Posted on 05/10/2019 5:58:17 AM PDT by vannrox
This scene in season 3, episode 17, "Business School" of The Office (which happened to be directed by Joss Whedon) is incredibly heartwarming. Pam invited the whole office to come to her art show and no one shows except Oscar who criticizes her work, as she goes to start taking it down Michael Scott shows up and this beautiful exchange takes place. ♥ I'm sure many struggling new artists can relate to this...
One of my favorite scenes, too! That whole show is a HOOT! :-)
I busted out laughing the time Michael Scott said he’d had an “epiphery” that life is precious.
I love that scene, too. It’s where Pam’s mind is flipped around and she realizes this guy she thought was a complete jerk is really the only one of her friends who’s supporting her.
If I remember right, that painting was the last shot of the series, too, wasn’t it?
Yes... and it was said after Michael was undercut by one of his employees.
Only a TV show... but having compassion for another regardless of personal circumstances is a blessing.
Great scene.
If the production crew would simply buy a tripod for their cameras, I would have watched more. I can't stand that type of videography. It adds nothing and is distracting.
One of the reasons that scene is so touching is that it came out of nowhere. You don’t expect Michael Scott to show up, and then be caring and supportive.
Love this post! My favorite line/scene was “I’m ‘Date Mike’. Nice to meet me.”
It was a genius show with a ton of heart and pathos! (Of course, yeah, too bad they didn’t use tripods as no not distract the mentally fragile!)
I liked the British version better.
Shaky cam is for Law & Order and that is a dedicated head/mount from what I read somewhere.
I can’t stand shake and jerking camera.
thank you for posting this.
One of the exceptional things about The Office is that the main characters genuinely care about each other. Remember early on (Season 2 maybe?) when Michael meets a girl at the blood drive that thinks she’s cute and he hopes against all hope that she will show up at the Valentine’s Day party? The entire office realizes that he is sort of distraught about this, and they walk out with him, genuinely treating him with compassion.
This happens often. It is often light-hearted, but really reveals human decency and compassion in a real way. Also for example once when Michael crashes Jim’s party (he wasn’t invited) and starts doing karaoke, namely a man/woman duo. When it comes time for the woman part of the song, Jim, of all people, steps up and does that so that Michael looks like ...well...less of an idiot.
Then of course the classic episode where Michael can’t help but reveal Stanley’s affair, so Jim announces they are pregnant....
The list could continue indefinitely.
Yes, The Office depicts so much that we might find objectionable...but if a Christian watches with an open mind and pays attention to the deep interactions....you will actually see that there really is a lot of hope built into The Office.
(BTW....yes, we all cringe that Angela is the Christian...but...when she gives Dwight’s aunt (?) a bath and cleans her up, she seems to me to come across as a Christ like character, something that could almost appear in Dostoyevsky!).
We could continue this conversation.
But thanks again for posting, and truly, this particular scene might be the very, very best example of the deep compassion and decency (even, love) in The Office.
:)
Great scene, great show!!!
Only watched it 5x through!
If I remember right, that painting was the last shot of the series, too, wasn’t it?”
I dont’ recall for sure, but you are probably right. I do know that they like to drop in little hints/props like that. For example, the tea pot that Jim gave Pam at Secret Santa is also the tea pot that the Finer Things Club uses...So probably, you are right. It would be fitting.
It’s a sweet show, really. Wonderfully human.
That’s the reason I avoided the show for years. I hate that photography too.
But then my daughter binge watched it over the holidays at my house. I became a fan.
It’s now my favorite t.v. show - too bad its done.
Um... the photography is that way because the whole premise of the show is that someone is making a documentary about the people in the office. If the show had been filmed traditionally, it would have undercut that and wouldn’t have worked.
The photography didn’t bother me for a moment, by the way - in many ways, it adds to the humor, as the camera will swivel around and focus on a certain character as they’re being talked about.
It's also cheaper. Not having to set up multiple static camera setups for cutaways is a lot less expensive. It also cuts costs on post production and editing.
That style of videography also made the viewer feel as though they were part of the action.
I like the UK version, too. Ricky Gervais’s clumsy lechery was scrubbed for the sex-averse American psyche. Same thing happened with Three’s Company. It was scrubbed down from Man About the House by making the lustful main character borderline queer.
Excuses for lazy camera work sometimes.
There’s nothing lazy about the camerawork. You seriously don’t have a clue.
And I tried to watch the British series, and bailed. It sucked because it was exactly what the American “Office” started out to be - utterly heartless and unfunny.
Thankfully, the powers-that-be knew that if they continued that way their show wouldn’t last, changed it in the first episode of season two, and the rest is history. :-)
I am an old fashioned TV production person who was in the field for about a decade.
Different times and tastes.
Well, it’s one of those fake documentaries, as if this is a real place and the camera crew is just filming what actually happens. That type of thing doesn’t work if you have tripods and dolly shots like a real TV show.
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