However, as time passed, critics, even ones who had initially praised Robert, began to respond negatively to the character. In his review for the episode "Gettysburg", Chris Plante, of New York, critiqued the way that Robert, as well as Andy, were being written, writing, "That isn't to say every character has been fleshed out well. ... Andy and California seem off point." In his review for "Mrs. California", Plante called Robert the worst part of The Office. While initially reacting positively to the character, by the episode "Doomsday", Seth Abramovitch wrote that "Spader's character is a lot more successful a fit than Will Ferrell's, whose brand of comedy was just too broad, too surreal for the Dunder-Mifflin crew. Robert California has definitely added some menace and mystery to the proceedings. He's funny, too. But the way the show is using him so far—sparingly, as an aloof, omniscient, and fearsome motivator—is essentially as nothing more than a plot instigator, and it's doing nothing to enrich the series. It's also getting repetitive". In his Hitfix blog, Alan Sepinwall wrote that "Robert California could have become the new comic engine that drove the series, but the character has been neutered from his first appearance. Instead of a lunatic capable of performing the Jedi mind trick, he's just an inscrutable eccentric, who wanders around looking amused at everything the branch is up to, and whom no one can get a read on". Myles McNutt, of The A.V. Club, criticized Robert's role as one "that the narrative reacts to as opposed to something actually involved in the narrative".
