It boggles my mind that they spent all that time talking about Hillary Swank and the words "horse teeth" were never uttered. A clear sign that Swank's publicist was involved.

Another mediocre episode. Although "30 Rock" was worse.

Agreed, the Hillary Swank part was unnecessary and too long.

Additionally, I'm starting to feel like this season is definitely not the greatest. I feel like you're lucky if you get one or two great one-liners in the meager 23 minute show. I re-watched episodes from season 3 and 4 on DVD this past weekend and found myself laughing endlessly, something I don't find myself doing this season. Are the writers slacking off?
Another flaw I've noticed with season 5, is its lack of continuity. Too many events are left lingering, something that was never done in any of the previous episodes. For instance, Jim and Pam are engaged; what happened to their wedding planning and that house Jim bought? Who's living in it? Have they moved in? AND Holly?!! How do they completely write her off. In the event that she does return, as internet rumors have it, there should've been some reference to her and the remnants of their breakup. Above all else, the Angela, Dwight and Andy triangle!! I'm still confused as to how the episode following the duel made no comment on the break up of the engagement or the aftermath.

Speaking of the duel episode, I really thought there would've been more of a reaction from Andy after finding out his fiance has been sleeping around with his co-worker. The most Andy did was push Dwight into a few bushes, write him a strategically placed note on nice stationary and cancel a wedding cake. This is coming from a guy who had to take anger management classes at one time. What is going on!???

My boyfriend made an interesting observation. He mentioned that the last few seasons the employees spent a lot of time outside of the office, thereby allowing viewers to get to know their characters and story lines better. This season, everything is mostly happening inside the office. Could this be another reason why this season isn't as great as the others?

This was a weaker show of the season.

The open should have had a bigger payoff than the pole .. maybe dwight following the wire right back to his desk or something.

The Michael angle was fantastic.. The swank debate was a good idea - but it was 15 mins too long.

To me, the plots keep getting sort of hard to believe. I can believe that an office can have a disscussion of Hilary Swanks hotness, but to put her face up on a sceen and break down what the meaning of beauty is? I don't think any office would do that.

Remember when Michael was the cause of stupid time-wasters in the office? Now it's Jim's inability to put his foot down.

I really liked this episode, Michael and Dwight's storyline kept me laughing and guess at the same time, and I loved the discussion on Hillary Swank. I totally agree with the "movie hot vs regular hot" debate. Any chick who is a movie star that doesn't play the ugly or fat friend in every movie is going to be a hottie in real life. Just compared to other movie stars, they are not. Like I would say that Britney Spears is ugly for a pop star (compared to Jessica Simpson, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, etc.), but if she came up to my cubicle and said "let's go to the supply closet and get busy", I'd surely take that offer. Just like with the Hillary Swank scenario that Jim presented to Kevin. I'm on Kevin's side in the Swank debate.

The funniest part of that debate to me was that Jim just wanted everyone to get back to work, and that was why the debate got so heated, he wanted it to end. I loved how Michael ended it with his typical knee-jerk reaction to any hot girl picture (remember when he fell in love with the catalog girl?).

I didn't enjoy the chase, and the cold open was ha funny, but not ha-ha-ha funny. That being said, I'm glad that The Office is going right now, cause I miss Chuck, Heroes, Dexter and Weeds.

The B-Plot was used as a mechanism to communicate the passage of time at Prince Paper, that's all. Without something in between those scenes it wouldn't have made any sense.

Contrary to your sister-in-law, I think this is the most consistent season of the show so far.

I agree - the Swank plot and the cold open were great. The Prince Paper Co. plot was terrible.
The Office usually does awkward interactions perfectly (like in the Dinner Party episode), but the awkwardness of Michael and Dwight trying to shut down the small family business was just way too uncomfortable. Maybe because it seemed so out of character for Michael to ultimately screw over the little guy.
All in all, I thought the Swank debates were fantastic...and definitely something that would hapeen in any office across America!

Your sister is 100% right. The show has gone downhill. It really hasn't been that good this year. It's becoming to ridicious and unrealistic (Dwight going up the pole). The "realism" is exactly why the first three seasons were great. Sure it was still a little ridicious, but it wasn't that far off from what could happen at an office. Now Michael is far too stupid and Dwight is just annoying. Though I did enjoy their plot tonight.

A lot of the show is just filler now, nothing really happens and when it does it takes forever. Jan having a child was dropped really quickly when it was such a big deal in the season finale last year, that just annoys me. They might as well not even had that plot since it didn't lead to anything really. It helped influence Michael asking Holly out, but that could have easily been influenced by something else, Jan wasn't necessary. Same with Ryan coming back. He rejoined only to leave soon with nothing special happening while there. The Angelia and Andy thing was drawn out so long that I just became frustrated. There should be more of a fallout between the office now. People should have still been mad at her.

I use to love the Office so much (especially its glory days in season 2), but now its my least favorite of all the shows I watch. Office has been quickly replaced with 30 Rock as the must watch of Thursday nights.