Fri, 11 November 2011
Pam trains a temporary worker to take her place while she is on maternity leave, and enlists Dwight's support when she tries to show that Jim finds her replacement attractive. Meanwhile, Robert surprises Andy, Kevin, and Darryl when he asks to join their band. Written by Allison Silverman, Directed by Matt Sohn ----- Some real-life issues this week so we're late on recording Doomsday. Nonetheless, please leave a comment and tell us what you thought of Pam's Replacement.
Category:general
-- posted at: 1:22am EDT
Comments[8]
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I really liked this episode. Pam and Dwight (Pwight?) working together? That was fun. Deight's lie detector at the Hy Vee was funny, also. Although, a bit ham handed with the discovery of Jim's borderline hypertension. Could they make Jim into anymore of a wuss? Every time they went to the Andy plot line and he was playing his body like and giant bongo I was laughing out loud.
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I laughed a lot, mostly thanks to Dwight. Stupid, yes, but I gave up on this show reflecting reality halfway through Season 3. This episode had some funny asides and one liners, and cheered up a gloomy Thursday. I hate James Spader in this show, though. He isn't funny, he's creepy. If he were still young and pretty and creepy, they might have an interesting angle to work with, but now that he is old and bloated and creepy it's just creepy creepy. And he sure as hell wasn't playing the harmonica. But Dwight made me laugh out loud, the first time this show's gotten more than a weak smile out of me this season.
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I maybe would have bought the storylines accompanying Pam's wild pregnancy fluctuations if this were her first pregnancy, but this her second pregnancy. Hasn't her relationship with Jim been tested and proven already? It seems this new temp is filling the rumored role that Jordan was supposed to fill last season? And as the two of you mentioned in a previous episode, we really don't need another Danny Cordray. This, along with the cold-open recycling an old Pam/Michael bit tells me that the writers are simply out of ideas. I think it's time to put this poor show out of its misery. Maybe it can join the horse that Dwight was burying last season.
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I saw the promos for this episode and was truly prepared for it to be the worst Office episode of all time. Why? Because it looked like a junior high level kind of friction between Jim and Pam about whether the temp was hot or not, and because the crotch scene with Dwight looked positively ridiculous. I did find that particular scene to be possibly the worst scene in Office history - just stupid, unbelievable, awkward (and not in a good way) - but I did laugh at least a few times throughout the episode at other things. The plotline with Pam and Jim didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, because Pam seemed to be mostly amused by Jim's attraction to the replacement. I don't think she was genuinely threatened - I think she found it entertaining to try to get Jim to just admit it. And while it might have been a little silly that he wouldn't just admit it, he was trying to be the good guy so I'll give him a break. If they had tried to play it off that Pam was really mad that Jim might notice that another woman was attractive, or that Jim wouldn't notice her at all, I think it would have been a disaster, but I actually found some nice subtlety in the way it was handled. On a side note, I caught a pretty interesting interview with ex-Office writer/Vance Refrigeration employee Lee Eisenberg that you guys might enjoy. It's at: http://www.nerdist.com/2011/11/making-it-16-lee-eisenberg/ He talks at length about the writing process and about writing for The Office.
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ANOTHER temp? Wasn't Ryan kept on as a temp after they decided he was unnecessary in sales? Seems like that's the natural way to utilize him instead of calling in yet another temp who apparently needs training. Setting that aside, I get the idea of training a temp - but when have you ever seen a temp get trained so far in advance? Maybe Pam is leaving this week - which would make the whole training thing acceptable - but I've not seen anything to suggest that. On the flip side of the story line, I do understand the whole pregnant wife not feeling pretty and feeling threatened by the hot new girl at work. Jim's character walked that line perfectly and realistically. Dwight's fumbling crotch grabs (what were there - 5 separate attempts to grab him?) were reminiscent of Seinfeld in the fake boobs episode. I guess they could use this event as blackmail by Jim against Dwight - he could threaten the filing of a sexual harassment complaint and make Dwight do his laundry & such - but then that would not be in Jim's character I guess. I did appreciate the effort to return Kevin to a "normal" guy status by having him be in the band with Andy and Darrel. But I don't get why California hijacked the session with Kevin and the Zits. Obviously his friends all have their own instruments and didn't need to step in on them - was California just trying to show them he has better musician friends? I really don't get the point of that whole story line - except that California is a self centered ass. Maybe this is what they need to have Andy realize he will not impress California, and he should just be comfortable in his own skin, with his own friends. It's time for Andy to recognize California's authority, but lose personal respect for him. Maybe the interchange with Darrel and the warehouse girl with help bring Darrel to that conclusion. Lastly - I'm wondering how they are going to weave Jim's high blood pressure into this comedy. There's not much funny about that - I hope they don't descend into the "public message" realm and try to use the show to bring awareness to this health issue. That's not funny, and has no place in a comedy. I guess they could play it up in the form of Pam forcing him to eat rice cakes and other bland foods, while Jim sneaks candy and junk from Kevin. Maybe a little black market will arise in the office for distributing illicit junk food to Jim. I could see Creed in that role. Overall - this was better than Doomsday, but about as good as Spooked - I thought. But they still seem to have not found their stride this season.
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I expected a let down, but come on! This episode was not good by any stretch of the world. I expected the fall from episodes i like to start with "Mrs. California" in two weeks. There were a few funny lines and gags in each of the two equally stupid plotlines, but not nearly enough to save the episode. Really? Robert's friends are just gonna come in and steal Darryl, Andy, and Kevin's show? I at least expected some payoff when they were outside playing. There was't. The other plotline was just unbelievable. I get it, Pam's really emotional and weird because she's so pregnant, but her talking heads were hard to watch. Dwight grabbing his crotch, and Jim's talking head outside the super store were my favorite parts, but that's not saying much (except the Jim fake out was pretty funny).
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