This has been a strange week of holiday-themed shows for me. First the Mardi Gras episode on Greek, and then last night’s grand St. Patrick’s Day on The Office. I mean, no offense to anyone who actually commemorates these days for real reasons, but talk about scrounging around for holidays. Although I get Meredith holding St. Patrick’s Day up as “one perfect day of the year,” for me the rest was a bit much. Except for Kevin in his all-green outfit. That was awesome.
Dwight’s mega-desk was actually reminiscent of some of the old gags he and Jim have traded in years past, but it devolved into something less about humor and more about psychosis. This was not an all gift-wrapping desk, or a desk relocated to the men’s room. This was Dwight becoming a bit unhinged. It was like the show was trying to get some of the old, nostalgic good vibes going and missed completely. At least for me.
Which could also be the theme song for this entire Kathy Bates guest arc. I get that a lot of you are enjoying it, and I’m honestly glad that someone’s smiling as a result of the whole Sabre thing, but for me it’s just one great big sucking sound. She’s not funny, and her effect on those around her, particularly Michael, is far from humorous.
Michael being an idiot and planning a trip to Florida was predictable. Fine. But I was left totally confused with the entire staying late at work thing. Let me review it, because maybe talking it through will help. Michael bothered Jo (Bates) all day, making it quite clear that he wasn’t doing anything of substance. So when he went to check out for the day, she made reference to the fact that he might want to reconsider whether or not he’d put in a full day’s work. Michael decided to stay, and forced everyone to stay with him … which somehow led to Jim having to ask for permission to attend “a client meeting,” and Dwight canceling his real meeting, thereby getting thanked by Jo for doing so. Because it’s not okay to meet with a client?
And then Oscar and everyone else was so grateful to Michael for “springing” them that drinks were on them, and Michael questioned whether he’d just risked his future at the firm. Can someone explain that entire sequence of events to me? Because it would be odd enough if Michael had merely taken what Jo had said and forced everyone into staying to keep him company. But somehow Jo herself turned a minor reprimand of Michael into holding the entire office hostage. Were we meant to laugh at that?
Not me. But I did laugh at some of these:
And some quotes:
“It is the closest that the Irish will ever get to Christmas.” – Michael, on St. Patrick’s Day
“How do I put this delicately? Does her family owe your family something in terms of a past injustice?” – Michael, asking Darryl how he got on Jo’s good side
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 12, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
Michael is a suckup to his superiors. He thinks it will make them like him because thats all he cares about. In this attempt at sucking up to Kathy Bates he wound up turning himself against that idea through forcing himself to stay late. And because he couldn’t suck up to Bates any more and went in thinking he is destroying her opinion of him, he wound up actually gaining her respect.
Is that laugh out loud funny? No. But it was one of the few times this season we saw Michael do something in character. He is an idiot who gets lucky. And it is sort of humorous to see.
As for everyone overloading in green: I live in an area with a high Irish population (including myself) and yes people here overdo it with the green and take the holiday seriously (aka get drunk at bars).
*POST AUTHOR*
I saw Michael and Jo’s parting differently. I think Jo’s point was “Understand that we have a professional relationship, and try to keep it restricted to that.” I don’t think he gained her respect at all, just a pointer on how to deal with her going forward.
What little humor they might be shooting for regarding staying late seemed to be a ridiculous take on the very real concept of “face time” in regards to employer expectations.
I also live in a place where St. Pat’s is a huge deal.
I grew up with St. Patrick’s Day being a very big deal too, and I’m only Irish by marriage and love of Notre Dame.
Dwight is no more unhinged now than he ever was. I think you are just over this show, and it shows. I continue to think Kathy Bates is fun as Jo.
The crew not wanting to leave while Jo was there is something I’ve experienced many times. I’m curious as to why you don’t get it. Michael saying firmly that he was letting everyone go home was a little slice of the “Go Get’m Michael” he somethimes displays (think Chili’s sales episode, telling Wallace I only have to out live you in the negotiating the Michael Scott Paper Company Sale episode).
Honestly Aryeh, it’s kind of bumming me out that you bag on this show so much ;)
*POST AUTHOR*
Believe me, no one wishes more than I do that I had only great things to say about The Office. It’s just not the show that it once was. Does that mean it’s all bad? No, but I think now it’s more enjoyable moments that appear at random in the midst of really poor plots.
I understand putting on a show for your boss … but that’s not what happened. Michael spent his day screwing around, and so felt like he needed to kiss up when Jo called him on it. He forced his employees to stay, I think just because if he couldn’t leave neither should they. But regardless of why they stayed, what sense did it make that Jim would have to ask for permission to go meet a client, or that Dwight would have to essentially apologize for trying to meet a client himself? It’s not the idea of “face time” that I didn’t get, it was the way it morphed from Michael kissing up to Darryl getting stared at for being visited in his office by his employees. There was no logical progression there.
I guess that’s why I don’t have a problem – I’m not wondering where the anvil came from, that fell out the sky, to make the funny. I’m just enjoying the birdies, and stars going around the victims head.
Forgot to mention how much I enjoyed the foster brother throwing salt on Andy’s game. Andy’s reaction was priceless.
To be brief, just assume I disagree with all the above criticisms, per usual.
The Saint Patrick’s Day partying is not a stretch by any means, but actually appropriate to the real Scranton, PA. According to Wikipedia, their Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is actually the “nation’s fourth largest in attendance and second largest in per capita attendance… In 2008, crowds estimated as high as 150,000 people congregated downtown for the event,” while the Scranton Times Tribune states, “The Irish… became perhaps the most dominant ethnic group in Lackawanna County… By latest count, more than 30 percent of the county’s population is of Irish descent.”
At no point did Michael order or force any of the staff to stay late. When he leaves Jo’s office, all he says to the assembled staff is “Nope, nope, nope, nope,” which is all about Jo expecting everyone to work as late as she does. The scene then cuts to Kevin complaining about Jo having no life in the talking head. The staff understand that Jo is in charge, not Michael, and that this is not coming from him, who wants to go to the bar. They simply act like a herd, each member of which is too timid to be the first to go home and possibly appear to be the worst/laziest employee to Jo. This is made explicit in the subsequent scene after the break in which Creed, Meredith, Kevin, and Oscar get up to leave in a group, only to chicken out as soon as Jo steps out of her office. They would have walked right past Michael who was sitting in his office, as he was not the one keeping them there. Later, when Michael is talking with Gabe (whose office Jo had given away to Darryl earlier), it is made clear that all of Jo’s employees act like that whenever she is actually in the office. I assume it’s because they’re terrified of her.
The purpose of Dwight’s excuse, which Jim stole, was to have a work-related excuse to leave the office and not incur Jo’s disfavor. The warehouse guys then come to “bust out” Darryl, but all he can say is “I wish.” If it was Michael holding him there, Darryl would just ignore him as he always does and leave with them. Instead, there’s a cut of Jo staring at him through the glass, and he sends his friends away.
When Michael finally stands up for himself and tells Jo he is dismissing his employees, that he is thrilled with their work, and that they have put in a great performance today, he is not reversing his own orders, but standing in front of the bullet. When he orders them to go home, Jo can’t blame the staff, who were willing to stay as long as she did, but only Michael for not wanting to work hard enough. That’s why everyone cheers and appreciates Michael in the bar, and even Oscar, the most level-headed of the bunch, refuses Michael’s offer to pay for everyone’s drinks and says they’ll pay for Michael’s.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m not saying people don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day enthusiastically, but I’ve never witnessed it myself, and as the holiday theme for an episode it seemed like a reach. Especially if we haven’t seen them celebrate the day each year for the past five….
I totally see everything that you’re saying, but you’re missing what I was saying I was missing — the episode made the leap from Jo commenting on Michael’s work ethic, based on his constant fooling around all day that she witnessed, to her staring Darryl down for thinking of leaving at 7PM or whatever hour it was by then. We never saw her creating that type of environment where having a work-related excuse was necessary in order to leave at 7PM. In fact, she told us when we met her that she was hands-off.
Your points all make sense, and I understand the mentality, but the progression was not there. It was Michael forcing everyone to stay, because as we witnessed it Jo was only commenting on Michael’s lack of a productive day. It was Michael’s decision to force that on his employees. What it turned into later, with everyone afraid of her, would have made perfect sense had she expressed that type of demeanor toward them. She didn’t, so there was no progression. Just 1+1=6.