'The Office': Framing Toby for drugs... with basil
Last week on The Office we saw Michael, Oscar and Andy take off for the Great White North, Kelly and RYan got back together and Darryl celebrated, and Pam failed an art class but decided to just not finish school in order to come back to Scranton to be with Jim.
Tonight we begin with an office brownie party. They are, unfortunately, not "funny" brownies, ifyaknowwhatimean. Kelly tells everyone she's taking one to Toby and Michael thinks everyone is pulling his leg. He wanders back to the HR desk and, upon seeing Toby, starts screaming, "Noooo God! NOOOOOO!" Hahahaha. Poor Toby. Ooh, will they do something more with his crush on Pam? That'd be awesome!
Michael sulks about Toby's return and texts 911 to David Wallace. Yikes. Apparently Toby has been back for a week and Michael hasn't noticed. Wallace tells Michael to get along with Toby and Dwight tries to give MIchael a backrub.
Today Jim is planning to show Pam the house he bought for them, which is his parents' old house. It still has bright orange shag carpet, wood paneling, and a creepy clown picture. Awesome. His colleagues grill him about it and he says it's by the quarry. Creed's response is priceless: "Cool beans man, I live by the quarry. We should hang out by the quarry and throw things down there." I would TOTALLY throw things in the quarry with Creed.
In Pam's storyline this week, she is at war with the disgusting microwave and the people who made it a mess. She leaves a passive-aggressive, self-righteous note that everyone hates except Angela. You know if Angela likes something, it must be bad.
Michael tries to be nice to Toby, but his hatred of the man he calls an "evil snail" is palpable, as is his missing Holly. He likens his situation to that of Neve Campbell in Scream 2. "She thinks she can go off to college and be happy, and then the murderer comes back and starts killing off all of her friends. Learned a lot of lessons from that movie. This is just one of them." I was delighted to hear a Scream reference in The Office. I have a deep-seated love of the Scream trilogy. It borders on obsessive. Don't judge me.
Michael and Dwight brainstorm ways to get Toby fired. They think they can catch him hitting on someone and have him fired. Dwight says he'll be the bait for Toby, reiterating several times that men find him desireable.
In Pam's War with the Microwave, Jim isn't terribly mussed over the whole thing and Pam blurts, "Why aren't you as mad or as interested in this as me?" Heh heh. Michael interrupts them with a rousing chorus of "Camptown Races." You know... Stephen stinking Foster. Not to be confused with Fredric ****ing Chopin. He wants to use Pam in his Toby-baiting, handing her a note for Toby. Oh dear. My comment about the Pam-Toby thing was prescient. I am fearful. She opens the note, which reads, "Please hug and kiss me, no matter how hard I struggle. I'm too shy to tell you that I love you." Man, how did Michael know what I use as my pick-up line in bars?
Michael and Dwight abandon their sexual harassment tactic and try to instigate Toby into a fight, but he doesn't rise to the bait, so Michael pigs out on brownies. Dwight's final suggestion is to frame Toby for using drugs, saying he once framed a bear for eating out of the garbage. I don't know which I like better: that Dwight could frame a bear or that he ATE OUT OF THE GARBAGE.
Michael, of course, approaches some refrigerator deliverymen about buying grass. Weed. The ol' Mary J. Not Blige. I hope they sell him a dimebag of oregano. One of the deliverymen sells him something (we can't see) for $500.
Ryan tries to sympathize with Pam about the microwave, insinuating that she should just do it herself. She shoots back that that's why they have a temp. He slithers off. God, Ryan is so slimy.
Dwight calls the cops (as Andy Bernard) about Toby being a drug dealer as Michael plants the purchased package in his desk. Please be oregano, please be oregano. The cops bust in and Dwight takes over, as Creed fights not to put his hands on his head. Snerk. Dwight takes the cops to Toby's desk and Toby panics, as MIchael starts to regret what he did and try to call it off. He goes so far as to say the drugs are his, but the cop smells the package and it turns out to be basil and caprese salad. Well, oregano was close. Aaron Sorkin obviously doesn't write for this show.
After the cops are gone, Toby asks Michael about why he did that, saying the police could've really been doing their jobs instead. Michael can't believe that he FRAMED Toby and yet Toby is worried about wasting the cops' time.
Back in customer service, Ryan tells Kelly that he's going to Thailand with some "friends" and that he can't stay with Kelly while he's in Thailand, so she agrees to sleep with him one last time and give him any extra cash that she has. Oh Kelly.
Jim/Pam House Trip. He reveals that he bought the house for them and Pam is less than enthused and quite shocked. He apologizes that the creepy clown picture cannot be removed. Hmmm. Walburga Black screaming about mudbloods or a creepy clown picture? It's a toss-up.
Jim shows her the garage, saying it'd be perfect for an art studio. He's even set up an easel and paint table. Awww! Jim is the cutest cutie who ever cuted. He gives a great mini-speech about how it's not great and if she really hates it... but she interrupts with "I love it" and "You bought me a house!" They smooch. Awwww!
The tag has Dwight talking-head about his perfect crime. He breaks into Tiffany's at midnight to steal the chandelier. He is stopped by Tiffany, the owner's daughter. They make love all night, then he escapes in the morning dressed as one of the cops. He tells her to meet him in Mexico, but he goes to Canada because he doesn't trust her. Also he likes the cold. 30 years later he gets a postcard in which she tells him their son is the chief of police. He tells her to meet him in Paris by the Trocadero. She's been waiting all these years, never taking another lover. He doesn't meet her, though. He instead goes to Berlin and that's where he stashes the chandelier. Naturally.
I love Dwight Shrute and Rainn Wilson more than I can express in words. I also was pleasantly surprised by the Jim/Pam stuff. I figured her to freak out about his parents' house and moving so quickly. I'm very torn between wanting happy-go-lucky-nothing-bad-happens Pam/Jim or this-is-unbelievable-give-us-some-dramatic-tension Pam/Jim. What do you guys think?
I've been suspecting it for a few episodes now, but I think I can declare it officially now. The Office has jumped the shark.
A HP reference, I love you!
I absolutely loathe the expression "jumped the shark". Arrogant interneters use it every time they don't adore an episode of a show they watch. Get over yourself.
I for one was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the Pam/Jim story line this week. I can already feel the magic building up from Pam being back in the office. Seriously, what jerk leaves the microwave that dirty?
This episode also had the goods regarding Dwight's insanity (eating out of the garbage), Creed creepiness (automatically "***uming the position" when the cops arrived), and Kelly being, well, Kelly.
I really got scared after the awful "Employee Transfer", but The Office is back on track with two amazing episodes in a row.
maybe not the most realistic episode ever, but still plenty HI-larious! you just gotta laugh about michael's caprese salad "pot." and ryan/kelly never cease to entertain. also, i liked seeing toby back and "NOOOOOOOO...," and he's already been back a week but michael hadn't noticed LOL....
i still can't believe that there's NOT gonna be some fallout about jim buying that house. whose fiance buys a house without telling you? wouldn't you want to pick it out together? the easel may be cute but sometimes jim is so clueless....
and forget about dwight's ending tag, omg LMAO....
I agree with Krista about "jumped the shark". Didn't that expression jump the shark about five years ago?
The Office has always had quiet episodes, and this was one of them. I adored the Jim/Pam storyline; her final reaction was worth the entire episode for me. This is one of the few romances on television I've ever believed. For those who think it requires artificial, made-for-tv tension, grow the heck up. Real adults have real relationships and don't seek to make their lives like little soap operas.
Also liked Pammy's microwave stance. I wanted to reach through and smack Ryan when he suggested that she just clean it up. She literally took the words out of my mouth when she reminded him that HE was low man on the totem pole. Weasel.
I was disappointed that they didn't bring Toby back in a more interesting way. I can't believe even Michael wouldn't notice Toby around the office for a week. Still we've got Toby back, and that makes me happy.
OK episode. I intented to leave an "I would totally throw things in the quarry with Creed" comment, but it was already in the recap - nice work Andrea!
The Tombstone reference also gets you extra bonus points.
Creed panicking in the background when the cops showed up looking for drugs was the funniest part! And I'm glad Toby's back, be-CAUSE, unlike Michael I like Toby.
I worry that Michael is just about to use up the goodwill that David has for him. Being an idiot in general, chewing him out last week, wasting his time with his Toby childishness this week.... No responsible exec would put up with that forever. And I know it's a comedy, but I wish they'd let Michael do at least a few things well every once in a while so we can sort of believe a company would actually keep him employed. In a management position, no less. Granted he closed the sale in Canada, but still...
Can't WAIT to see angry Andy's reaction when he finds out about Dwight and Angela! And do you suppose Ryan leaves a shiny, slimy trail behind him when he walks?
Has it ever been explained why Michael hates Toby so much? That thread "bothers" me because I like Toby, but Michael REALLY seems to HATE him.
Did I miss something? How did the guys from Vance Refrig? end up with Michael's salad to sell to him for $500?
Jim messed up with the house. Nice gesture, but the "art studio" was dreadful--NO light, no windows.
"You can't get rid of him without cause."
"Well, I want to get rid of him be-cause..." Great comeback
And if you couldn't believe the state of the microwave, you should work where I work.
I thought Michael was going to frame Toby as the microwave-note-writer to get everyone to hate him. But that would have had a chance of actually being successful....
i gotta be honest, and i mean no disrespect andrea, but these recaps the last couple weeks have been pretty weak. i feel like im reading one big run on sentence. you're literally just repeating every scene we are watching, almost word for word.
if you read other recaps on other sites (which i wont post here), as well as old office recaps here on this site, its usually like reading a story, and a funny one.
i find sometimes you dont even get some of the jokes/writing on the show. "some refrigerator deliverymen"? have you heard of vance refrigeration?
anyways, i used to love reading these recaps, and im really not trying to be rude, though it might come out that way. i guess im just not loving your style of recaps...
While I agree with you up to a point, I have to conclude you do not read the recaps for How I Met Your Mother or My Name Is Earl on this site. If you did, you would count your blessings for Andrea's efforts.