Thu, 10 May 2007
If the promos are to be believed, this is the start of all the JAM action build-up for the 3rd season finale. Did Michael's mall fountain wish come true? will Pam find her courage? Will Stanley flatten Jim in the sumo ring? Only a few more hours to go.NBC describes it like this: --------------------------------------- BEACH GAMES
Special Time 8:42/7:42c TV14 05.10.2007  --------------------------------------- REMEMBER-- Yet another bizarre starting and ending time this week. Set your DVRs/VCRs appropriately. Join Ian and me in the TWSS Chatroom immediately after the end of the episode.
Category:general
-- posted at: 11:33am EDT
Comments[46]
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I though the episode was good, not great. It seemed to me that they didn\'t really tie it together at the end. I keep imagining this ending in my head of them on the bus ride home showing Pam by herself just staring at the road. Michael sitting alone with that same look he had on his face when he got his i.d. taken in conflict resolution dwight looking burnt, Andy soaking wet wrapped in a towel, Angela with her arms folded in disgust, Jim and Karen sitting together, and Stanley sitting in the back sleeping. All of this with Michael narrating with a cut to him in his office saying something like management is more than just knowledge of a market, of a product, leadership and communication skills it\'s also about being funny and after today i don\'t know who I\'d pick to be my replacement. That would have made the episode for me. By the way the Dwight getting burnt wasn\'t funny but i thought Andy floating away was. And Dwight calling Ryan temp didn\'t really surprise me because he\'s an idiot and has no respect for anyone but Michale.
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Naw, Oscar cannot be taking Angela\'s suggestion to heart. I know he sounds like he his -- that\'s why I commented on it. But that would be ridiculously out of character for him. I still think they just used a strange take, one where his \"straight man\" humor was a little too straight. (TWHS)
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Been reading the comments and wondered if any of you enjoyed Oscar\\\'s talking head as much as I did. The thought of he and Angela having any sort of civil conversation regarding Oscar\\\'s \\\"gayness\\\" seems far fetched, but pretty funny. She thinks he could turn to the other side. Maybe not \\\"comedy gold\\\" (BTW, Matt, go easy on that phrase), but at least silver!
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To address the Angela, Oscar issue, Angela is obviously very religious, hence her revulsion towards Oscar when finding out he was gay. Her religious dedication, coupled with her uptight and intolerant nature, would naturally make her want to try to \"convert\" Oscar, once she had made amends with him (the return). I just think that it\'s funny that Oscar actually took to heart Angela\'s suggestion that he can come back to her team, so to speak. I would defiantly like to see them develop that a bit. As far as the Flinstones \'cold closing\', yes it is cannon, because if I\'m not mistaken, Greg Daniels has said that if we see those actors playing those characters, be it in official blogs, deleted scenes, or cold opens/closings, then it is cannon. And additionally, I am having a hard time even seeing how that could be misconstrued as being chronologically placed in the episode. As previously stated, everyone is sitting in the same place, nobody looks rumpled or worn or tired, or shows any signs of having spent a night at the beach, and they are all wearing the same clothes that they were wearing on the way, which might be fine for some people, but I\'m sure Kelly would find any excuse possible to be able to wear more than one casual outfit around her co-workers. It seems to me like they sang a bunch of songs, picked one, and had some extra time at the end to throw in the next best one. (Like in Valentines Day: If you watch the DVD commentary, it is said that they had dozens of clips of Carell doing different improvised jokes in the city, and since they had about 10 extra seconds after the episode was cut together, they just threw one in. We saw it there, we saw it in Diwali, we saw it in The Fight, and we saw it here.)
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After a second watching, I feel stupid for not realizing that the Flinstone\\\'s sing-along is definitely an outtake from the drive to the lake -- not only does it not make sense for them to be driving home in daylight and with Andy there, but Meredith is drinking from a soda cup as in the bus ride from earlier (shocking that she\\\'s the only one with a beverage!) and they are all sitting in the same places with the same people. Speaking of that -- did anyone think some of those seat pairings were weird? Obviously Jim and Karen makes sense, but I don\\\'t buy Angela and Kevin or Andy and Pam choosing to sit together. Meredith and Stanley seemed a little odd too. As far as Creed goes, I still think they are not using him nearly sparingly enough. One Creed \\\"moment\\\" every couple of episodes would be more than enough for me. In this episode, I thought it was hilarious when he caught the fish barehanded, but his showing up with the bones later took it way over the top.
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i\\\'ll have to watch the flintstones episode again... i left the \\\'after\\\' possibility in my mind... wondering if they stayed the night at the beach and rode back in the bright morning.... after pulling andy from the lake i guess. Did Andy look wrinkled?
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For some unjustifiable reason, I just want to believe that Creed eating a fish he bare-handed out of a lake is completely normal and acceptable. I have a vague literature question for any english majors that produce office podcasts out there in cyberspace.... Pam\\\'s long-awaited truthfulness seems familiar, not situationally, but rather, just the downtrodden woman speaking out taking life by the coals or something. I\\\'m sure a Bronte wrote about this or something.... any insight?
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I didn\'t really think the Creed fish thing was not believable (considering his litany of bizarre behavior), just that it wasn\'t that funny to me. Also, in defense of \"putting too much thought\" into analyzing Office minutia -- why not? What else is there, really?
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I just wanted to point out the weirdness of Angela giving Oscar dating advice (suggesting he could cross over)... that sounded too chummy... even if we\\\'ve seen them get along during isolated instances. I wondered about the second bus song (flintstones)... I assumed this was a random flashback to the bus ride to the lake (because of the lighting)... and so, if Pam was happy, it had nothing to do with her fire-walking/truth-telling. Agree?.. dis?
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oh... creed, i don\\\'t know... the fish is mildly believable for several reasons: 1) i think creed has no taste buds... or at least is willing to eat anything (potato... and he was homeless for a while). Not to mention his mud-loving days. If mud is going everywhere else... anyway. 2) he\\\'s got those asian friends (taiwan maybe?) i forget the reference for that one. My point is, I don\\\'t know if we have any more back story (or if we need it), but I don\\\'t see why he\\\'d be offended by raw fish. 3) he was disappointed when he saw there was hot dogs... I think he was hungry earlier and so he did what he wanted to at that moment... quit playing the game and went and ate a fish. Creed definitely lives for the moment and no long-term planning (peeing in bushes, stealing, selling computer & peripheals, ... umm.. i think everything he\\\'s ever done). Way too much thought put into that... so I\\\'ll stop.
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Dwight and Angela, I love them. Right now they\\\'re the one couple in this entire show that deserves any happiness. Yay Pam! Ok so I watched this at the gym and Pam\\\'s speech totally got me pumped. And a couple of Guster songs. This is so old, but you go girl! But the rest of the episode.... I\\\'m not on Team Karen, but Jim and her can continue their horrible relationship. Although I imagine Karen will end up dumping Jim. Grow a spine Filipelli, you\\\'re dating a tool. Michael or Jim leaving for New York would be LAME and with Jim double lame-o. Why can\\\'t they just stay in Scranton? Stamford sucked. It\\\'s just same old same old. I hope Karen gets it. And speaking of Karen, what was with her calling him \\\"big boy\\\"? What is she, his mom? And he\\\'s three? Gross. I loved the look on Pam\\\'s face when Stanley knocked Jim down. How much does it hurt JIM? How much does it hurt? WOOOOOOOOO! YEAH! I was literally running around the gym thinking, I want to kick some a**!!!! GO PAM! And What a Girl Wants is a good movie.
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I\'ve only watched once so far. Some good moments, but overall not one of my favorites. We\'ve seen Michael protect this group and consider them his family for so long that I just didn\'t get why he would so easily want to leave. Will he get over the high of being personally asked by the CFO to interview for this job and realize he doesn\'t really want to abandon his little kingdom? I\'m with Pam, I miss the fun. No one seemed to be having any, except on the bus.
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O.k. Matt, you must watch Eegah again. It\'s one of my favorite episodes and SO quotable! (Another fav. line is when the girl is shaving her dad and they say, \"Please turn into Sweeny Todd, PLEASE become the demon barber of Fleet Street!\") The thing that is so funny about the \"Watch out for snakes\" line is that it comes out of nowhere. They\'re off trying to find the girls dad and when they alight from the dune buggy a voice from the heavens says, \"Watch out for snakes.\" It just struck me as incredibly funny that that\'s the first thing Michael says when he gets off the bus. . . About the episode: I liked it. I didn\'t LOVE it, but Pam\'s speech (and coal walk!) was perfect. I was so, SO worried that they were going to have her tell Jim she loves him and I just didn\'t think she\'d do that even if she were tipsy. (Like I thought she might be based on the previews.) I\'m so curious to see what the reaction of everyone in the office is going to be because of this. I absolutely LOVED Angela\'s look at Jim after Pam runs off. I loved all the games and didn\'t think they were too incredibly far off from reality. Honestly, I\'ve heard of some incredibly stupid work retreats. I\'m so greatful I work in the arts where there is no money for retreats. ;) Dwight + Harry Potter -- I vote why not? Honestly, Harry Potter is a huge cultral phenomenon so why shouldn\'t it make an appearance? Dwight believes Jedi exist, so why not Voldemort? I do admit that I may be biased because I\'m quite a Harry Potter fan . . . Well, that\'s all I can think of right now. It\'s probably more than enough out of me anyway. :)
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this has probably been my favorite episode all season. i didn\'t see any promos for it (and i\'ve found i\'ve enjoyed episodes a lot more now that i don\'t watch the promos), so all i knew was that there was going to be some JAM in there. someone said the episode felt a bit discombobulated and i agree a bit, but i liked that it wasn\'t horribly plot driven. it felt more fun than most episodes and i had a full-on giggle fit when the sumo suits came out. Hooray for Fancy New Beesly! Angela was pretty fantastic in this episode as well. She is easily becoming one of my favorite characters.
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I havent seen this episode yet (its on my TiVo), so I didnt read any of the comments on this page. So this post has nothing to do with the episode, I just couldnt find an e-mail link to contact the hosts of the PodCast directly, so I hope you dont mind me contacting you this way. Im happy to find out that theres a fan podcast about the Office, and I have something Id like to submit for your approval. My name is Luke Ski, and I make comedy songs for the Dr. Demento Show, and a website called The Funny Music Project, a.k.a. the FuMP. I just posted to that website a song parody tribute to NBCs the Office titled Man From Dunder, a parody of the 80s pop hit Down Under by Men At Work. You can download the song for free (all songs posted at the FuMP are PodSafe) at http://www.thefump.com, and you can also see a show-clip-video for it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCvokNhTfHI (Theyre also on my myspace page, http://www.myspace.com/thegreatlukeski). Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know about it before the third season ends. I hope you like it, and Ill tune into the podcast as soon as I have the chance to watch Beach Games. :) Until next time, bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica. :) Luke Ski
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I was out last night and missed the first 15 min. Thank God for Tivo and it\'s magical ability to let you race through commercials and let you catch up to real time. I, too, felt like there were some lulls in the action, but the scene of Andy floating away was so gut-bustingly funny that I forgave the momentary lapses in comedy. (I think Dwight was gasping a bit too much whenever the word Voldemort was spoken aloud.) The payoff at the end was great--not to cheesy, not to sugary. Mmmmm--just right! I have to say that I actually felt bad for Karen. How often does that poor woman have to listen to others talk about Jim\'s crush on Pam? Daily? And then to have Pam herself make the big fireside declaration--I just felt bad for Karen. But good for me, because I was enjoying the JAMminess.
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Oh, good. The boss has spoken. Now I can say that I completely agree with this: \\\"The biggest problem was that Pam\\\'s speech was obviously the entire centerpiece of the episode. Was that a good scene? Sure. The rest of the show felt like filler just to get to that scene. Aside from that, the cast looked like they were having a blast... I just didn\\\'t see any of that fun transfered onto the show. I\\\'d have rather watched a REAL documentary of them filming this episode than actually watching the episode.\\\" I almost started saying something similar last night, but I\\\'d gone on so long about Pam\\\'s speech that I didn\\\'t want to start in on criticizing the rest of the episode. But, yeah, very well put, Matt. I also really agree that humor is just inexplicably subjective. I often think, \\\"What? How could someone think THAT was funny?\\\" Or, \\\"How could anyone not laugh their head off at THAT?\\\" I have to remind myself that it\\\'s almost impossible to fake a reaction to humor, that people really do have radically different reactions. I remember once watching \\\"Tommy Boy\\\" -- yes, I LOVE \\\"Tommy Boy\\\" -- in the same room with someone who sat stony-faced throughout the whole thing while I could not stop laughing even though I was trying to because I felt embarrassed in front of this woman who was obviously disgusted by it. It was horrible.
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Of course Pam wants to be more than friends with Jim. But I think she\\\'s grown up enough to know she has no right to ask for that now, after everything that\\\'s happened. I think what she said was exactly right, and I loved that she was so exhilerated by it afterward and still looked happy on the bus at the end. I\\\'ve only watched it once and suspect that without Pam\\\'s speech at the end, I wouldn\\\'t have liked it nearly as much. Still, there was lots of Stanley, and I love that guy :-)
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Yeah! When I heard \\\'Watch out for snakes\\\' I was wondering whether that was an mst3k reference or a coincidence. I didn\\\'t think this episode was all that good, but it did have some nice moments. I really liked the whole office singing \\\'The Gambler\\\' when they were on the bus.
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I don\\\'t know about anyone else, but i thought this was a fantastic episode. It just seemed more real than some of the more recent episodes (ie: Safety Training). This was just the perfect setting for so many character elements; Dwight and Angela\\\'s competitive, ruthless natures, Andy\\\'s struggle with his obviously repressed anger, Jim\\\'s realization (we hope) that he has detached himself from everyone around him, Michael\\\'s immediate conclusion that he would get the job no matter what, Stanley\\\'s temporary flare of inspiration, and then inevitable return to his usual walking coma, and of course, Pam\\\'s focal speech to Jim and the office. I think to pick it apart for having too many Harry Potter jokes, or for Jim and Karen having an un-funny and awkward joke is delving way too deeply into the writing, and not remembering that this is supposed to be a mock documentary, and in real life, not all jokes are funny, and some people\\\'s character traits (ie: a universal love of Harry Potter) surface often. On a side note, i would just like to say that the singing scenes on the bus were pure gold! I\\\'m not sure if those were written into the script, or if they were spontaneous, and got included (like Will Ferrel\\\'s impromptu rendition of \\\'Afternoon Delight\\\' in Anchorman) but they were easily the best parts of the episode. I just loved how EVERYONE, even Angela, and Stanley, and Ryan were all singing. Just wonderful.
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Agreed, Nomi. She definitely wants more than friendship. I think she DOES genuinely miss being close to Jim too tho, and maybe repairing their relationship in any way would be better than nothing to her. I do think, like you said, that she backed off what she wanted to say because she was saying it right there in front of Karen and the rest of the office. But still, for Pam, this was a GIANT leap and I thought it was a great scene. I think you could have knocked Jim over with a feather from the look on his face. We have definitely earned a cathartic Jim/Pam scene, and I feel like we might actually get that next week. I hope so too! I agree with Moose about the great moments in this episode. Overall, it wasn\\\'t my favorite of the season, but c\'mon - it was still pretty funny. I\'m still not sure why Martin bothers to complain about it so much - dude, you can say whatever you want and if you hate it so much, that\'s fine, but it\'s become such a one-note, \"it sucks\" thing every time you post that I don\'t even bother to read yours anymore. Don\'t mean to be harsh, it\'s just...tiresome...
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Wow...since I\'m an expat living in Taiwan now, I have yet to see this episode, but I gotta say, I\\\'m ready. I had to sneak a peek at what y\\\'all were saying about the show before my iTunes subscription gives me the update. Sometimes, a 1-2 day delay seems like torture, but I don\\\'t have my hopes up too highly now, so maybe it\\\'s better. Just like with Spidey 3--so many bad reviews that when I go to see it this weekend, I won\\\'t feel as letdown that it sucks (God, did I say that?) I love The Office, and am sad that we only have one ep left, but I really miss Jim and Pam. I really want Karen to go. I\\\'m over it...oh, and do we see Stanley in a bathing suit this episode? hah..I can\\\'t imagine it.
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I\\\'m so surprised by the reactions here. I thought the episode was great. Creed was perfect - just the right amount of him. Kevin - brilliant. Loved the competitive Stanley, that was a shocker! I thought it was a really nice contrast seeing Jim and Karen having a genuinely fun time together and then you get Pam being un-Pammy. I just hope, HOPE, HOPE that they don\\\'t leave it off with Jim getting the job in NY (which by the way, I have a feeling is Jan\\\'s old job) but also breaking up with Karen. Gosh that would suck. If they don\\\'t get JAM together, then they can\\\'t even tempt us with it next season. Oh, and Toby, how perfect was he walking around the office alone. Loved it.
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I think Moose had it mostly right. Lots of funny stuff in this episode to me, esp. Andy floating away and all the recurring bits with him (mallard, hot dogs, etc.). The Michael stuff was good too, but then again (like Andy Stitzer) I like to watch Survivor. I\'m glad Pam said something but WTF is wrong with Jim. It\'s like he was sleepwalking through that entire episode. At some point you have to start to take at least some things a little seriously. Time to grow up, at least a litte, buddy. Best part of the episode: Toby learning he couldn\'t go to the beach and trying to salvage things by giving the sunscreen to Pam -- only to have every remaining drop of his dream squeezed out by her two-piece comment. Wimper of the gods! I haven\'t been on too many of these corporate retreats, but the activities did not seem that farfetched. Not by a long shot.
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Well, maybe I\\\'m gunna be all alone here, but Pam wants more than friendship! Not that she should have said that in front of the whole group there, of course not. But she was (appropriately) less than truthful about being fine with Jim being with Karen, AND implying that all she wants is friendship. Jim\\\'s already said (a year ago!) that he wants more than friendship, and so does Pam. Desperately. They cannot \\\"just be friends\\\" anymore. Or, at least not now they can\\\'t, not when they are in love with each other. And, hell -- she said she called off her wedding because of him. You don\\\'t call off your wedding because of a friend. Anyone listening knew something way more was going on. I\\\'m not saying she should have said it all right there at the \\\"beach\\\" in front of Karen and everyone else. I\\\'m just saying that she\\\'s not hoping for just a friendship with Jim. I also think it\\\'s kind of unfair for her to say she\\\'s been ignored by Jim when she never, over the course of a whole year, managed to tell Jim anything about how she really feels, not even that her feelings for him are what made her call off her wedding. Moose said this is becoming the Office haters board. I really hope I don\\\'t sound like an Office hater. I still have great affection for the show. I\\\'ve just been frustrated most of this season. As I\\\'ve said other times -- it\\\'s not so much the fact that Pam and Jim have yet to speak openly to each other, but that their silence and separation feel contrived and forced to me. But, having said all this, I don\\\'t mean to leave the impression that I thought Pam\\\'s coming out speech was a disappointment. I am relieved that the preview wasn\\\'t a fake out, and I think what she said was . . . a good start. I just hope they go all the way next week. TWSS. But, really, I hope they don\\\'t leave it wishy washy. I think we\\\'ve earned a cathartic scene between them. Not that they have to be married by the end of the show. No. Just that everything is out in the open for real and that we can see the pain on both their parts fully expressed, rather than in furtive little hurt looks to the camera and downcast eyes.
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I think this was overall a pretty weak episode. The whole thing felt discombobulated. I distinctly recall looking at the clock and realizing 30 minutes had already passed in the episode, and nothing had really moved forward. A few things: --I find it hard to believe that both Karen & Jim are okay (nay, pleased!) that they will be competing against each other for a job at corporate in NYC...a move that could essentially make the loser bitter AND put them in separate cities. --Apparently the background players have been relegated to round robin duties for screen time. (last few weeks, Creed...this week, Stanley...next week, Meredith?) I\'m just curious, does the general viewership prefer this? I personally like for a little bit of each supporting cast member every episode (mostly so I don\'t forget that they\'re alive). That being said, I loved Stanley\'s \"Game on.\" -- Dwight + third degree burns = not so funny. -- I did like that Pam finally grew a pair and said something/anything (especially since it wasn\'t sloppy romantic, which is what I was expecting). I don\'t really care which way Jim & Pam go romantically, but it was nice to see Pam try to salvage their friendship. There were still a few moments that I liked, but I\'m disappointed when I can only pick out a few moments in a 40 minute episode.
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37 episodes? Wow. Hour-long or not, that\\\'s an astounding amount of television to produce. Don\\\'t most shows run around 22-25 episodes? It looks like NBC wants to wring every drop of water out of that sponge. And from what I\\\'ve read, Scrubs to ABC is a definite if NBC drops it. Bill Lawrence has said ABC\\\'s already told him they\\\'ll pick it up, and I believe Braff\\\'s already signed for another season.
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