'The Office': Michael did a bad, bad thing
This week's "Office" recap is going to be a short one, because between one of the worst things Michael has ever done and Jim's apparent brainectomy, there was precious little that was good.Over the course of the show's six seasons, there have been some episodes that I liked a lot less than others, but in pretty much every one, there was at least some scene or subplot or running joke that I enjoyed. Tonight? Not so much. Stanley's cackling at the mention of "Scott's Tots" was good before we knew the context, Andy's baby-talking was all right, and Erin had a couple of nice moments with Michael. But both of the main stories were such downers that they far outweigh what little good there was.
Michael wasn't really kidding when he told Jim that he'd done something worse than murder: Dashing the dreams of 15 high school kids whom he'd foolishly, stupidly promised a college education 10 years before is just low. I guess it was good of him to be straight with the students -- though a year or five years or nine years earlier would've been a hell of a lot better -- and Steve Carell played Michael's shame and sadness pretty well. But Michael's attempt to console the kids with laptop batteries just did not work as comedy.
Erin's attempts to buck Michael up on the ride home weren't especially funny either, but they were at least some good, honest character beats. Ellie Kemper is starting to add a lot to the show, and Erin's impossibly good nature is a nice counterpoint to all the cynics and clock-punchers at the branch.
Back at the Dunder Mifflin office, meanwhile, Jim apparently can't figure out that Dwight is out to sabotage him. I'm not sure a pre-management Jim would have just accepted an anonymous, supposedly objective spreadsheet detailing objective criteria for employee of the month, but co-manager Jim somehow doesn't catch on that the game is rigged. I kept waiting for him to say, "Well, Dwight, you handed me this chart that was already all filled in -- why don't you explain it?," but that moment never came.
Back when Dwight's recorder pen was introduced, I said that it could be fun to watch Dwight's ongoing frustration at how little material he gets from it. The pen factored in again tonight, and he was indeed frustrated, but Jim's blindness to what's going on is bordering on the inexplicable. Ryan wants in on Jim's takedown now too -- which has a couple possibilities of its own, given his and Dwight's past -- but mostly I really just want Jim to rediscover his intellect.
(Side note: Didn't the Scranton branch already have an employee of the month program? There used to be a plaque on the wall outside Michael's office that I thought was for employee of the month recognition.)
So ... yeah. No bullets tonight, because the sooner we all put this one out of our minds the better. I'm not off the "Office" bandwagon, not by a long shot. But "Scott's Tots" was just a big letdown.
What did you think of "The Office" this week?
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Boring episode. Jim´s brainless is unbearable. Michael´s stupidity too. Sorry, The Office. You did a bad, bad episode.
My favorite part was when Pam was trying to defend herself by saying she'd doubled her sales, and when someone asked, "From what, two to four?", it immediately cut to her talking head where she just said "Yep!" without missing a beat.
Also, in the episode where the Dunder Mifflin Infinity website debuts and Dwight tries to sell more paper than the website, Dwight has a talking head where he says, "I've won employee of the month 13 out of the last 12 months. Last February they didn't have enough money for bonuses so they gave me 2 plaques." and then he holds up two identical plaques recognizing him as employee of the month for February.
I think Dwight actually won "Salesman of the Month" 13 out of the last 12 months...
I didn't think it was a horrible ep, but I also kept waiting for Jim to call Dwight out that it was him sabotaging it.
The first truly bad episode of the Office ever.
Agree completely. One reprehensible storyline and one unbelievably stupid one. Not good. The only thing that I did really like was the fact that Michael did honestly love and care about these kids. He knew them all - except the one little brother - by name and knew all their accomplishments. That was incredibly sweet. Otherwise this was a painfully bad ep.
Lies. This episode was great. It was definitely a character development episode. Michael and Erin's relationship strengthened. Jim is losing support in the workplace. I thought the idea of Scott's Tots was so funny. I can't believe you would say this is a terrible episode. What about Koi Pond....stupid.
I thought this was a fantastic episode. Some of the bits were HILARIOUS (why is no one mentioning the brilliance of Dwight's impressions of his co-workers?), and there were some fantastic quotable moments ("In an ideal world, all 10 fingers would be in my left hand so my right hand could just be a fist for punching" and "Thank you, thank you a lot").
Yes, the Scott's Tots storyline was literally cringe-inducing and at one point I almost turned off the TV because I couldn't bear to watch the kids' reactions. (I actually ended up looking away from the screen so I could hear Michael but not see the kids' faces.) But the thing is, offering college tuition to a bunch of 8 year olds is TOTALLY something Michael would do. It demonstrates his innate generosity -- and inability to think about consequences. And it was kind of pathetic listening to him explain that when he was 30 he thought he'd be a millionaire by 40, but at 40 he has even less money than he did at 30.
Overall I was laughing my a$$ off throughout a large part of this episode, and I think it was easily one of the best of the season.
Jim was out of character, for sure. The look of constant bewilderment on his face as he had no idea what was going on was so odd. It's the first time ever that we have seen Jim not being one step ahead of Dwight.
Maybe Ryan was already sabotaging Jim since he directed that episode?
I thought the Michael stuff came off way better than I thought it would. It's typical Michael and it makes perfect sense that he thought he'd be wealthy by the time those kids reached college age.
The dumb part was anyone believing he'd ever actually pay for their tuition. Didn't they know what he did for a living? If some stranger comes to my kids' school and says he's going to pay for their tuition, I might be a tad skeptical....
Thank you! So true that they made Jim stupid for the sake of plot! What a below average episode...