers continue their masterful handling of the
Jim and Pam (Jenna Fischer) romance, taking care of some
unfinished business from last season's finale in the season
opener with a glorious rain-swept station proposal. Their
initial separation--while she attends art school in New
York--avoids the usual sitcom mechanics ("We are not that
couple," Jim states as he aborts a panicked trip to see her). The
course of true love is no smoother for The Office's other soul
mates, Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) and "major dork" Holly Flax
(an Emmy-worthy Amy Ryan), the new HR rep. Meanwhile, Angela
(Angela Kinsey) and Dwight (Rainn Wilson) are having office
trysts under the nose of her fiancé, Andy (Hangover star Ed
Helms, having a breakout season in a career year). On the
corporate front, Michael shockingly quits after butting heads
with no-nonsense new boss Charles Miner (Idris Elba). In a
brilliant stroke, Jim immediately gets on Charles's bad side,
much to Dwight's delight. The formation of The Michael Scott
Paper Company is a highlight of the season, as Michael and his
dream team, Pam and Ryan (B.J. Novak), improbably put a major
dent in Dunder Mifflin's sales (but at what cost?). For everyone
who wonders how the blundering and tactless Michael keeps his
job, it is instructive to get a glimpse of his sales acumen in
the episodes "Heavy Competition," in which Michael poaches one of
Dwight's clients, and "Broke," in which he negotiates a buyout of
his struggling company. The Office's own dream team got dreamier
with the addition of Ellie Kemper as "Erin," the adorable and
naïve new receptionist. The Office still makes for cringe-worthy
discomfort television (see a reunited Michael and Holly's
excruciating skit at the "Company Picnic" in the season finale),
but some of the best episodes are the ones in which the Scranton
branch bonds in the face of adversity. A season benchmark is the
episode in which the former Michael Scott Paper Company office
space is transformed into "Café Disco" and all squabbles and
resentments are forgotten on the dance floor. This season is
representative of why The Office is one of television's most
DVR'd series. Each episode offers priceless bits of background
comic business and charming character grace notes that lend
themselves to repeated viewing. Among them: Andy's drunken late
night phone call to Angela in "Company Trip"; Pam demonstrating
her volleyball prowess in "Company Picnic"; Kelly (Mindy Kaling)
setting up one of the series' very best "that's what she saids"
in "Customer Survey"; and Andy and Kelly's "dance off" in "Café
Disco." As Dwight notes in "Heavy Competition," "There's a lot
going on" in The Office, and in that chaos, this series soars.
--Donald Liebenson
Also on the discs
This five-disc set works overtime with about eight episodes'
worth of deleted scenes. Highlights include Pam bonding with her
younger fellow students in New York, Kevin's revelation that he
loves the smell of bacon on a woman, and Michael Scott on the
loose with a defibrillator. The 10 audio commentaries are
low-key, but informative, and some offer unique behind-the-scenes
perspectives (one features craft services and catering personnel
who reveal what the cast eats for breakfast). Along with the
standard-issue gag reel, there are for completists two webisodes
featuring the series' B+ team and synergetic promos for the Super
and the Olympics. Andy Richter moderates an Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences Q&A featuring the cast, key creative
personnel, and crew members. A "100 Episodes, 100 Moments"
countdown is open to debate (not one "that's what she said!").
--Donald Liebenson
