After the Season 8 premiere of The Office, it became clear to the dedicated audience of the Emmy award-winning series that the only consistency that would remain in the show would be within the sarcastic facial gestures of Jim Halpert.
Since Michael Scott announced his departure from the show in order to marry Holly, most fans cringed at the idea of The Office without his familiar antics. The fans, as it would seem by the season premiere, were sadly correct; an office without Scott is ironically, unsettling and awkward.
Following the built-up tension and competition, Andy was unveiled as the next regional branch manager, an unexpected twist after Robert California (James Spader) gave up the position to become CEO of the company.
Everyone in the office is attracted to California's cool and mysterious demeanor, hoping to impress him and his unfaltering stoicism. This leads to mass chaos when it is uncovered that California has a list of each name in the office, split into two columns.
Desperately trying to uncover the meaning behind the list, Pam goes into an emotional breakdown, now that she is in the midst of the emotional duress of her second pregnancy. Angela feels no remorse for such emotion, as she is pregnant with the Senator's child as well, and boastfully still as tiny and composed as ever.
California takes each member of the office that is on one side of his list out to a social gathering at a restaurant, causing everyone left at the office that happened to be on the other side of the list stricken with panic.
Furthermore, a rift is formed in the relationship between Jim and Pam, as Jim has been invited to this gathering and Pam has not. California quickly dissipates the confusion by announcing that his list was based on "losers" and "winners." Andy takes it upon himself as newly-appointed regional manager to confront California in a heartfelt moment.
As far as a season premiere goes, this episode was not in the least bit enticing and did not help dispel the opinion that the show cannot succeed without the eccentricities and unique humor of Carell. The entirety of the episode had a backdrop of awkward interactions and felt forced.
One of the most laughter-inducing characters is Dwight, but he lacked the intensity prevalent in previous seasons. He did not seem in the least bit outraged by his lack of promotion to the position of regional manager, despite his character being built on a foundation of passion for that job.
The observation of "planking" as a sport felt too much like a forceful comparison to Season 6's premiere featuring the teenage trend of "parkour."
Andy as regional manager was a surprisingly good fit in keeping the level of humor in the show centered around antics, but Bernard's typical humor was not utilized in this episode and his character felt confused.
The addition of Spader to the cast has also not proven to contribute to the show's quality, shown by the heavy awkwardness felt in his scenes. Ultimately, the fate of the show does not seem impressive if it reflects the current state of the cast and their overall chemistry, but more time is needed in order to come to a definitive conclusion.
