The Office 11/15 s4e08- The Deposition

This episode was fantastic. The scenes from the deposition really showed everyone’s true colors: Jan doesn’t really seem to care about Michael, the CFO is a good guy who is really, truly sorry that Michael had to go through the whole ordeal, and Michael is loyal to a fault, and doesn’t know how to respond when his loyalties are in conflict with each other.

This has to pretty much be the end of Michael and Jan, right? Michael chose the company over her, and Jan pretty much only cared about winning hr lawsuit, even if it meant revealing Michael’s private diary (which, btw, she must have read if she knew it had stuff that could help her case) without telling him beforehand. That qualifies as what I refer to as “a total dick move.” And when Michael said that the company had shown him loyalty, which was contrary to what Jan wanted him to say, he ceased being useful to Jan. Therefor, I highly doubt that she’ll see any reason to stay with him.

Toby’s story about his parents’ divorce really hit home, since I’m going through a similar thing right now. I kind of wish that Michael would have listened to him and they could have bonded a little. But pushing that tray off the table was about the funniest damned thing I’ve seen all season.
Onto the funny: Kelly’s “smack” (not “trash”) talk was absolutely fantastic, as was her making Pam yield in the bathroom doorway.

I loved Kevin doubting his own abilities when Pam said Jim needed his help.

Toby’s falling lunch was among the funniest things I have ever seen.

The Kelly v. Pam Ping-Pong matchup was awesome. “You want to play on the table upstairs?” “Yes.”

Michael’s diary had me in stitches. When Toby cracked up about Michael calling Ryan “hot,” I pretty much lost it.

Dwight and Mose being huge ping-pong fans seems perfect. I’m sure they play for hours every day at Schrute Farms. And as a ping-pong fiend, I loved seeing a ping-pong-centered subplot.

The intro with the fake messages for Michael was pretty good.

“Hey, hey, you, you, I don’t like your boyfriend
'Cause, 'cause, 'cause, 'cause, 'cause he sucks at ping pong.”
This episode was fantastic.

NOW GIVE THE WRITER’S BETTER RESIDUALS SO THAT WE CAN HAVE MORE OF THEM!

I didn’t like it. But I don’t know why.

The B story with ping pong didn’t really do much for me, even though it made for some funny Dwight moments. Coupled with the painful deposition scenes, it made for an unappealing episode.

Jan and Michael driving home together felt so wrong. If they’re even considering staying together, that’s just too sad. Especially after Michael saw Jan’s evaluation of him. :frowning:

What was that thing in a picture frame that Michael held up to prove when he and Jan got together?

I don’t know the basis for Jan’s termination. Was it sleeping with an underling? Even if Dunder-Mifflin couldn’t prove that, or establish the timeline, they sure had enough evidence that she lacks good judgment.

Who was that guy who made Michael take the fake phone call? :slight_smile: The actor looks cute, but I can’t figure out who he is.

It was a document they both signed stating to the company that they were officially dating.

That’s Ryan the Intern. Or at least he was an intern until he got Jan’s old job. Now he’s Micheal’s boss.

Ryan was an asshole both in the way he took glee in forcing Michael to take the fake phone call (what kind of pathetic worm takes pleasure in humiliating someone as hapless and essentially harmless as Michael? It’s too easy. It’s like tripping a cripple) and even more so in the way he tried to pull out the “off the record, just as friends” card on Michael and then browbeat him about “not hurting” the company. He’s just so unctuous and two-faced and smug and slimy. I hate him. I hope there’s some kind of come-uppance coming down the road for that character.

Kudos to B.J. Novak for both writing and performing what started as kind a throw away character into a compelling and believable heel. He’s very realistic. Everybody has worked with or for this exact type of douche.

I was under the impression that Ryan thought Michael had a real phone call.

This ep was pretty entertaining. Michael’s irrational hatred for Toby always gets me, and we got a few of those moments tonight. And they finally reeled Michael in a bit this season.

I’m surprised Darryl is still putting up with Kelly.

“Spin serve!”

Opinions seem to be widely split on this one… I thought it was just brilliant. The deposition scene was peak Office… funny and touching and sad and super-awkward all at once. And the ping pong was just hilarious. Wonderful stuff.

I have no idea why Michael hating Toby so much is so hilarious, but it is.

In case you’re wondering where you’ve seen him before, he was one of Ashton Kutcher’s lackeys on Punk’d.

Whoo boy, is Ashton Kutcher ever fading into obscurity. Took me a minute to think of his name, and I’m generally pretty informed on random pop culture inanity. Time to drop Demi, Ashton. Mix it up a bit.

I thought this episode was pretty strong. Probably the best of the season.

There was nothing too outlandish - Michael was dumb early on when it came to blurting out the wrong things early on, but it was consistent with his character. It wasn’t some sort of demanding the gift baskets back stupidity. And his being torn between things he wanted to be loyal to was clear.

I liked the ping pong stuff. Especially “The big client is Darryl? You dumbass! Darryl works here!”

I feel bad for Toby. Sure, he’s meek, but he’s mostly harmless and means well. He takes such a beating. The lunch tray thing was just horrible. Toby was taking a moment to try to relate to Michael, make him feel like he had someone empathizing with him., and Michael just blindsides him.

It was almost as horrible as the worst Toby moment - during the Christmas episode years back when Toby was admiring the gift robe, clearly happy with it, and Dwight comes marching by, takes it, and leaves. Toby just let’s out a pathetic, defetead “why?”. So horrible.

It was nice to see him get to laugh at the Ryan thing.

Well, I’m properly gobsmacked. Brilliant episode. Finally, a return to the original dark comedy of the series. No more cartoon crap. Jan and Michael are stupid and greedy (especially Jan this time), and there are consequences. Michael shoving Toby’s tray off the table was an excellent move. Funny and sad and chilling all at the same time. Did I see that this episode was written by somebody called Lester Lewis? It appears to be his first solo writing credit for the show, although I guess he’s been a producer or something else. I say give the man a fat raise and make him the lead writer.

If they could only make Michael a bit smarter (once in a while). There was a really good chance for “payback” near the end of the deposition. If both the Big Boss and Jan didn’t think much of Michael, then why was Jan the one that was fired? Her assessment wasn’t out of line with the Big Boss’s so maybe she was not so crazy after all. And if they were firing people without respect to gender …

I didn’t think it was a great episode, but Dwight’s line made me laugh hard so I’ll repeat it even though it was quoted three posts above:

“Your client is Darryl? You dumbass, he works here!” And then Jim’s expression and shoulder-shrug were perfect.

I loved the throwaway shot of Ryan sitting with all the other “clones” at the lunch table. And Michael’s malapropisms always crack me up.

Was that supposed to be Mose playing ping pong with Dwight at the end? I paused it and it looked like somebody made up to look like Mose, but not him. He had on dark aviator shades and what looked like a fake beard, but it didn’t look like Mose’s beard. I thought it might have been an actual table tennis pro, hence Dwight’s newfound talent.

Loved the episode, by the way. Best this season.

I second just about everything that has been said in previous posts. Michael’s tray pushing was brilliant and he was FINALLY portrayed as something besides a borderline functional individual.

The ping pong subplot really didn’t do anything for me until Dwight got involved. When he effortlessly returned Jim’s serve and then threw his paddle down in disgust was comedy gold.

I didn’t care for it - struck me as similar to many of late that have been primarily mean/sad.

Just curious - who was the older guy at the head of the dep table, bext to the reporter? I’ve been ay many a dep, but have no idea what role that guy was supposed to be playing.

I’ll be glad to get rid of Jan.

One little thing that has confused me is Michael/Jan’s car(s). A couple of eps ago Michael was riding the bus because he and Jan sold their cars (I thought his Sebring was a company car) to buy a Porsche.
Last week they showed the same car interior as this week - which the final scene revealed to be a PT Cruiser. Did I miss something?

Liked it. I thought the scene with Jan and Michael driving home after the deposition where each clearly felt betrayed by the other was a sad yet poignant commentary on relationships. So often people settle. Good comedy seems to always be rooted in pain.

Was he a judge? Aren’t most depositions done in front of a judge? I used to work in a hotel and we’d host depositions in our meeting rooms from time to time, and there would always be a judge present.