I agree with both these comments. I think they’ve gone in completely the wrong direction with the Michael character. He should be a bad boss and idiotic and arbitrary and clueless, etc., but he should be those things in a believable way. As it is, they’ve worked him up into nearly a Homer Simpson level buffoon. For me, Michael completely wrecks the mood of the show.
I thought he was much worse in the 6 episodes they played last year. Very, very bad.
Now, he walks a fine line. Sometimes I think he crosses over (like last night) and sometimes, he’s fine. I totally get what you’re saying, though. When he really enters into doing shtick, the whole feel is ruined.
I agree that Michael’s behavior with the forklift was way over the top. How much inventory did he destroy? And then he emptied the bag of packing peanuts.
Plus, I thought the warehouse guys were in the process of loading the truck when the office guys arrived, so weren’t they undoing the work already done by unloading the truck (box by box, by the way, which was a stupid way to do it)?
Actually, I think Michael is played perfectly 9 times out of 10. For instance, his support of unionization that Caricci mentioned worked for me because I know that he was doing it out of his:
a) fear of the Warehouse workers and
b) need to be everbody’s bestest friend.
There’s a fine balance between the pathos and the humor that most of the time is spot on and the realism works to the show’s advantage.
But having Michael get back on the forklift after already making a mess and getting called on it was one of those moments where the show goes too far and doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t happen a lot, but I wish they’d reign themselves in.
I’ve noticed that the B.J. Novak episodes tend to do that sometimes - he seems to write Michael a bit more over-the-top in a physical manner than Kelly or Toby do when they write episodes (I’m sorry, I know they have real names, but I can’t think of them right now.). I’m not quite as fond of the episodes he writes.
I did enjoy last night, for the most part. Especially Meredith (again - she’s becoming one of my favorites):
Meredith: “My goal in five years is to be five years sober.”
Jan: “That’s great, Meredith.”
Meredith: “Four and a half.”
Did anybody think that when Meridith started to talk about her goals she started to say “Hi. I’m Meridith and I’m an alcaholic.” but caught herself just in time.
and
c) fear of Black people.
Right?
And boy, did those ladies NOT get the purpose of that meeting or what? I think what I might like to do is go to such a meeting and have as my goal faster internet service to post on the dope at work.
That Meredith really does look like a hardcore alcoholic, doesn’t she?
Oh yeah. That too.
Of course the boss wasn’t open about the real purpose either, finding assets for The Company.
I like the Michael character the way it is. For me, the show has a sort of Looking Glass quality. Starting with Dwight, everybody from him to above is a caricature of reality. And I think that that’s what management can appear like to grunts. I thought it was fitting, therefore, that Michael left the warehouse trashed, and that Dwight did snow angels in the packing peanuts. That’s how the caricature appears from the point of view of a warehouse grunt. (I know, because I was one for a couple of years.)
Quite true.
It was funny when they were going around the circle talking about their “dreams” and instead of talking about professional ambitions or career goals they were all just talking about what kind of houses they wanted.
It reminded me of a similar episode of the British show when the employees are undergoing a training and are asked to describe their “ultimate fantasies.” Gareth (the British version of Dwight) enters the room late misunderstands the question and delivers one of the funniest lines of the entire series. Tim’s follow up line is just about as good.
Which led to a really funny line — or rather, a really funny silence — when it obviously dawned on her that she didn’t find any assets there.
I really need to rent the British version on DVD.
(I’m always late to The Office threads. . .)
This show is just making me sad. I had to help my husband last night by explaining that Pam’s talk about the house before she started crying was a metaphor for her true dream of becoming an illustrator. I really feel for her. My husband takes a more hard-core approach and says that he’d have a hard time remaining friends with someone who would allow their significant other to prevent them from pursuing something that could better him/her.
As to why Pam’s with Roy, he’s not a 100% asshole and that’s the problem. He’s just shy of being too much of an asshole for Pam to leave him. Plus, she strikes me as the type who’s scared to be alone and thinks she wouldn’t be able to find someone else in a small town (I assume Scranton’s a small town, correct me if I’m wrong).
Anyway, I loved this episode. It took me fifty minutes to watch it because we kept rewinding and pausing to laugh. I must have missed the episode in which Michael slept with his boss, by the way. Was she high or something? How the hell did that happen?
I think they just made out.
She was drunk. They were at a restaurant with a client, who loved Michael and got along really well with her. She sat there and got wasted. Afterward, they kissed in the parking lot and ended up leaving together. I don’t think it was ever confirmed that they actually slept together. Michael just likes to make it sound that way.
And yes, Caricci you should rent the British version. You won’t be disappointed.
Damn it. I previewed and everything. That should be, “who loved Michael and got along really well with him.”
I know you’re looking for his real name (Stephen Merchant), but this is too great a setup, so . . .
Oggy! Oggy, Oggy, Oggy, Oi, Oi, Oi!
I loved Kelly’s sendup of Jan, and for once I agreed with Angela on the “aspires to be a whore” thing - one of my pet peeves being TV “professionals” who wear fuck me pumps and microminis.
I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen the British version, but I just love that they are flirting with the whole “Never give up” idea. I do agree that we need to see a few good features about Roy, otherwise Pam is just an idiot (not that it doesn’t happen that way in real life, I guess, but it helps to keep her character sympathetic).
It was a brochure about a corporate program to train workers for graphic design, i.e., Pam’s dream job, that wouldn’t cost her any money, require her to quit her current job, or move, just to go to New York for several weekends and then a block of a week or two. The house thing was a metaphor - her terrace substituting for her dream career.
To add to yellowval’s answer, is wasn’t only that she drunk. They were meeting with a rep from the county government, and if he decided to buy from them, it was a huge account for the company, which as we know has been in a precarious financial position. And during the meeting, Michael had gone from his normal goofy self smoothly into a great rapport with the potential client, using genuine sales skills to land the account. So Jan was drunk, celebrating a big deal, and had just seen Michael at his absolute best, all at a time just when she had split up with her husband. They went to her hotel, but as far as we can tell, only talked and made out.
It’s not a bustling metropolis, but it’s not a one horse town, either. In the region, it’s the largest city, the seat of County government, and home of the Dioscese (Cardinal O’Connor of NYC was Bishop here before going to St. Patrick’s). Philadelphia would be the closest “big” city.
Population is in the neighborhood of 74-75,000, land area is about 25 sq. miles.
Friends fans, our zoo would probably take Marcel now, since the improvements.
In the opening montage, the tower (the Penn Paper & Supply building), traffic shot (intersection of Mulberry St and Adams Ave, looks like) and the “Scranton Welcomes You” sign (on the Scranton Expressway heading into town from Route 81) are actual places in Scranton. There are also Froggy 101 (country) and Rock 107 (classic rock) radio stations, Abe’s Deli (menu on the break room fridge) is downtown, and ‘Poor Richards’ is a South Side bar (I’ve been there many times). Lake Wallenpaupack is close by (although it’s not big enough to do a booze cruise like that episode) and Bishop O’Hara (where Jim’s girlfriend from the booze cruise went to high school) is one town over, in Dunmore.
That’s the beauty of the show. That office could be located just about anywhere and be just as funny.