(S03E21) The Office this week was like Jessica Simpson if she had a giant oozing pimple right on the tip of her nose (I was going to go with "giant underdeveloped conjoined twin on her back" but thought that image was a bit much). It was wonderful... except for one little thing that was so egregious as to sully the rest of the episode.What was that thing? I'm too talented a teaser to let you know right off. You'll have to wait until after the jump...
First, the good (and there was a lot of it):
1. Jim as Dwight. "Identity theft is a crime." I thought the calculator watch was a good touch (though, I think in the spirit of full disclosure, I should mention that in the early eighties, in a fit of Alex P. Keatonism, I wore a calculator watch for at least one school year).
2. Dwight as Jim. I feel bad for anyone that doesn't stick around for the stinger at the end of every Office. It's worth the wait. Doing a Jim impression isn't all that hard (as SNL proved a few weeks ago); all you have to do is look at the camera with supercilious eyebrows and poof, you're a master impersonator. The thing that was great about this particular Jim impression was that it was Dwight doing it. Rainn Wilson playing the impersonation like his character added about twelve levels of funny to it.
3. "That's the money beet."
4. Andy at the high school. As a former high school teacher I was a little uncomfortable by that whole situation, but it was okay for three reasons: a) it was obvious that she and Andy hadn't done anything illegal and that he was completely flabbergasted by her being a teenager. b) It led to Andy's distress over the situation, which was absolutely hilarious. And finally, c) it opened the door for Jim to try and cheer him up with some a cappella. I asked a few weeks ago why ladies find Jim so irresistible. My wife said tonight that that's the reason why: beneath all the goofing, he's a downright nice guy.
5. Kelly as Bridget Jones and Kevin as an Australian. It's a credit to Mindy Kaling that she's made such a fundamentally annoying character such a funny presence on the show. My wife and I were both disappointed this week that there wasn't any Ryan/Kelly interaction as that's grown to be one of our favorite aspects of The Office.
6. "That's what she said."
The Not-So-Good:
No, we're not at the pimple at the end of Jessica's nose just yet, just some stuff I found annoying (I thought that after the over-enthusiastic review of the last episode I should try to be a bit more fair and balanced).
1) Michael's press conference and apology. I know I applauded Michael when he wanted to jump off the roof, but I found him to be over-the-top in an annoying way this week. I'm not sure why I fluctuate on this opinion. I don't know why I loved it two weeks ago and thought it was unrealistic this week. I think it might be that Michael Scott is a really hard character to pull off. Ricky Gervais's David Brent was never stupid, just socially awkward and too eager to please. Michael is so broad as to be a cartoon character and sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. I thought it didn't work this week.
2) The woman who didn't accept Michael's apology. Not for any show reason, I just hate people who say, "I don't accept your apology." Don't use their business again, but don't act like a beyatch about it.
And now... the pimple:
Creed. I know a lot of you love him, but wasn't he just way over the line this week? I love black humor, but holy crap Creed was despicable! I hated him so much for what he did to that poor woman at the paper mill that it actually made me like the episode a little less. And believe me, I'm a little confused about my own creeping sensitivity. When I was younger I would have wanted Creed to go even further (and would have rooted for Andy to hook up with the high school girl), but 30-year-old Jay seems to actually (gulp) care about people. I'm not sure where this is coming from and frankly, I'm scared. Tell me I'm not alone on this one.
Question of the week: My wife pointed out that Pam seems to be kissing Karen's butt in a very "girly" way. According to her, Pam sticking up for Karen two weeks ago about her guessing strategy on the jellybeans and this week when Karen criticized Michael's word-shortening is what girls do when they want another girl to like her. I hadn't noticed, but I thought it was interesting. So, to the females in the reading audience (and the men who understand woman): do you notice the same thing? Is Pam trying to get Karen to like her? If so, why? Your thoughts are appreciated.
And finally, a quick shout-out to my friends in Missouri who graciously allowed me to watch the episode at their house after my comedy show. Midwestern hospitality lives! 
Due to Creed's craziness I can only bring myself to give this episode five discarded greeting cards out of seven.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-27-2007 @ 12:19AM
Alex said...
My fav was the American flag in the background.... how it was printed out on 4 different pieces of paper lol
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4-27-2007 @ 12:18AM
Alex said...
Here is level 3 security... but dont get to excited because there are 20 levels. hahahah
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4-27-2007 @ 12:20AM
Bob S. said...
As a former high school teacher I was a little uncomfortable by that whole situation, but it was okay for three reasons: a) it was obvious that Andy and her hadn't done anything illegal
Not an English teacher, I so very hope.
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4-27-2007 @ 12:28AM
Jay Black said...
Fixed the grammar issue! In my defense, I was an English teacher in New Jersey, so, you know, we didn't have to teach so good :)
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4-27-2007 @ 12:43AM
malren said...
Wow, I so utterly disagree. I think Creed was brilliant and lent the cringe-worthy moment that the UK version had that the US version is often missing.
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4-27-2007 @ 12:46AM
The Midnight Penguin said...
B-A-N-A-N-A-S! I guess I'm still of that club-going age though - but it ties in to the mention of how the music is always a step behind in The Office world.
Overall I think I laughed more times out loud at this episode than I have for any other episode. Creed's character just upsets me though episode after episode, and when he threw that card out to keep the money...if I could watch an episode without him I would.
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4-27-2007 @ 12:47AM
Borat said...
I loved how Creed was just holding the telephone up pretending to talk while he had no idea what was going on...
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4-27-2007 @ 1:00AM
BigTed said...
When someone said that the obscene watermark depicted a well-known duck and mouse, I thought we were supposed to assume it was Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. But then they showed the illustration, and it was completely unrecognizable. Was that because someone was afraid the Disney company would get mad, even though they didn't even mention the characters or the company? It seemed very weird to me.
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4-27-2007 @ 1:09AM
Haunt said...
My take on the Pam/Karen interraction (speaking as a married man who pretends from time to time to understand women, but who secretly admits that such knowledge is impossible) is that Pam is going through the motions of getting Karen to like her because she feels guilty about wanting Jim and Karen to break up.
Did that make any sense? On the one hand, Pam doesn't like Karen because Karen has what Pam wants, e.g. Jim. But Pam is much too nice a person to want to admit any of that, so she is making a conscious effort to play the typical girly game of sistah solidarity.
*shrug* Just my thoughts... ymmv.
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4-27-2007 @ 1:11AM
summer said...
Ugh, I can't stand Creed. I agree, he's absolutely despicable and I don't understand why so many people enjoy his character. Why not give us more Toby??
As for the Pam/Karen thing...I'm baffled. I just don't get it other than Pam maybe doesn't want Jim to think poorly of her.
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4-27-2007 @ 1:55AM
Michael said...
First off, I have to say I completely disagree about Michael and the apology. I was laughing like crazy when he started going off on her because she wouldn't accept it. Even if you don't like people like that, that's probably why they chose that. I mean, I doubt most people at all would like a person who refuses apologies, but it made for a very humorous scene.
Next, I have to completely agree about Creed. I honestly don't understand WHAT people have in his character. I've seen a few funny things from him, but overall, I think his character is pointless. His character really did piss me off tonight, because he dropped the ball and got someone else fired. I know, I know, it's just a show, but I think that was uncool...and to steal the money in the end just added to that.
Lastly, at the end, I had kind of forgotten about Creed, so it didn't impact the episode too much. However, aside from the credits, I didn't care for the ending of Jim consoling Andy. Personally, I felt kind of gypped for the ending of this episode...I felt like there really wasn't one.
At first I didn't agree with your 5, but the more I think about it, Creed plus the (lack of) decent ending makes me agree with you.
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4-27-2007 @ 11:22PM
ment99 said...
I personally LOVE Creed because of his wackiness and total dis-regard for anyone but himself. This is not real life...who cares (well, besides those of you that said you do ;) if someone on a show got fired that we have never even seen on the screen? I expected him to take the money from the envelope...did not expect him to just throw the card away...pure comedy all around. I hope they keep him and his crazy shenanigans in the show...and this is not the first time he got someone fired (remember Devon).
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4-27-2007 @ 4:02AM
Brent Schmidt said...
I wanna be an escape goat.
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4-27-2007 @ 6:26AM
Kyle Beabo said...
Creed is evil. That was one of the most evil things I've ever seen a character do. Definitely wasn't a pimple for me, but a highlight. How they can continue to shock me with that character is amazing. At first I was just "Oh Creed," but then he kicked her while she was down. WOW. Rest of the episode had me laughing like crazy, and I'm sure I missed a few jokes because of it. That's the best kind of show because when you rewatch there is something 'new' to enjoy.
http://kylebeabo.blogspot.com/
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4-27-2007 @ 6:26AM
amy said...
pam is sucking up to karen because she doesn't want to make it obvious that there's a rivalry for jim. secretly she wants jim but doesn't want karen/others to know, so she misleads everyone by making a conscious effort to be nice to karen, because you would expect her to hate her. (i know this because i do the same thing.)
"might i point out that the sex appeared to be consentual. both animals were smiling."
i also completely agree about creed.
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4-27-2007 @ 8:06AM
Steve said...
Dwight as Jim looked a lot like Rik from "The Young Ones":
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~culttv/rikpic.jpg
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4-27-2007 @ 8:39AM
Bill said...
Creed is an evil genius, and a hilarious one. I thought it was the best part of the episode by far.
http://popculturejunk.blogspot.com/
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4-27-2007 @ 8:40AM
Jay said...
See? You CAN write a fair and balanced (non-gushing) review! Seriously, you nailed it this time.
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4-27-2007 @ 2:15PM
RBear said...
Loved your post.
I thought that chicken on goat, goat on chicken, chickens on a goat wtih pigs watching was a missed funny moment from your list. I also thought the SWAT team conversation was a very funny and typical Micheal and Dwight moment. Pam kind of faded into the background of this moment. At this point, I am more excited to hear Kelly talk than Pam.
I hated the Creed part, I also didn't think the Angela not apologizing part was kind of ehhhh.
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4-27-2007 @ 8:51AM
Allison said...
Ditto to what Amy said. Pam doesn't want everyone to think she doesn't like Karen because she is "Jim's girlfriend", so she overcompensates. I've done the same thing. You have a crush on a guy with a girlfriend, so you be REALLY nice to her so he doesn't hate you and he doesn't see the crush. Wierd, I know.
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