The Office: The Michael Scott Paper Company

Thank goodness we only had to wait 30 minutes to find out what happens next at The Michael Scott Paper Company.

Michael pulls up to the building in his PT Cruiser, feeling pretty confident as he blasts Lady Gaga while wearing a pair of Oakley sunglasses. After clumsily realizing he doesn't have his old parking space anymore, he holds a ceremonial ribbon cutting before opening his new office: the closet-sized Michael Scott Paper Company.

Then... there's a brand new theme song, focused on the awkwardly small Michael Scott Paper Company! Awesome!

After that bit of excitement (which I watched three times with glee), we find that Michael's scheduled a party for the opening of the business. He wants to give away coupons for customer service, but needs someone to make copies of them. Pam refuses because she fears being labeled as the receptionist. Ryan refuses because he's a snobby jerk. Michael gets frustrated, especially upon realizing that not only can they hear the running water from the bathroom above them, they can also hear voices. (How funny was Toby while he was talking about "Damages?")

Michael tries to solve Pam and Ryan's bickering by giving them corners of the room to have as their own private corners. Ryan uses his corner to make calls to his friends and Michael takes two corners, leaving Pam with the corner where the copier is. Angered, Pam goes up to Dunder Mifflin to ask Charles for her job back, which doesn't happen. Michael hears about Pam's trip upstairs and is visibly upset at his pancake luncheon, where he serves the biggest, squarest pancakes known to man. The team seems defeated until Pam makes a sale to a client who showed up at the pancake luncheon.

Upstairs, Jim continues to deal with Charles' hatred. He's confused when Charles asks him for a "run down" of his clients. Jim spends hours trying to figure out exactly what Charles is asking for. He finally makes something, but Charles won't look over it and tells Jim to fax it to his distribution list... which is another thing Jim has no clue about. So he faxes his dad. ...Fail. Poor Jim.

Meanwhile, Dwight and Andy seem to have become friends and plan on going hunting together. Just as the duo appears to have gotten past fighting over Angela, the new receptionist, Erin, arrives. At first, the men attempt to be generous and concede Erin to each other. But as they have a guitar/banjo jam session in the break room, they begin to compete for Erin, who interestedly sings along to their rendition of "Take Me Home, Country Roads." Andy shows off his banjo skills, which prompts Dwight to ask Erin to sing with him on guitar, which prompts Andy to sing a cappella, which prompts Dwight to sing in German! Erin actually seems impressed with all of this until the guys get distracted and start singing to each other. Could Dwight be Andy's new Wing Man For Life? (That's WMFL, of course.)


Quotes of the Week:

Michael: (on the phone with his mother) They're getting on my nerves, Mom. Both of 'em. "R" thinks he's too good to be here and "P" is not as much fun without Jim.
Pam: Michael, we can hear you.
Michael: I'm on the phone, please! (to his mother) Mom, I'm gonna have to call you back. "P's" being a giant "B."

Dwight: (whispering to Andy) Listen, when I saw you talking to Erin earlier, I noticed that your pupils dilated and your skin flushed and I'm assuming a little bit of blood rushed into your penis. Well, a little bit of blood rushed into mine as well, so where does that leave us?

Michael: Who would have thought that the thing that would save this company would be work? And pancakes?


What a great episode. I loved the fiery energy Pam had in her fights with Ryan - we don't get to see that in her very often. New Ryan is already getting annoying... which is kind of perfect. But the MVP of the night was Stanley... I think he only had one line, but all of his reactions were fantastic. The look on his face when Dwight disclosed his reaction to the receptionist was hilarious. His laughter when he saw Ryan? Priceless. Honorary mention goes to Pam, who (in addition to being fiery) was consistently adorable throughout her whole ordeal. Her wistfulness when she sat upstairs at Dunder Mifflin and her girly jumping up and down when she made her first sale was great. I'm surprised at how much I love this new direction for the show. I don't know how long it'll last, but it's working for me for now.

Next week on "The Office:" In "Heavy Competition," Dwight’s loyalty to Michael is tested when he finds a new hero in Charles. Meanwhile, Andy tries to provide for all of Jim’s emotional needs.