The Office – Season 2
Reviewer: Jordan Brown
Issue 101 March 2008
(2 votes, average: 6 out of 10)
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Great (Michael) Scott!
The Lowdown: Despite corporate threats of downsizing, Michael Scott continues to run the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin into the ground. As the team struggles to keep the branch from closing, Michael ‘helps’ matters by hooking up with his boss and accidentally grilling his foot. Welcome back to The Office.
Review: It’s all too easy to go dismissing the American version of The Office as a shameless imitation of Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant’s series. After all, there’s no denying the Yanks brazenly pilfered our gags and repeated them verbatim for the first series. For the second year though, they’ve got their own jokes and situations. Combine that with superb performances and a solidly hilarious script and you’ve got one of the most entertaining shows around.
Michael Scott is no longer the second-rate David Brent we saw in the first series, while Dwight’s borderline insanity has seen him emerge a totally different animal to his British counterpart, Gareth. On top of that, they’ve fleshed out the minor characters enough to ensure that the comedy never lags throughout the course of the 22 episodes. From Dwight’s geeky relationship with the highly-strung Angela to Michael trying to spit in Dwight’s mouth during a fight, the American Office has become a very, very funny series indeed.
Mirroring the effort that has been put into the feature itself, there’s also a ton of quality extras on board. On top of some fake public service announcements and a heap of deleted scenes, the cast and crew have provided some chucklesome and insightful commentaries for a bunch of episodes. It rounds off a box set that just begs to be watched. If you felt the series blew its chance the first time around, now is the time to give it another shot – you won’t be sorry.
FILM: 8 EXTRAS: 8
DVD Info:
Certificate: 12
Starring: Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, John Krasinski, B.J. Novak
Directed By: Various, 2005-2006
Distributor: Universal
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Visuals: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Running Time: 457 mins
Price: £29.99
Film supplied by: Ocean Media
Special Features:
Episode Selection
Audio Commentary on Nine Episodes With Cast And Crew
‘The Office: The Accountants’ Webisodes
Blooper Reel
Fake PSAs
Olympics Promos
‘Steve On Steve’ Featurette
‘The Faces Of Scranton’ Short Film
Deleted Scenes
