Shea Serrano is a staff writer at The Ringer and a two-time New York Times bestselling author of The Rap Yearbook and Basketball (And Other Things). His Twitter followers (aka the FOH Army) also know about his love for The Office, NBC’s beloved sitcom about the exploits of the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. I was a huge fan of Basketball (And Other Things), and when Serrano announced he was working on a “secret Office project,” my interest was piqued. One of my favorite writers covering my favorite TV show? What more could I ask for?
Serrano did not disappoint. Here’s a screenshot of the ten essays, each covering its own topic or hypothetical scenario:
Each essay is unique in its own way. In some, you know exactly what you’re getting from the title (The Basketball Scouting Report, Is Jim Halpert Hot?), while some catch you somewhat off-guard (Dwight Club, in which Serrano places Dwight Schrute’s many different battles into four separate tiers, each tier more daunting than the last).
For me, the pinnacle of the project was “Meeting 8”: Pam Has an Art Show. Here, Serrano goes in-depth about Business School, episode sixteen in the series’ third season. He discusses the different emotions being felt by both Pam, who feels hopeless after almost no one in the office shows up for her art show, and Michael, who was deeply hurt by his protégé Ryan trashing Dunder Mifflin and the company’s inability and unwillingness to adapt to the changing business climate of the 21st century. Serrano talks about how Michael comes in and saves the day for Pam, while also finding a way to save the day for himself by finally becoming the man with profound words of wisdom that he always tried to be.
I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about Arturo Torres’ excellent illustrations throughout the project. Torres also made the art in The Rap Yearbook and Basketball (And Other Things). I mean, just take a look at some of these:
There are dozens of these illustrations throughout the project. Torres does a great job of keeping the characters realistic while imagining them in situations not seen on camera throughout the show.
Overall, I thought this project was excellent. It shows off Serrano’s knack for asking interesting hypothetical questions and coming to interesting, logical conclusions, as well as Torres’ ability to bring Serrano’s words to life. Although Serrano has said he’s taking time off from writing books for a while, let’s hope he and Torres link up for another project sometime in the future.
If you’re interested in buying Conference Room, Five Minutes, it can be purchased here for $20. Hurry, though: it’s only available to be purchased for twelve more days!
ReJoyce 