Could be. I’m old and easily confused.
Michael and the concierge – it could go either way. She seemed willing enough. Maybe Michael did or said something Michaelish as he was taking off his shoes and socks and she changed her mind.
Yes, despite how Michael had tried to paint himself in front of the cameras in the earliest seasons (and in front of Todd Packer), he’s never seemed able to have a one-night stand, or even especially interested in casual sex. He likes to cuddle afterwards and is extraordinarily vulnerable, emotionally – the guy’s desperately lonely and constantly assumes closeness and personal connections greater than the circumstances warrant.
For these reasons, to me his obvious feelings of shame and rejection after Concierge Marie pushed him out would’ve been in character even if he weren’t still pining for Holly. Since he is, though, his reaction afterwards was especially understandable. Steve Carell did an amazing job, as always. The guy manages to make this jackass an amalgam of frustrating, endearing qualities. Incredible range of emotions in a single episode.
Andy and Oscar were an inspired pairing; I’d never have imagined them working as a team before. Oscar’s seemed kinda cold at times, and Andy is … Andy. My sister and I had to rewind that final talking head with Andy just to hear his: “He is DELIGHTFUL!” coupled with a full grin and that satisfied little noise afterwards, which had us in hysterics. (Much the same as Michael’s TH from an early episode, “Do I want to be feared or loved as a boss? I want them scared by how much they love me!” being followed by an adorable, almost inaudible happy sigh.)
I haven’t been thrilled with Jim/Pam this year, but honestly I haven’t liked them much since they got together. So I’m glad their angst is over with for now. Plus she can always take Flash classes at night school – it’s not exactly something that requires a formal college setting. (Honestly you can learn it yourself through a good book/CD or online course.) For that matter, if she sucks at Flash, I’m curious to know how she made that animated logo back in Local Ad – was it a plain animated .gif? If she can put that together, how bad could she be at computer stuff?
Angela/Dwight go back and forth from being a root-worthy couple to being contemptible, which is what I like about them. Similarly, Andy can be endearing or a creep; I don’t want him hurt but he’s such an oblivious blowhard at times, I can’t picture him really caring about another human being enough to really feel pain if and when Angela dumps him.
All in all, this was a great episode, my favorite of the season so far. The past two eps have been a huge upswing.
Remember in the episode that showed Michael as a child on a kid’s TV show? He said something about how he wanted to get married and have a hundred children so he’d always have friends. Choie is right that he is driven by loneliness.
He said they’d have to be his friends and couldn’t say no. Driven by loneliness and rejection.
I kind of got the feeling that maybe he had spoken too soon and something could come out of his telling off the boss.
No one ever speaks of the non spin off spin off that was going to happen at one time… heard any good rumors lately?
A little of this may not be considered as exactly ‘on topic’. Nothing worthy of it’s own thread. Some may find it boring. Please don’t have the discussion come to a halt because of this post.
-Here’s why this is more than just a TV show to me-
I’m so “Michael”. The episodes I dislike the most are when he shows symptoms of “Homer Simpson Syndrome”, (a term coined on these message boards before I started posting here again). Even then, however, I can SORT OF relate to Mike. Michael drove his car into a lake… if there’s one person on this Earth that could make the same mistake, I’m telling you, it’s me.
My brother dragged me out of school early to get my drivers permit, it was kind of a special occasion because before then I was too scare to get one, I think at the age of 18. Turned out I needed one of my parents there. Feeling a little down about not getting my permit, my bro let me drive the car down the road that leads to the road my house was on. Turned out I was too afraid to step on the brake. I froze. I ran into a small tree on my neighbors lawn… while their lawn service men were working on their landscape. They told my neighbors elderly mother to call the police, as she was the only one home at the time. My brother came to the rescue by stating we lived down the street, we’re not going anywhere, and we will more than compensate for the damages. The trunk of the tree was wedged under the car. My father, for the first time, met the neighbors as the pulled into the driveway with a look of confusion on their face, as he and my brother were digging out the tree trunk that left the car idol. My brother and father were nice enough to let me sleep the ordeal off, which is what I did when I couldn’t handle something. I’ve made other mistakes in the car too, nothing that got anyone hurt. I refuse to drive on the highway to this day, (not for me, but for other drivers, I don’t trust other people’s lives in my hands when I’m frazzled, which I get easily).
At my high school graduation, I wore a gown that was black. As far as I knew all gowns were black or blue, (I presumed Black was for High School, blue was for college, I’m pretty naive and not very “worldly”). At rehearsal, the teacher noted to make sure we got our gowns, unless we’ve had siblings that have graduated. I have an older bother… but he didn’t go to my high school. So everyone’s in school colors, I’m in black. I left, (and was laughed at, one person even told me they found it offensive).
There are lots of other similarities, like I seem to long for the same things Michael does in the way of love. I always wonder if I will ever find EVER find someone. I can’t talk to women with any confidence, although there are times I say something clever, and then I start to communicate better. Most of the time I talk in broken sentences, and say stupid things like Mike. I RARELY say anything **as **stupid as he does, but there HAVE been a few times.
I guess that’s why I LIKED this episode, but it left me feeling kind of down. Michael is still alone. Although Jim and Pam are together, I can’t help but feel Pam’s ambition to make something more out of her life, even though she was a little older, (like me). kind of helped make me want to branch out a bit. I work at a supermarket in the “commercial bread” department, (as opposed to bakery)… it just feels like the “edible equivalent” of paper. I often wonder what kind of woman I can find, since I really had some barriers when trying to, (multiple times), work on getting a college education, and I’m introverted, and… other, more private stuff.
So I digress…
Ok, so The Office may be a “soap” of sorts, but it’s always been that way. Even the British version. What it is NOT, is; ‘All My Children’, ‘Days Of Our Lives’, or ‘As The World Turns’. It seems to just be a week-by-week account of a paper company in Scranton. The pain, the sadness, and the happiness the characters express are often so genuine, even if the stories are often pretty exaggerated. I’m glad I get to laugh at these things though. Kind of Therapeutic.
Nice post, MyFootsZZZ. My foot’s asleep?
ha, yeah. Thanks. Talk about soap operas…
sorry, just had to explain my interest in the show. It’s not like I’ll stick with it if it starts to overstay it’s welcome, or what my world revolves around it. Just when I watch it, it uses humor to express that there are problems out there, and all of us have to face them. Life is bitter-sweet. I admire that aspect about the show.
Oh, and you can laugh at my stuff too…
It is kind of funny.
I admit to chuckling at the car stuff. 
I suspect that one major difference though, between you and Michael, is that Michael is quite often a self-absorbed jerk. And he doesn’t have any self-control. You might have too much, in some situations.
ETA: And Michael never laughs at himself. He’s way too sensitive about his goofiness.
Actually, I’ve toyed with the idea of taking some of these stories, write them out to be little comedy bits at an open mic at our local comedy club.
Not as presented here.
That’s what she said!
That’s what she said
As he’s walking out, he says to her, “Do you want to get some breakfast?” She responds, “I’m still tired.” Seems that they slept together, he spent the night, and she was kicking him out in the morning. They did it, and it made Michael miss Holly even more.
I get the impression that’s he’s completely oblivious about his goofiness.
It’s hard to tell. Michael gets upset and angry when his jokes don’t go over, when people don’t respond positively to his pranks and goofy (or cruel) ideas. His feelings are hurt and he gets defensive… He can’t just admit that it was a stupid joke or a bad idea and laugh it off.
One of the things I love most about this show is the scenes we don’t see.
As they we’re getting ready to leave on their trip, Michael called for his “translator”, and Andy appeared. Micheal then turned to Jim and said “See? That could’ve been you if you hadn’t forgotten French”.
So at one point, they had to have had that conversation…
“Hey Jim, you speak French, don’t you?”
“Yep, pretty much.”
“Great! You can come be my translator on my business trip to Canada!”
“Ohh, sorry…I mean I used to know French. I’ve forgotten it all, though.”
Did Michael and the concierge do the deed?
Plus interesting Jim and Pam deleted scene.