The Office: Customer Survey
(S05E06) [Note: I started writing this post at 9:34 PM, which was just enough time to hear Liz Lemon on 30 Rock mention that she always attends jury duty wearing a Princess Leia costume. It may be possible that the thought of this actually exploded the rational part of my brain, so please take this review with a grain of salt.]Well, we knew it was coming, right? Like the current financial crisis, there was only so much juggling that was possible before the inevitable happened: tonight marked the beginning of the "Will Pam stay in New York" subplot. Regular readers know my feelings on this, so I won't dwell too much on it. Let's just hope that the writers find a way to make it more interesting than I'm expecting it to be.
The sad part about choosing now to sound the creaky machinations of the Jim/Pam plot was that it came at the end of a very decent stand-alone office-themed episode...
Tonight's A-story was the Zoolander-like teaming of Jim and Dwight to deal with their sub-par customer reviews. The reviews are tied to their bonuses and Jim needs the money so he can buy his parents' house (a surprise for Pam, because what girl doesn't want to live in her husband's parents' former house in Scranton?) Dwight suspects conspiracy -- because he always suspects conspiracy -- and, shock of shocks, it turns out that he's right.
Kelly, upset that neither Dwight nor Jim attended her America's Got Talent finale party over the summer, decided to tank their survey scores, presumably to send a message about how she feels about them (Dwight, hostile and aggressive; Jim, arrogant and "smudge").
I thoroughly enjoyed this story for a number of reasons:
1. Kelly is precisely the type of person who would have an America's Got Talent party and be upset that someone decided not to come to it.
2. The mugs were phenomenal. I need that Andy mug. No, really, NBC needs to sell these.
3. I had a palpable stomach-drop when Jim realized that Michael wasn't joking about his bad reviews. I love it when The Office relies on the kinds of things real people go through as the basis for its stories. There is absolutely nothing worse than sitting across from your supervisor while he looks through a manila folder and puts on a serious corporate face. I'm convinced that Hell is one long yearly performance review.
4. The phone call between Dwight and Jim (during Michael's training session) was absolutely hilarious. I'm sure some of you thought it went on too long, but I couldn't get enough of Mr. Wiliam Buttlicker and his million dollar paper account.
5. Jim unraveling the conspiracy had a really cool Usual Suspects vibe to it (probably because it involved mugs).
You had all the elements of what makes The Office a great workplace satire. It's a damn shame, then, that we got not just one but two creaky and far-too-soap opera-y storylines wedged in there.
I already mentioned Pam and Jim; the other one was Angela and Andy deciding to have the wedding on Shrute Farms. I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. It's forced and phony. I thought Angela was over Dwight, and now she wants to have her wedding on his farm? Why? It doesn't make sense except to keep the plot going, which is never good. I'm hoping that the writers have something up their sleeves here, but tonight's episode didn't fill me with a lot of hope.
Other stuff:
-- Was Pam's "That's what she said" the cutest thing in the history of the world? Why am I even asking the question? Of course it was.
-- So, let me just explain this to the women: no guy makes a prepared speech about your "art" because he cares about your "art". If one of your guy friends ever -- ever -- makes a prepared speech to you about anything (even, say, cleaning supplies or kitty litter), he's doing it because he wants to sleep with you. Trust me on this.
-- In keeping with last week's Batman theme, if last week's cold open was Dark Knight, this week's was Batman and Robin.
-- Is everyone else loving pseudo-reformed Ryan as much as I am?
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The Office' Photos
THE OFFICE Steve Carell as Michael Scott and Amy Ryan as Holly star in the episode "Weight Loss." Airs Thursday, September 25, 2008.
NBC
THE OFFICE Steve Carell as Michael Scott and Amy Ryan as Holly star in the episode "Weight Loss." Airs Thursday, September 25, 2008.
NBC
THE OFFICE Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor and Craig Robinson as Darryl Philbin star in the episode "Weight Loss." Airs Thursday, September 25, 2008.
NBC
THE OFFICE Amy Ryan as Holly and Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone star in the episode "Weight Loss." Airs Thursday, September 25, 2008.
NBC
THE OFFICE, Steve Carell, ''Did I Stutter'', (Season 4, airing May 1, 2008), 2005-. Photo: Chris Haston / NBC
THE OFFICE, Rainn Wilson, ''Did I Stutter'', (Season 4, airing May 1, 2008), 2005-. Photo: Chris Haston / NBC
THE OFFICE, Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, ''Did I Stutter'', (Season 4, airing May 1, 2008), 2005-. Photo: Chris Haston / NBC
THE OFFICE, Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, ''Night Out'', (Season 4, airing April 24, 2008), 2005-. Photo: Mitch Haddad / NBC
THE OFFICE, Rainn Wilson, Cassie Fliegel, ''Night Out'', (Season 4, airing April 24, 2008), 2005-. Photo: Mitch Haddad / NBC
THE OFFICE, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Rainn Wilson, ''The Dinner Party'', (Season 4, episode 4013, aired April 10, 2008), 2005-,. Photo: Chris Haston / NBC / courtesy everett collection

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