Who is the best character in The Office [US]? - Vivek Raman

Considered by many as the best comedy series of this millennium, the Office [US] is indubitably my favourite show ever. Considering that I spend an admittedly unhealthy amount of time watching a plethora of different TV shows, I think it speaks volumes to the genius of the Office that I have deemed it my first choice. I would, however, like to start with a small note – I know there is tension between the puritans (supporters of the UK Office) and the bingers (supporters of the US Office), and despite myself being firmly in the latter camp, I am by no means condemning the Office [UK] by leaving it out of my article – in my opinion, they are just completely different shows. Ricky Gervais creates an incredible piece of comedy in the UK version that is in many ways more subtle and more nuanced than the comedy in the US – the awkwardness and discomfiture felt by the audience of the UK Office perfectly mimics the awkwardness of the British work environment, but for me, as is with too many British comedies, it is very short, and therefore lacks character development and extended plots that I believe the US Office does so well. It is for these reasons why I believe the US Office (hereafter referred to as just “The Office”) is ‘better’ than the UK, despite many disagreeing with me. Moving on, I will be discussing which character is the best in the Office. In my opinion, there are numerous factors that contribute to what makes a comedy character good – primarily, how enjoyable they are to watch, but also their development throughout the show (and since the Office is a girthy nine seasons long, this is done to a great extent). As well as this, a good character must be multifaceted – they must have an interesting and provocative personality that contributes to the plot, whilst simultaneously providing comedy. There are many characters in the Office – the 13 main office workers, as well as others such as Jan, David Wallace and Robert California. There are many contenders for the best character – Jim, Pam, Creed, Andy, Angela – the list goes on. However, due to me not wanting to make this article an arduous length, I am only going to delve into the complexities of two characters: Michael and Dwight. In my opinion, these two are the characters that best fulfil the aforementioned criteria and are thus the two best characters in The Office. But which will come out on top?

 

         Firstly, Michael Scott, the boss – he is one of the most well-known characters in television, and in my opinion, he is one of the best characters ever. He is modelled after Ricky Gervais’ David Brent, however after the first season of the Office, Michael Scott’s brash and uncomfortable behaviour was toned down because of a backlash from American viewers, who claimed that the comedy was bordering on unfunny due to his childish actions. He is chauvinistic, and he is tactless when it comes to political correctness in the workplace – ostensibly, he is a rather irritating character, both as an audience and for the characters whom he manages. However, through Steve Carell’s seven seasons on the show, his character is developed to make him more likeable and less offensive, which culminates in an extremely emotional farewell episode, ‘Goodbye Michael’, which is rated 9.8 on IMDB – the joint highest rated episode of the Office ever. I think this development is carried out in the most brilliant way – even from the final moments of the last episode of the first season, Michael’s odiousness as a character is undermined by him saying “Do I have a special someone? Of course, … my employees”. It is here when Michael’s character trait of loving the office and everyone who works there is first introduced as almost a redeeming factor for the preceding obnoxiousness. This care for his employees is epitomised in his final episode, especially when he gives Dwight a letter of recommendation “The dictionary defines superlative as ‘of the highest kind, quality or order’ … I define it as Dwight Schrute” (this is one of my favourite moments of the whole show). The Michael-Dwight relationship is another extremely comedic aspect of the show – Dwight’s apparent complete subservience and devotion to Michael contrasted with his own desire to be promoted from Assistant to the Regional Manager, as shown in ‘The Coup’. Michael’s love life is another major aspect of the extended plots in the office – firstly with Carole, whom he proposes to on the fourth/ninth date (there is some plot discontinuity here), and then Jan, who it turns out is psychotic, and makes Michael have three vasectomies. The Michael-Holly relationship is interesting for the audience – throughout the show, Michael’s romantic life had been ridiculed, but here it was celebrated, and, when Holly was sent away, the audience felt a great deal of sympathy for Michael – especially after his phone call with David Wallace in Canada. When she returns, their love story culminates in Michael’s proposal, which is one of the most touching moments in the series, and for me, is the culmination of his development as a character – the ‘redemption’ of Michael Scott from this ‘David Brent-esque’ (if you get this very subtle reference, you are a true Office fan) figure to a boss who is genuinely loved and “liked” by his employees. For me, it is this gradual transformation that makes Michael such a good character, as well as his contribution to the comedy of the show.

 

         There is, however, one other simply brilliant character who is a contender for the best character – Dwight Schrute. He is based upon the UK Office’s Gareth, but due to the much longer time that Dwight was active in television for, he is developed by the writers into a many-levelled, complex character. In the first seasons, he is the conventional ‘butt of the jokes’ character due to his inability to read sarcasm and excessive passion for paper and for Michael. This is shown from the first ‘Jim-Dwight’ prank of the whole show – the stapler in jelly (which also occurs in the pilot of the UK Office). He is, however, developed into more than this: for starters, he is presented as extremely intelligent and as having a natural aptitude for selling paper – he manages to defeat the computer at sales and also wins the Best Salesman award for the whole company. His eccentricity also makes him loveable for an audience – he owns a beet farm, has a weird cousin called Mose, has an obsession with weapons and karate, just to name a few of his quirks. This adds to the comedy of the show, but also broadens the audience’s interpretation of Dwight as just a stooge. His love life, and more specifically, his on-again, off-again relationship with Angela also offers another level to Dwight – the moment at the end of Email Surveillance (S2E9) when the audience is first shown evidence of their relationship because of their extremely odd choice of footwear shocked me at first when I first watched it, because it brought Dwight out of the realms of the Gareth-like figure, and made him become a fully-formed character who did not exist only for comedy. Ironically enough, this moment is actually funny because of their shoes. However, for me, what really transforms Dwight into one of the best characters in the show is his relationships with all of his co-workers and the development of these relationships. Firstly, with Jim: at first, there seemed to be a great deal of animosity between the two of them, most of which stemmed from Jim’s constant and relentless pranking. In Conflict Resolution (S2E21), Dwight demands that Jim is fired, and perhaps Dwight (along with his crushing love for Pam) was a reason why he transferred in Season 3. However, as the show progresses, the two slowly grow closer as friends. There are numerous moments where the audience is surprised by their relationship: one is when Dwight hugs Jim when he is fired; another is when Dwight is heartbroken over Angela, and Jim consoles him in the stairwell; another is when Dwight saves Jim from Roy with pepper spray; but my favourite is in the final season, when Jim has to leave Dwight’s ‘Pennsylvania Dutch’ Christmas early to go to Philadelphia, so Dwight, in order to conceal how upset he is, deems him ‘impish’ and beats him with a stick. But when Jim comes back, Dwight hugs him, and for me, this is a complete consolidation of their friendship. Of course, in the final episode, Jim is Dwight’s ‘bestisch mensch’, which shows that their relationship has progressed to the extent that they are best friends. Finally, his relationship with Pam is another side to Dwight that makes him brilliant. At first, Dwight just sees Pam as a receptionist and as Jim’s partner in crime, but even as early as Season 3, he is shown to have a much softer side when he consoles Pam about Jim leaving. This is the first time that you see this ‘nice’ side to Dwight’s character, and it is both surprising and ingenious because he, from this point, blossoms into the multifaceted beet farmer, salesman and friend that he is at the end of the show. For me, Dwight is summed up by his speech in the series finale: “Have I gotten along with my subordinates? Let’s see. My supplier relations rep, Meredith Palmer, is the only person I know who knows how to properly headbang to Motorhead. Oscar Martinez, my accountant, is now godfather to my son. Angela Schrute, my former accountant, is now my wife. My top salesman, Jim Halpert, was best man at my wedding, and office administrator, Pamela Beesly-Halpert, is my best friend. So, yes, I’d say I have gotten along with my subordinates.”. He is a character who is just incredibly well-written (and wonderfully performed by Rainn Wilson), and for this reason he is one of the best characters in the Office.

 

         Having evaluated both Michael and Dwight, I have come to the conclusion that, although Michael is tremendously entertaining to watch, Dwight is the best character on the show. He has it all: comedy (often some of the best bits of comedy in the whole show, like the cold open to Stress Relief (S5E14)); nuance and development. What is so great about the show, however, is that every single main character contributes to the comedy but is also nuanced and developed to an enormous extent. I think that it what makes the Finale so poignant – the audience has seen these characters grow and change over nine seasons, and therefore the end of that process is very emotional. The true brilliance lies in the fact that the Office entertained its audience, while simultaneously making it care about the very mundane and commonplace characters and settings in the show. Pam finishes the entire show with the premise that the American producers used through nine seasons of production: “There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?”.