(S03E05) Usually whenever Dwight gets excessively weird, the show seems to suffer a little bit. I know that all offices have at least one off-kilter staffer, but with Dwight you have to suspend reality to the nth degree.
That being said, in this episode we got to see a little bit more of what lurks underneath Dwight's pompous exterior. He really seems to be a go-getter, but whatever he's going to try to get still is somewhat questionable.
His attempts at initiating Ryan into sales are certainly unique--I still don't get how Dwight is the number one salesperson in the Scranton branch. Either he's very good or the rest of the sales force have no pulse.
Ryan, to his credit, plays along because he figures he can get at least a kernel of information to use to bolster his career, but Dwight just can't conform. He just has to have this nutty initiation rite, and eventually Ryan has enough and calls Dwight a "freak"--a bold move on his part.
Meanwhile, it's Pretzel Day at the branch, and everyone rushes down to get one. Michael is under surveillance by Pam (under Jan's orders) to see how productive (yeah, right) he is during a typical workday. There's definitely tension between Michael and Jan and it surely will grow as the season moves along. It'll be interesting to seek if their previous "encounter" will continue to fester and eventually force something to happen between the both of them.
As Dwight's intiation of Ryan continues, Kelly wonders what is going on with her boyfriend, and says that Dwight is a "freak" to Angela, who had defended him by his being "individualistic" and throws the "freak" term right back at Kelly. (How great an episode would it be if we are able to see Dwight and Angela out on a date or just spending time together!)
IMHO, the Jim-Karen flirtation doesn't do anything for me. The squeaky chair stuff seemed rather forced. I don't think I have the patience to see if this thing will develop or not. I guess I'm so used to seeing the Jim-Pam dynamic that any other situation involving either one of them would pale in comparison. To top things off, Jim and Pam finally spoke on the phone, and although there were some awkward moments, you can just tell that something will happen between them--either a hookup or another rejection on someone's part.
I kind of missed Michael not being the focal point of the episode, but Dwight's interaction with Ryan kept things moving. I especially liked their "bonding" at the end when they were sitting at a bar doing Depth Charges (dropping a shot into a mug of beer and chugging it all down). It brought back some memories for me, as hazy as they might be.
My guess is that we'll eventually see Jim make it back to the Scranton office, either as part of a company realignment or him asking to go back to his old job. At the same time, it looks like Michael will have to get the office into shape or he may have to take a back seat to someone else. Whether he can pull through and produce enough numbers for the bean counters to be happy remains to be seen.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-19-2006 @ 11:48PM
SJ said...
"364 days till the next pretzel day."
Stanley is awesome.
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10-20-2006 @ 12:10AM
Nick said...
I thought the part where she kept squeaking the chair to annoy Jim, and then Jim starts singing, and she tries to get it to stop, and then it shows Ed Helms singing too.
I am not usually one to complain about it not being 'enough of a reality show/documentary' as I think that even its obviously fake stuff still make it seem like some reality shows (even if its one of those really fakey reality shows). Plus I don't watch it for the reality show aspects. That said, the conversation between Pam and Jim seemed a bit silly to me. First, I wish they hadn't cut to Jim, just had his voice on there (thats my complaint about it not being 'reality show enough'), and I think it went on too long and ended stupidly (a misunderstanding of her saying bye to Ryan and Jim thinking that she was talking to him.. it just seemded a bit cliche and unrealistic)
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10-20-2006 @ 1:10AM
tiffany said...
I completely agree about the dynamic and plotline between Jim and Karen. We're not exactly supposed to like Karen, but I expected more. Last week was a doozy, too. I only found the singing of "love me, love me, say that you love me, fool me, fool me" to be funny.... Very funny, at least.
I'm glad to see the outrageous settings and setups to be written into the plotline better. Subtler jokes were more in abundance tonight than previous episodes. Especially the scenes between Dwight and Ryan, though that may be because Ryan's the "sane" one.
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10-20-2006 @ 1:14AM
Monty said...
Ok, enough of Jim and the "other" office. He needs to return to Scranton already. When focus shifts there I'm just annoyed as I love the dynamic in Scranton and to me it disrupts the flow of comedy with that group. Every other show on TV has the "soap opera" element bring back more of the 1st season nuttines. The best stuff from this episode revolved around Pretzel Day.
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10-20-2006 @ 1:23AM
Jeremy said...
I actually like the "other office" angle. I am not sure how much longer they can keep the plotline up but I am curious to see where they are going with the whole Jim thing.
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10-20-2006 @ 2:53AM
Melissa said...
My predictions based on the BBC version of The Office:
One branch is going to absorb (or "resorb," like Dwight and his fetus power) the other. Jim and Pam will be together again--but, uh oh!-- Jim is dating Karen! If you remember, the BBC version had Tim dating some blonde floozy for a bit, after he asked Dawn out. The Slough (Scranton for us) branch was taken over by Neil (our Josh), and David (Michael) stayed on and made an ass of himself trying to be just like Neil (Josh).
I mean, it would make sense for that to happen soon, or perhaps as the season-ender, because the show is called "The Office" and not "The Offices," and based off of the BBC version.
Anyone?
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10-20-2006 @ 5:15AM
Justin said...
What happened with the Michael storyline? I had to leave the room for a bit after he woke up and some contract got delivered? Did it mean he actually managed to do his job well even with all the distractions?
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10-20-2006 @ 7:18AM
Chris W said...
I agree Melissa, that would be my prediction too. Jim will make Pam insanely jealous, and Michael will make an ass of himself trying to a)impress his new subordinates and b)undermining Josh. We'll probably see more and more of Jan this season, too. It's too bad Dwight's with Angela, I'd love to see him try to hit on Karen a la Garreth ("I don't do sloppy seconds").
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10-20-2006 @ 7:58AM
BoomFoxx said...
"I still don't get how Dwight is the number one salesperson in the Scranton branch."
After Ryan is finished his "initiation" and Dwight realized that he's forgotten about the sales call he starts spouting off a lot of good advice that Ryan was really interested in. I think this shows that despite his quirks he actually does know what he's doing.
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10-30-2006 @ 10:26AM
biggs said...
I thought it was hilarious when Micheal went on his sugar high. Jan should feed him sugar everyday.
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10-20-2006 @ 8:56AM
007 said...
Props to Stanley and his love of Pretzel Day, Angela telling Kelly that she's a freak, and Pam for gracefully handling the whole babysitting thing Jan made her do. Now they need to have a Marguerita Day for Meredith.
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10-20-2006 @ 9:42AM
Michael said...
I think part of the disconnect with the Jim storyline was that this was supposed to air last week. NBC switched the episode order and I think it shows a bit.
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10-20-2006 @ 2:03PM
Brian said...
I really enjoyed this episode. It was nice to see a Happy Stanley for once, instead of a depressed one -- even if it was for a pretzel! The funny thing is, the same dam thing happens at our company. Instead of Pretzels, it’s the ice cream truck.
Personally, I like the dual office story line and the setup between Jim and Karen. To me, it doesn't look forced at all and the flirtation between them seems very real. I hope it's a little while before Jim goes back to Scranton, because bringing him back to early could wear out the Jim/Pam angle quickly. Them being separated has allowed Pam to start flourishing into a better person (like how she was showing more concern about her job and taking some authority) instead of being in a dead-end relationship w/ a Jim dependency.
Like Melissa said, it's obvious that the two branches will be merged at some point and Josh, Jim, Karen and Andy will migrate over to Scranton. I'm not sure if the "Scranton" branch in the BBC versus closed up or not, but I see it staying around for our versus just to keep the office and warehouse sets and the already established supporting cast that already exists. I’m suspecting Michael will be demoted, but will still think he’s the boss and get in constant conflicts with Josh. I can also see future conflicts between Andy and Dwight, because alpha-males like those two can never co-exist together! Of course, by this point Jim and Karen will be dating as well.
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10-20-2006 @ 1:44PM
malren said...
"7. What happened with the Michael storyline? I had to leave the room for a bit after he woke up and some contract got delivered? Did it mean he actually managed to do his job well even with all the distractions?"
That is exactly what it meant, a fact apparently lost on the TVSquad blogger here...
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10-20-2006 @ 10:44AM
Robert Santiago said...
Justin: Yeah, the person he was talking to while he was doing all those Cosby voices was supposedly pretty big sale, so while it seems Michael is always goofing around, I think he's actually a really good salesman. He's shown it time and time again in surprising manners.
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10-20-2006 @ 11:28AM
Porchland said...
This was Stanley's second funniest episode. (Nothing tops "Basketball" from Season One when he showed off his laughably bad hoop skills!)
Next week is a repeat of "Gay Witch Hunt," which is the funniest episode so far this season.
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10-20-2006 @ 12:19PM
Stanley's Biggest Fan said...
Who knew Stanley would be such a nut for soft pretzels.
Porchland, don't forget the bring your daughter to work day - that had some great Stanley moments in it too (when he rips Ryan for making moves on his high school daughter, lol).
I also found some cool quotes for the episode from this site:
http://www.dunderball.com/
And a list of Stanley quotes here:
http://dunderball.com/?q=taxonomy/term/30
(some classic ones, including where he yells at ryan)
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10-20-2006 @ 3:01PM
Heather said...
This episode made me roll. Ryan's faces to the camera are always great. I loved Stanley in this one- "Only 364 more days til pretzel day." But 3 parts vie for the spot of my favorites from this episode...
#1- Mose Shrute, especially with the word "FEAR" in tape on his shirt. I wasn't sure we would actually get to see him after he ran by, but the gods smiled on us.
#2- Ed Helms singing talking head... I still hurt.
#3- Michael's sugar high. I had to throw my arms up a shout "YEAH!" after that one.
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10-20-2006 @ 3:30PM
Melissa said...
Since we are on the subject of the future of Scranton and Jim 'n Pam, I just thought I would share the description of this season from itunes (the abridged version):
This season there will be unexpected wedding bells... Scranton might close at the end of the season as Michael is forced to make a last ditch effort to save the company... Jim finds a new love... and they mention Dwights coup+beet farm.
As far as the wedding bells, if it's Phyllis and Bob Vance of Vance Refridgeration, or even Dwight and Angela, I'll be disappointed. Because that's not unexpected.
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10-20-2006 @ 10:54PM
gena Sands said...
Did anyone notice Ryan's awkward behavior? I do not know what it was really about, I just wanted to see if anyone else noticed and could decipher what was going on.
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