Outside of the standard iconic scenes that made their way into the fabric of mainstream media, I actually have never truly watched one full episode of “The Office” all of the way through and never planned on doing so. Once it was taken off Netflix, I essentially gave up on any world where “The Office” made its way into my adult life.
It appears, however, that the Universe has different plans for me.
Quite honestly, I have never had an opinion on this show— I think it made me chuckle when it was on but I never fully allowed myself to give in to the sitcom world that is run by Michael Scott. Without any prior knowledge or attachment to this show, reviewing “Conference room, five minutes” by Shea Serrano, a collection of illustrated essays on “The Office” will be rather interesting.
The Fake Introduction
Serrano delicately introduces us to this piece of work by asking us to envision all of the people we love in one boat with God essentially telling us to “shove it” before he would give us the answers to life. In some sense, Serrano is God at this moment. The introduction I was hoping to use to grasp a better understanding of what was to be expected in the 81 pages of apparent illustrated essays set before me; instead, I read an entire biblical parody that basically told me to expect nothing and to enjoy the ride.
Character Development
I know everyone and their mother has seen “The Office” and knows most of the characters; unfortunately for me, I am not one of those people. I could have benefitted immensely from a list of characters and a fun log line of who they were in the show; aside from Pam and Jim, everyone else is just a stranger in business casual closing. Serrano uses the section surrounding “Basketball Scouting Report” to essentially make a scoreboard of the characters that served as a good way for newbies to “The Office” world (like me) to dip their toes into the water.
Super Professional Footnotes
APA has drilled into me the usefulness of footnotes, I find them an easy way to scapegoat the information I loosely remember finding in a random peer-reviewed journal. Serrano uses them to add in additional commentary throughout the retelling of “The Office” best moments and plots. One of them so eloquently uses footnote no.9 to say “LOL”, and honestly… I have to agree.
The Artwork
Van Gogh, Davinci, Michelangelo all have one thing in common: their artistry. I’m not trying to sound blasphemous when I make this comment, and I will make it, but the artwork in this collection of “essays” is so daring yet so reflective. I’ll allow it to speak for itself
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Exhibit C:
Chapter Changes
As someone who knows close to nothing about the plot of this show, I really have no idea if the chapters presented are shoot offs of plots that occurred in the show, or if they’re part of a creative initiative Serrano came up with on her own. Regardless, I will say that the depth of detail presented in each section got me the closest I’ve ever been to wanting to watch “The Office”.
Overall, this is a unique and fun way to reel people in to the insanity that is “The Office”, had I ever watched the show I’m sure I’d have much more to comment on.
The Beat @APU 