Rolling a one

S2E6: ‘Interview’ and the perils of being viewed

This piece is part of a series on The Office (UK), running up to the 20th anniversary of its finale this Christmas. Don’t miss out by following me on Medium.

The first time The Office ended I was texting with a friend before and after the series closer, both of us hoping then glad the show didn’t lose its nerve. Even at that age we had the notion a happy ending would’ve somehow spoiled what’d come before, like a gymnastic display of flawless backflips that finishes on a bellyflop. We might not have articulated it like this at the time, but I guess we thought a happy ending for The Office could only have been contrived, unrealistic — jarring. In the words of two friends the same age and mindset of us back then from the film Metropolitan (1990):

-He’s less pessimistic than you.

-I know! It doesn’t ring true.

During the New Hollywood era downbeat endings to films became, in a chicken-and-egg way, both more popular with audiences and less disapproved of by studios. Without wishing to give away the endings of particular films, their deliberate draw was that the heroes died, or the boy lost the girl, or the villains won. Some of this had to do with the pessimism of 1970s politics, some to do with how refreshing it felt for films not to have a…