The Office (UK) S1 E2 - 'Work Experience' Review


Look But Don't Touch.

The Office (UK) improves in every way in the entertaining 'Work Experience', as Gervais navigates sexism and sexual misconduct in the workplace to produce a hilarious but potentially quite offensive episode.

 It was established in the pilot episode that David Brent was a misguided middle-aged man with more outdated beliefs revolving around gender norms and equality and this was explored more deeply in 'Work Experience' after a new, attractive girl called Donna is brought in as an intern. Brent continually tries to convey a sense of feminism but his speech's about equality are pure comedy gold and serve as a sad example of mindsets and sexist/racist language which still exists in the workplace today.

 Tim and Dawn did more to convince me that they are worth shipping in this episode, as they joked around during quieter moments and flirted casually. I still find Tim irritatingly cocky however, with his bumbling awkwardness and poor comebacks.

 The comedy this episode was top notch with a couple of genuine laugh out loud moments, such as the equally quality lines "How can I hate women? My Mum's one." and "What if she's up for it?", two brilliantly timed one liners which reminded me why this show's formula is so successful.

 Ultimately the women won out by the end of this episode, with Jennifer and Dawn instructing David to apologise for falsely accusing Tim, before publicly shaming him for his pathetic behaviour. Despite the borderline gags used earlier in the episode, this finale act of justice tied the episode up nicely.

 DID YOU KNOW?!
  • The names of Donna's parents are Elaine and Ron, which are names of show-runner Stephen Merchant's parents
RATING: 7.5/10

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