Was there any particular reason that this was billed as The Office’s Halloween episode? Cold open aside, last night’s comedy could have taken place any time of the year. Wasn’t there a time when themed episodes were themed throughout? At least have some decorations in the office, or employees in their costumes during the day. We’ll see if Christmas makes it into an episode this year.
With Jim busy with Michael, Pam was free to go cold-calling with Andy, the two having the lowest sales for the previous quarter. What happened to Andy the salesman? Actually, in the end their plot was really just a means to show how sad Andy now is. And clients mistaking the pair for a couple was cute, but I didn’t really find anything about it funny.
Andy’s tangent about dating models, and Pam being their surrogate? Andy getting lost in birthing coaches and techniques, talking to the fetus, putting his hand on Pam’s stomach, and sticking his head down by her womb … was all of that meant to be laughter-worthy? At best I was embarrassed for them, but when Andy told Pam that he was tired of being single, we saw that it was really all just sad Andy being sad. At least their bonding the night before Pam and Jim’s wedding wasn’t for naught.
Back at the office, Michael’s accidental foray into a koi pond kicked off a new round of sensitivity training. I find that The Office has a lot of brilliant ideas that I wish they’d take a little further. I loved the “do not mock” list, and besides wishing that we’d gotten to see or hear everyone’s contribution to it, I also had hoped — I suppose it could still happen — that it might become a fixture in the office.
Like, they could print up the list and post it around, so that any time someone started making fun of someone else and the subject was a list item, office-mates would be able to point it out and stop the joke. It sounds complicated, but it could be worked seamlessly into future episodes as yet another “thing” that’s a part of the lore of the show. Isn’t that sort of continuity how a show keeps growing?
In fact, it was exactly that type of continuity that saw Michael making a huge fool of himself while trying to diffuse the teasing situation. From “Walk much?” to getting thrown in the frozen pond by the girl’s volleyball team, to not having five friends and family for his calling circle, to “I don’t even have Jan’s cell phone number.”
Sad, but that’s the Michael we’ve come to know and love.
Some quotes:
“I want to sell your blood.” – Creed’s take on Dracula
“I’m not usually the butt of the joke; I’m usually the face of the joke.” – Michael
“I could get a fish for a five-cent worm.” – Michael
“Oh, you’re paying way too much for worms, man. Who’s your worm guy?” – Creed
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Oct 30, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
At least starting with last year, the Halloween part of the show has never gone past the cold open.
*POST AUTHOR*
So then why bill it that way, unlike 30 Rock which was all Halloween?