Resolved: 'The Office' thinks Hilary Swank is hot

I wasn't really feeling the fairly predictable Michael-and-Dwight portion of The Office this week. But the stuff that happened back at the branch felt so much like any number of real, if less formal, debates I've had with co-workers that it saved the episode for me.

These spoilers respect the game.

I can't tell you how many hours I've spent -- at other jobs, of course, any Zap2it higher-ups who may be reading this -- going back and forth with colleagues about things just as pointless as the Dunder Mifflin debate about whether Hilary Swank is hot. The relative merits of basketball players, crappiest childhood cartoons, our favorite early-'80s action drama -- all have occupied idle hours on slow news days over the course of my professional life (before this job).

Which is why the debate over Ms. Swank's hotness felt so pitch-perfect, and made me wish that in some past arguments that I'd been as prepared as Oscar and his facial-symmetry thesis. After so much attention on the Dwight-Andy-Angela situation in recent weeks (which didn't bug me as much as it did some of you, but I totally get it), it was a lot of fun to see the likes of Kevin and Stanley get a little bit of the spotlight.

I'll get to some of my favorite arguments and lines in the bullet points, but I have to single out Kevin's, uh, passion for the subject and his insistence that the debate be about hotness and not any other measure of attractiveness -- "A painting can be beautiful. But I don't wanna bang a painting" -- as particular high points for me. His return across the aisle after Jim painted him a mental picture and scornful "Respect the game" were just about perfect.

Additionally, the debate gave us another small glimpse of Managerial Jim, who despite his continued love of the prank -- like attaching 500 feet of wire to the back of Dwight's computer -- tends to get a little uptight when Michael's out of the office and he's in charge. Granted, he became a full participant in the debate, but you got the sense his play to Kevin was more to bring the thing to a quick conclusion than to engage in the free exchange of ideas.

And, although it was never mentioned directly, the episode also gave us a sense of how ostracized Angela now is. When she tries to object the first time by declaring she won't vote, Jim dismisses her with a curt "Nobody cares," and no one else even flinches. Nice.

As for the Michael-and-Dwight story that gave the episode its name -- eh. Their reconnaissance trip to Prince Family Paper, which has a stranglehold on a piece of territory not far from Scranton, played out about like you'd expect, with Michael despairing over possibly damaging this perfectly nice family's business and Dwight employing Lord of the Rings analogies to urge him to go for the throat. The climactic chase through the office park didn't really work, although Michael's final talking head -- "I guess that's why I don't like bittersweet chocolate" -- and a few little moments made up for it.

In a larger sense, though, doesn't it seem slightly odd to you that Dunder Mifflin Scranton is doing fairly well, with that manager and in this economy? I'm all for TV being an escape from that, but given that The Office is supposed to be a documentary, that particular bit feels a little incongruous.

More thoughts from "Prince Family Paper":

- There were several great asides and cross-talk lines tonight. Among my favorites were Kevin's "She looks like a monster" in the initial Swank discussion and Dwight's objection to IHOP -- "It's socialist."

- Michael: "In nature, there's something called the food chain. The shark eats the little shark, and the little shark eats the ... littler shark, and so on down to the single-cell shark. So now, replace the sharks with paper companies, and that's all you need to know about business."

- Of all the debate arguments, I found Stanley's the most inspiring: "The old Stanley Hudson would have found something to complain about with this actress. But that's no way to live life. Look at this healthy, sexy, pretty, strong young woman. C'mon, people! She. Is. Hot."

- That said, Toby's "Ehhnh" was pretty good too.

- And Pam: "Are we prepared to let the Kevins of the world decide anything for us, anything at all? We don't even give him full Internet access." Pause. Kevin: "Wait -- what?"

- You sort of knew that the debate would end with Michael casually saying, "Oh, she's hot," but I thought it was a nice capper nonetheless.

- The episode was directed by Asaad Kelada. That may not be as recognizable a name as Joss Whedon or J.J. Abrams, but for someone who watched way too many Facts of Life reruns as a kid, it was cool to see his name in the credits.

How'd you like "Prince Family Paper" -- did the Michael-Dwight story do anything for you? What kind of pointless debates have you and your co-workers had? And Hilary Swank: Hot?

E-mail

• Digg
• Facebook
• Fark
• Yahoo Buzz
• Stumbleupon