Darryl's Story Arc
We agree that this was one of the more enjoyable episodes in a while, but are quite surprised that you failed to dig into Darryl's story arc more. On a show like The Office, nothing as serious as death is done just for a laugh. Instead, Darryl's somber mood ended up making a larger point about…

Britta's Identity Crisis
We agree that this did hearken back to the first season in a nice way, particularly in the sense that it was willing to break the characters down with some real consequences. Aside from Pierce's drug binge, Britta's identity crisis was easily one of the more severe we've seen in a while. For…

The Elastic of Believability
We agree that the attention to the town's history is impressive. Bringing characters back a season later is what makes all the hijinks feels believable. Most other shows run the risk of going too far and snapping the elastic that suspends our disbelief, but Parks pulls it off every time.…

The Redefinition of Romance
We were less interested in the caption contest this week than with the series total redefinition of what makes true romance. Michael says to Holly in the break room that they should be together because, "everybody says so." By this logic he has of course forgotten about Dwight, Erin and…

The Abed Factor
While we agree with many of the points made here about why the episode did/did not work, we're quite surprised to see so little talk about Abed. This episode gave us a rare glimpse into his thought process and even more importantly, hinted that there could be room for him to change. If you're…

Leslie the leader
We agree that this was a strong showing for all the same reasons. What intrigued us even more, though, was the decision to reestablish Leslie's credibility. After two seasons we already know she's more than capable, but the show still felt it needed to prove her leadership once again. This can only…

Office as hotel
We were bothered by the publicity around Gervais' appearance too. It's understandable that they want to pull in viewers, but the surprise would've been nice. Same goes for their upcoming guest star as well. More importantly, though, we were highly intrigued by the office as hotel concept. Michael has…

Pierce as villain?
We agree that this did feel like more of a classic sitcom, but were more interested in what happened with Pierce's character. All along his senility and wisdom had been mutually exclusive, but in this episode they mixed to obviously disastrous effect. If you're curious to read more analysis about…

Leslie's rise to power
While we agree with all the praise above, we can't help but point out the shift in Leslie's character. Before she achieved success through awkward sympathy, now she's learned to do it on the merits of her intellect. If you're interested in more analysis:
http://realcityny.com/parks…

Resolution storyline did more than you'd think
We have to disagree that the resolution plotline didn't go anywhere. While Pam may have tossed the board in the trash, her approach vs. Michael's made for some very interesting comments on how people choose to change. Upon further exploration we found that they usually…

Jeff on the path to evil?
We think that there was more to Jeff's lawyering than just laughs. The show is trying to remind us that while he may have made many plenty of improvements over the years, Jeff is still far from the typical "good guy" protagonist. For further analysis:
http://realcityny.com/commu…

Humor Switch
We agree that this episode still had a lot of set up, but have a different theory about LeBlanc's shift from douche bag to nice(ish) guy. After setting Sean and Beverly up as more passive characters, we were left needing someone to take charge of the show's humor. If the writers no longer get to dictate…

We struggled with the same question too about what was supposed to be funny between the two versions. The answer we came up with was that it actually never mattered, Julian was just a sacrificial lamb to make the audience hostile to British humor. Sean and Beverly also became a bit grating by the end of the pilot,…

Pilot Thoughts
While we haven't seen the original version and don't like to deal in letter grades, we still have some thoughts on the premiere. The energy was there as was the acting for the most part. Our only gripe is how easily certain problems seemed to get resolved. If you're curious to read more come check out…