(S03E07) I'm sure that many of us have either been laid-off from their jobs or know someone that has, so this episode surely hit home with quite a number of people.
As what took place with the British version of The Office, Jan tells Michael that corporate has decided to close the Scranton office and will transfer a few staffers to the Stamford branch. Someone once said to me that you never truly find out what a person is made of until you seem him/her deal with a crisis. Watching Michael go to extremes to save his employees (and himself) showed that despite his overbearing, obnoxious, pompous personality, he does have a soul, and you ended up rooting for him to save the day. Of course, it was all moot when we learned earlier that after Josh decided to move on to Staples, the Stamford branch would be closed and merged into Scranton.
I thought Stanley's initial reaction to finding out that his job would probably be eliminated was priceless! The look on his face when he talked about retiring and taking it easy was marvelous and, of course, the disappointed demeanor he had when he learned that he would still be on the job was great too. Stanley is truly a terrific character and I would like to see an episode where he gets the bulk of the attention.
Of course, the inevitable "reunion" of Jim and Pam back in the same office was a major theme throughout this episode. They both akwardly referred to it, but they didn't come out and say what they were feeling. Well, Jim did tell Jan that he was unsure about taking on the number two role in Scranton because of a personal situation, but in the end he took it because, frankly, he figured the job will pay him more and he gets to go back home. Plus, we all know there's still something between him and Pam, and maybe he wants to take another shot at winning her. Let us not forget that Roy will be lurking about as well, albeit as an employee of a new company taking over the warehouse.
However, Karen flat out admitted that she had a thing for Jim, so the highlights from next week's episode shows here arriving at Scranton and meeting Pam, so a storyline that could pit the two ladies competing for Jim may well emerge.
I have to say though that Ryan's attitude toward Kelly is getting a bit tiresome. He expresses all sorts of feelings that he doesn't want to be with her, but he attended the Diwali celebration with her and they seem to spend a lot of time together. His attempt to break up with her fell very flat, and when she ran into his arms after finding out their jobs were save, he didn't exactly resist. It's put up or shut up time for him.
Still, the attempt by Michael to imitate Michael Moore and confront the corporate bosses (with Dwight tagging along) demonstrated that he does have some backbone. OK, probably a very disjointed backbone, but give him credit for having enough guts to even attempt to carry out his and Dwight's plan. Speaking of Dwight, how's he going to handle Jim as Michael's number two? If you thought there was tension between them before, wait until they are back in the same room again.
With Michael about to take on the responsibility as the boss of two merged branches, will he pull a David Brent and get himself canned? Not bloody likely, since the show is not designed to have a limited run. However, you can bet that Jan will have him on an extremely short leash, and we could see a new character come on the scene and function as Michael's direct supervisor. But that probably won't happen until late this season (if at all), so I guess we'll have to be content with the merry mix-ups that will be occuring with the return of Jim to Scranton and how Pam, Dwight, and Karen will deal with it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-09-2006 @ 11:21PM
D. Brent said...
Good episode, but the 'before the credits' part about "Future Dwight" was so pee-in-your-pants funny that the rest of the ep had to fall a bit short. Still, I like where it's going.
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11-09-2006 @ 11:57PM
Jonathan said...
Anybody know if Ed Helms will continue to be on the show?
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11-09-2006 @ 11:25PM
SJ said...
Is that the end of Ed Helms' character? If I'm not mistaken he did film only a few episodes. Wouldn't mind seeing him appear again every now and then.
Stanley has become my favorite secondary character. His expressions and delivery are priceless.
The other part I really laughed at was the one where Dwight and Michael act out how Michael will approach their boss. It was funny how Michael really didn't have any reasons for not closing the Scranton branch.
I'm glad they are keeping Rashida Jones around. She is rather easy on the eyes ('Exotic' as Michael put it), and the sexual tension will be interesting. We know that she is interested in Jim, but is Jim interested in her?
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11-10-2006 @ 12:13AM
'size said...
i think it's obvious that jim is interested in karen. when he wasn't going to take the position offered back in scranton, he tried to convince her to move to ny by putting down scranton. then once he does decide to take the position why else would he tell her scranton is a good place after all and she should take the job if offered?
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11-10-2006 @ 12:18AM
SJ said...
Is anybody watching Jenna Fischer on Letterman? She looks stunning...
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11-10-2006 @ 12:29AM
neoxkc said...
I'm pretty sure it is Stanford, not "Stamford."
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11-10-2006 @ 12:31AM
Chris said...
Ed Helms did signed for 10 episodes. I don't think he's been in two that have aired (at least one) so maybe they're going to see the fan reaction of the character or have him quit. Imagine him and Dwight.
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11-10-2006 @ 12:38AM
Carl Winslow said...
No, it's Stamford.
http://www.ci.stamford.ct.us/
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11-10-2006 @ 12:52AM
hm. said...
How on earth did Jan get from NYC to Scranton (a good 2 hours) to Stamford (a good 3 hours from Scranton) and back to Scranton in one day??? And how could the factory have been sold to Bob Vance if the closing was not announced? And what about the other DM branches like the Albany branch mentioned next season? Why move it back to Scranton if that was the branch lacking in talent? (obviously, we know this has to do with the show - but still, the script would have found a way to deal with this question) The writers are usually on top of things, but this episode just felt way, way, too...hasty.
And also - is Jim taking over Dwight's position? If he's second in command...
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11-10-2006 @ 12:54AM
hm. said...
that should have read "mentioned last season."
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11-10-2006 @ 1:09AM
Big Tuna. said...
In response to Ryan's handling of Kelly getting tiresome, there's a cut 'Ryan talking head' found in the Producer's Cut on NBC.com that hints the attraction might be strangely mutual.
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11-10-2006 @ 1:36AM
misterbleu said...
Two questions:
Questione the firste: What was Michael's cell phone ringtone? It's driving me crazy...
Questione the seconde: Heeeyyyy...where's Oscar???
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11-10-2006 @ 1:48AM
Bryce said...
Michael's ringtone was "My Humps" by the girl from Black Eye Peas
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11-10-2006 @ 2:46AM
Ken said...
@ 12
I believe Oscar is on paid vacation (on a cruise I think?) with his boyfriend Gil.
At the end of the Gay Witch Hunt episode, Oscar said that Jan offered him a paid vacation and a couple other things to stay and not sue.
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11-10-2006 @ 2:55AM
Captainmicahp said...
Stanley is like a live action version of Cleveland from Family Guy. They both have mustaches, similar physiques, and Slow speech patterns. Has anybody else noticed that?
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11-10-2006 @ 5:00AM
Melissa said...
Oscar: "Gil and I are going to Europe. Kids--sometimes it pays to be gay."
Where's Creed!? He has some of the BEST lines for a secondary character, and I haven't noticed him in the past few episodes.
I'm baffled by the fact that they solved the branch closing thing in an entire episode. That felt ALOT more sitcom-y than a mock-umentary. I'm right there with hm (comment 9).
The Pam-Jim-Karen triangle is inevitable, and I must say I am looking forward to Jim and Karen getting together (take THAT Pam!). Karen is delicious.
Ed Helm's character MUST STAY!!!
I want to punch both Ryan and Kelly in the face.
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11-10-2006 @ 1:33PM
Diego said...
What about Dwight knocking the coffee of stanley's hand. Jim is great, that was a great prank. He gotta get it on with karen even if he gonna get with Pam after, karen is too fine to just be a friend. she already said she had a thing for Jim and it looked like Jim has a thing for Karen. He wants her to be in scranton, maybe that'll be a demand he makes cuz jan said "anything to get you to stay" but how did Jim become so valuable? wasn't he a so-so salesman?
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11-10-2006 @ 6:53AM
jOHN said...
Creed said that he'd buy shots for his co-workers at the end of the episode.
Ryan is only with Kelly because it's convenient. He's a lonely guy, and Kelly is an easy catch. He didn't have to do anything to grab her attention, she came to him. That's his personality. He won't chase success, as seen in his work effort. He wants things to land on his lap because it's easy.
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11-10-2006 @ 7:17AM
barb said...
Jim will not be in Dwight's position. The position is more of a regional reorgnazing. He's second in command at the regional level. Love Future Dwight.
Barb
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11-10-2006 @ 8:11AM
Stephen said...
The greatest part of that episode was they Fax from "Future Dwight"
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