Watching The Office

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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