Watching The Office

These are random favorite scenes from The Office Season 4. Do you and I have the same favorites?

• Andy singing Take A Chance on Me to Angela during the Launch Party -  On top of his very good voice, his move to try to win over Angela by having his buddies sing a capella with him over the phone — who can resist that? The moment was corny alright, but yet there was something heartfelt about the way he orchestrated it. What can I say, I’m a sucker for serenades.
• A brokenhearted Dwight gets consoled by Jim - Angela and Dwight break up and he isn’t taking it too well. He releases his pain by crying at the stairwell of the building. Seeing Dwight cry like that? Broke my heart, too. And the gesture by Jim to try and console him? That was a really touching scene between these two, a different side to what we usually see with the two of them pulling pranks at each other.
• Jim’s fake proposal -  I really thought he was gonna do it at the pavement. Pam’s reaction was also realistic.Toby’s accidental slip -  Such an awkward scene for everyone involved. I understand why Toby had to jump over the fence because of it.
• Screensaver bouncing off TV - Perhaps considered one of the best episode opener of The Office. The whole staff is gathered at the conference room where Michael is addressing them and it seems like they are listening intently to him. They really aren’t; but are rather focused on the little DVD square screen saver. It’s a pretty hilarious moment. Watch.
• Whoever/Whomever debate - Best performance by an ensemble.
• The Dunder Mifflin Scranton Ad - Sure Michael’s idea for the ad was over the top. But I actually liked theirs better than the actual ad the company ran.
• The confrontation between Michael and Stanley - Michael did fold and come out looking like a sissy when he was asking Stanley why he’s always the way he is at him. But for what it’s worth, Michael handled this somewhat maturely.
• Dinner Party - The worst dinner party ever is one of The Office’s better episodes. Jan dancing to That One Night, Michael’s flat screen TV and bed space, Jim’s attempt to ditch the party, Dwight and his guest…everything was just wrong it was funny!
• Michael’s testimonial at the Deposition: And realizing where he’s at in Jan’s life. More than anything, to me it showed Steve Carell’s depth and capabilities as an actor. 
• Holly thinking Kevin was mentally challenged: She pulled it off and handled him well. For his part, Kevin was just being himself; which makes this comedy gold because they didn’t have to have funny dialogs to make it funny. 

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The site, IGN, picks the episode, Deposition, as its best and gives it an overall score 8.5 out of 10.

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The new HR? Holly? Love her. I know a lot of the viewers feel the same way. She was the best thing in that episode. If she’s going to stay awhile longer, I expect we’ll soon discover her quirks and I think we might have a little preview of it. Remember her trying to fix the chair? Doing the Yoda voice? How wonderful is she?

How wonderful was she with Kevin? Their running gag was one of the funniest. And what’s interesting is that the writers didn’t have to write a lot of jokes around it, their story is the joke. Holly thinking he’s mentally challenged and Kevin behaving his usual self — it just worked.

For someone’s going away party, this sure was actually a pretty boring one… for the person leaving, that is. Did you notice how the party had little to do with Toby? I guess the highlight of his day was this picture taking session with Pam, or the fact that he had to run and find a camera just to have this moment. Ah, Toby…till the very end, he acted like a wimp. Are we going to miss him even if his replacement is such a wonderful person? You betcha.

Michael, who probably woke up that day feeling like Christmas since Toby is leaving, got the surprise of his life when he learned his ex-girlfriend is pregnant. When Jan said that the baby wasn’t his, my first thought was Hunter, her former assistant. I laughed out loud when Michael said, “I specifically told you not to cheat on me!” It was pathetic, but funny. Jan did not, in the conventional sense, cheat on him anyway. But going to a sperm donor while she was still with Michael? How sad is that for him? Especially when he claims to love the new HR he’s only known for a few hours. I wonder if the writers did try to go in that direction, would Michael really be happy with Holly?

Ryan being out of a job was not a surprise to me. It was quite obvious who was going to get fired, as spoilers have initially reported. But I did not see him being sent to jail coming. Oscar explained it best when he said Ryan’s management of sales and the Dunder Mifflin Infinity project was fraudulent. Although, I disagree with the beard. I kinda liked Ryan with the beard. It made his character a lot more douche-y.

The weakest story to me was Jim and Pam’s. It could be because they’re so happy and content, we know there’s something stable and certain about their relationship. Pam even said she was excited about going away to New York for a couple of months to pursue her art because she knows when she gets back, Jim is still going to be there. I don’t wonder about when Jim is going to propose anymore. I now wonder — when will this two encounter a real test to their relationship, and how will they survive it?

And really, Jim — fireworks? That was your idea of a proposal that “would blow you away”? If that did happen, I would have been disappointed because it won’t feel extra special. Fortunately, someone else stole their thunder and Jim can propose in a more original way to Pam in Season 5.

Andy’s proposal to Angela? Did not see that coming. And the writers leave us with the best cliffhanger of all, with the office prudes and watchdogs doing something kinky:

I can’t wait to find out what’s gonna happen to this two and to Andy, Angela’s husband-to-be. Will this be the reason why Andy is going to star in the spin-off? To forget how Angela has broken his heart?

So much going on in this finale and so many things unanswered. I hardly saw Stanley, too…did you?

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So, which booth was the loneliest at the Job Fair?

That’s right…it’s Dunder Mifflin’s. The kids don’t seem to care about a paper company. And for his part, Michael didn’t want “ugly” kids signing up for internship. He wanted the best and the brightest. Except that this was the only person who went up the booth and signified some interest:

Hey look, it’s Frasier’s kid!

Actually, that kid’s name is Justin and yes, he used to be Frederick on Frasier.

Anyway, Michael, Pam, Oscar and a well-dressed Darryl all go to Pam’s old high school’s job fair. They go there with just a piece of paper and no other materials to show for or hand out because Michael believes that “a blank piece of paper equals endless possibilities.�? Michael is behaving pretty much how he is in this episode and it’s an all too familiar scenario.

Jim, Andy and Kevin on the other hand are in the green, and playing against a potential client. Jim tells the camera crew later that he’s under probation with Ryan and this was his chance to prove he cared about his job. He needs to fight to keep it, even if it means losing some self-respect, especially since it may affect his future plans with Pam. When the day ends, Jim scores the account and returns to the office to share Pam the good news.

Andy elicits the most laughs from me in this episode while struggling to hold the golf clubs and drinking from the beer bottle, blistered hands and all. I guess he wasn’t able to drive the golf cart properly, too. He crashes this and falls into a sand trap.

The rest of the staff leaves the office early since the boss isn’t around. Predictably, Dwight and Angela remain until the prescribed office hours. The two have not been on good terms after the break up and this seemed like the perfect way to start repairing their relationship. Their moments were quiet and few, but their politeness towards each other indicates that soon enough, Dwight and Angela would be in good terms again.

Finally, we see Pam at the job fair filling out applications for herself. Is she planning on leaving Dunder Mifflin? Leaving Scranton?

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This week’s episode had three story arches involving Michael and Stanly, Dwight and Andy and lastly Pam’s ugly glasses. But before we get to that… I’m with Stanley when he said that Michael’s a professional idiot. Last week it was peanut butter on hair, this week it was this:

Michael thought it was a brilliant idea (from Jim no less) to leave his face print on the business park’s went cement.

I don’t really think I should be surprised anymore. From Day 1, Michael has always acted like an idiot. It’s just surprising that, as Stanley said — he does always find ways to top the stupid things he has done before.

MICHAEL and STANLEY

While I agree with Stanley on this, the “sass” he displayed on this week’s episode was really a display of disrespect. Sure, he’s got an idiot for a boss but if considers himself as a professional, then he knows better than to stoop down the idiot’s level.

Michael had called an emergency meeting to his staff for ideas on how to energize sales. To Michael’s credit, this scenario really did look like a legitimate ongoing among corporate people (first time I’ve seen Michael handle such meeting, right?). When he asked Stanley for his suggestion, he acted indifferently as usual and proceeded with his crossword puzzle. Michael pressed him on and on until Stanley snaps at him and shouts, “Did I stutter?!” leaving everyone else feeling awkward about what they just witness (I did feel the same, too!)

Michael lets this one go but Toby later sat down with him in his office to tell him that Stanley displayed a classic case of insubordination. But not wanting to look like the bad guy, Michael dismisses Toby and seeks advise from Dwight who suggested that based on his organization chart, he has an authoritative cloak over everyone in the office, if Michael gives him the power. Michael also went to Daryl at the basement who suggested the “fluffy fingers” technique, which involved gang members tickling each other till they end up hugging each other. It sounded gay.

So Michael comes up with his own solution — fake firing Stanley. Jim thinks it’s a bad idea and Toby tells him he can actually fire Stanley. But Michael would hear none of it…for after all, (sarcasm) all his ideas work in this office.(/sarcasm)

And as expected, Stanley’s public fake firing did not pan out and was met with a threat — Stanley was going to sue the company. He was very angry. Michael set him off and he comes back lashing at him until Michael himself got very angry, too. He asked everyone to leave the room except Stanley….who everyone thought was going to get it this time.

But as soon as the room empties, Michael cries and wonders what it is that makes Stanley hate him so. Stanley tells him outright — he has no respect for his boss. Hard as it was to hear it, Michael accepts it but still tells Stanley he cannot talk to his boss that way. It’s safe to say that this two have agreed to disagree. In a way, Michael as boss, was man enough to face a conflict and resolved it himself.

That rarely ever happens with him.

Now, he’s got a little bit of my respect.

DWIGHT and ANDY

You can tell how much of a brilliant salesman Dwight is when he convinces Andy to sell him his car for 1500 less than the asking price and then…

… resells the same for a higher value that very same day.

Dwight earlier witnessed how much Angela and Andy were enjoying each other’s company and perhaps to stroke his ego, he proves to himself he was a better salesman than his ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend.

PAM’s UGLY GLASSES

Earlier in the season, spoilers hinted of a disgusting secret about Pam. So was this is it? Her granny glasses? Nothing disgusting about that. Although, I agree that the look doesn’t suit her. But Creed doesn’t think so. He still thinks Pam is hot and would like to see her naked. Kevin, too — who we learned that all his girlfriends wore glasses.

There was a moment of another fake proposal by Jim, by the way. I think, like Pam, we’re supposed to expect this every episode to let our guard down. So that when the actual proposal happens, it should be magical. I hope.

Speaking of Jim…Ryan came by the office to meet with Toby. He sees Jim from outside the conference room and calls him in on the pretense that he was gonna ask him about the Eagles. And then Ryan swoops in, the ass that he is, and warns Jim about his slacking at work and his performance. Interestingly, is Ryan even aware that Jim could be having Ryan’s job back then, but instead he chose to stick to Scranton? I see a conflict about to get deeper and deeper….

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God bless Kelly! How she addressed Ryan in last night’s episode was the way I imagined most women would feel about addressing a dou****bag like him:

“Yes I have lots of questions. First — how dare you?!”

However, what is up with this episode Mindy Kaling wrote (Kelly)? I don’t know how I should feel about it and I can’t say which parts I disliked more and which parts I appreciated. I can say though that it was an odd episode, with some role reversals…and maybe it was intended to be that way.

Ryan returns to Scranton because he wants to make sure everybody is on board with working on a Saturday. The staff have been asked to come in and translate the sales they’ve made in the online store, Dunder Mifflin Infinity (Ryan’s pet project) since he wants to make it a more credible and legitimate website. Apparently DMI, which is oddly and partly a social networking site now, has been overrun by sexual predators and it isn’t generating enough sales. This decision has not made Ryan very popular among his colleagues.

Michael, as usual, appears less sympathetic. As with last week’s episode — he’s more concerned about the fact that he badly needs to be with a real woman, someone with a certain amount of “Crawford-ness” in her. He claims later that this “isn’t about the horniness but the loneliness”.

He asks Ryan if he could hook him up with girls from New York and Ryan tells him about the amazing women he sees at the club he frequents. Michael took that as an invitation to come and party with him (it wasn’t, really) and so he and Dwight leave Scranton early to join Ryan at the club. When the two do get there, they are greeted by Ryan with a hug. Something is very peculiar about the way Ryan was behaving that night, and between that hobbit looking friend he had with him, the young and pretty girls Michael wanted to impress but couldn’t, the college basketball beauty that was playing tongue tonsils with Dwight (he got the girl, not Michael!), the brawl Ryan was involved in, no one could tell that Dunder Mifflin’s golden boy was actually high on drugs! Even if he sort of said he did. Michael and Dwight didn’t get it.

Jim had this incredible idea for work that looks really solid on paper. As soon as Michael and Dwight left, he tells everybody that if they can work late on the DMI task that night, then they won’t have to come in for Saturday. Everyone agreed, of course — like I said, it’s a brilliant idea. And true enough at 9 PM, they were all ready to retire and go home and enjoy the weekend. Jim’s plan was genius!

Except that Jim forgot to tell the night guard they were still in the office. So, everyone is locked in the business compound.

The gang all blame Jim for this oversight so he has no choice but to fix it and call the night guard at home — someone he didn’t actually know or have forgotten to give the Christmas tip pool to.

In a parallel world, this would have to be something that happens to Michael a lot. Which leads me to ask — why do people in charge at Dunder Mifflin become people their co-workers loathe? Michael is definitely one. Ryan has grown to become one and Jim had to only assume the take-charge role for the night and they already hate him?

Some random stuff on this episode:

Sorry, but I think I am the only one who did not know what this one is for. It’s supposed to get the bubble gum out of Michael’s hair without any hitches?

We now know he’s not getting any from Angela because — “The old ball and chain has been more chain than ball lately.”

Ewwwww! I was so creeped out by this. Awkward, awkward moment. Made a lot funnier when Toby attempted to flee. To Costa Rica. He actually climb the building’s gate!

So, what do you think of tonight’s episode? Did you find it absolutely dark and bizarre too? Ryan’s looking like a little boy lost, maybe working at corporate isn’t the best choice he’s made…

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Before I start the recaps off, I first wanna say this and get it out of the way — Did everyone put on weight while the show was on hiatus?? It looks like it. They’ve got really rounder faces now and not that it’s bad (I’ve got one myself, ha!) but the strike really left them with plenty of time and nothing to do, huh?

Anyway, on with last night’s episode which had three subplots.

The first one was with Michael, who finally confirms that it is all over with Jan and him and that he’s ready to get meet someone and get hurt again. Michael scene opens with him intently staring at page 85 of the supply catalog. In there is the image of the woman he would like to date — the Chair Model.

Michael tells his staff that should they want to fix him up with their friends, they’d have to look at page 85 for the template. He goes around the office and asks Kevin and Oscar if they can hook him up with someone. Phyllis had a lady in mind; but when Michael asked what type of woman this friend was and “if a rowboat could support her without capsizing”, Phyllis is offended and humiliated.

He tells everyone to submit him names and numbers of women he should date.

• Kevin gave the number of a hot and juicy redhead named Wendy. Turns out it’s that fast food establishment. Haha! Big props to Kevin!
• Phyllis, out of spite, still gave the number of her fat friend.
• Dwight went through all the channels and tried to contact a lot of people. He gave Michael the information he so badly needed — the Chair Model’s. But unfortunately, as Dwight learns, she’s already dead.

The thought left Michael sad and depressed…for a woman he barely knows!

Seeing how upset he was, Pam gave her landlady’s number and Michael and him meet that same day at a coffee shop. But you know, Michael… the prick! He found her the least bit attractive and compares their short time together to something like “talking to the sweet old lady on the bus”.

Michael muses his single state and dating life back at his desk, when Dwight told him he probably needs closure. I thought all along he meant closure with Jan. But I was wrong…Dwight meant closure from her:

The Chair Model’s grave site…

The two end up singing Miss American Pie in front of her grave (with Michael changing the lyrics a bit).

With Michael and Dwight? This doesn’t seem so silly.

The second subplot involves their parking problem at the Scranton building. This was originally the title of the episode (Parking) but I see why they now changed it.

Another tenant in the building is renovating their offices and the construction crew is using the gang’s parking space. So, many of them are forced to park ten minutes away from the office and then walk back. According to Kevin, it’s not such a good idea for people who sweat a lot. (Kevin so cracks me up in this episode!)

With Andy’s help, they arranged to meet with the Five Families, otherwise known as the bosses of the other building tenants, to solve this problem. To be truth about it, Andy didn’t even break sweat convincing the bosses.

Michael was too pre-occupied to help them (he’s trying to get back to dating, remember?). Besides, he’s got a reserved parking slot and don’t really care for their problems.

The final sub-plot and probably the one fans look forward to the most? It’s Jim’s proposal to Pam:

He didn’t do it yet. That’s obviously coming in the next episodes. But he’s got the ring, bought it the first week since they got together and casually warns Pam the proposal is coming and it will blow her away.

Was he warning Pam or warning the female fans who pine for him? Well, I tell you right now — my heart is giddy with anticipation!

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Last night’s episode? Awkwaaaard!

A dinner party is in itself an awkward situation, particularly one where the boss tricks you into coming to it. And then to actually witness your boss and his girlfriend’s passive-aggressive dysfunction? Endure three hours of it before actually eating? Play the dumbest game of charades among people from work you don’t actually like? Have the boss’ girlfriend suspect you were once sleeping with her lover? I would really do anything to get out of it!

Unfortunately for Jim and Pam, they had to weather through a night in…hell….where Jan is the devil! At one point Jim schemed to leave the house, claiming there’s been flooding in his house. He was even ready to leave Pam behind.

The Office’s Dinner Party basically had a simple story. There was no poignant plot twists, except for the fact that we now get to see how domestic life is for Michael and Jan.

Jan is struggling with her new candle-making company, Serenity Jan and occupies two rooms of the house for it. In and around the house, we see little of Michael’s stuff. Except for that $200 13-inch (?) plasma TV. And Michael’s sleep area.

Suffice to say, there’s a strain in their relationship. And Jan has taken over Michael’s condominium while he is reduced to this little insignificant space. The couple bicker about plenty of things, personal things like having kids and Michael’s three vasectomies. I wasn’t a guest at that party, but when I heard that? Ugh…cringe!

Meanwhile, Dwight invites himself to the same party despite Michael telling him: it’s a couples party and they only have six wine glasses.

Dwight out did himself and brings not just his own set of wine glass and the date he claims is his babysitter. He even bought his own food! And was eating way before the other hungry guests were.

The reason for his wanting to join? Angela and Andy, the other couple Michael decided to invite. But alas, we don’t see enough of this conflict. Except at one point when Dwight offers Angela his packed beet salad and she coldly refuses him.

We also learn Jan’s former assistant, Hunter, is now a recording artist. Jim steals that very CD upon leaving Michael’s house, by the way. I would probably do the same, too. The music selection of Hunter’s The Hunted? I can’t decide if it’s cheesy or cool. Either way, I’d like a copy please.

It’s great to see this show back. It made me a lot uncomfortable — but that’s good for a show like The Office. So…I’m glad to see the writing is still brilliant and true to form after the forced hiatus!

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Hot Girl is the last episode for Season 1. It aired last April 2005. The Office USA only had 6 episodes in its first season, since it was a mid-season replacement. The episode had actress, Amy Adams as guest and she played, Katy, the bag lady the guys thought was really hot.

The episode opens with a call from Jan informing Michael that Corporate is rewarding top sales people with a prize worth $1000. While choosing over what this prize would be, Pam tells him that someone wants to sell bags in the premises. Michael told Pam to turn this person away but when he saw how pretty she looked, he took it upon himself to welcome her and even allowed her to set shop at the conference room. Michael directly tells the bag lady, Katy, she’s six times prettier than Pam, who is also just standing in front of him. Being the gracious host he is, Michael offers to show Katy around the office, as well as make her a cup of regular coffee, which he blended using the new espresso machine the company bought for whoever wins the reward.

Jim convinces Dwight to go for the girl and even gave him tips on how to get her.

Jim: There’s so much more to talk to this girl about…you’re both salemen.
Dwight: True. Plus I can talk to her about the origins of my last name.
Jim: Just keep talking to her. If you hit a stall, you have a fallback.
Dwight: What’s that?
Jim: You buy her purse.

Of course, this is just one of Jim’s pranks to get Dwight to make a fool of himself. And he actually did buy her purse and even uses it for her to see.

During lunch, Roy convinces Jim to make a go at Katy, too, saying he would probably do the same if he didn’t have Pam. This statement offended Pam and she walked out of the table.

Michael, meanwhile, has offered to bring Katy home when he found out her ride for that day bailed out on her. He was looking forward to this, and had Ryan help him clean up his car. But by some bad luck, Katy ends up going home with Jim instead.

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This is the last episode for Season 1 of The Office UK and it opens with David Brent firing, Allan, a staff from the warehouse. Allan accuses David of discrimination because he was clearly more able-bodied than his midget companion, Antoine, yet David chose to let go of him. Their meeting, however, turned into a discussion of what the difference is between a dwarf, a midget, an elf and a pixie.

Meanwhile, David gives his new secretary, Karen, a tour of the office. One of the staff, Malcolm, wondered why he had to hire himself one, when he just had to let go of another staff and David makes an unjustifiable explanation. Malcolm tells him he’s worried it might happen to him, too and David assures him everything will be okay and that he will be meeting with his boss, Jennifer, to discuss the status of the branch.

Tim, who has expressed he was quitting the company, is called to David’s office because David would like to find out his reasons for leaving. David wonders if it was a personal reason (Dawn rejected him when Tim asked for a date. The situation between him and Dawn remain awkward.) Tim says he is not enjoying his job anymore and feels it is a waste of time. David gets a little mad because it was he who trained and taught Tim everything about the paper business, and David feels that he’s throwing it all away.

Jennifer arrives for the meeting with David and she had good news. It turns out, Jennifer is being promoted as partner of the company, leaving her job open. The board has voted 5-2 to in favor of David and his branch (Slough) would have to be absorbed by another (Swindon) and that some of his people would have to be fired.

The staff knew of the meeting and were waiting for word from David after Jennifer left. He breaks the “good news” to them, thinking they would be receptive, but knowing that their jobs are on the line, no one was happy about it, except of course, David. Gareth cries upon knowing David is going to leave Slough, to move to corporate.

Later, everyone is at the bar for some drinks when David arrives and tells them that he has decided not to take the new job offer and that Slough branch will remain as it is and no one is losing their jobs. Everyone thought he did a selfless thing but when Malcolm corners him, we essentially find out that the reason why he had to decline the job offer was because he failed his medical exams.

Tim has also decided to stay. David has given him what sounded like a better job offer. He’s still going to be a salesman, but with better pay, apparently. And he is still very much hung up over Dawn.

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There’s going to be a game of basketball in the office today. Michael was telling the documentary crew that this was his idea, after the warehouse guys from downstairs saw him play during lunch break. Apparently, they were impressed by him. Or so he claims.

Dwight has some concerns because Michael has exempted him from the game. He assigned him to another task, which required him to look for someone who could come to work on a Saturday and Dwight agreed since that made him feel powerful.

Michael visits the warehouse with Ryan and introduces him to the guys there. He reminds them about the game. But Daryl, the foreman, tells him something has come up at work so they have to reschedule the game. Michael sees it as a way for them to chicken out of the game, so Daryl wants to disprove him and agrees to start the game at 1 PM.

(more…)

Donna arrives at the office rather late, and David, who stands as her guardian, scolds him in front of the staff. While David’s reasons and concern are valid, Donna, being old enough to decide for her life, resents that she is berated like a child in public. So, she answers David back and tells him that she did stay over a boy’s pad and it was a boy from the office.

Despite orders from Corporate to cut back on costs, David is hiring himself a secretary and interviews two new prospects, one guy (Stuart) and one pretty girl (Karen). David is not at all interested on Stuart, but pours all attention on Karen. He conducts an interview with her and it was a moment filled with inappropriateness. David is slightly smitten and acts like a pubescent teenager trying to impress the new girl. His antics failed to impress her, and worse David accidentally pokes her eyes with his elbows.

Tim has openly expressed he’s planning to leave the office to pursue a course in psychology. Everyone still remembers how Dawn rejected him when he asked her on a date, and Tim tries to convince them that he was asking her as a friend. Meanwhile, there is a wave of awkwardness between Tim and Dawn, so right now, they aren’t enjoying each other’s company like before.

Gareth, who harbors a secret crush on Donna, conducts a safety training with her as the lone participant. The training is utterly ridiculous and pointless. His real motive though was to press Donna on the details about her rendezvous with the male officemate, to which Donna cleverly avoided.

Down on their luck with women, the boys decide to unwind after work by prowling for some woman companionship and hitting the club scene. But, as things were, they all ended up not having fun that night.

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The Alliance opens with Dwight asking Michael about the possible downsizing. He is concerned, perhaps even threatened, that someone else would be chosen to stay over him. Michael tells him that it is something he shouldn’t be worried about. To the documentary crew, Michael says he takes no pleasure in firing a staff.

Dwight notices that people are mingling by the water cooler and gossiping. He suspects everyone is talking about the crisis that is looming in the office. Because he is excluded from this, he brings the water cooler by his table, so that he has more access to the office grapevine.

He approaches Jim for a possible secret alliance and Jim goes along for a ride. Jim tells Pam about it, but Dwight calls on him, reminding him that their alliance is supposed to be just between them. Jim reasons out that he is using Pam to get information, since she has access to Corporate, whenever Michael has meetings with them. Dwight buys Jim’s reason.

So Jim and Pam starts messing around with Dwight. First Jim tells him that there is also another alliance in the office and that they intend to have Dwight get the boot. Then Pam approaches Jim with an intriguing story, all within Dwight’s hearing and satisfaction. Next Jim tells Dwight there’s going to be a secret meeting in the basement and he volunteers to spy on that by hiding in one of the boxes.

Sensing that morale is down, Michael plans to hold an office birthday party for Meredith, who is actually celebrating hers the following month. Michael tells Pam to go ahead with the party today, at least it will really be a surprise for Meredith. A big birthday greeting card for Meredith is passed around and Michael agonizes over what to put. He wants his message to be the funniest, because his staff expected this from him. In the end, his message did not turn out to be funny and instead of bringing their spirits up, everyone is even more reminded of the possibility they could lose their jobs.

Towards the end of the day, Jim approaches Pam and excitedly tells her that he has convinced Dwight to spy on the Stamford branch wearing a blond wig. Jim nonchalantly grabs Pam and they are laughing, just as Roy, her boyfriend, walks in and sees them. He accuses Jim of making a move on Pam. Jim tried to explain to Roy saying that this was all because of his alliance with Dwight. But when Roy asked Dwight if this was true, he denied about the alliance.

Dwight: Do I feel bad about betraying Jim ? Not. At. All.
That’s the game, convincing we’re in an alliance, get some information, throw them to the wolves.

That’s politics, baby. Get what you can out of someone then crush them.
I think Jim might have learned a very valuable lesson.

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The Office, The Office episode recaps, The Office Season 1

Today is staff training day and everyone is required to participate in it. David tells the documentary crew that he could have done the training himself, but the company has hired someone from the outside to do it. The training is all about proper customer care.

Meanwhile Dawn and Lee are arguing at the start of the episode and apparently, they decide to call off the wedding. Dawn is crying and Tim is consoling her. Gareth walks in and also tries to console her; but he says something off, “Don’t worry, Monkey Allen down at the warehouse fancies you, even if no one else does”…. Dawn walks away upset and Tim pounces on Gareth for saying something stupid.

Back at the training, Roan the facilitator, introduces himself to the staff while David stands beside him, also acting like the trainor; sometimes even outdoing and outperforming him. Clearly, David is trying to discredit and undermine Roan’s authority as the trainor hired by the company to educate them.
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The show opens with Michael telling the documentary crew that providing care for his workers and their family is a sacred thing for him. And today, Corporate is asking him to pick a new health care plan. At his meeting with Jan, Michael tells her he has picked the plan that offered all the works, like acupuncture, which is part of the Gold Plan. Jan tells Michael he needs to pick a plan that will also save the company money. Michael is uncomfortable about this sensing his employees would be upset with what he’d choose. Michael calls it a suicide mission, so he gives the task to Jim. But he tells Michael, he’s not up to task and then recommends Dwight, who’s more than willing to take over and decide for the company.

Dwight is a bit overzealous about his task, and demanded a temporary office. Michael situates him in the conference room. Dwight calls this the Dwight Schrute Workspace. Later, Dwight passed around a memo and the staff weren’t too pleased with what was on it. Dwight’s plan has no dental, no vision, with a 1200 salary deduction.

Dwight: In the wild, there is no healthcare. In the wild there is…”Ow, I hurt my leg. I can’t run. A lion eats me, and I’m dead.” Well, I’m not dead. I’m the Lion. You’re dead.

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