NBC’s ‘The Office’ season 9, episode 9 review: Christmas with a side of Dwight
Over the years “The Office” has produced some pretty incredible Christmas episodes, with the season 2 special featuring Michael Scott’s iPod being one of the greatest ones of the entire series. Over the years, though, it has felt more and more like the show has run out of ways celebrate the holiday, including the disappointment that was last season.
However, the show found a way to work some of it out this year for what has a pretty satisfying 30 minutes of television; not everything that happened was funny (especially watching Darryl get drunk while on the job), but Dwight trying to turn the holiday into a celebration of his heritage turned out to producer some pretty funny moments.
At this point in the show, we already know that Rainn Wilson’s character is a weird dude, and many of his traditions fall firmly into this category without hesitation. However, there was still a certain charm in watching him dress up as a dirty version of Santa Claus and whacking the people who have been bad this year (Oscar and of course Jim) with a stick. It also made for a cute moment when Pam actually admitted to liking his celebration better than the standard Christmas party with all of the fixings. The Dwight / Pan friendship has been built up in a subtle fashion over the years, and now it is one of the more rewarding aspects of the show.
Also rewarding? Seeing Toby finally get lucky in love with Nellie, who actually kissed him after sitting through a story about his Scranton Strangler jury deliberations for a full day. Was she kissing him just to get him to be quiet? It’s possible, but the man will probably take whatever victory he can at this point. These little moments made “Dwight Christmas” into something special, and this final season is hitting its stride in that there are current story arcs, but at the same time tiny tributes to the years gone by.
What did you think about this episode overall? Be sure to share your thoughts below, and you can read about some other “Office”-related highlights over at the link here.
Photo: NBC