Season two of The Office is clever and hilarious by turns

Based on the popular BBC show of the same name, the American version of The Office debuted in the spring of 2005 with six original episodes, and they were good enough to convince the brass at NBC to bring the show back for a second season. This 22-episode, 4-disc DVD set captures all the hilarious jokes and oddball antics of Regional Manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell, The 40 Year Old Virgin) and his staff at a paper products company.

Michael Scott: In this office, it is until death do us part, assuming that we don't get downsized.

The Office is a show where you'll frequently find yourself laughing out loud in spite of yourself. Michael Scott sees himself as the adored boss of the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the Dunder-Mifflin paper company. Michael's utter lack of subtlety and often painful attempts at humor ensures that everyone else in the office looks at him like he is a buffoon. His only ally is the eccentric Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), an obsessive company man whose finicky behavior give salesman Jim (John Krasinski) and receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer) plenty of opportunities to make a joke at his expense.

Dwight: Security in this office is a joke. Last year I came to work with my spud gun in a duffel bag. I sat at my desk all day with a rifle that shoots potatoes at sixty pounds per square inch. Can you imagine if I was deranged?

Season two offers no shortage of side-splittingly funny episodes. After a bit of slow start, the writing really hits its stride with the seventh episode, "The Client." Michael and his boss Jan meet at Chili's to meet an important client (played by veteran SNL star Tim Meadows) while back at the office, Pam finds Michael's semi-autobiographical movie script starring Agent Michael Scarn and Samuel L. Chang. From there, the show reels off a series of humorous episodes, including "The Injury", where Michael burns his foot in a George Foreman grill, "Dwight’s Speech" where Dwight has to give a speech as salesman of the year, and the season's highlight, "Conflict Resolution", where Michael takes it upon himself to settle tensions between office members, with predictably disastrous results.

Michael Scott: Kevin, you are accused of making sexually suggestive remarks to Angela that made her feel uncomfortable. Solution: Angela, you are to make sexually suggestive remarks to Kevin that will make him uncomfortable.
Kevin (smiling): I accept your decision.

Season two furthers the story arc of the potential romance between Jim and the soon-to-be-married Pam, which finally comes to fruition in the season finale "Casino Night". The rivalry between Dwight and Jim also continues from season one, perfectly exhibited when Jim puts items from Dwight's desk in a vending machine and gives him a bag of nickels to buy them back. Jim also moves Dwight’s desk into the washroom, prints 'Security Threat' on his ID badge, and posts a phony version of his resume on a job-seeking website. The Office would not be such a hysterical romp without the help of a diverse array of nutty secondary characters. Whether it's the cloddish Kevin, directionless Ryan, or blabbermouth Kelly, every character is given an opportunity to shine.

Michael Scott: I have already put down the deposit. Do you understand how a deposit works?
Darryl: Mike, I am not having fire eaters in a paper warehouse.

Season two, for all its memorable one-liners and riotous sight gags, is not without its shortcomings. Even with the aforementioned slow start to the season, there are really only two outright bad episodes to be found. The first is "Booze Cruise", a slow-paced episode where Michael's egotistical behavior borders on obnoxious and grating to the viewer. The second landmine is "Take Your Kids to Work Day", which, despite its promising title, is bereft of the funny gags and zany performances so prominent elsewhere in this season.

Michael Scott: AIDS is not funny. Believe me, I have tried.

As far as the extra features go, there is quite an abundance of bonus material for fans to sink their teeth into. There are ten commentary tracks featuring all the major people from the cast and crew. There is a swath of deleted scenes, and with most of them, it is easy to understand why they had to go, but there are a few gems to be found. The 'webisodes', which are short vignettes produced for NBC's website, center around several of the peripheral characters investigating a missing $3,000 in the accounting books. Most of these will be watched once, and then never seen again, as the humor is in relatively short supply. A 17-minute blooper reel shows the cast goofing up their lines and 17 fake Public Service Announcements are a parody of NBC's long-running 'The More You Know' messages.

Dwight: Someone committed a crime, and I did not become a Lackawanna County volunteer sheriff's deputy to make friends. And by the way, I haven't.

Taken as a whole, you would be hard-pressed to find any show on network television that is funnier than The Office. The dialogue is razor-sharp and the actors take the hilarious material and run with it. Anyone interested in a show that repeatedly tickles their funny bone is sure to get a kick out The Office.