The Unfortunate Problem With The Office's Ryan Howard

The Office's Ryan Howard, played by BJ Novak, is something of an enigma. Starting as the audience POV into the life of Dunder Mifflin Scranton, Ryan Howard had a drastic evolution followed by a devastating downfall. Even though he's billed as a lead member of The Office cast, he never seems to rise to the level of fan favorites, Jim, Dwight or Pam. But what exactly happened to Ryan Howard during his tenure at Dunder Mifflin?

#theoffice #dundermifflin #nerdstalgic

Written by Brian Long
Edited by Nick Murphy

[axelvc]

I actually like Ryan character development. It is one of the most stereotypical figures you see in an actual office. Someone young, smart, kinda resentful, that thinks that he can do better than all of the rest because of his background education. Then the downfall, the crisis, then the acceptance and the don't give a f-k attitude. It doesn't need to be funny, it is more tragical than comedic.

[TheFiddleFaddle]

I think Ryan was simply there to be B.J. Novak's punching bag, and he works really well as that. The meta humor that this writer was deliberately abusing his own character was brilliant, and I wholeheartedly disagree that it didn't work.

[austinesser]

Ryan's character development was to show who he truly was as a person. A quiet kid that secretly thinks he's a hot shot and then is given the opportunity to showcase his talents, which is manipulation. That is his relationship with Kelly, the higher-ups at Dunder Mifflin, and the various company ideas that he tried to get co-workers to invest in. As Ryan became more comfortable with the people around him, the real Ryan showed up. Once Ryan made it to the top of the corporate ladder and then falling to the absolute bottom, he knew he had nothing else to lose and just didn't care anymore. He became selfish and conceded because he knew he couldn't recover from all of the wrongs he's done. So basically, his character development was more of an "undevelopment" by the final episode.

[ethanenright]

Season 1 Ryan was actually really funny in my opinion

[Daniel__Something]

I feel the lack of personality IS what drives the drastic personality shifts. He becomes what he believes to be “cool” or most relevant, never really knowing who he is or what he wants. He started off as overqualified and took it to heart, believing he’s better than everyone. It’s why I felt his rise and fall were actually an accurate portrayal of someone who had it too easy in the start and never did well when challenged by adversity. He became a drug addicted narcissist while trying to come off as a smart innovator. I believe that the in season 4 episode 11 “night out” we see the true honest Ryan in his most vulnerable form. His narcissism and delusional behavior is contrasted by the comedown of his high at the end of the episode. He is a sad lonely guy BECAUSE he believes to be better than anyone. No friends and a horrible relationship with women. I can go on about this, but I’m not the one making video essays 😅

[cedricfowler]

I noticed Ryan and Jim were the audience surrogate characters in the show's beginning. Ryan was the new employee supposedly learning the ropes despite having more knowledge and sense than the manager. Jim had been in the office for a while, was used to the chaos, and could somewhat have fun with it. It's a shame Ryan didn't do much after season 4 & 5 and became a human Brian Griffin.

[dennishena]

I never had any issues with Ryan being a part of the series. He added his set of quirks and conflicts, just as every other character did. He’s just as much a part of “The Office” family, as the rest…🤷🏽‍♂️

[MarieDomander]

I like his character development, it feels real to me. Very real. He's just trying to find his place in the world, like a teenager.

[medou]

I, for one, love how he changed personality pretty much every season. It works with the type of person he is.

[gregorymoore]

There are some things you need to understand about Ryan:
Ryan started the fire.
Ryan never properly processed 9/11.
Ryan has never made a sale.
Ryan never went to Thailand.
Ryan is such a perfectionist, he would rather not do a job than do a crappy version.
Ryan finally mastered commitment.

[gloriachoi]

I think Ryan wasn't meant to have a good character arch, not everyone in the world is ultimately a good person. I didn't like him as a character, but I think having him juxtaposed to the other characters made the other characters a bit more lovable because we'd subconsciously compare all the characters between each other.

[aweckzs]

i actually liked ryan a lot. just a character u never wanna root for causing problems, and his dynamic with pam was always fun since i think he brought out her snarky side

[Dan-cmow]

I loved Ryan's corporate foray because around that time my team was dealing with a incompetent young executive who actually looked a bit like Ryan.

[mallorywest]

BJ Novak “Ryan” & Paul Lieberstein“Toby” we’re two of the primary writers that gave us this great show!

[yuikol]

There is so much more wrong with the later seasons than Ryan lol.

[rickyrichreacts]

I wish they would of focused more on the interactions with Toby and Michael. They had amazing chemistry together and it’s just hilarious how bad Michael hates him😂

[JaclynnOrtiz]

I have to disagree. I think Ryans character development progressed pretty naturally. He always had that "im better than you" attitude, which transcribes well into the story lines he's given in later seasons. The constant rise and fall of Ryan perfectly captured the type of antics one would engage in with Ryans huge ego. At the beginning I believe the lack of personailty is from the refusal to put himself at the same level as everyone else in Dunder Mifflin, not necesarilly because they weren't sure what to do with him. The first season and final seasons of the office were both below average and had a lot of other and more important issues that Ryan's charcter. His charcter just suffered by consequence to these low rated seasons.

[duyduc]

Ryan and Jim were actually pretty similar at the beginning, both smart but underachieving, the only difference was that Jim found love at the office while Ryan chose the rat race.

[cianoreillycork]

One things for sure - Ryan started the fire 🔥

[filipvadas]

Ryan is a character that I was fine with at first, he was basically the outsider to the madness and status quo of the Scranton office. In a lot of ways he was the audience's stand-in. In fact it was through Ryan that we got to peel back the layers of some of the characters, Michael in particular.

But as the show progressed he became his own character. Someone who saw people stuck in a boring desk job, beholden to someone as unqualified as Michael, and wanted to avoid that fate at any cost. Hence him going over Michael's head for the promotion.

After that his character unraveled quickly.

The main flaw that, ironically, Michael himself pointed was that while he was educated and had great ideas, he had very little of the experience and skill neccesary to actually put them into practice.
This began to show itself as his website for Dunder Mifflin crashed and burned while he spent his days getting high and going to parties and eventually trying to commit fraud to make his website seem more succesfull than it actually is.

After that it was just a downward slope of Ryan being lazy, selfish and just generally a horrible person incapable of taking any accountability for his actions

He's a hateable character, but not a bad one tbh. Just a shame more wasn't done with him since, yeah, having one of the lead writers for the show abuse the hell out of his own character IS funny, especially with how absurd it gets. But you can only pull that card so many times before it gets repetitive.