‘The Office’ (the American version, Steve Carell’s) is considered one of the best comedy series in the history of television. This is proven by its more than 30 awards (among which there is a Golden Globe and five Emmys) or its scores on IMDb (9) and FilmAffinity (8.1). Critics and audiences adore it and there are millions of viewers who have cried with laughter with Dwight Schrute, felt embarrassed by Michael Scott and wanted a relationship as tender as that of Jim and Pam. However, fiction hides a dark secret that would make many rethink the entire work. Maybe, instead of being a crazy comedy of manners, ‘The Office’ is actually a black and existential comedy.
In the book that tells how the series was made (‘The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History’) asks a question that many viewers never ask themselves. Why would anyone film a documentary in Scranton about the employees of a company that sells paper? It is the premise from which it starts and the sitcom releases it as soon as it begins to justify a staging with continuous on-camera interviews, but… what interest could that have? Well, it is not a license that must be purchased from its scriptwriters, but rather the explanation is carefully hidden in a couple of chapters.
The first stop we have to make is episode 8 of the second season, ‘The examination of results‘. In it, Michael calls one of his productive meetings, this time to read (at Jan’s request) the comments that his employees have posted in the suggestion box. “Let’s read a few of these chickweed“, starts. “We need better benefits to employees suffering from depression”. At that moment he starts laughing, stops and jokingly takes the note. “Well, come on, enough of the jokes. Nobody has depression here.”
Jan worries about the issue (“Looks serious, Michael“) and he decides to read who signs the suggestion (“Tom? What I said, a joke. Nobody’s name is Tom here”). At this point Phyllis intervenes, clarifying that “Tom worked in accounting for a year or so.” Seeing that no one remembers him makes the gesture of blowing his brains out and there is a most uncomfortable silence.
Tom would not be heard from again until episode 16 of the fourth season, ‘I respect‘. In that one, Dwight shows Michael a Dunder Mifflin organizational chart to explain why he should reprimand Stanley after how he spoke to him in, surprise, another meeting. In said poster Tom appears again (crossed out) and he even offers his last name, Peets.
The scriptwriters ended up confirming that, in the first episode of ‘The Office’, Ryan (the intern) enters Dunder Mifflin to fill the vacancy that arose after the suicide of Tom Peets. And that is precisely the reason why a documentary is recorded, to see how the employees of the Scraton branch deal with the loss and how they cope with workplace suicide.
The justification makes all the sense in the world and varnish of sadness those first seasons, in which there were more awkward silences and the secondary characters had less presence and tended to be more quiet and apathetic. But at the same time, also makes the evolution even more exciting of all of them and their constant search for happiness. The secret is, ultimately, another reason to love ‘The Office’. As if there were few.
