Cringe-Worthy and Binge-Worthy: “The Office”

Life sucks and then you die. At least that’s what one of my coworkers frequently tells me. “The Office”, a faux documentary TV show, is about how cringey, uncomfortable, and sucky life can be.

Set at Dunder Mifflin, a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the show follows the lives of ordinary employees and their everyday problems.

Jim Halpert, a sales representative for Dunder Mifflin, hates his job, thinks his boss is a joke and has a crush on the receptionist. Dwight Schrute, the assistant to the regional manager, is solely concerned with outsmarting Jim, his rival. Pam Beesly, the receptionist, has been engaged for three years but feels like she’s going nowhere. Michael Scott, the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin, is eccentric and more than a little naive. He is obsessed with being a friend before a boss and creates some very entertaining drama for his employees.

The show features many other quirky characters who try, and sometimes fail, to handle various problems.

When Steve Carell, who plays Michael Scott, leaves the show after the seventh season “The Office” takes a turn for the worse. However, the other characters manage to hold the show together for two more seasons.

Due to its unique mockumentary style “The Office” excellently portrays the awkwardness of life. The audience experiences real secondhand embarrassment at some of the antics of the characters. Life sucks, but life is complicated and we can find happiness in it. “The Office” demonstrates this and manages to make us laugh at the same time.