'The Office': Who's coming with me?
How much you enjoyed this week's "Office" probably depends a lot on how much you bought into Pam's actions at the end of the show. I'm not sure yet how I feel about it, so I'm not quite sure what to make of the episode.
Don't worry -- I'll translate the German spoilers.
It's not too hard to see where Pam is coming from in deciding to be the Dorothy Boyd to Michael's Jerry Maguire (fish apparently not included, and romance definitely not). Pam has never really been happy as a receptionist, and after spending hours and hours getting a new copier to work -- and being at a complete loss for words as to how it feels to have mastered it -- even a poorly conceived, ill-timed start-up with Michael might sound good.
On the other hand, though, Pam has always been a reasonably practical person, and she has to know that a startup with no business plan and no money, with Michael at the helm, is even more doomed than most new businesses. Some part of her must also know that despite his promise that she can be a salesperson, she'll end up spending most of her time looking after her boss, just like she did at Dunder Mifflin.
As comedy, I think Pam as the sole employee of the Michael Scott Paper Co. has a lot of potential. But I'm not sure how it plays from a character standpoint -- is Pam really going to stick with this, or will she be back looking for her old job in a couple weeks?
"Two Weeks" wasn't a bad episode -- in fact, it was pretty good -- but it was one of the less outright funny installments of the show, as a story about Michael leaving Dunder Mifflin and staring into the abyss of his future probably must be. There were some great individual moments, which I'll get to in the bullets, but I want to mention Steve Carell committing to the crawling-on-the-floor bit so completely and the look on Stanley and Kevin's faces after getting their new assignments before that. Fantastic stuff on both ends.
But I'm starting to wonder about Charles Minor. He's almost a completely humorless guy -- his deadpan "I'm aware of the effect I have on women" aside -- and it seems like the employees have gone from mostly being flustered by him to feeling beat down or even scared. That doesn't make for fun viewing, or even uncomfortable viewing in the I-can't-watch-I-have-to-watch way the show does so well.
I'm hoping that the next few weeks will find Jim, Oscar and the rest of the Scranton branch getting a little more comfortable around Charles (and that Kelly and Angela continue their brilliantly silly competition to get Charles' attention), and that he loosens up just a little bit. Otherwise it's going to be a little tough.
Other notes from "Two Weeks":
- Regardless of how I feel about what her character did tonight, Jenna Fischer was fantastic. The look on her face as she got to the end of her copier story ("I could do a bound book in plastic, with offset colors") broke my heart a little bit. And her talking head in the opening -- "Michael finally has a story we really want to hear, and he knows it. He knows it" -- was perfect.
- Speaking of Michael's story, it was the comedy gift that kept giving. Leave it to him, first of all, to load an interesting story with so many useless details that it becomes completely anticlimactic. Throw in everyone else's far more thought-out kiss-offs and Oscar's "But I dream" talking head, and you've got one of the best pre-credit sequences in a long time.
- Scotch and Splenda: Tastes like Splenda, gets you drunk like Scotch.
- We got a couple of very good talking heads on the subject of Michael's departure. First, Kevin: "I always thought Michael got a bad rap. He's a good guy, he's super funny -- maybe I should tell him that before he goes. [Looks outside the conference room] Aww, he's way over there."
- And Toby: "He's like a movie on a plane -- it's not great, but it's something to watch. Then when it's over, it's like, How much time is left on the flight. What now?"
- Background noise, what sounds like a roar. Jim: "Monster-dot-com, singular." Michael: "Thank you."
- Lastly, does Michael's decision to start his own paper company mean that Shoe-La-La, the men's shoe store he mentioned a couple weeks ago, is on hold?
OK -- so what do you think about Pam's decision to join Michael Scott Paper? And what do you make of the new regime in Scranton?
i too am not sure how i feel about pam's departure with michael. but i am sure that i thought tonight's epi was very enjoyable! :)
and i'm sure that this humorless new boss has the office employees thinking whoa...maybe michael wasn't so bad after all. (as you so aptly pointed out, see look's on stanley and kevin's faces when he informs them of their new duties. and the look on jim's face when he was not chosen as an office "czar." cl***ic.)
it was surprising to see the usually practical pam go running for the escape hatch. i thought the best part was the look on jim's face when pam said she wants to be a salesperson, like part confusion and part wow there's my girl!
of course, i'm hoping michael and pam aren't gone from the office fray too long. wouldn't it be funny if michael actually got a viable concern going and actually managed to impact into DM's business? using it as leverage to get his job back?
but in the meantime, i have to admit, i am looking forward to kevin on the phones!
oh a couple more quotes to add to your list:
- when someone (i think Andy) points out to michael that the paper business is in decline, Michael's reply: but..."We invented decline."
- Michael resorting to juvenille humor 101 when new boss Charles when he walks into michael's office, "what's up chuck?"
Oficially: I hate the new boss. It´s not funny, it´s not original and it´s not comedy.
But I loved last night episode. I understand why Pam quits: She always hated to be a recepcionist and think she has not coworkers respect and love for her work.
Jim´s face was funny: She is my girl!
Well, a good episode. But....what happen with the Office?
I think Pam leaving makes perfect sense, especially after the trip she and Micheal took. She has a little bit of a mother-hen thing where she does her best to look after him (a.k.a. giving him a practice run on when he answers the phones).
Furthermore, when Micheal says to the employees, are you doing your best here, the image of her was one where you can tell that comment hit her more then anyone else. And now she's free to take the chance because Jim is being the practical one - something along the lines of a coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero only one. Also, she had a strong reaction when Charles slammed the door that looked like it kind of cemented the idea the DM was not going to be a place she wanted to stay at. And it's not like Micheal hasn't had some success.
Lastly, I thought it was hysterical when Micheal was crawling around and he says, "Come on, everyone down on the floor, let's crawl out together." And Pam's comment about him having a story was priceless.
Pam's decision was redeemed, for me anyway, by the look of realization that came over her face and Michael's as they rounded the corner out of the D-M parking lot. That uh-oh look.
I think we can see where Charles will fail when he appoints Kevin receptionist and Stanley "productivity tsar". And he is a mean cuss, isn't he? I think I'd rather work for Stringer Bell.
It's funny that even is a relatively quiet episode, ie, one without tons of rolling-on-the-floor jokes, when you start recounting the jokes, you realize there's more funny there than on just about any other show. Too many brilliant, little moments to keep up with. Sure the overall story might have been a bit tame, but Toby's likening of Michael to an airplane movie, the staff all recounting how they'd tell of their boss, monsters.com, and Michael's penchant for mixing booze and Splenda really made it, as per usual, a keeper for me.
Did that ending remind anyone else of the ending of "The Graduate"? The changing expressions on Michael & Pam's faces looked exactly like what happens to Ben & Elaine as they're sitting on the bus after fleeing Elaine's wedding. I think it especially redeemed the idea of Pam leaving with Michael to allow her to have an almost immediate "Oh s***, what have I done?" reaction. (Best throwaway moment of the night...without a doubt, "Monster.com...singular!" Hilarious!)
Yeah, The Office was really good last night. Like everyone else is saying, several drop dead funny moments, but many more subtle funny moments that come to mind when you're thinking about the episode as a whole. As far as Michael and his paper company, I think what everyone continually forgets is that Michael got his position because he was DM's top salesperson. So, yeah, he's a bufoon, but not a complete idiot. They could play this a couple of ways. 1. Let Michael and Pam come crawling back, maybe just figuratively this time. 2. Actually let Michael start to make some headway and begin to effect DMs bottom line. He has to have some loyal clients and with Pam's practical help, maybe they could make it work enough for DM to beg them back. Don't worry, any respect that Michael would gain in the process would be lost within a couple of episodes of being back in the fold.
I think what will happen is that the staff will start to subvert the new boss on their own until he eventually quits and they higher M. Scott back because he's the only one they feel can handle the Scranton Crew, who let's face it, at this point are all really quite dysfunctional after being in that work environment for so long.
Decent episode. However, I don't like it when the Office breaks the format like it looks like they're about to do with Michael and Pam. The premise of the show is supposed to be a do***entary crew following the employees of Dunder Mifflin. Now that Pam and Michael no longer work for Dunder Mifflin, they should, theoretically, no longer be featured in the show.
The writers made a similar mistake when they had the do***entary crew follow Pam at college. Why would they have done that if she was no longer working at Dunder-Mifflin at the time?
Anyway, I suspect Pam and Michael won't be away from DM for too long so its not a huge deal. Just a minor annoyance I have with the writers. Otherwise, I solid episode.
Michael and Pam will be back. We'll get a few hijinks after The Michael Scott Paper Company (and Pam attempting to explain how to scan a do***ent to Michael was priceless) and then back to Dunder-Mifflin. Enjoyed the episode. Lots of good, funny moments.
Two awesome Kelly moments: telling Charles that Angela is 50 and that she and her sisters are like the Kardashians! Loved it.
I agree that I think this will all end up with Dunder Mifflin nearly begging Michael to come back, probably right around the time he realizes his new company is doomed.
Charles provides an interesting contrast because his character is actually somewhat realistic, yet he's on a show filled with characters that are slightly outside the realm of possibility. It's strange to see the show insert a character like this right into the thick of things.
Michael has always seemed over-the-top in contrast to the rest of the office. But now the rest of the office is going to look over-the-top in contrast to Charles.