I could make any number of jokes revolving around the Scranton dump or a pile of garbage, but I'll just come right out and say that last night's Office was lackluster.
The episode revolved around the sales staff being treated like kings by Dunder Mifflin's new owner, Sabre. They were getting all sorts of swag and hefty paychecks, to the jealousy of everyone else in the office. The sales staff wasn't exactly being gracious about it, either. When Sabra mails in important leads for the sales team, Michael withholds them and instead makes Phyllis beg rival Angela for her leads, Jim look for them in a treasure hunt with index card clues, Andy flirt with Erin for his leads, Stanley tolerate Ryan and Kelly to earn his, and Dwight dig through the garbage.
Clearly, this had the potential for hilarity. And some of it was actually funny. I enjoyed Stanley listening to Ryan and Kelly argue about the merit of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, if only because it was a callback to last season when Kelly compared her own family to the Kardashian clan. Andy's nervousness about playing a game of "hot or cold" with Erin was hysterical, especially when Erin had no clue how inappropriate her clues seemed. And anytime Angela and Phyllis are pitted against one another, you can bet I'm laughing.
However, this episode was uncomfortable - and not in the great Office way - because it had many normally endearing characters acting like complete jerks. Phyllis, Stanley and Jim seemed especially cruel and callous regarding their fellow employees' feelings. And Jim kept using having a baby as an excuse for being so rude and work-oriented, which is totally not okay. I think we need to get Pam back in here, stat.
The conflicts were resolved when the sales staff put out a spread of food, which the employees accepted before hearing the sales team offer up a small percentage of their commissions. Whoops. Dwight and Michael resolved their issues over a trip to the dump, which was nice - they really haven't been pals since Charles Minor took over last season. And Andy and Erin shared a kiss on a big pile of garbage.
Quotes of the week:
Dwight: You couldn't handle my undivided attention.
Phyllis: If they don't have an iPod by now, they don't really want one.
Erin: (via text) People love shells from far away beaches.
1 comments:
Your review nails this episode -- extremely lackluster. Hopefully they will get Pam back in there sooner than later. Pam is a very important piece of the Office.
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