Even though it obviously had to stray from reality a bit to work as a show, this lawyer certainly got a lot of chuckles out of it.
Court Reporter: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Michael: Yesh.
Frankly, either Jan was lying to her lawyer, or he didn’t do a great job prepping Michael. Probably the latter, since he and Jan seem to have gone over the diary beforehand. Had he been prepared for the questions about the early hookup, he wouldn’t have dug such a hole for himself (“I know this destroys your case, and I’m sorry.” :smack: ). Also, Jan’s lawyer should have prepared him for the performance review, talking about how she had to bend over backwards (that’s what she said) to avoid appearing to favor him.
Yes, I do think about this show waaaaay too much.
I thought it was sweet how David tried everything he could to avoid testifying that Michael was incompetent and wasn’t really in the running for the big job. And of course it was perfectly in character for Michael to latch on to that, and David saying he was a nice guy, and on that basis choose DM over Jan.
Again, I’m going to show how over-involved I am with this show by saying that I really want some more news on Dwight, Angela, and Andy.
Good episode finally. The deposition started off really retarded like most of Michaels stuff this season but then they reeled it in and when it got serious after she threw him under the bus I liked it.
Ryan thought that was a real phone call when he told Michael to take it.
Ping pong did nothing for me. Kelly is super annoying, I know she’s supposed to be, but she’s not annoying in an entertaining way.
I think Michaels hatred of Toby is going too far over the top. They have never explained it and the cruelness of his treatment tonight was more uncomfortable than funny.
Well I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. I really liked the part of the deposition where Michael was asked if he worked under Jan (or something like that) and he replied (of course, “that’s what she said.” confusing the whole table (except Jan). The best part was Michael didn’t even really realize what he had said, it’s become such an automatic joke.
Is this the third straight episode that Michael has spent primarily out of the office, along with Survivorman and the attack on the Utica office?
Also, where does that table in the conference room go when they have full staff meetings?
“Uncomfortable” is an essential component of The Office. It’s one of the things they do best, so don’t expect explanations or apologies for how one character treats another. Whether it’s the food being pushed on the floor after Toby opened up or Pam getting stared down – and backing down – at the Ladies Room doorway.
Of the many (100+?) deps I have participated in in state and fed courts, none involved a judge.
Of course, I readily acknowledge that my experience has been limited to a few types of cases in a limited number of jurisdictions.
I loved this. Also, when the other lawyer(?) asks if he can show Michael the picture and he replies “I’ll allow it” like a judge responding to an objection. Clearly something like 90% of Michael’s day-to-day knowledge comes from TV.
I’m have to side with those saying this was the strongest episode of the season so far. I think the main reason for me is that Michael was once again a more realistic (if obviously rather insane) person. The mnemonic devices (which worked), the real pain and confusion over Jan’s betrayal (taken out on Toby, of course), and the decision to back the company seemingly only because David said he was a nice guy.
I also thought the ping-pong provided a nice counter-balance to the “serious” deposition stuff. I particularly liked Dwight listing his heroes, who are all champion ping-pong players (do we know if these were real?).
You know what? I may have to stop watching this show if Michael doesn’t stop being so mean to Toby. I just can’t stand it and it doesn’t make any sense to me either. Michael is an adult and Toby has never done anything to him that I can see. It’s beginning to ruin it for me.
Seconded. One of the things that I really, reallly, like about this show is that they show several dimensions to the characters: yes, Dwight’s an idiot, and annoying, and clueless; but he is also a brilliant ping-pong player and his arrogance about this particular skill is, for once, justified. This is similar to the way they show the flashes of “competent Michael”. These little flashes of talent come up seemingly out of nowhere, just like, IMHO, real life.
I love toby. But, I still find Michael’s treatment of him hilarious. I don’t think there is any one thing that Michael hates about Toby, just the fact that he isn’t an underling and therefore not REALLY a part of the Scranton family. In the commentary of a 2nd season episode they mention that Steve Carrell decided that Michael hated from Toby, and it built up from there. It’s irrational. But, Michael Scott is irrational.
The deposition scenes had a very BBC Office vibe for me. Like when Michael says “The delivery is all wrong” referring to the transcriber’s “That’s what she said”
I like the little pictures Pam drew on the post-it notes.
Dwight and Jim playing ping pong was funny, as was Meredith’s look as she left the conference room.
There’s no one who just rubs you entirely the wrong way? Plus, due to his job, Toby often has to be the voice of reason (“no, you can’t pass out porn in an office meeting”) when Michael has a “great” idea. It was also well done last week when Jim started to turn into Michael - and started hating Toby as well.
Those two moments were so terribly disturbing to me. “That’s what I thought” from Kellie actually made me vaguely sick. (It doesn’t help that I know Mindy Kaling used to make fun of a friend of mine in school and I have to overcome that IRL dislike of her.) I don’t expect The Office to change, though; I can accept that it’s part of the point. But it was horrible.
As I agree with most everything that’s already been said, the only thing I have to add is that Steve Carell was just brilliant in this episode. I’m a fan, anyway, but he didn’t miss a step in this one. (I also just want to type his name correctly. hint hint)
And if you think YOU think about this show too much, listen to this…last night, I dreamt I was a character in the thing, and I told off Ryan for being such a little pecker. :o
Edit: forgot to add that this will be the last new episode for a while, due to the strike, according to this site http://officetally.com/
Yeeeah…I’m going to have to…sorta disagree with many of you on the Toby thing. It’s hill-air-eeeus. The man brings it on himself. Everyone here knows that whiney lonely nice guy whose spineless life is spent wondering in quiet desperation why they can’t get what they want. Toby spending all night trying to win a prize for Pam so she’ll take notice of him is proof in the puddin’ people.
I don’t think Ryan knew it was a fake phone call (they try to make that stuff more obvious with facial expressions and such). On the other hand he would know that Michael does that stuff and Ryan would definitely have made him uncomfortable if it had come to him…one of the many reasons he’s a great antagonist.
Kelly’s smack talk was fantastic, a great way to show a 14 year old brain in a 20 something body.
100% agree; last night’s episode was an especially good example because he was able to be so smug and slimy in a fairly limited scene with Michael (we don’t, for example, see his face in the private conversation).
Ryan’s character is fairly well-done; he’s not over-the-top, yet we can see in hundreds of tiny details just how slimy he is.
I think the ending of the deposition did display how smart Michael was by not taking the payback route. Looking at it objectively, D-M (outside of Jan’s when she was acting as his boss) really hasn’t treated Michael that badly. Yes, the testimony from the corporate guy might have pained Michael, but the words were fairly apologetic (“what do you want me to say? He’s a nice guy…”), the guy was visibly sqirming with discomfort when it was read, and he made an unsolicited effort to apologize afterwards. On the other hand, Jan’s lawsuit was frivolous–Michael was testifying mainly to please her–not telling him in advance about using his journal was pretty snaky, and she was rather dismissive of his feelings in the lunchroom scene.
The hilarious double-entendre aside, when Michael says “you expect your company to screw you, you don’t expect your girlfriend to,” he’s acknowledging not just the hurtful things each may have done to him, but the level of cruelty involved with each. Jan’s exasperated evaluation was far worse than the stammering admission that Michael wasn’t seriously considered for the corporate gig, and that covers only part of what Jan did to him in this process. I see a lot of shame in Jan’s uncomfortable car-ride home with Michael; she’s clearly not angry at him, though she may be a bit disappointed, and perhaps a little disgusted with herself.
C’mon, it’s like a 30-second bit in each episode, and these kind of personality clashes happen all the time in an office setting. I like the fact that there’s no real explanation for Michael’s animosity, although Toby can be something of wet blanket.
My fear is that they won’t be able to do much more with it if they don’t let Toby get even once in a while in a way that he can rub it in to Michael. Something like in the “Casino night” episode where Michael goes “all in” on the first poker hand of the night, Toby calls him, and Michael is annoyed because he immediately lost. The Toby post-interview–where he says he “felt good” about beating Michael–is what I’d like to see more of.
That said, having Michael just silently and slowly push Toby’s tray to the floor as Toby was trying to comfort him was just a perfect response.
The humor here is that she’s the last character you’d expect that from (despite some flashes from earlier this season). At the same time, her analysis of the distinction between “smack” and “trash” talk is exactly the kind of vapidity I *would * expect from her character. That said, I don’t think her smack/trh will stick around too long; she’ll be back to her over-ebullient self once the writer’s strike ends.
