By Brendan Barnes, Staff Writer
Going into Steve Carell's final season as Michael Scott, and with NBC determined to continue ‘The Office' without him, to expect an urgent pace from the beginning of the premiere is not entirely unreasonable. After all, one would expect that a believable and, more importantly, likeable departure for Michael Scott--the show's most important anchor--would require a great deal of development over the course of the season. But perhaps not.
The season seven premiere ‘Nepotism' begins with a lighthearted cold-opening, featuring the employees--except Angela, who fervently declines to be on the Internet--filming a video lip-syncing to the 60s hit ‘Nobody But Me.' Dwight, of course, attempts to steal the spotlight, Godzilla-ing over Phyllis' desk and biting off the head of her teddy bear while a declining Ryan shamelessly promotes his almost purposeless invention from last season, the Wuphf.
The episode begins with Michael reminiscing about his summer, a summer that found him contracting ‘Wes Nile' virus and urinating on an infected cut. We then meet Luke Cooper (played by Evan Peters), the new assistant that Michael hired over the summer. Peters is perfect as the infinitely annoying and apathetic Luke, who turns out to be Michael's nephew. When Toby reveals Luke and Michael, the office is furious. Michael's defense is nothing short of hilarious--as he compares himself and Luke to God and Jesus, and wonders what would have happened if the band Hansen had hired a 50 year old murderer--and features one of Michael's best lines in a while: "I wanted you to come to me and say ‘Wow, he is so great' and I was gonna say ‘Well it's in the genes.' And I was actually gonna be wearing jeans...and I'd point to them."
Meanwhile, Pam botches one of Jim's pranks on Dwight by laughing and decides to redeem herself by pulling a prank of her own. She and Kevin rearrange the ‘circus board' on the elevator but the plan backfires when the elevator breaks down. Although her prank fails and Dwight urinates all over the elevator floor, Jim is impressed with Pam.
Luke's antics ultimately force Michael to take action: he resorts to spanking Luke until he runs out of the office, crying. The office commends him, but Gabe comments that Michael will have to take counseling, which Michael gladly accepts until he learns Toby will be his counselor.
‘Nepotism' has its fair share of laughs but, similar to last season, several of the jokes feel forced. While it's nice to see Jim return to torturing Dwight, Pam's storyline simply isn't that engaging. Similarly, Gabe, promoted to a regular character, is not nearly entertaining (or funny) enough to merit such an appointment. Michael's enmity for Toby, always a powder keg for laughter, was uncharacteristically impotent: the ending simply leaves us salivating for next week's episode.
For those eagerly awaiting the return of Holly Flax (Amy Ryan) after last season's finale, prepare to continue waiting. Nothing suggests she will be returning anytime soon, but who knows: ‘The Office' is known to be full of surprises. If only ‘Nepotism' could have been a surprise change of pace from the mediocrity of the sixth season.
The seventh season of 'The Office' premiered last week. (Photo Courtesy of NBC)