(S04E01) We had a lot of discussion last year about The Office's precarious balance of sitcom-type humor and soap-opera drama. There were times when the Pam/Jim/Karen/Roy love quadrangle threatened to overwhelm the show. Other times, Michael's increasingly cartoonish boss went so far off the reservation as to completely shake our suspension of disbelief.

If anything, tonight's episode proved while the sitcom elements are certainly important, it's the soap opera that gives us our unique connection to these characters. I don't know about you guys, but seeing Michael and Jan and Angela and Dwight and, most especially, Pam and Jim back on the small screen felt like slipping out for some coffee with my old friends.

Yes, I'm completely aware that this feeling might be the beginning stages of paranoid schizophrenia, but I don't care because The Office is back! On to the review...