Thu, 11 December 2008
From NBC.com:
 MOROCCAN CHRISTMAS | 12.11.08 | 9/8c | TV-PG L
 A
CHRISTMAS PARTY IN MOROCCO - Phyllis' (Phyllis Smith) Moroccan-themed
holiday party goes up in flames when Meredith's (Kate Flannery) hair
catches on fire and Michael (Golden Globe winner Steve Carell) is
forced to deal with the accident. Meanwhile, Dwight (Rainn Wilson)
corners the market on the hottest toy of the Christmas season. John
Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey, Leslie David Baker, Ed Helms,
Mindy Kaling, Oscar Nunez, Brian Baumgartner, Creed Bratton, Paul
Lieberstein and Craig Robinson also star.
----------------- Well, the Christmas episodes of The Office have always set the bar incredibly high... I hope this year's episode can live up to that legacy! Kind of sad/funny to think about how we never did get one last season. As always, leave your comments below and join Kevin and me in the TWSS chat room after the show.
Category:general
-- posted at: 3:17pm EDT
Comments[63]
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Seems like this pages is about \'rooting\'. Thats pretty good. In Australia rooting means something else as well. So I have a childlike \'Kevin esque\' reaction when I see it written in this way. At different times I \'root\' for different characters. Depends if the charcter is doing something interesting or is presented in a sympathetic way. This season has been a bit over the place. I like Dwight hassling Andy about Cornell. Liked Andy trying to set up Oscar on a date in the business trip. Liked Phylis giving Angela a hard time about the party planning. The only character who has no redeeming qualities as far as I can see is Kelly (even Jan was nice to Michael in the end of the \'money\' ep. - so she has her moments - though not many of them). Even felt bad for Toby when he thought he was going to be the \'hero\' for his daughter - remember how cute she was and how she played around in Michaels office. Toby is pretty much a retard /loser but I really felt sorry for him when he showed how much his daughters appreciation meant to him. But I struggle to think of any moment when I felt bad for Kelly or thought she showed an admirable quality (even when Ryan dumped her like a real jerk she just goes \"okay\" / shes like a superficial bimbo without the bimbo looks / and only borderline funny as a character as well / she is dysfunctional but not as dysfunctional/funny as say Creed) - Kelly should thank her lucky stars Mindy is a writer ! But back to the episode itself - I am with those who felt the alcoholism thing just fell flat. Not a disaster but just not that well executed. Not very funny and not dealt with sympathetically either. If meredith is involuntarily checked into rehab - what about her son? I really like the Christmas episodes and like the tone to be a little cheerier and lighter.
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Re: Toby - I think Michael\'s hatred of him has always been out of proportion. But when he tried to sabotage Jim and Pam, I lost all sympathy for his character. Episodes have been a bit flat for me this season without any of Pam\'s usually effective and moving facial expressions. Without the unrequited love in the earlier seasons, there doesn\'t seem to be any situation for her to give those great expressions. The only situation I\'ve seen recently, of her sharing feelings, was her realization of how much Jim loves her when he surprised her with the house - \"You bought me a house.\" - my favorite line of this season. She said it with great feeling. It summed up all that Roy wasn\'t and all that Jim is. My biggest problem with this episode was Andy not hearing Phyllis outing Angela . I guess they\'ll work that out in the next episode or two.
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I have to say that Dwight saved the episode. It totally cracked me up him buying all of those dolls and try to make a profit from them. Awesome! And his talking heads were great. As sad as it was that Phyllis outted Angela and Dwight, I loved Dwights reaction to that. He was very confident and as a matter of fact \"what did you expect she couldn\'t do any better\" face. I will agree with everyone, the whole intervention plot line was rather uncomfortable, but there was a bit of sweetness behind that. Michael really sees all of the employees as his family and he was willing to do anything for Meredith, even if it meant dragging her to the clinic...
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TeacherMatt - Great question. I\'m finding it so hard to root for characters on this show lately, but do I root for Michael. His heart is in the right place even though he\'s exceptionally clueless and not self aware. Judging from all the subtext given us over the years about his mother and his broken family life, as well as being the kind of kid whose only friend was the lunch lady, I give him some slack. He seems heartbroken over Holly. When he mentioned that his wishes never come true, I thought in addition to wanting a watch, he was going to say he wanted Holly to come back - a wish unfulfilled...so far. I also root for Andy. The poor guy is getting totally hosed by Angela and Dwight. Yes, he\'s annoying, but he doesn\'t mean any harm (at least not since he tried to get Dwight fired in season three - but I think he learned his lesson). There will come a day he will find out, and boy, look out for the dry wall. There\'s gonna be some wall punching at Dunder Mifflin on that day. Honestly, as long as it\'s not directed at a human head or body, I wouldn\'t blame him.
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I am terribly divided on this episode. There were some parts that totally made my day and made me laugh so hard! And then the whole main plot-line, turning Meredith\'s \"fake\" alcoholism into what the CHRISTMAS episode focuses on just seemed too dark and...too wrong. Sure, MAYBE this would be fine for another episode, but the CHRISTMAS episode? This is supposed to be like a real Christmas party with the Little Drummer Boy (We could have had an Angela-Andy duet! How priceless would that have been!?)and brownies and adorable couple moments (more than two, by the way). This was just TOO dark. Sure, there could have been a minor alcoholism aspect, but it felt like 2 minutes of Christmas and 20 minutes of MEREDITH ON BOOZE. And Meredith on booze was NOT a pretty picture. I think Meredith was a little overplayed when she and Michael got to Sunrise Rehab...they were running around, knocking over trash cans, she was screaming like Michael was a murderer! That scene was crazy! Oh, and Michael was so horribly insensitive to boot! I just didn\'t like any of it. I hate Phyllis. She was AWFUL, and Angela, frankly, is not much better. I just detest both of them. This was such a dark episode!! I also felt so bad for Andy at the end! Oh, the ignorance....I couldn\'t imagine how he would have reacted if he\'s heard! Of course, the best part of this for me was the Princess Unicorn plot-line. I loved EVERYTHING that Dwight did, said, his facial expressions, everything! And my number one favorite part of this episode would have to be Michael singing \"My horn can pierce the sky!\" I LOVED that. Awesome. Jim continues to be my favorite character, he is just amazing! I loved him in this episode, and I\'m glad the pranks are back!
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Oh, and one final thing I remembered. This was the first episode when Pam is back and I don\'t feel like New York totally changed her into something adverse to what we all loved. She\'s just sweet Pam again. Not timid Pam, no one wanted her to be so quiet as in the first couple season. I think it\'s great when she speaks up, but Pam in \"The Surplus\" was just obnoxious and mean. What was up with the pitted fight against Jim for...what? A chair she can buy herself? Really, Pam. Pick your battles, and pick them well. It wasn\'t even funny, she was just PMSing if you ask me. Which usually sucks for everyone involved. (Oh, and I loved that final line last week with Jim too, Alex!)
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Wow. I can\'t remember an ep that had this much decisive reaction towards it. Not even \"Baby Shower\" this year had that much strong audience reaction. I\'ve never anticipated a podcast more than ever. TWSS Matt, during the month long hiatus, will we see a few more retro episodes? I\'d love to hear your opinions on \"Dwight\'s Speech\" one of my favorite episodes of Season 2.
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I have to say that I found this episode absolutely hysterical! The one liners definitely kept on coming. I loved Jim asking Andy if he took requests and requesting that he please stop. For Christmas I would like Seasons 3 and 4. My sister loaned me 1 & 2 and it got me hooked. I wasn\'t going to watch Season 5 until I caught up, but I couldn\'t stay away!
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I liked this episode. I originally thought this would continue Phyllis\' streak of not so great parties, but this was a cool one. I agree with another commenter that there must be something about Pam and her fascination and porn, because when she gave that \"look\" when Michael made that statement, I thought that Pam must be secretly into it too (I remember the computer crash last season as well). I think it makes her just as liable to flaws as everybody else. And I like the fact that there are good and bad sides to many of the characters, even Phyllis.
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TeacherMatt, That\'s a good question but I\'m pretty much rooting for Michael at this point and hope David Wallace gets Holly back after that phone call from Business Trip. Now that Pam\'s back the writers haven\'t really given us a reason to believe they\'ll break up. I\'m also rooting for it to work out for Andy and I\'m still waiting for Toby to get his big break!
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Ian G, I think you\'re referring to Girls and Boys in which Jan comes to Scranton to see if there are any women who might be \"corporate material\". When they go around the table, Meredith says, \"I\'m Meredith and I\'m...\" then stops herself. So, yeah, looks like she\'s been in a meeting before. Not really surprising. Probably got disgusted with herself at some point and went to a meeting. It obviously didn\'t \"stick\".
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Sorry for being so post happy, but I had a thought. It\'s regarding the like-ability of these characters. Is it just me, or is it getting more difficult to have a character that you \"root for\" (in TWSSMatt\'s words)? That being said, who are you all rooting for now? If anybody? Or do you even care? I\'ll hang up now and listen to your answers off the air.
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I am not sure if anyone mentioned this already because there are just so many comments to read, but.... Isn\'t Meredeth a part of alcoholics anonymous? I don\'t remember which episode it was, but I clearly remember her responding to someone introducing them self (Pam?) with the whole \"Hi, Pam!\" thing. P.S. PUT ME IN YOUR PODCAST!! ;D
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Holy crap, what a terrible terrible episode. The depressing tone of it all seemed to fit with how everything has been going in the last few months with depression and non-holiday cheer. There is nothing funny about alcoholism in the way they depicted it in this episode. We\'ve had laughs at Meredith\'s antic\'s before, but the scene where she was screaming and being chased by Michael was disturbing. The farce of an intervention was something that the writers shouldn\'t have touched on a comedy show, especially with Michael\'s character being so bufoonish over this serious matter. Interventions are not supposed to be funny and I don\'t understand why they would do that. Andy and Toby are two characters who were really fucked in the storyline by the writers, which I don\'t quite understand why (on top of the alcoholism theme). Toby\'s plight (winning the love of his daughter with the doll) was also something that was totally unfunny or unnecessary. Dwelling on the misery of a pathetic circumstance was also a downer. Andy still not having a clue about the affair... I really feel bad for the guy.
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Iggy I am one of those who believes George Carlin\'s statement that anything can be hilarious, depending on the context. You said that interventions are not funny. Have you ever seen Christopher\'s intervention in THE SOPRANOS? It was one of the funniest moments in the series. Is this intervention up there? Probably not, but again, it was about context. We tuned in for the first Xmas episode in two years and the last new ep for a month. Bringing up the inevitable Meredith intervention plotline probably wasn\'t the smartest move. It was like Michael in the ep. Motivations were right, but not the time for it.
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I liked this episode. If anyone was a fan of the original British \"Office\" this was right in line with Gervais\' style of un-PC, uncomfortable, cringe worthy humor that may not always actually be hilarious. Alcoholism isn\'t funny at all, but the humor wasn\'t Meredith\'s problem, it was Michael\'s misguided attempt to try and be the hero in the only way he knew how: by following what he saw on television and in movies. We\'re laughing at Michael - not at Meredith or her illness. Count me in as one of the big Jim and Pam fans who is really tiring of them. Pam is unrecognizable now, and seems to be way too controlling. Really? She has to prove that she knew about Dwight and Angela? In the old days, she\'d just go \"wow, can you believe that?\" Now, she has to be the know it all. You\'re killing me, writers.
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Sue, I laughed at the Mormon joke too. :) I cannot even fathom where he got it because, well, Mormon\'s don\'t drink alcohol! (I even tried Matt\'s suggestion and googled intervention and found a zillion sites -- none of which mentioned Mormons.) I find that there are often blatant moments in the show that are informed by the culture of Hollywood and California to some extent, but I guess that helps make the show accessible to its viewers. . . It was funny because just after Michael said that, I turned to my mom and said, \"I\'m pretty sure The Mormon Church wouldn\'t have been the church of choice in that joke if Prop 8 hadn\'t been on the ballot.\"
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Hey Ian and Kevin, I\'ve been listening to the podcast for about a month, at a friend\'s reccomendation, and I\'m near the end of Season 3 podcast wise, and I\'m trying to catch up anyways, I loved the Christmas episode, though I liked \"A Benihana Christmas\" and \"Christmas Party\" more. I loved the \"OH SNAP\" moment where Phyllis pretty much spilled the beans on Angela\'s affair (not that it\'s much of a surprise anyways) and I think the moment at the end of the episode where Andy comes in, plays sitar, and leaves with Angela totally unaware is up there among the most awkward moments in the Series. It was also cool to see Meredith in the spotlight for a change, from what you guys have said around the Season 3 podcasts, it would seem you agree. Anyways, I also liked Michael trying way too hard to get Meredith to admit her problem, and it even seemed at one point, he was being nice to Toby (when he asked for the number) He asked him very politely Anyways, great podcast, and I\'m looking forward to catching up to where the show is. Eric
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To me this episode really pushed the uncomfortable line a lot. There are lots of little moments that help the episode, but the Meredith storyline just wasn\'t doing much for me. Michael chasing her around the parking lot really reminded me of an episode of Reno 911. I see this episode as a vehicle for the Dwight/Angela/Andy plot more than anything else. Everything else should be treated almost like filler. Dwight\'s response after the big reveal was classic and I bet there was a collective \"Awwww, poor Andy\" all across the land at the end. I\'m really interested in seeing how this storyline wraps up and what they do with the characters after it does play out. Overall not a gut-busting, laugh-out-loud classic episode but not the worst of the season either. After the first viewing I give it a solid \"C.\"
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This episode had some truly classic moments that hail back to the great old days of seasons 2 & 3, but it again screwed with the characters, making them more cartoonish than realistic. I think the main flaw with the intervention was that it was poorly executed. It felt sloppily thrown together. Maybe that was the point because Michael had quickly thrown it together, but I honestly can\'t believe that the rest of the office would so quickly dismiss this when Michael was actually doing something necessary & sensible, & for once, in a sensible manner! I think it\'s worse to make your characters cold hearted & non human than to drive into lakes or kidnap pizza delivery guys. C\'mon, how can you not love \"fire girl,\" or super successful Dwight, or the black princess unicorn darrell/toby moment? Michael chucks a pen at Toby\'s head, Jim has a great cold open prank, & let\'s not forget, \"I\'m will not be the big guy in the tiny hat.\" Hey, this is not your grandmother\'s Christmas party...unless she\'s from Morocco, in which case it\'s very accurate.
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found the podcast at the start of this season (and been loving it since). i\'m from the uk (glasgow,scotland) but never liked the uk office. \'discovered\' and caught up with the us office recently and i absolutely love it. watching all of the episodes in the space of 4 months could only be done by a teacher with a long summer holiday! anyway... never bothered to look at the blog \'till watching this episode - and that\'s because... i loved it! but i guessed it would be love it / hate it so wanted to see what people had to say. the only part of the episode i didn\'t enjoy was the alcoholism thread, no personal experience of alcoholism but i can empathise with those that have and didn\'t feel this was a road that required traveling down on this show. i\'m not sure what it says about me - but the whole porn/pam thing stuck out to me too. i definately felt like we were being shown something to raise our curiosity at the very least. anyway, thanks for the podcast - really looking forward to this one - and i\'ll hopefully be back to the blog next week. fa-la-la-la-la la-la-ka ching!
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My name is Jake, and I thought this was a good episode also. . . I\'m on vacation, so I don\'t have the benefit of rewatching via TIVO yet, but I really enjoyed the different plotlines: I enjoyed the drunk meredith montage, and I think it was about time that someone (esp Michael) tried to \"reach out\" to help her (instead of running her down with a car). I saw the rehab center scene coming (just like dwight\'s wedding ruse from last week), but I thought it was funny and a good representation of michael as both an concerned and incompetent friend. I loved (ABSOLUTELY LOVED) the Phylis/Angela showdown. Seeing Phylis knock the xmas party out of the park AND use Angela like an indentured servant was cool. Then seeing Angela stand up to Phylis only to have her spill the beans was awesome. Andy and Creed on the scitar and the hooka were funny parts that added some flavor. Good times, I don\'t get the hate.
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Overall, I enjoyed this episode but I\\\'m a loyal fan. Don\\\'t get me wrong, I didn\\\'t LOVE it but I still laughed. Was I the only one who was confused by the reference to the Mormon Church in this episode? It really stood out to me because I\\\'m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly called the Mormon Church). I thought, \\\"What did he just say?\\\" and had to back it up to hear it again. I was cracking up when I realized that Michael had asked during the intervention, \\\"Have you ever, under the influence of alcohol, questioned the teachings of the Mormon Church?\\\" What was the point of that question? It was so random! Did the writers throw this in because of all of the attention the Church has been getting since Prop. 8 didn\\\'t pass in California? Somehow it fit coming from Michael. He is always off topic and bringing up things that don\\\'t really apply to the situation. It made me laugh even if no one else was amused by it.
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I\'m on Kevin\'s side: I thought the episode was great. Michael knowing so much about the unicorn barbie, Michael throwing the pen at Toby\'s forehead, Pam making Jim stop rubbing the lamp, Michael\'s final talking head and even EvilPhyllis...it all made me warm and fuzzy inside. Because it\'s The Office! I expect uncomfortable, and this show delivers the uncomfortable in such a big way. No, I\'m not happy that Meredith is an alcoholic...I think that storyline can go away, and soon. However, I know a few too many alcoholics who are not interested in getting help, and they make nearly every social situation difficult. I liked them showing Michael trying to do something for Meredith and have him not be able to help in any way whatsoever. That part hit close to home for me, and while I\'ve never dragged anyone unwillingly to rehab, I can sympathize with Michael.
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You know, I never expected to feel this terrible for the guy who punched his fist through a wall two seasons ago. Poor Andy! Everyone in the office knows about his fiancé being a skank-whore now, but he is still in the ark. Such a naive, sad, lonely solo barbershop quartet he is. I do hope Andy finds the truth out soon, and that he does not Hulk out and destroy the entire office building int he aftermath. Those breathing techniques will come in handy, that\'s for sure. As for Meredith? The chase scene around the clinic parking lot was amusing, but I felt like something was lacking from this entire storyline. Yes, Meredith is a drunk who likes to show her boobs to anything that moves. But should this merit a driving plot-point in a Christmas episode of The Office? Probably not. I\'d rather see us deal with Creed\'s drug problems, or Toby\'s...Toby issues. It was nice to see Jim and Pam a little less scheming and evil this episode, and I must admit Jim\'s \"present\" towards Pam of letting her be right was kinda adorable. And finally, Dwight. Or should I say...genius? I wish I thought of that when Tickle Me Elmo was all the rage! Oh well, better luck next time. Her horn pierces the sky, and I give this episode a 3 out of 5. Not the best X-Mas episode, but a decent episode of the Office anyway.
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You know, I gotta say, I do enjoy reading these posts. The world is made up of all different kinds of folks with different likes, dislikes, etc. Although I didn\'t care for this episode personally, there are some wonderful comments here. I will watch it again tonight.
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I didn\'t think this episode was all that bad. I thought there were a bunch of good one-liners (fa la la la la la la ka-ching) and little moments (Michael throwing the pen at Toby) that made it pretty funny. And even though it may be over the top, I laughed when Meredith tried to distract Michael and then run away. And Michael...\"I have a deposit\"...classy. As soon as Angela stood up to Phyllis, I figured that Phyllis would announce her secret, basically because this show loves its cliffhangers. Andy really does try to be a good friend to everyone, even though they all think he\'s annoying. (\"Do you take requests? Please stop.\") I feel bad for the guy. Everyone now knows his fiancee has been cheating on him basically since the moment he got engaged.
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This episode reaffirmed my hatred of Toby, ignited my hatred of Phyllis and confirmed my annoyance at Pam. However it also made me love Angela more, as well as Dwight. That scene of Michael dragging Meredith into rehab... wow. I hated it and loved it at the same time, it was horrific but powerful. However the last bit when Michael said he was going to push Meredith to breakdown, that was just horrific. I\'m still not sure where I stand on this episode, I\'ll have to watch it again, but I think I liked it. The cold open was one of the best :)
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To get this out of the way, in comparison to the first two Xmas episodes, this was probably the weakest of the three. While it had a great elephant in the room like \"Christmas Party\", it didn\'t have the uplifting ending that ep had. As a regular episode, I\'m in the \"really like\" category. First the bad. While the Meredith intervention plotline was inevitable, it may have been the wrong time to do so in the course of the season. And Andy\'s talking head about his drinking at Cornell could have easily been cut with no repercussions. But Dwight\'s \"commodities exchange\" was priceless, (\"Fa la la la la, la la ka-ching!\" was the best line in the ep), JAM was together, and Phyllis exposing Angela and Dwight was a real sit up on the couch moment. Any ep that makes me do that has got to be doing something right. And the epilogue was both hysterical and sad. Gervais would be so proud. I think if Andy still doesn\'t know by the time we come back, that to me would be taking the Dwandygela plotline waaayyyyy too far.
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I have to agree with most of you that the Michael plot line just wasn\'t that funny. I think they were trying to get some laughs with the uncomfortable-ness of the intervention with everyone sitting around cross-legged on the floor, but it really just didn\'t work for me. However, I thought the Dwight plot-line was one of the best of the season. At the beginning I thought it was all set up to have Dwight left with 20 unicorn barbies at the end of the episode, but having Michael spout off the catchphrase and the guy come in and put his finger on his head for the secret-sign or whatever that was was absolutely hilarious. I don\'t know if many people caught this, but living overseas in a muslim country(malaysia) I thought the part where Angela spit out the food after hearing that it was served during Ramadan was awesome. I thought the first half was a lot better than the second half, and they left a lot at the door.
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The only thing I found really entertaining about Moroccan Christmas was the confirmation that Pam is into pornography in a big way. First we get her intense perusal of the Kama Sutra during Diwali, then she crashes the computers with a celebrity sex download in Fun Run...and then tonight her look of dismay when Michael said everyone agreed that porn is bad. I think this is a pretty hilarious Pam character trait.
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Just thought I\'d weigh in since this seems to be a love it or hate it type of episode. I\'ve been pretty lukewarm about this entire season, but this is the most I\'ve laughed out loud in Season 5. I loved the Phylis and Angela party-planning stuff, and thought Dwight was on fire tonight. I also loved the cold open and Michael\'s talking head at the end explaining how to best get through to Meredith (\"I did it with Jan\" or whatever). Merry Moroccan Christmas to all!
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I have to agree with you Matt. This didnt even feel like a Christmas episode. Everything that happened in this episode could be taken out of the context of Christmas and be put into a Birthday or something (except for Dwights Unicorn Dolls) and it would have been exactly the same.
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I laughed out loud tons during this episode. But I like the dark stuff. I feel sorry for the people who can\'t seem to laugh at this show any more for whatever reason. I love it as much as any past season, but for different reasons. It changes and evolves, which is good. TV shows usually die in a rut or jump the shark.
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When I first saw the previews, I was really excited about this episode. Loved seeing Andy\'s version of Deck the Halls and Phyllis putting the manger in the drawer in the preview clips. But after watching the episode tonight, I have to say that not only was I disappointed but depressed. I loved the cold open and thought it was a great set up for what was to be another classic office christmas episode. Boy was I surprised. The Meredith story was so sad. And I\'m not quite sure what upset me the more; Meredith\'s alcohol issues or poor Michael genuinely trying to help her, with no support from anyone else. Some of Michael\'s antics may have been a bit over the top, but his heart was in the right place. And poor Andy. And even poor Angela. I, like so many others, was getting tired of the love triangle, but to have it exposed this way was just awful. I just feel awful and overall utterly disappointed with the entire episode. I kind of feel like Andy last week. No one expects crap in a kitchen, and I certainly didn\'t expect crap for the christmas episode.
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This was the worst Xmas episode and one of the worst episodes period of this great show. Evil Phyllis, watching Michael drag Meredith screaming to rehab, the boring Andy sitar stuff equals a unlikable mess. The only saving grace was Jim and Pam - they were great, wish they had a bigger part in this episode for sure.
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I had the \"Oh my\" moment during Phyliss\' bombshell drop. Actually, I said \"Whoooooo\". LOL I wasn\'t expecting it. I didn\'t care much for Meredith\'s intervention. I\'ll have to watch it again. The best part of the show was definitely the last 5 minutes, IMO. Angela needs to tell Andy the truth on the ride home. I can\'t take another episode of their storyline. I\'m over it!! I hope the second part of the season has more laugh out loud scenes. I\'m beginning to miss the things that made me fall in love with the show in the first place.
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Normally I would watch 30 Rock but since I\'m recording it anyway, I thought I\'d get a few things out while they were fresh in my mind. -Andy was underutilized with the sitar. There was comedy potential there, but it just didn\'t happen. -When Phyllis dropped the bombshell at the end, I think they wanted us to gasp and say \"Oh my!\" but I just wasn\'t feeling it. By then I was so bothered by Michael\'s failed attempt to put Meredith into rehab that nothing was funny. On to that -Alcoholism just isn\'t funny in the way that it was portrayed here. Being the son of an alcoholic, I probably am a little more sensitive than some, but the moment when Michael dragged Meredith into rehab was about the most UN funny thing I\'ve ever seen on The Office. Just what are we supposed to think about that? Are we supposed to laugh that someone is being dragged into rehab? Again, my views may be tempered by my memory of my Dad being taken away when I was a kid, but still, even for someone who didn\'t go through that, it\'s not funny. If it\'s a turning into more of a drama than a comedy, then this ep was a way to do that I suppose. -As far as Christmas episodes go, I would rate this as the worst. What do the rest of you think? -The talking heads weren\'t funny, the Dwight doll thing was mildy amusing, but Toby was pathetic at the end, as usual. The African American doll got a snicker out of me at least. Please change my mind about this episode if you can. I absolutely hated it and rank it as among the worst ever. I will watch it again later, but I don\'t know.
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I loved this episode I don\'t see where the hate comes from. there was a nice combination of comedy and pure acting. granted there were the uncomfortable moments but remember the office loves doing that (did I stutter?) There are many great quotable lines and it was great not to see Jim and Pam at odds for ONCE. There was a lot more shameless product placement from NBC then what I would like to see but tis the season right?
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