One of the greatest transformations in American TV history is the evolution of Michael Scott
from inappropriate, cringe-inducing, and heavily disliked boss to lovable, hilarious, and respected
leader. A transformation that unfortunately his British counterpart, David Brent,
did not get. Instead, audiences were subjected to an uncomfortable scene of David begging to keep
his job and getting fired with no emotion from the rest of his employees. It's a testament to the US
cultural belief in growth and redemption that made that kind of static character impossible to sell
to audiences here. Nerdstalgic made an incredible video exploring the changes that the writers made
to Michael's character to respond to the market's desire to see a glimmer of hope at the end of the
cringe tunnel. But that's not what we're going to talk about. Instead let's look at the journey that
Michael took that changed him from a deeply lonely and unhappy man to one of the most beloved both
by others and, more importantly, by himself. Before we get into it, if you're new here,
please be sure to hit that subscribe button for more content just like this, around understanding
people, relationships, and love. When we first met Michael, we were made brutally aware of Michael's
deep desire for friends, which he'd struggled to fulfill. Between his sad tales of failed birthdays
and an eerily haunting response to a puppet interview, we could truly feel for Michael and
his intense loneliness. It also didn't help that in his misguided attempts to fix his loneliness,
Michael attached himself to terrible people like Todd Packer who despite being his friend often
used him as a butt of his jokes. But Michael's perpetual loneliness changed with one simple act
"Yay Kevin! For smelling up the bathroom"
With this sweet gesture of Pam feeling for Michael, seeing his effort to make
the Dundies a success, she changed the way that the rest of the employees started to treat him,
especially Jim. These instances of kindness initially born out of pity over the years
evolved into a strong friendship between the three of them and into the most significant
relationships for Michael. Now Michael had made friends, or more like acquaintances,
before but the inherent issue with having friends as an adult versus learning to make
friends as a kid is that kids will tell you why they don't like you, which as cruel as it sounds,
is very useful because this offers a solid feedback loop to us and helps us slightly
edit our behavior and learn how to fit in. It's when we're kids that we learn some crucial rules
like how to play nice, how to share, not talk too much about ourselves, and, ultimately,
how to make and keep friends. Now Michael missed this crucial experience as a kid and now no
adult was going to tell him to his face what they didn't like about him. Adults are not so brutally
honest. Instead, they'll just sort of look uncomfortable and quietly hide their irritation
and generally just avoid a person's company. This is what Michael experienced most often giving him
no indication for why he wasn't fitting in. "We're not going as a group. This private friend who
happens to know all of us from different ways is throwing a private birthday thing." That is until
he became friends with Pam and Jim, both of whom started to point out the ways that his behavior
was annoying or inappropriate. The best part about this is that Michael listened. I mean not always,
but most of the times he listened and learned and changed and grew in a way that people thought was
impossible. While Jim critiqued his tendencies to alienate people, Pam helped Michael dismantle
his self-destructive tendencies making Michael a little happier in life. This kindness from others
and an increase in happiness brought out of Michael his less self-centered side.
It is an interesting phenomenon that when certain people are frustrated with themselves,
who are lonely and starved for attention, they will be so caught up in wanting attention or
love that they won't really prioritize giving love and attention to others. Internally,
they consider their own desire more important than the desires and needs of others.
But as we all know, demanding attention and love makes people not want to give us attention and
love. It's not until Michael stopped being wrapped up in his own needs and started giving to others
that he showed his loving caring side. The side that is just as protective of others and willing
to put his neck out for their sake. This shift led to Michael gaining respect as a leader and a boss
even from the most reluctant employees. The beauty of this is that Michael, for the first time in his
life, was surrounded by people who cared for him. While Todd Packer only wanted to know how
hot his girlfriend was, Pam, Phyllis, and Karen wanted him to contemplate his happiness forcing
Michael to rethink one of the biggest sources of unhappiness in his life - his choices in women.
Now most of Michael's relationships weren't really that bad, not great, but not bad, save for one -
Jan. "Oh god". I think the best person to describe how Jan behaved in her
relationship with Michael is probably Jan herself. "I guess that makes me the devil."
"You are!" Jan was incredibly manipulative, she used Michael, picked him up and discarded him
as she pleased, she consistently put him down, and made him do things that he was incredibly
uncomfortable with. Oh yeah, and she got pregnant with someone else's baby while they were dating.
"You cheated on me? When I specifically asked you not to?" "No!" She also asked Michael
not to date Holly knowing that he and Holly were probably perfect for each other.
God she sucks! And, of course, Michael just sort of put up with all this
because he was so afraid to be alone and didn't think he could do any better.
The moment that Michael silently rebelled against Jan, breaking out of the hold she had on him,
choosing to embrace Holly instead, is such a beautiful moment. Both of them tear up,
and honestly so do I. And little by little Michael started to acknowledge that he deserved better
than the life he was creating for himself. Michael even started to speak up and defend himself
against his employees and even his friends. He pushed back against bosses and best of all he
ditched Todd Packer. What started off with minor support from Jim and Pam, led to Michael realizing
all the ways he needed to grow, to rethink his perspective on love and on friendships,
on the kind of boss he was going to be to his employees, and, most importantly, to value himself
and what he deserved. There are many reasons to love The Office - the humor, the efficient format,
the characters, and the storyline. But i think the most compelling reason that people come back to
this show is the heart - those deep moments that move us to tears or even to our feet.
And the moment that Michael came full circle where he valued something his employee knitted for him
whereas before he wanted to throw it away or that he preferred to leave the Office in silence rather
than fanfare. Or the moment he got to hear the words from an employee that he'd so deeply craved
for years. "The best boss I've ever had." That he had earned the love and respect from an employee
but also a friend. These are the moments we come back for and, you know what, we always will.
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