“The Paper” has finally opened it’s doors… and we are there for it. The series does not try to replace “The Office”, but instead winks and nods occasionally back at it’s predecessor while the team at “The Paper” have a completely separate mission – journalism. While ‘Office’ fans still wait on the last season of Superman episodes, we were given this ten episode treat and proof that even though Dunder Mifflin is gone, their paper connects live on.
Domhnall Gleason is no Michael Scott (Steve Carell), but he does have some of the same characteristics as DM’s old top boss. Both characters have little boundaries, a sometimes naive view of the world and are inexplicably good at sales. Warning, beyond this point there are spoilers for season 1 of “The Paper” on Peacock.
The series does not try to replace “The Office”, but instead winks and nods occasionally back at it’s predecessor while the team at “The Paper” have a completely separate mission – journalism.”
The opening sequence is a fun callback to the original series as the doc crew revisits he address where Dunder MIfflin previously was located, only to find Bob Vance (Bobby Ray Shafer), Vance Refrigeration still standing. DM has been out of business since 2019 and we bought out by a company called Enervate in Toledo, Ohio. Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) was offered to relocate, which gets a great laugh from Bob. Bob also mentions Stanley (Leslie David Baker) before the crew picks up and heads to Toledo. While “The Office” chose to start the series with Michael in the manager’s office, “The Paper” chooses to start their documentary on the new boss Ned’s first day. The premiere episode choosiest to utilize these flashback type videos of a duck meter made in the newspapers golden era, where they had employees everywhere and were a huge business. This is a swing and miss in our opinion. This takes away from time with the character although it is interesting to see the history of the business and the husk of a carcass that the newspaper is when the doc crew starts following them.
This office is much more complicated than the first as it houses executives from the parent company and salespeople from both their toilet paper division and office supplies. Corporate lackey Ken (Tim Key) explains to Ned in their first budget meeting that Enervate is like Tom Brady, while the Truth Teller Newspaper that Ned has just been hired at is like a sick mouse hiding behind Tom Brady’s fridge. Esmeralda (Sabrina Impacciatore) used to be in charge of the paper, which was a clickbait nightmare, so Ned fails to notice her instant attempts to sabotage her to an almost ridiculous degree. The chemistry between Gleason and Impacciatore is undeniable, the actress brings a unique blend of culture that we haven’t seen in this universe before… aside from the ‘gabbagool’ episode. The premiere does a creative job of setting up the stakes for the season, Ned relaunching a newspaper with almost no budget. Ned enlists Mare (Chelsea Frei) on his crusade, as she is the only employee with bonafide journalistic experience and vital to Ned’s plan. There is also clear chemistry between the two of them, but Esmeralda hilariously interferes throughout the season, including a moment whee she tells Ned that Mare is asexual. With only one real reporter and Esmeralda actively trying to take him down, Ne has his work cut out for him. He enlists the employees form other corners of Enervate’s paper companies to volunteer as reporters and gets his very own small team. Ned seems destined to fail, but he is very persistent and manages to motivate Mare, who has a good character arc from the first episode to the last.
The strength of “The Office” was in it’s random characters of ALL different personality types that are of average (or below average) intelligence all interacting with each other in a dying business, trying to survive. “The Paper” contains some of those elements but also stands on it’s own two feet. The characters are engaging and relatable, or plain hilarious as in Esmerelda’s case. Esmerelda does not see to grow much through the season, but did Dwight in season 1? Arguably the funniest episode is “Scam Alert!”, episode 5 when the newspaper reports on a notorious catfish and it’s revealed that Esmerelda was also catfished. The chaos that ensued as Esmerelda pushes her catfish to prove he’s really really using Josh Holloway in a cameo is possibly the funniest moment in the season.
This is the kind of magic we had to wait to see until seasons 2 with the DM crew and we hope there are a lot more episodes like this in the future of “The Paper”.
Oscar’s (Oscar Nunez) story throughout the season is well told. The accountant starts off seemingly upset that the doc crew is back and goes so far as to curse every time they films him to make his footage unusable. He slowly gets entangled in the newspaper and even enlists some Sudoku help from Stanley. By the final episode, Oscar is begging the crew to film him, which is maybe a bit unrealistic for the character, but cringeworthy to say the least, which is a defining characteristic of “The Office” universe.
The supporting cast also shine in short bursts, with the new relationship between Nicole (Ramona Young) and Detrick (Melvin Gregg) being one of the highlights of the lesser focused on characters. By the end of season 1, Mare and Ned have both won awards and it’s likely that the paper will get a bigger budget for season 2 and New will use his accolades to put more resources into the Truth Teller. Enervate CEO Marv Putnam has had some cringe interactions with the cast throughout the season, but will support the paper if it makes only, hopefully the teams awards amounts to more money and full time stories.
Most seasons of “The Office” were over 20 episodes, but it’s unclear how big season 2 of “The Paper” might be. A show with these many characters needs time for them to each get their moments, while pushing forward the bigger storyline of trying to keep the newspaper afloat. Luckily the series was already rendered just days ahead of it’s premiere after a last minute change of release schedule where Peacock decided to drop all the periscope at once. This was likely a smart move as “The Office” found new life in being a binge show on Netflix. Forcing fans to wait each week may have seen interest dwindle, while a 10 episode season, longer than season 1 dropping all at once is a solid weekend binge.
What do you think? Where will the Truth Teller go in season 2? Will there be other conflicts of interest like the Mann Wipes debacle? What happened to Nate the janitor? Will he get his revenge on Esmerelda and Ken? Where is Ned and Mare’s romance heading? Are they taking things too fast? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
