The Office: Season Two DVD Credits:

Region: 1

The Office: Season Two DVD Release Date: 11th September 2006

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The Office: Season Two DVD Review:

What makes Steve Carell such a fantastic actor as well as a hilarious comedian is his ability to commit to the roles he plays. The third episode in Season Two of The Office is a perfect example of this as Carell tears up at the close of the episode. He believes that his employees are honoring him when really they are just finding a way to have a closing ceremony for the office Olympics that had occurred while he was out of the office, but what is remarkable while watching him is that I truly believed that he was touched by the false moment. Steve Carell commits himself to each character so loyally that it is nearly impossible to see where the character stops and the actor begins. But what makes season two of The Office so great, is despite the fact that Carell was quite clearly reaching new heights in his career during this time, the show stays on focus. It never turns into The Steve Carell Show, but instead seems fueled by many different actors, even the ones that hardly ever seem to speak.

The one thing that improves a great deal in season two and was only allowed minimal time in season one is the relationships of the characters in the office with each other. Season one consisted of six great episodes, but season two suddenly sees an incredibly increase with twenty-two episodes, each seemingly better than the last. This extra time in the office is dedicated to the relationships which continue the unrequited love story of Pam and Jim, which is made even more unlikely once Pam and her fiancé set the date for their wedding. There are other new office romances one of which even involves Dwight. Other relationships that are focused on in season two even include a rather strange attraction that Michael seems to have with the temp, Ryan. These relationships raise the show up beyond just uncomfortable situations. By the end of season two I found myself caring for the characters, something that rarely mixes this well with the comedy of the show.

There is more to be found in what isn’t said in The Office. The relationships have very little to do with what they say to each others face and much more to do with a look behind their back or the office gossip that is spread. This realistic documentary style has been done before (even as recently as Arrested Development) but The Office commits to the concept so much that nearly all of what is most interesting in the show is played out through subtext. If you were to read the dialogue from the show it would have completely different meaning without the slight inflections and darted glances at each other. These subtleties make the show impossible to view without giving it your full attention, which shouldn’t be too hard.

The packaging for season two makes season one look pathetic in comparison, but I suppose that wasn’t too difficult. Aside from the fancy new packaging, there are also a number of special features as well. There are commentaries on ten of the episodes, but they are surprisingly dull. Each episode has deleted scenes, which are placed right below the episode in the episode selection menu. This makes it awkward not to watch the deleted sense at times, but they are all usually really funny. There are also ten webisodes featuring the accounting staff at Dunder-Mifflin, but they are pretty useless for anything other than reminding fans that season three is coming. Other features include a blooper reel, Steve Carell’s promo for The 40-Year-Old Virgin and a couple of fake PSAs.

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The Office: Season Two DVD review written by: Ryan Izay