Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Catherine is a story told in 12 two-minute(ish) parts, and and stars Jenny Slate. The series, which began its life as a webseries but is now available to view on Amazon Prime, follows its titular protagonist as she returns to her dayjob after an unexplained absence. The obstacles Catherine faces are immensely relatable and overwhelmingly uninteresting. But through the show’s robotic tone, non-plot, and dramatic music cues, the series serves as a surprisingly barbed criticism of corporate life.
If aliens had to portray what working in an office was like, the result would look very similar to Catherine. Each two-minute episode takes a boring, everyday office occurrence and elevates it into a soap opera starring robots. It’s a series and a role that’s a far cry from Slate’s delightfully hectic Mona Lisa (Parks and Recreation) or her vulnerable and painful portrayal of Donna in Obvious Child, but Slate nails her disturbingly deadpan lines. There’s really no other way to explain the show’s appeal than through examples. In one saga, Catherine’s coworker picks up lunch for the entire office. As everyone takes their respective lunches, a single apple is left unclaimed. The camera dramatically pans from one office worker to the next, the music escalating in intensity and volume as the apple still remains untouched. It’s such a stupid source of tension that makes no sense yet immediately nails what working in an office is like.
The Office was a comedy for everyone who secretly loves their jobs but loves complaining about them more. Catherine is not an extension of that sentiment. Through the show’s stilted dialogue and robotic responses, Catherine is best viewed as an oddly comedic horror show, revealing how these very boring employees in this very boring office have lost their grasp of humanity. It’s like watching a sitcom about the humanoids that inhabit the realm of corporate training videos. It’s as creepy and off-putting as it is strangely addicting to watch. Those same qualities are also what makes the series so oddly relatable.
Everyone has worked in a monotonous corporate job they hate. It’s easy to get sucked into the world of corporate BS, and it’s only when you’ve spent 20 minutes complaining about how rude it was that Debbie took two office cookies, not one, that you realize the petty transformation office life can inflict. If merely seeing your office Monday morning makes you crave the weekend, then give Jenny Slate’s Twilight Zone portrayal of office life a watch. At the very least, it’ll show that you’re not the only one who feels this way about that corporate life.
Photos: YouTube
