Actually, at this point, I think Dio has just decided to stick to his analysis of Michael, Jim and Pam’s personalities and flaws to the bitter end, no matter how unfolding events make his particular take on the show appear increasingly irrational. It wouldn’t surprise me if he were doing it just to see how others react. I find it amusing 
Diogenes the Cynic thinks the funny stuff is mean and the mean stuff is funny.
:mad:
Michael is under no obligation to allow a pregnant woman half his size to punch him in the face 3 o’Clock High style. That is why it is funny.
I don’t think Pam was encouraging the breakup at all. The age comment was good-natured joshing of the type anyone would expect on their birthday, and it seemed like a running joke with them.
Pam’s mom looks great for her age and Michael was attracted to that, with no thought whatsoever of who she is as a person. Learning her true age just shattered the fantasy for him and he reacted in about the worst way possible. I think he also called her stupid, or an idiot, or something like that. Real nice.
Holy crap people this is a 20 minute weekly comedy for god’s sake. It’s not some dramatic deep character study. How these people act and interact are the whims of writers writing to be funny.
When Lucy tried to hide things from Ricky were you shouting “What a deceptive little bitch!”
What I like about the show is that it doesn’t put Jim up on a pedestal. Being the “voice of reason,” it would be tempting to make him a perfect character, always winning, always everyone’s friend. But the show has for a long time been playing with the idea that Jim is a bad manager. This goes back to the time when Jim was put in charge while Michael was out, and he decided to combine birthday parties, much to the office’s displeasure. Then there was the time Jim decided to keep the office working late to avoid coming in on a Saturday, which resulted in everyone getting locked in. And that recent episode where he had to handle giving out the bonuses? He was in over his head. But he’s great with people in other situations, he just seems to never have luck managing them. Michael, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. He seems to manage the office very well with his random bursts of sanity, he just has no luck with social situations.
As for last night’s episode, I was very amused by Angela egging on the fight: “Put your hands in your pockets!”
The scene of Toby coaching Pam had both me and my wife laughing hysterically. That’s never happened before this season.
I think everyone in the office was probably wishing he (or she) was the one getting a free hit.
Not the worst episode, but the Dwight/Nard-dog bit was just tiresome and overworked. Having him go into why he’s bringing bagels to work had me rolling my eyes from the outset.
That delivery wasn’t supposed to be made anyway.
Cruel: He called things that she liked “lame”. Jury’s out on whether he may have been “joking”, but his subsequent behavior suggests otherwise.
Cowardly: He first tried to use Pam as a scapegoat for his break-up. But when Pam saw the romantic side of him, she emphasized her mother’s happiness (another incident Dio conveniently omits), so Michael couldn’t fall back on that chicken route.
Uncaring: Breaking up with her. In a public setting. In front of her family. On her birthday (when most people try to make that person feel special and put their feelings first).
Superficial & Selfish: Michael chooses to break up with her within minutes of discovering her age. Minutes. He can’t be bothered to examine his (alleged) feelings for her or rethink his priorities based on his relationship with her, even overnight.
In a word: Pathetic. And Indefensible.
Exactly. Of course, Pam & Jim couldn’t help but notice Michael’s consternation at the revelation of her age, so they playfully continued the joke to needle him (which–surprise!–families do). To suggest that Pam was specifically playing up the age to break the two up is to assert facts not in evidence.
Ding ding ding ding ding!
We missed second half the episode due to Ft Hoof flap.
Kind of ironic, since it was devoted to glorifying workplace violence on the same day as another workplace shooting.
Let me summarize: Haw haw haw…he’s socially awkward…that makes it funny to hit him…haw haw haw
And we have a winner. This statement should be applied to almost every one of Dio’s posts.
It would have been funnier if Pam and whirled around and actually HIT him, not just splapped him, knocking him unconscious into Dwight’s arms, who carries him back upstairs and performs CPR (mouth to mouth etc)
When Michael comes to, he is babbling about how he loves Pams mother, but would rather fuck Pam.Or Erin. Or Kelly. (Dwight of course is taping the whole thing)
Pam breaks 2 fingers and for the next few episodes she has to wear a cast on her hand and Michael has a nasty black eye, and he blames Toby for the whole thing. (Pam also blames Toby because you should always use the heel of your hand to punch, never the fist)
The corporate guy shows up and Michael makes up some wild story about the whole thing, like Creed was attacking Pam in the lunchroom, because Creed is into pregnant animals and Michael came to her defense.
When Dwight finally gets home that night, Andy has cleaned his house, done all his laundry and has a 5 course dinner ready for him. They call a truce, share a bottle of wine and the final scene shows them waking up in bed together the following morning, looking at each other with shocked looks. No words are spoken , but as Andy leaves, we see a little smile on his face as if he planned the whole thing.
And of course, he has taped the whole thing.
Seriously, I really like this show, but some of it is way too unbelievable, even for a wacky comedy.
I think you’ve finally revealed yourself as a performance artist (at least with respect to your posts in these past two threads). If not, you have lost absolutely all credibility in this discussion by refusing to acknowledge the cruelty (yes cruelty) of dumping a woman on her birthday, at her birthday lunch, in front of her familiy. Are we allowed to call someone a troll in CS? Serious question.
The answer is no, and I’m not trolling. It’s my honest opinion of the episode. I think the treatment of Michael is getting more mean spirited and less funny. I don’t think he’s evil, I hink he’s socially maladjusted and clueless.
If he was “cruel” to Pam’s mom (and I don’t think he really ever understands when he’s being cruel), it was only because Pam had been trying to get him to do exactly that. So if Michael’s cruel, then so is Pam. She was the one demanding from day one that Michael dump her mom, and she was the one who yelled at her mom and made her cry when she first found out about the whole thing.
I think it was pretty clear that Pam saw where the conversation was headed, and tried to stop it. But regardless, why is both Pam and Michael being cruel a mutually-exclusive situation?
It isn’t, necessarily, but no one would think that it was funny to see Pam get punched in the face for it.
If by treatment, you mean the show’s developing storylines and dialogue, I have to ask: you know that’s not his treatement, that’ him? He’s a character, cut from whole cloth. Those of us who understood Pam’s reaction to her mom dating Michael, did so based on a correct prediction of the way he would handle their relationship (including it’s break-up). This prediciton was made from marshalling instances of his bad behavior in the past. Last night’s Michael was ocmpletely consistent with season one, episode one Michael. If anything, Pam’s reaction was less than to be expected. I wouldn’t speak to the dude for a long time.
Give me a break. Screw socially awkward, he was a complete jerk and he knew it to the extent that he offered Pam a raise and then offered for her to hit him. I don’t think she even intended to carry it out, but knew that if she acted like it she would get what she wanted and deserved, an actual apology and admission from Michael for being a jerk.