Photos
Video
RSS'The Office' - 'The Promotion': Same as the old boss
As smart a guy and as nice a guy as Jim Halpert is, the few occasions where he's been asked to manage other people on "The Office" have not gone well. So it was nice to see the show carry that through this week. It was not always fun to watch, mind you, but it was nice to see that the show didn't take the easy road of Jim always having the upper hand on Michael. "The Promotion" showed us that the co-manager arrangement probably is a bad idea all around, but not just for the obvious reason that Michael is deathly afraid of not being the cool-dad figure in the office.
The branch is skeptical of the new structure from the beginning -- Oscar's talking head wondering "Where would Catholicism be without the popes?" was brilliant -- and, it turns out, rightly so. First of all, Jim is shoehorned into his own little office across the floor from Michael's, which has displaced Creed to Meredith's spot, and Jim and Michael are fighting a little turf war over whose job is more important. Jim: "You're not the only manager anymore." Michael: "That's not what [David] Wallace told us." Jim: "That's exactly what Wallace told us." Michael: "That is not the way I ... heard it."
Wallace then informs them that Dunder Mifflin isn't going to be giving out full cost-of-living raises this year, and it's up to each branch manager to figure out how to allocate its share. Were this dilemma taking place a season or two ago -- or even a couple weeks ago -- Michael probably would have hemmed and hawed all day before making a really impulsive decision and throwing all the money away (like investing it in Ryan's can't-miss college basketball algorithm. Pam, you're smarter than that). Jim, though, actually tries to think the decision through, but he ends up overthinking and telling the office that only the salespeople will be getting money.
Points for honesty and all, but how he could have thought that leveling with the group would magically ease everyone's hurt feelings is beyond me. He had the right idea the first time of giving everyone a 1.5-percent raise, I think; no one would be especially happy, but no one (except maybe Dwight) would have been more upset than anyone else.
And the bean idea? Come on. I guess it was evidence of just how turned around Jim had gotten when the office responded so badly to his idea that he was willing to go along with Michael's raise-by-Boston Baked Bean plan, but man what a cockeyed scheme. (Though I could, and did, watch the increasingly agitated Kevin repeat, "Michael, what does a bean mean?!?" over and over.)
The ending, in fact, was actually kind of touching, with Michael presenting Jim his very own "World's Best Boss" mug filled with gin (which explains a lot, now that I think of it). Michael's relief at not always having to make the unpopular decisions, and Jim's rueful recognition that Michael may be his only friend in the branch ("Except for Pam. I think. Is she still upset?") felt like exactly the right capper to this episode.
As with last week, the comedy gave way a little to the exploration of Jim and Michael's interaction, but there were, I think, more overtly funny moments this week than last. Which is how we ease our way into the bullets:
- Creed to his new deskmate Meredith: "Hey, how come we never ..." Meredith: "We did."
- I like that the writers aren't completely having Dwight go off the deep end over Jim's promotion, at least not yet. His stirring call to revolution -- "Let's drag him out of his office -- tick -- let's take his keys -- tock" -- didn't go over that well, but if Jim doesn't learn on the job, Dwight is going to be an even bigger pain in the ass than usual.
- Outstanding Kelly quote No. 1: "I love rivalries -- Michael or Jim, Paris or Nicole, Heidi or LC. They're so much fun. But I guess if I really think about it and answer your question honestly -- I'd have to go with LC. Heidi is a bad friend, and her skin is terrible."
- Outstanding Kelly quote No. 2, upon hearing that while she won't get a raise, Jim at least thinks she's smart and grown-up enough to hear the plain truth: "How is that going to fix Ryan's car?"
- Michael's idea of big-picture thinking for Dunder Mifflin involves talking about planets. Or, "To be fair, it wasn't about planets at first. We were talking about toilet paper, and what part of your body do you use toilet paper upon? And you draw a line from there to the other planets ..." That may be the most artfully constructed Uranus joke I've ever encountered.
- The Pam gift-registry subplot was rather slight, though her look of horror when Phyllis described her off-registry gift was pretty great. As my wife said, "That's why you register."
11 Comments
Post a comment
Find it fast
Advertisement
Zap2it Twitter Talk Recent posts
I notice you attributed the 1.5 percent raise idea to Jim, but I'm pretty sure Michael was the first to mention it. While you attributed the disastrous "Boston baked bean" idea to Michael, even though all Michael said was "a merit based system." The baked bean idea was never attributed to him. That in mind, I think Michael came off looking better than Jim. I guess experience counts for something.
Well, a little raise is not the most popular decision. And Jim is, simply, an apprentice of manager. Few laughs, but this is a interesting and solid episode for me. I´m interesting in the new dinamic about two comanagers in Scranton Branch.
Next week episode? It´s not oct. 8th yet?
I think Michael is an idiot, and it is harder and harder to watch this show without constantly cringing.
Dave Wallace would have fired Michael long ago, and Jim, while having the right ideas, needs to understand that he needs to be stronger and posess more of a back bone.
This is not a democracy. Just like a family, the leader needs to make some tough decisions, announce then, and then stick to them.
And if there are any arguments or whining, deal with them as they occur.
The office people will grow up and produce, if they are expected to. As long as you show weakness, and an ability to let the masses sway your thinking and decisions, they will continue to do so.
It is like they are co-managers of a kindergarten class.
Not very funny moments last night, but I did like the Creed and Meridith exchange, as well as Kelly's comments.
I wonder why they never talk about Creed's real life past?
I kind of hope that Ryan ends up coming through on the 5K. they've shown him time and again to make huge mistakes, I think it would be a great twist if he actually showed some shrewdness in gambling and won a bunch of money!
Really enjoyed last night's episode...best of the season so far. And Kevin's "WHAT DOES THE BEAN MEAN" comments put me over the top!
I find this season of "The Office" annoying and not funny at all. With the exception of the first episode, I really think this season has chosen wrong directions... with little use of the smaller characters that makes this show so funny.
Plus, with the opportunity to really build up the wedding, they've done very little on it. Granted, I'm not overly excited for it--but come on... it could be a ratings giant, and they're doing very little to "pump it up."
In a word, season six has been "disappointing."
Season six has been disappointing. With the exception of Pam writing Ryan that check, I didn't laugh at all. Is it just me? Don't get me wrong, I love The Office. It's just not the same anymore.
Also, why is no one on Zap2it doing recaps for "Parks And Recreation"? That show just keeps getting better and better.
Hopefully the wedding will be better, because The Promotion was really weak. The Jim Michael conflict played out as expected and wasn't that funny. Dwight slightly redeemed the episode with his Jim witch-hunt. Full review of the episode.
http://th3tvobsessed.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-office-season-6-episode-3.html
It was nice to see Jim appreciate what Michael has to put up with--and maybe he learned that dealing with ppl, it's easier in theory than in practice most of the time. enjoyed the epi. Kevin is genius. Kelly is always funny.
The above poster is correct; both ideas could be attributed to Michael. At the outset, Michael suggested: "I say we add 1.5 percent to their paychecks and say nothing about it."
Later, after Jim's idea about giving raises only to the sales reps went over like a lead balloon, Michael asked: "What about a raise based on merit?" It's not clear who came up with the Boston Baked Beans method, though Jim is the one who explained it.