Who could forget The Office? The mockumentary is about a group of typical office shenanigans involving Michael Scott and his Dunder Mifflin employees charming their way into our hearts for nine seasons; however, looking back on the modern classic, can we consider Michael Scott a good character? Here’s the thing, The Office is a comedy first and foremost, so it’s not exactly going to be some character-driven masterpiece like The Americans or Breaking Bad. However, character consistency is still necessary for such a long ongoing series, comedy or not. Selina Meyer is not, particularly a good person. In fact, she gets worse in the final season. However, the writers in Veep never stray away from who the Vice President of the United States is. She’s self-centered, entitled, and her huge loss in the presidential race saw her character develop into an ego-driven monster who was willing to do anything to win the election, even if that means Jonah Ryan serving as the second most powerful person in the United States. The writers never chose comedy over character, letting the narrative flow effortlessly resulting in organic and genuinely funny situations.
However, that can’t be truly said about Michael Scott’s character. Often, it feels that Scott’s actions are comedy-driven more often than not. What’s with the creepy obsession with Ryan? Or did Toby really deserve to be Michael’s punching bag for a good majority of his time on the show? What about Michael’s reaction to Phyllis being flashed? He questioned whether the flasher saw Pam or Karen then proceeded to put his finger through his pants pretending that it was a penis. And look, Michael’s creepiness towards Ryan or his verbal cruelty towards Toby provided some of the show’s most hilarious moments. In fact, him boldly making fun of Phyllis’s situation provided a decent laugh or two. I’m not saying that the things Michael did throughout the show weren’t funny, but when you pull back the layers of the comedic elements you kind of realize that Michael is an egotistical jerk who deserves a good punch in the face. Granted, Michael’s character does mature by the time he leaves The Office with Holly, but it’s hard not to cringe at Michael’s character despite his ability to put smiles on faces.
When the show puts him in sad situations such as being emotionally abused by Jan, it’s kind of hard to root for him. Does he deserve to be abused? Of course not, but his countless insults at Toby, or his disdain for Dwight – who considers Michael to be his best friend- or often misogynistic behavior or buffoonery doesn’t exactly warrant sympathy from me as a viewer. To be clear, the writers understand that Michael is an over-the-top douchebag, and he often gets checked for his behavior. In fact, Michael Scott represents the type of boss you don’t want and the writer’s milk that to great effect. But when you’re trying to hit such emotional beats like the Jan/Michael storyline then it’s hard for me to feel sorry for Michael Scott because of his behavior. Dinner Party is an excellent episode; It’s the right amount of cringy, awkward, uncomfortable and funny. But it was simply hard for me to feel sad for Michael because he’s been playing a cartoonish buffoon so long that him in the situation didn’t garner my deepest sympathies.
I’m not here saying that The Office is a terrible comedy. I’m also not saying that I couldn’t go back and watch some of the episodes and laugh my butt off at the antics involving Michael Scott. However, Michael Scott just doesn’t feel human most of the time. Instead of the situations organically creating funny moments, it feels that the writers veered left and crafted one of the worst bosses in America just for comedic effect. In the very next episode, Michael forces his workers to fix him up with a new girlfriend after the dead chair model fell through. And again, I’m well aware that the writers are purposely making Scott seem like a buffoon, but you often have to question how Michael got such a high position when he has child-like behavior most of the time. It would make sense if his and higher ups were also morons, but these are fairly competent people dealing with a boss who isn’t really qualified as a manager. Michael does have his redeeming qualities and the show manages to nicely showcase that sometimes. Michael Scott is a mess of a character, and not particularly one that’s good when you pull back the comedic layers. Still, I can watch The Office and laugh at all the stupid things Michael does at Dunder Mifflin.The Americans
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