Season 1, Episode 1, Part 1: "The Boss"

I'm going to try some Television Without Pity type recaps of The Office. I've done most of ep 1 now, but I realize it's a lot of text, so I'm going to divide it into five parts according to the chapters on the dvd menu. This is the first one where we are introduced to David Brent.

The dvd menu can be annoying. It's authentic office noises. Like the phone ringing and people moving stacks of papers and copy machines going. It's very annoying after a while. I'd rather hear a song. But yeah, it does work as a part of the show, like the static of working that goes on between the scenes. Each menu opens with outlines being drawn and then it completes into a real photo. Like a desk is outlined first and then you see a real desk. There are no people in the menus. It's kind of a cool effect, only the noises annoy me.

Off to Gosford station and Car Park, where the very understated and British title sequence plays. This is really just a part of the drab life in the office: driving to work through a grey morning, watching grey buildings. It's almost depressing, as it should be. The song is nice, because it somehow captures that feeling. I can imagine lyrics going, “Life is sad, but it's no better for anyone else.”

We open on a very typical David Brent smile, as he is clicking a pen and clearly preparing to say something “wise”or “funny”. He tilts his head back and looks up, as if he doesn't know what to say, but as he starts talking, it really sounds like he rehearsed the speech at home, in front of a mirror. “I don't give shitty jobs. If a good man..” Cue the finger-pointing gesture, which also looks like he rehearsed it at home... “comes to me and says, thank you David for the opportunity and continued support in the work-related arena...” Every time David says something that complex, it sounds like he doesn't know what he's saying exactly, but he wants it to sound so complicated that it takes a while to think it over, and by the time people figure out it meant absolutely nothing, he's already on to something else that makes more sense. Basically, his point is that if someone wants to move on in their career, he can make it happen. Except that he expresses it in a more “fancy” way: “I can make it come true, too – a.k.a, to you”, running his hands through his hair and then pointing at him again, lifting his eyebrows gleefully. I don't think he knows what “a.k.a.” means. And he manages to continue with another cliché and poorly placed Latin phrase, “You talk the talk, you don't walk the walk, vis-a-vis, you've not yet passed your forklift driver's test.” Without letting the other guy speak, he tells him happily that the supervisor at the warehouse “IS a personal friend of mine” and gets on the phone. Yeah, I bet they're all personal friends of David's. The whole company is one big happy family, and he's like the Dad. Only he doesn't realize it's more like Full House and he's Joey.

Very smugly, Brent calls the warehouse supervisor. He does that thing where you're talking on the phone, but you're also showing off to the person next to you, so you make stupid jokes and generally act like an idiot. Of course, Brent is also mugging for the camera and trying to impress the person on the phone with his wittiness, so it's more like a triple act. He opens with, “Sammy, you old SLAG! It's Brentmeister general.” He winks at the guy sitting in the office. He tells Sammy he has the guy for the forklift driver's job. “Has he passed the test? He gives the tests!” He does a Pinocchio's nose gesture, obviously thinking it's hilarious. “He's first-aid trained, yeah.” He makes a cross over his chest. It's both funny and sad how unprofessional he is. He promises a CV this afternoon, gesturing to his right and making typing gestures. The guy seems confused and looks to Brent's right, not really knowing if he should go type it right now. Pretty nonsensically, Brent says, “I'm seeing you Sunday then? For my sins..” Huh? So it's like..confession? Or a punishment? I didn't get it. He concludes with, “How is Elaine? Has she dumped you yet?” His smile freezes and turns into a kind of grimace as he ends the call and tells the guy, “She has dumped him, I forgot about that” and looks nervously into the camera. Hee! It's just one of those awkward moments. This time we don't see Sammy's reaction, so it's just a throwaway line in a way, but it serves to introduce us to David and his idiotic humor.

We see people working at their desks. These moments are easy to ignore, but they really serve to make the show look more like a real documentary and less like a rehearsed and scripted sitcom. David picks up the phone and the camera shoots him from outside his office. I wonder for a moment why they show him just saying, “David Brent!” but of course – this is the first episode, so they must introduce him to the viewers. I mean, those viewers who aren't watching this on their dvds for the hundredth time and analyzing every second of it. David voice-overs that he's been in the paper industry for 12 years, and at Wernham Hogg for 8 of them. The camera follows David as he tells us he'll introduce his team to us. First up is Dawn Tinsley, receptionist. Dawn looks younger and a bit thinner than in season 2. Her hair is in a ponytail. It always looks a bit weird to me when Dawn has her hair tied – cute, but weird, as she usually has it hanging open in a kind of unkempt look. It resembles my hair in that way. David can't resist a stupid joke about how all guys in the office have “worked at the crack of dawn”. He laughs childishly. Dawn is understandably pissed and says, “What?!” David doesn't know how to defend his joke, so he simply looks down in embarrassment for a moment. There's just this silent moment, very typical for the Office. Most shows cut out these moments, and it's a shame, because it's really comedy at its finest.

“Any MAIL?” David asks, and he makes “mail” sound like it's an imitation of some British comic, but I don't know them well enough to be sure. Dawn gives him a fax, which is from the head office. David says he's told Dawn before there's a “special filing cabinet” for these. “Called the waste paper basket!” yells David, crumpling the paper and throwing it at a confused Dawn. She tries hard to laugh at the lame joke, and David points to her and laughs, “Look at her face!” What he doesn't do: ask her for the fax back and actually read it.

David interview. “People say I'm the best boss.” I love how he's often talking about what people say about him, but we never hear people say that. Has anyone actually told him this? He claims that people tell him he motivates people and he's “a laugh”. Mock-modestly, he says, “I go, c'est la vie.. if that's true.. excellent.” He turns to the camera with a very smug smile on his face, nodding. Also - “c'est la vie”? That's the third poorly placed foreign phrase he's used.

More banter with Dawn, who looks like she's trying to do her job and humor her annoying boss at the same time. I think we all know the feeling. “Be gentle with me today, Dawn,” says David, kind of inappropriately. Dawn asks why, because she has to, really. David says he was out with Chris Finch last night, and “El vino did flow!” He makes a ridiculous drinking gesture. He stutters about being “blow..bladdered... blottered” or something. It's too British for me, and I'm not sure if he's trying to pretend to be drunk or just generally stuttering. What he is doing is making a fool of himself. He really seems to think it makes him cool and interesting when he talks about drinking. “Don't ever go out with me and Finchy,” he says as a joke. “No, I won't,” says Dawn and totally means it. Her body language is pretty effective here: she talks in a low voice and keeps looking away from David, completely straight-faced as David is joking and laughing. David, of course, doesn't get the hint, and starts talking about his favourite topic: himself. “There's guys my age and they look 50.” He asks how old Dawn thinks he looks, and Dawn starts, “Thirtys..” “Thirty, yeah,” David interrupts. This must be self-irony from Ricky Gervais. He actually looks a lot younger when he's not doing Brent. It's the goatee and slick-back hair, I think.

David is already leaving Dawn's desk, as he says he has to slow down and he's drinking too much - “if every single night of the week is too much”. “And every lunchtime,” returns Dawn. Of course, David can't handle someone else making a joke at his expense, and starts asking how much Dawn thinks he's drunk this week, if she's counting. “You seem to know a lot about my drinking – does it offend you?” he says. Dawn is shocked he took it seriously. It's scenes like these that really imply David isn't as big-headed as he acts. Maybe he's just really really insecure and has to be popular. David says Dawn is getting personal, and he could do the same with her, “say something really witty and biting, like you're a bit...but I won't.” I wonder if he actually had something to fill in that sentence but thought better of it, or if he really couldn't think of anything to say. Knowing David's wit and the fact that Dawn has no immediate physical flaws, it's probably the latter. In a very typical Brent moment, David says, “Cos I'm a professional. And professionalism is...” He makes a small hand gesture and stares at it for a moment, not knowing how to continue. “And that is what I want, OK? That's all.” Hee! Every time he tries to define something, he just can't think of what to say. He acts like he said something really wise and professional. He signals that by adjusting his tie and making a little smirk at the camera. I bet he thought that would look awesome on the show. David leaves, saying “That's a shame.” Dawn can only be quiet and swallow her anger yet again. To her credit, she doesn't grimace after David or flip him, but if the camera weren't there, she just might.

A shot of the office that makes it look like it's almost completely empty. It's early in the morning. We see Gareth walk in, and in the first Tim/Gareth moment of the series, Gareth slaps Tim from the back with his paper and goes, “Whazzuup!” Tim is not amused and yells, “Don't do that!” He mutters something. I think I discerned the word “Jesus”. Gareth sits down, still staring at Tim, and says stupidly, “What, is it the time of the month?” If he were saying that at a woman, it would be really annoying, but here it's even dumber. He really doesn't understand that he is annoying to other people. Very much like David in that way. Just like David, he immediately starts begging for Tim's attention by bragging with his big night out: “Just the eight pints for me last night then...that's all..” Tim, like Dawn earlier, tries to avoid eye contact. The difference is that Gareth isn't his boss, so he doesn't even have to pretend he cares. Gareth laughs nervously in this stilted fake-laugh way. He opens his tabloid and goes, “Oh no. Oh god. 'Boss and Team Leader in Drunken Night Out Shock Horror.'” That always cracks me up – it's such a pathetic attempt at being funny and getting a reaction out of Tim. Why would they call him “team leader” in the headline even if they did write about it? I always found that a very Gareth detail. Nice touch. Tim stares off into space looking sad, and Gareth continues his sad little monologue: he's going out with Oggy, “another quiet night at the library.. Not! I don't think!” More nervous laughter and absolutely no reaction from Tim.