This was the last of the hour long episodes and I thought it was the strongest. The cold open with Michael imitating whatever netflix move he happened to be watching at the moment (“He’s watching Million Dollar baby…he’s going to try to kill me”) was good. Shrute Farm was good. The conversation about “whomever” was vintage (Creed: “It’s a made up word designed to confuse students”). The scenes of Michael working the telemarketing job were kind of sad but it was also kind of nice to see Michael being liked by his coworkers and showing that he does have a genuinely funny and charming side when he’s not trying so damn hard.
I also liked the scene with Jan being supportive of Michael at the end and doing a little bit to show us why she would care about him.
In general, I think the epsiode got back to the realism and away from the slapstick which was good (I know Dwight’s B&B was broad, but Dwight has always been broad).
Overall, I liked it. At first I thought the Darrell/Kelly hookup was stupid, but I absolutely LOVED their interactions, especially “You need to access your un-crazy side.”
Also loved Dwight reading Jim and Pam a bedtime story with Mose nearly fetal on the bed next to them. I noticed when Dwight was sobbing in his bedroom, he was holding the Precious Moments figurine that he and Angela had fought about earlier in the episode.
I agree that this was the strongest of the hourlong episodes. Anyone else notice, when Michael and Jan were talking on the train, the stationary shot of their feet hanging into the picture? Was that the first non-handheld shot in the entire series? It certainly seemed unusually arty and staged for this show.
Dwight: “Schrute farms has now gone completely wireless. And as soon as I figure out where Mose hid all those wires, we’ll get the power back on.”
There was one thing I missed. Mose was doing something in the barn in the middle of the night that made Pam ask “What century is this?” What the heck was he doing?
Mashing two episodes into one causes these kinds of problems. The first one was pretty straightfoward classic “Office” stuff. Funny all the way through.
The second episode had a much more sentimental tone. Jim helps Dwight return to “normal” so that PB&J can go back to teasing him. Michael and Jan have a real conversation. Also nice but jars when combined with the first episode.
Continuity error: When Jan pulls up to DM, she throws her keys to Oscar. When she gets to the box car, she throws her keys into it before jumping up.
We had to watch the “whoever” vs. “whomever” conversation about three times to pick up all of the comments. (“Not a native speaker.”)
This was my favorite episode of the season. There were several laugh-out-loud moments. Pam and Jim at Dwight’s farm was hilarious, and I loved Angela’s restaurant requirements: “Nothing fancy or foreign. No bars or patios. And no seafood.”
