Watching The Office

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.

Pam’s toaster oven is broken and for some reason, she’s very distraught that the warranty coverage has passed. It was a gift she received during her engagement party three years ago. The toaster has already broken down, while she still remains “engaged�.

Michael rounds up his staff upstairs to put up the starting line up and chooses Stanley first. Stanley is offended because it sounded like Michael was insinuating he plays basketball well because he is black. Phyllis would also like to join the team, saying she knows basketball, but Michael ignores her. He also ignored Oscar and Kevin as he underestimates they cannot play.

When he realizes he lacked players, he eventually included Dwight into the team. He also asks Pam to be their cheerleader. But Pam declines since they will be playing against her fiancé from the warehouse. Pam suggests Angela and Phyllis again volunteers. Michael says yuck to that, and seeing the reaction of Phyllis, he immediately says he needs Phyllis as an alternate so she can’t be cheerleader.

Daryl proposes to make the game more interesting by having losers by them dinner. Michael counters this by saying losers will have to go to work on Saturday.

So it’s game time and Michael pumps himself up. Jim is looking forward to playing, since he believes he is very good. At the game, everyone sees that Stanley is actually a very horrible player. And Dwight hogs the ball to himself. Roy and Jim became very competitive so the game intensified.

The Sales Team was already winning when Michael accidentally got hit on the face. He became petty and demanded the game be stopped. He declares they have won the game because of that foul, but the warehouse guys pressured him, especially since they all tower over Michael physically. So he had no choice but to concede. And everyone from Sales has to report to work that weekend. But Michael told them they don’t have to report to work. Yet, the mood in the office remains dampened since they know that whether they report for work or not, it doesn’t prevent downsizing from happening.

As the episode closes, we see a clip of Kevin who shows excellent shooting power.

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