Watercooler: Maybe It's Time to Close The Office

OK, enough's enough. For at least the past two seasons, The Office has spent more time being over the top rather than grounded in anything close to reality. And we forgave this lack of authenticity because most of the time, the show was funny.

But last night, we officially went from "hee-hee" to "how is this humorous?" as the Scrantonians turned Valentine's Day into a holiday that will live in infamy. Lacking even a sliver of the heart that usually beats within the walls of 1725 Slough Avenue, we got a barrage of sophomoric gags one would expect from high schoolers hopped up on Salvia and hormones, not a team of Emmy-winning writers. From Michael and Holly's slapsticky inter-office PDAs, to Pam and Jim's completely out-of-character liquid lunch, to the alarmingly cartoon-ish behavior of characters who used to feel like actual people, the whole thing was — in the words of Darryl — a little too much.

Asking us to accept that an entire staff would stand for a boss' aggressive, unfiltered declarations about his lovemaking habits? That an HR meeting could ever include the term "boobyhonking" without lawsuits being followed minutes after? That anyone would want to have sex in the same place Dwight and Angela mated? No. It's been too long since we saw this gang act like humans. It doesn't work anymore. Which is fitting, since neither does anyone at Dunder Mifflin, apparently. They're all too busy finding new ways for us to avoid going in to The Office. Perhaps the whole lot of them should call it a day once Steve Carell leaves later this season.

What about you? Did you celebrate The Office's Valentine's Day ep, or did it give you heartburn, too?

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