From beginning to end, last night’s episode of The Office was both near-perfect, and back to the stellar form that I’ve felt has been lacking for most of season six. It showed that it wasn’t the quantity, but rather the quality, of each character’s contribution that really is the show’s strength.
If I were Andy, I would have been incredulous that it was Michael — as opposed to, say, Jim — who was calling me out for my baby talk (though it is annoying). Nice counter-thrust by Andy, not only reversing the conversation on Michael, but also using Michael’s own workplace-inappropriate voice (in his case a bad imitation of Elvis) to clear Andy of all wrong-doing. Andy has long been a great addition to the show.
I was trying to remember … was it salesman of the month that Dwight had won — what was at that time — 13 out of the last 12 months? What ever happened to that contest? Anyway, Dwight’s aptly titled “My diabolical plan” was, as always is the case with Dwight, a rather well engineered, elaborate flop. Not surprising, but I did expect Jim to see through the rather transparent nature of it all. And I expected the recording that Dwight listened to between Jim and David Wallace to have been scripted for his sake, with yelling and possibly Jim’s firing preceding a closing scene of Dwight watching Jim show up for work the following day as if nothing had happened. Oh well … Dwight’s reaction worked too.
By the way, though only Kevin’s was really believable, Dwight’s impersonations were great, at the very least capturing the mannerisms of each speaker, if not their sound. Nice job really selling the scheme.
The one way in which this plot fell short for me was that it’s just too many shenanigans that Jim is getting lost in at the office, and none of them involve him scheming against Dwight, Andy, or Michael. I realize things needed to change with the times, but there are moments in these plots that can be trying.
Scott’s Tots, on the other hand, was Michael at his finest since merging The Michael Scott Paper Company with Dunder Mifflin. I was touched by the sincerity with which he spoke to that roomful of kids, while at the same time I was shaking my head at just how Michael the entire situation was. I was praying for him not to let them down, but the only other scenario I could imagine was him blundering into promising them all Ivy League educations. The batteries were a bit ridiculous, and it would have been nice for him to have promised to pay for everyone’s books (despite how much it costs, relative to tuition that’s getting off cheap), but I really felt just how disappointed in himself he was. It was a really great Michael moment, and episode.
I was a bit put-off by how hard Michael was being on Erin throughout, but things ended nicely between them, and with a bonus — Kevin first came in applying for a warehouse job! How’d your intuition work out on that one, Michael?
“I miss Pam.” – Michael to Jim, in reference to Erin
“I have made some empty promises in my life, but hands-down that was the most generous.” – Michael, on Scott’s Tots
“In an ideal world I would have all ten fingers on my left hand so my right hand could just be a fist for punching.” – Dwight to Jim
“Hold on – they’re lithium!” – Michael, on the batteries he was giving the disappointed Scott’s Tots
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Dec 04, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
The episode in which Dwight bragged about winning 13 out of the last 12 salesman-of-the-months was on here about an hour before the new episode aired. Dunder Mifflin gave him two plaques for February in lieu of a pay raise.
*POST AUTHOR*
And he loved it! :)
It’s difficult to watch Jim not having the upper hand anymore, but that really happens in the work place. It’s happened to me before. Before promotion, everyone was my friend, chaste shoulder massages, and high fives were prevalent. After promotion, I was the enemy and I was afraid to leave my coffee cup unattended.
*POST AUTHOR*
And the shoulder massages are no longer just chaste? ;)
I pretty much agree with you on this one.
I think Jim didn’t see through Dwight’s diabolical plot because he often seems to choke under pressure, and the whole office was sniping at him. It was disheartening to see him tripping over his own words and saying exactly the wrong thing to the assembled staff, when the situation could easily have been cleared up if he could have calmed down for a moment. The cake was a brilliant coup de grâce, though.
Loved Pam’s “YUP.”
*POST AUTHOR*
He does have that problem, doesn’t he? Not a great big picture guy, that Jim.