It's been four months since Jim burst in on Pam's confessional in last season's finale in order to ask her out to dinner. In its season premiere, fans of The Office were finally clued in to what happened after that brief conversation. This bit of drama, however, still did not get in the way of the usual antics to be expected from the NBC sitcom. Michael Scott continues to embarrass himself in new ways, Dwight is as horrendously inappropriate as ever, and Toby is still as underappreciated as Creed is creepy.

In the beginning of the episode we are treated to a snapshot of Michael's personal life. His former boss, Jan, has moved in with him and is still unemployed. Then, like he has so many times before, Michael reflects on his personal life to the camera during his morning drive to the office. This potential life lesson is cut short, however, when he inadvertently strikes one of his employees, Meredith, with his car in the Dunder-Mifflin parking lot.

As we enter the building for the first time of the season, Jim recaps what has transpired during the months we missed. He and Karen have broken up and, despite her insistence on continuing her career, she has mysteriously vanished. He and Pam are getting together quite well and Pam mentions how happy she is to have her friend back. Both employees insist that they are single and not dating anyone, but certain staff members, namely the immature Kevin, have their suspicions.

Michael soon announces to the rest of his staff the tragedy that he has caused. As the rest of the staff express both concern for Meredith and awe at Michael's actions, Dwight attempts to comfort his mentor. Michael is then forced to call his new boss, Ryan, who also happens to be his former intern.

Meanwhile, Pam tries to rally the staff to visit Meredith in the hospital. As she tries to recruit the aid of Angela, she learns that Angela's cat, Sprinkles, is sick and needs tending to. Pam, while dodging a series of awkward questions from Kevin, reminds Angela of her professional duty as head of the party planning committee and convinces her to take the lead in arranging the hospital visit. Angela is then forced to send her secret boyfriend, Dwight, to her home to take care of the sick Sprinkles.

Michael invites himself to the hospital along with the staff and Meredith soon awakes to an awkward gathering of her co-workers. After Michael attempts to milk an apology from the injured employee and Creed quizzes her about what pain medications she is taking, the staff leaves at Meredith's insistence.

Back at the office, a barely sympathetic Dwight informs Angela that her cat has died and is currently being kept in the freezer to prevent it from smelling. This news prompts Michael to believe that the building is cursed so he quickly holds a staff meeting to address this latest dilemma. As should be expected, Michael quickly steers the meeting towards the direction of the most inappropriate of subjects, asking the staff about their religious beliefs and making sure no one has performed any sacrilegious rituals that may lead to the newfound curse upon the building.

After the meeting we see Pam heading out the building as Kevin hides in his car, hoping to find evidence proving the secret relationship between Jim and Pam. After seeing her drive off alone in her car, however, he gives up and heads back to the building, seemingly accepting that his hunches were wrong after all.

Fortunately for us, the camera crew is a little more persistent and follows Pam down the street where she discreetly pulls over to let an enthusiastic Jim run into the car and greet her with a kiss. Soon after, the camera crew presents their incriminating footage to the secret couple and Pam, with some restrained glee, admits that they are dating but have not told anyone.

Meanwhile, Angela confides in Pam her suspicion that Dwight may have killed her cat. Apparently the cat was found in the freezer, as Dwight had said, but the contents of the freezer were covered with claw marks showing signs of a possible struggle. Angela tries to turn to Pam for support but quickly dismisses her after Pam claims to be a “dog person.”

Dwight, who had missed the initial hospital visit to take care of Angela's cat, then goes to the hospital to visit Meredith. He discovers that Meredith was actually infected with rabies and she was lucky to be admitted to the hospital before she showed any symptoms. Dwight brings this news back to his boss and Michael decides to hold a fundraiser in the form of a 5K Fun Run in order to raise money for the research and treatment of rabies.

The fundraiser is quickly on its way as Michael has his employees raise funds over the phone as he Jim, Dwight and Pam plan the race. After raising $700, Michael spends $200 of it creating a giant check and another $260 on a stripper dressed as a nurse to receive the giant check in the opening ceremony.

Soon, the race begins. Michael, after scarfing down a fettuccini alfredo right before the race in order to carbo-load, is off to a quick start but eventually slows down due to his full stomach and his refusal to drink water throughout the day. Dwight eventually admits to killing Angela's cat, claiming that it was out of mercy and, as a farmer, he grew up with the belief that putting an animal out of its misery was the noble thing to do. Jim and Pam intentionally fall behind deciding to use the race as an opportunity to spend some private time together, walking through the neighborhoods and visiting a garage sale. Toby ends up being the strong winner but finds little reception at the finish line where Kelly is too busy texting her friends to congratulate him.

In the end, Michael finds himself unable to finish the race until Jim and Pam finally make their way to him and manage to deliver a timely pep talk, giving him the motivation to finish the race before promptly vomiting on the finish line. He is eventually admitted to the hospital with a case of dehydration where he is able to make amends with Meredith

The season premier proved that The Office shows no sign of running out of comedic material and has the potential to continue as one of the cleverest comedies on air. However, with the fairly anti-climactic resolution to the Jim/Pam relationship, it seems that the flirtatious glances and inside jokes that made the two so fun and adorable as friends apparently make them somewhat annoying as a couple. The show will likely continue to be as funny and witty as it ever has been, but without the “will they, won't they” drama of the previous seasons, can it remain as addictive week to week as it was before?


-George Freitag, Buddy TV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of NBC)