Thu, 16 November 2006
Funniest part of the episode? The Andy/Dwight rivalry. Not only is he after Dwight's position in the office & dissin' the D-man's ride, he's also charming the chastity belt off of his girlfriend. The almost killed even this, though, in the "way too long" credits sequence. Least funniest part of the episode? Everything else. So I guess it's official-- Jim and Karen are "dating." This certainly wasn't the reunion the "HalpEesley" fans were hoping for, and it also seems like it's following along with the UK version... which is OK in and of itself. Like the last few episodes, this was definitely a plot mover. I hope that being settled officially in Scranton we can get on with the regular office- hijinx episodes we've come to know and love. I think Martin hit the nail on the head-- too much filler, not enough meat.
Category:general
-- posted at: 9:05pm EDT
Comments[19]
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Martin-- I agree that they totally skipped the power struggle aspect of the episode. The fact that Michael didn\'t know seemed... a bit odd. The fact Jim wouldn\'t coordinate with Michael before arriving in the office seemed... a bit odd. Surely Andy should have already known about the #2 position since it was discussed in BRANCH CLOSING, but Dwight totally acquiescing like that? To hated rival Jim? To quote Wallace Shawn-- \"inconceivable!\" :)
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I\'ll bet Michael\'s Mom shows up in a sweeps week guest role with a big star playing the part. Who\'d be good there? Betty White maybe too old for this role. The power struggle for number three will be ongoing. They probibly didn\'t focus on the battle for number two because we already knew from last week that Jim would be the number two.
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So, this whole Jim/Pam thing… I don’t think that either one of them is intentionally playing games or being mean or lying or being bitchy or whatever as I’ve read on many sites. I think it’s really just all about self-preservation. I just think that Jim has been trying very hard to move on with his life and get over Pam. He wasn’t sure about going back to Scranton because he knew that it would be awkward to have to face Pam again (I’m sure he’s a little embarrassed or whatever about what transpired) and it would also be hard to get over her if he had to work with her every day. His feelings didn’t just evaporate, even though he probably wishes that they had. I think he really is just “sort of seeing? Karen. She seems nice enough, she’s funny, and she’s got a thing for him. So maybe he’s just trying to move on. As for Pam, well… she was just so excited to have Jim back, but I don’t think that she ever really considered what would happen when he actually came back. Maybe she hoped things would go back to how they were before (having fun, etc) and that then, hopefully,… they could have that (Casino Night) parking lot conversation again. Anyway, now Jim’s back and acting all distant because he doesn’t want them to slip back into their old ways because then he figures he’ll be right back in the same mess again and be miserable… I don’t think that he realizes that she broke up with Roy because of him… I know that some people say that it should be obvious to him, but after all of these years of disappointment, I can see him not daring to think it… and even though we all know that it’s obvious that she dumped Roy because of Jim, I think that maybe she just chickened out and couldn’t tell Jim that at the time… maybe she was afraid that it was already to late, because she stomped all over his heart… maybe she thought that she really wasn’t ready just yet… Jim MOVED away! – maybe she just felt like it was a little crappity of her to call him up and be all, “yeah, well, I know you moved away and all, but, I thought about it a little and now I think that maybe I like you.? … Jim was gone… I think that maybe SHE was just very busy trying to get over him, too. Maybe when she broke it off with Roy she just finally realized (thanks to Jim), that he was not the person for her and that if she was having ANY sort of feelings for anyone other than Roy, then she shouldn’t be marrying him. I think that Pam was being very brave (for her) when she asked him if he wanted to grab a coffee. She’s pretty timid and I think that was a big thing for her. And she got shot down… he said that he was busy, but… it was one of excuses that you can tell is sort of… fake… he’s just trying to nicely turn her down… and then she starts seeing the little interactions with Karen (the chatting, the handing out of the gum, the hanging out in the parking lot) and I think her whole world starts to crash down around her. Because what’s worse than having Jim be far away? Having him right back under your nose, dating someone else. And knowing that YOU missed the boat. And I just think that now she has switched gears into full damage-control mode. “Nothing’s wrong! Everything’s great! We’re friends! We’ll always be friends! Great to have you back, pal!? and that’s also why she pretends that things WEREN’T awkward. Hey, they’re just buddies, right?! I don’t think that she’s being a bitch, I think that she’s just trying really hard to hide HER true feelings, and I think that THAT just sort of makes her come off sort of pinched and unfeeling. Jim is confused and hurt by this because HE thinks that they ARE just friends, and he’s trying to smooth things out because he knows that things were weird… and now she’s pretending that she didn’t even notice how weird things were. So… now he’s just completely miserable… because now it seems like he’s imagining this weirdness and maybe now he thinks that he’s just made a fool of himself again by trying to smooth things out. I think, though, that it will be VERY hard for them NOT to slip back into their old ways … picking on Dwight, making faces about Michael… I think that Jim will be the one trying not to do that because he doesn’t want to pick up where he thinks they left off. Holy crap. I can’t believe how much I just wrote. And how much of it is unintelligible. Hmmph. Must. Get. A. Life.
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Matt- Don\'t you need to wait for Martin\'s POS rating before deciding on the worst episode ever? Truthfully, no episode will ever be as bad as the pilot- after watching it I am always surprised that this show made it. If not for Diversity Day being the second episode- who knows?!?!? I try to watch the episode three time before I pass any judgement, since they are so multi-layered. I agree with you that Pam has gotten a little mean- I thought about the podcast and you saying that during this week\'s cold open. It was scary that the issue she talked about when addressing the camera in the cold open was almost the same one you guys talked about. Everyone needs to remember one thing about Jim and Pam- he sees her as having rejected him. If she didn\'t like how things are working out for her then she should have addressed the issue better- which, my guess is, she will. I love how they shot the final scene in the parking lot where he told her that he loved her- brilliant.
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Am I crazy? What is this Staples scene everyone is talking about? Itunes is shielding us from product placement. No one has mentioned one of my favorite lines from the tragedy that is Michael\'s childhood, where he says how he was friends with the lunch lady by the end of the fourth grade. It reminded me of an episode of Monk, where one of young Adrian Monk\'s few school friends is the cafeteria lady. Wow, Karen and Jim got together fast. I don\'t buy it. I will never ever ever buy \"Jaren.\" I really love Andy as Dwight\'s foil, but I was hoping for more Jim vs. Dwight interaction, maybe next week.
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Worst episode ever? Common - no way... this episode was great as far as actual acting goes. To see Jenna go from one extreme to the other - amazing... all the interaction was great. Yes - a lot of new people came in, but if you remember back to the first episode of the season remember when we knew nothing about Karen or Andy? Or even when Meredith would have tons of stuff (Ooohhh Champagne!) and now she gets barely anything - who knows breast pump lady might start making out with Creed? Black guy might be the criminal (wouldn\'t that just be INTENSE??? Michael would start getting all riled up, but at the same time trying to be Politically correct) hahah --- anyways, we never know where the writers are taking us, but I love it. I love that it\'s not a 2D story where we don\'t care about the characters and where we don\'t feel hurt when we see them getting hurt. The one thing I question is this. Obviously Jim & Pam will end up together in the end... but how will they get rid of Karen? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm Also, I read somewhere ****SPOILER**** that Jim was going to help Andy hit on Pam? True or false? Thoughts???
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Actually, I thought it was one of the best episodes this season. The thing I missed most about Jim being in Stamford were those classic Dwight-Jim moments, and I thought it was brilliant how Jim immediately responded to Dwight\'s attempt at intimidating him upon his return with that subtle \"looking over his head\" thing - Jim knows exactly what buttons to push. As for Jim-Pam: GOOD. Pam deserves a little of her own medicine - I love the symmetry of the roles being reversed, and instead of Jim being constantly shot down while Pam went home with Roy every night, Pam will now get to see what she missed out on, and is missing out on. If they got together this episode, the series would be over. One more thing: If Ed Helms is not going to be a regular, they need to kill off the Andy character NOW - I think everyone is getting pretty attached to him. He was great last night, and had some of the best lines. While Andy and Dwight occupy the same \"niche\" in the show (sycophantic ambitious doofus), and one of them needs to leave, they run the risk of losing a beloved character if Andy sticks around too long. Maybe he will be the one with the criminal past...
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People seem to be reacting to Michael dissing Dwight, but he\'s been very of dismissive of Dwight for a long time. I loved the interaction between Jim and Dwight when Jim was staring at his forehead. A very good episode overall. I really like the setup with Pam/Jim/Karen -- and nice to see a confirmation that Jim and Karen are dating. Loved the moment where Jim was appointed as number two \"Actually, it does come with a raise.\" I\'m definitely going to watch again... lots of things to look at again. Michael\'s comments about slaves, for example. The struggle I\'m having is trying to figure out where everyone is sitting in the office. I didn\'t think they had much extra space and they added six characters.
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Ha! That was my thing, too. I think they\'ll have to bump out a wall or something. That\'s just way too many people in that little space. It\'s going to start to get too hot in there, and the temperature is going to be even more of an issue than it is now between Kevin, Oscar & Angela. And what about Oscar? Where\'s he going to sit? These are the things that plague me. Not Pam & Jim. Those two kids\'ll be fine. I worry about desk placement, people!
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Well I wouldn\'t say that this was one of the worst episodes I\'ve ever seen but I do agree with you on the entire Staples paper shredder advertisment. It especially annoyed me when Kevin was doing his talking head, the camera would turn to the paper shredder and you could see a big \"STAPLES\" logo on it. Keep up the great work with the podcasts.
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Definitely not the funniest installment thus far, but it had some good moments. I\'m just glad they didn\'t rehash the Seinfeld Bizzarro episode. It would\'ve been easy to make everyone have a counterpart that had different worh ethics or values. That would\'ve been a \"shark jumping\" episode had they done that. The episode might not have sparkled, but they handled the merger well.
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Ah, come on... it wasn\\\'t that bad, was it? Yes, the paper shredder thing was a little too in-your-face, but worst episode ever? And like Andy said, this episode was definitely good from a story point of view. And what about Jim leaving Flenderson hanging? Funny, but at the same time I felt pretty terrible for Toby... even if he does represent everything wrong with the world. On another note, how long do you think Dwight and Andy can survive in the same environment? I can see it being funny for a while, but I think it could get to be too much. Still love the show guys... the highlight of Monday mornings. Keep up the good work.
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The best part for me was Pam\'s emotional journey. In this episode she went from \"schoolgirl\" level giddy with excitement to just eviscerated when she saw Karen rub Jim\'s back. She seriously looked visibly ill. Maybe not a \"ha ha\" episode, but good for story.
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