With nine seasons and years of reruns, we have all come to love Michael Scott on The Office. Played by Steve Carell, the character undergoes a significant transformation. There are many good things about the character that fans have come to love over the years, but the truth remains: Michael Scott was somewhat toxic, especially in earlier seasons. But the common sentiment at the end of the show has fans convinced that he is simply the world’s best boss.
He wasn’t a conventional boss, nor was he the most effective team leader. He had some strange strategies and even stranger ways to get his way with the world. But Michael Scott did it, he did almost everything he set out to do at the beginning of the show. He truly cared about his employees and wanted to make work fun. Michael truly believed in working hard and playing hard, even though we hardly saw him working in that cabin of his. And yet there are many, many reasons why he was a loveable character, one of them being how relatable he was.
Michael Scott Wanted To Have Fun At Work
Michael Scott tried his best to make work fun every day during each of the seasons. He even ended up creating a committee just to do that. In fact, there was more than once, the Party Planning Committee and then there was The Committee to Plan Parties.
According to reports, Michael ended up throwing nearly 20 parties, including the first Dunder Mifflin awards night. These parties were often about employee enjoyment rather than appeasing the higher management. There were plenty of Birthday and Christmas parties, which also included gifts for everyone. Michael also threw a bridal shower party for Phyllis and, later, a baby shower party for Jan.
To Michael Scott, His Employees Were Actually Family
Time and again, Michael has proved that his employees are very important to him. He even said it more than once when talking to the documentary crew. He wasn’t afraid to admit that the employees were family and said he’d pick them over romance. When asked if he was seeing anyone in the episode “Hot Girl”, he said,
“Do I have a special someone? Well, yeah, of course. A bunch of ’em. My employees. If I had to choose between a one-night stand with some stupid cow I pick up in a bar and these people? I’d pick them every time. Because with them, it is an everyday stand, and I still know their names in the morning.” Meanwhile, in the “Health Care” episode, he said, “The most sacred thing I do is care and provide for my workers, my family. I give them money. I give them food. Not directly, but through the money. I heal them.”
Michael Scott Was Relatable
Michael Scott was us in different ways. He was also stuck with love and work, the same way most of us are, especially during our 30s, and that’s what made him relatable and lovable. He too was confused about life, love and work, and fans often found themselves saying ‘same’ to whatever Michael said.
Steve, in an interview with Mashable, talked about why his character is so relatable. He explained that he was able to do so, thanks to the deeper understanding of where Michael’s heart was. Steve talked about the Diversity Day episode and said, “It’s why I bristle a little when people try to compartmentalize Michael as a racist. He’s a person with an enormously good, kind heart who lacked a great deal of information about the world around him. He was as asleep in a woke world as you could be,” Carell said, laughing. “[Michael’s] trying his best! There’s a difference between being intolerant and being ignorant. Sometimes intolerance and ignorance go hand in hand, for sure. But I think he was a very earnest and decent human being. He just didn’t… get it all the time, you know?”
“[Michael] put his foot in his mouth all the time, saying inappropriate things, but I don’t think he ever valued one type of person over any other,” Carell said. “And in that way, I think he was a very pure character. He’s very dumb in terms of political correctness and being appropriate in public. But at the same time, I just don’t think there was hardness in his heart towards anyone.”
Michael Scott’s Redeemable Arc
Steve Carell revealed that he was genuinely invested in Michael’s character growth and wanted Michael to have a meaningful, noticeable arc. Carell explained, “Michael Scott, at his core, wants to be loved,” but by the time his character started to make the most sense, it was when he had found his love and partner, Holly. “I think Michael was just a bit myopic and became more aware once he was able to start stepping outside of himself and his own little eccentricities. He could see a little bit more about the world around him,” Carell added.
“Michael lives to be celebrated throughout the whole series. That’s all he wants. He wants to be the center of attention, and he wants pats on the back. He wants people to think he’s funny and charming and all of those things. But the fact that he’d walk away from his big tribute, his big send-off, and be able to, in a very personal way, say goodbye to each character, that to me felt like it would resonate,” the actor added.
Michael Scott Was A Brilliant Philosopher And Funny
Michael Scott is always seen questioning everything, all the time. His most iconic quotes have been about him questioning his own motivations or philosophical rhetorical questions, asking, “Is there a God? If not, what are all these churches for? And who is Jesus’ dad?”
Michael Scott also played by his own rules, often encouraging others to do the same. He also questioned masculinity and said, “Society teaches us that having feelings and crying is bad and wrong. Well, that’s baloney because grief isn’t wrong. There’s such a thing as good grief. Just ask Charlie Brown.”
Michael has a good heart and good intentions, even when he came off as awkward or toxic. His dating life wasn’t easy, he didn’t have enough friends. But when he did, it changed him into a better and different person, and that is what makes him a loveable character. A character that gives us hope that we, too, could change and be better.
