Did I Stutter?

Oh man, what can I say about this! One sentence can demolish a man’s ego in a matter of seconds. And only a few did manage to expose my article’s protagonist. And not my article only, but also the show’s protagonist. He doesn’t need me to say that. I mean, he’s the “World’s best boss”.

The beloved Regional Manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin Inc. He was a person of interest ever since I started watching this show. A lonely childhood, a missed father and uncompleted education, some tad points of what makes Michael G. Scott the man we encountered and fell in love with.

The multi-talented, attention seeker and self-centered prodigy has given an atmosphere of fun and high self-esteem all around the office. Practicing his superiority towards people that work for him, and going around with his alter egos in order to “entertain and educate”. “Where dreams come true”, we follow his journey of withstanding abuse from his workers with their hilarious jokes and constant acknowledgement of his narcissistic personality.

Consequently, a question has to be asked; Is narcissism actually that awful; does it make people bad and vicious? or Is it just a series of undesired events that led to unfortunate results?; The possibility of breaking the chain is the center of this discussion, and who’s better than Michael himself to be our case study. His character development throughout the show had make me relook my point of view, and right now, we are on a point-by-point journey into the mind of Micheal Scott.

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a rare mental illness that affects all areas of life, and it would explain Michael Scott’s personality quirks and his odd behavior. The show introduces Micheal as man in his 40s, single, successful career-wise and treats his workers as if all of them were his friends, which puts him in a difficult situation due to the workplace’s hierarchy. He fantasizes about power, beauty and success, even though he declared bankruptcy by saying “I declare bankruptcy”, You don’t have to say I declare before everything, goddamit. Also, he considers himself the most charming of all men, even more than Jim himself!! “I mean, who thinks that he’s prettier than John Krasinski, prrrrr he’s such a hottie”. And did I mention that he’s all about the Dundies? Flaunting them in his office, mentioning winning them on random convos.

Strangled by false pretentiousness, and incessant fear of being envied, Micheal has tried to push every possibility away of being took over, ignoring the profession standards and every meaningful human connection like friendship. With a noticeable unrealistic goal setting as a result of flawed prediction of acquiring huge loads of money at a certain age, promising some 3rd grade students the moon and not paying their college tuition, demolishing their future with no tinge of regret. In addition, Micheal tends to exploit others for his own personal benefit and feeds over the hypocrisy directed at him from his lower-in-position mates.

But at certain occasions, Micheal can acknowledge the criticism directed at him, despite his lack of common sense, and his ability to take offense or not recognizing them in the first place. Also, we saw that few people succeeded in confronting Micheal, Stanley Hudson was a front liner, shutting Micheal up, and forcing Micheal to demand professional respect. “I SAID, DID I STUTTER?!”.

His romantic relationships are more of roller coaster, his narcissistic personality tends to over romanticize each one of them, with over the top drama, embarrassing actions and horrifying breakups. Until Holly comes in and turn the office into a jungle. Jeez, if I found someone who shares my goofiness like what Micheal and her have, I would be the happiest man in the world. She was the one who caught his eyes, her dorkiness, sense of humor and social awkwardness were a strong indication that she was the one for Micheal. Sharing fun time together, disregarding the world around them. However, when things got rough and the company sent her away, the breakup didn’t erase their affection for each other, notes that been sent and the subtle glances they had at every company meeting.

Holly was the secret ingredient of changing Micheal to more responsible and sensitive person. Overcoming his lack of empathy, selfishness and false daydreaming, also demolishing a part of his narcissistic personality, due to her mad skills in analyzing his personas and working for the relationship in order to work out.

This took longer than I expected “That’s what she said”, and I feel thrilled cuz I could share my experience with y’all. Remember that people can be changed. Even if it was a severe case like Micheal’s. I never believed love can have an effect, but always knew that with the right person, anything can be done.