The Office (TV Series) Doomsday (2011) User Reviews

More subtlety!

[dc-988-297627 · 8/10 · 4 November 2011]

Pleasantly surprised by this episode, as I was expecting immature teenage-movie comedy as seen in the previous episodes. Glad to see that The Office has returned to believable plots (or at least partially believable). A far cry from the over the top 'The Hangover' style slapstick mess that we've been seeing recently. The producers really need to stay away from turning the show into a teenage-movie comedy / sitcom.

Erin's silliness, although charming, sometimes spoils the atmosphere of the show. I have also noticed that Oscar has gone slightly goofy this season. It would be much more enjoyable to watch if there were more naive characters (like the old Pam).

I am still looking forward to the moment that The Office will fully recover from the lowbrow humour that we've seen recently. I miss the awkward reactions from Season 1, 2, and 3. E.g. the characters looking at the camera when they are uncomfortable or when someone does something unprofessional etc. Currently, the employees appear to readily accept inappropriate behaviour in the office, and the whole show feels like a sitcom. We need more head shaking, eye rolling and walking away from Angela. We need to see some characters telling Andy that they need to get on with their work. Make it believable! Just my suggestion on how the The Office could go about if its still wants to claim itself as a mockumentary.

Overall it is a step in the right direction. It is episodes like these that show that there is still a glimmer of hope left for this show.

Doomsday (#8.6)

[ComedyFan2010 · 9/10 · 26 January 2019]

Dwight creates an application that will send Robert California a message if five mistakes are made in a day.

The episode is once again of high quality. A great idea and very funny. I was just wondering why can't they just use the app to prevent mistakes, if one is made one can right away fix it. But no matter what it was great, I loved how Dwight at the end turned it off for his coworkers

Simply Ridiculous Plot

[wafehling-79289 · 3/10 · 9 March 2015]

Most episodes of The Office can manage to push past plot holes and feasibility issues, or even embrace them, with a few exceptions. (I'm looking at you, Fire Drill.) But this episode simply makes me want to scream.

The entire plot revolves around a device that will literally get everyone fired if it goes off at 5 PM, including Dwight, who created it. This device is apparently on the server in the office, which as far as I can tell, is in the closet/Ryan's office, but is definitely in the building somewhere. They set the device off, everyone panics, and the entire episode is about trying to deal with a Dwight that feels like he was written as a heavily unstable and illogical psychopath, and not his strange, rigid, but ultimately human self.

The plot holes in this are cannonballs shot through a barn roof.

1. Unplug the server. It's right there. Pull the plug at 4:59, no more problems. UNPLUG IT! This is literally a time bomb plugged into a wall circuit, and the writers just made everyone laughably stupid enough to not consider unplugging the godforsaken thing. This alone utterly breaks the episode.

2. Dwight is killing any chance he has for advancement at the company, which he's spent the entire 8-season running frothing over trying to get. From the devotion and intense loyalty towards the company he's shown since S1E1, this is literally the equivalent of Dwight shooting himself in the foot. Utterly illogical behavior. Really consistent mindset there, writers.

3. Andy is the manager, ranks above Dwight, and has authority. Dwight has to give up the code. There's not a single company in the world who would let a subordinate hijack the computer system and refuse to give up control when asked by a superior. Andy folds like he's powerless, for NO REASON AT ALL. He literally never even tries to use his power to persuade him, because at that point most viewers would go "Oh hey, that doesn't make any sense," and the entire plot would fall apart even more than it already has. I know Andy's not a bastion of confidence, but come on! Everyone is going to be fired! He's not a sentient noodle!

The side plots of this episode are rather buried, but not poorly-written or unreasonable, so this doesn't get a 1, but wow. There's only a few episodes of this show I dislike at all, but this one takes the cake. 3/10

Simply Ridiculous Plot Supplement

[chlump · 4/10 · 10 April 2020]

Just read the other review with this title.

And add another giant plot hole. How does the device detect errors? If a human is required to do the work, how is it feasible that some computer program has the ability to detect errors humans have made? A program that complex could run the office and humans wouldn't even be needed. It would have to be Hal 9000 artificial intelligence or something. Had my eyes rolling constantly. Such a program could actually correct everyone's mistakes! Just do you work then wait to finalize or execute your work to see if this magical program says you've made a mistake, then use the output of the program to fix your mistake!

So the doomsday program could become the ultimate program to ensure no more mistakes were made and actually make the branch look better than ever!

Talk about a super contrived situation just to do some awkward and pointless character development or something?

Four stars because it did make me laugh some.

Dwight's Automatic Mistake Notifier

[vivianla · 30 January 2021]

Robert California tells Andy to simply stop the mistakes from happening instead of giving names.

Dwight sets up a machine notifying of mistakes and eventually sends an automatic email to the boss.

Andy suggests Pam goes with them to talk to Dwight because her breasts are enormous right now.