(S04E10) Hey Pam will you... wait for me one second while I tie my shoe?For everything that happened this week -- a return to form for those of you who were upset that the previous two episodes strayed from the confines of Dunder-Mifflin -- I believe it's that question (and Pam's reaction to it) that will set up the conflict over the remaining episodes of the season. I'm about as good at reading female facial signals as Rain Man, but even I could tell that Pam's face during the "proposal" wasn't exactly filled with the kind of joy you'd expect it would be. Maybe the producers are just giving us a red herring and Pam's reaction tonight will be the equivalent of Lost's four-toed statue (interesting for a blip, then forgotten about) or maybe things are not all that well in JAM-land.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about the rest of the episode first...
After last week's "most uncomfortable dinner party in the history of the universe," Michael and Jan are officially broken up. This, of course, is calamity for Michael, whose biological clock is ticking louder than Marissa Tomei's in My Cousin Vinnie. He wants kids while he's "still young enough to play catch with them" -- just the idea of Michael Scott playing catch with a young child makes me want to call Scranton Child Services -- and as such he needs a lady.
This is going through his head at the same time he needs to pick out a new chair for himself. Pam is desperate for him to make his choice as she'll inherit his old chair (her description of why she wants it -- the "whoosh" sound it makes when you lower it -- will soon be a part of my new book, 6000 Reasons Why Jenna Fischer is the Cutest Woman on Earth: A fascinating look at one man's battle with Los Angeles county restraining orders).
Michael has become obsessed with the model in the chair catalog, though, and instead of making his choice, he is inspired by her to declare to the office that he wants to be set up on a date. This is met with the usual enthusiasm (Stanley can't think of a single person he hates enough to set up with Michael) as well as results in the usual actionable HR violations from Michael. My favorite? Trying to get Phyllis to admit her potential set-up was fat: "I'm just asking if she would capsize a rowboat." I hereby nominate "capsizing a rowboat" to become 2008's new euphemism for packing on a few extra pounds.
I've been a vocal critic of the Michael Scott episodes this season because whenever we have a Michael-centric plot, it seems to give the writers license to bend all the laws of reasonable behavior. As a fan of the show, I often fear that one day we'll be talking about how The Office was great until that one fifth season episode where Michael decided to knife fight a monkey because Jim dared him to. B.J. Novak, however, found the right balance tonight, grounding Michael's increasingly obvious sociopathy in a believable reality. This was exactly what we'd expect from Michael following a break-up.
While Michael deals with his broken heart, Kevin and Andy are left to figure out the parking crisis gripping the rest of the office. See, W.B. Jones are renovating their offices and the construction vehicles are taking up many of the usual spaces at the Scranton Business Park. This is forcing people to park in a satellite lot, which means, of course, that they have to walk.
I loved this B-Story! What more could you want? You had Bob Vance (of Vance Refrigeration). You had Andy and Kevin working together (a team with more comic potential than Turtle and Johnny Drama, if you ask me). You had a sweet Godfather reference. And you had it ending with Andy breakdancing by himself in the parking lot. You can't call yourself an Office fan if you didn't enjoy all of that.
The eye for detail we saw in this sequence could single-handedly serve as a counter-point to anyone who says that all people in Hollywood are out of touch with mainstream America. It was so dead-on in capturing the kind of small business owners who populate an office park, so perfect a satire of the kind of trivial problems that office workers blow-up into world-threatening catastrophes, that you have to think that at least some of the writers spent some time at a real office. Either that or they "majored in life experience" at Harvard, like the writers on Itchy and Scratchy. Regardless, it was pitch-perfect.
Dwight promises Michael to track down the chair model for him ('I swear, she will bear your fruit"), only to find out that she died in a car accident. Michael is so heartbroken that Pam is finally moved to set him up with a real prospect: her landlady. A quick coffee-date is made, and Michael is off to meet her.
Now, a lot of you said that last week's episode turned the uncomfortable-comedy screws so tight that you were almost unable to enjoy it. While I agree that last week had its share of painful-to-watch moments, I contend that Michael's reaction to seeing who Pam had set him up with -- a stunningly plain woman -- outdoes the entirety of the dinner party when it comes to discomfort. Seriously, I had to pause the TiVo and wait for the the scene to play out a little bit, just so I could fast-forward through it.
I felt so bad I even felt bad for the woman playing the landlady. Could you imagine that ad in the back of Variety? "NBC is looking for an actress for their popular late night comedy, The Office. Needs to be attractive enough that female friends upon hearing that you're single will make that sound women make (you know kind of like 'awwwwww', but trying to hold the pity back) and then say, 'you're too pretty to be single!' BUT, also needs to be UNattractive enough that when the men with whom you have blind dates actually SEE you, they are visibly disappointed." I mean, who reads that and is excited that it describes them? So, so uncomfortable.
It's the disastrous date that leads to the situation I talked about at the beginning of this review: Pam and Jim and marriage. Jim quips that after the date, Pam is going to need a new place to live and he, of course, offers his place. She tells him that she doesn't want to live with anyone until she's engaged (which is either quaintly old-fashioned or another a painful reminder of the breakdown in young-people's morals, depending on your point of view), which leads to some awkward marriage talk.
I say "awkward" not because of the content of the conversation: that was actually pretty sweet. My wife hasn't seen this episode yet, but I imagine that when she watches Jim smile and say that his proposal is going to "Kick your ass, Beasley," her crush on John Krasinski will grow so powerful that it will actually gain sentience and apply for U.S. citizenship.
No, it was awkward for little reasons: Pam's fading smile at the end of the conversation, her look of consternation during the "fake proposal," the fact that Jim bought the ring "a week after they started dating," which is right up there with "I think the stripper really likes me" on the list of "Top 10 Things your Friend Tells You that Makes You Think He's about to Get Hurt." It's entirely possible that I'm reading too much into this -- I've certainly done that before -- but did anyone else get the sense that a happy wedding without any drama is not in the cards for Pam and Jim?
We end the episode at the cemetery, with Michael and Dwight paying their final respects to the chair model by way of a ridiculously chomped-up version of "American Pie." It was wonderful, but watching it got me mad at NBC. See, if you TiVo The Office normally (without padding in a few extra minutes at the end of the episode's recording time), you would have missed the very funny "American Pie" sequence. I understand that programming a network in this day and age is increasingly complicated, but is pissing off the people who TiVo your episodes really the right way to go? The running time of each episode is 22 minutes; there's no reason why it can't fit in the neat little half-hour block that my TiVo says it's going to fit in. C'mon NBC, do the right thing here.
Other stuff:
-- We really need more Creed! I am desperate to know what he means to do with two chairs and why a third one seems integral to his plans. Consider the gauntlet thrown: Creed needs his own spin-off!
-- How great was Toby's face when Michael declared to the office that he "needed to get laid"?
-- The Five Families of Scranton Business Park: There's Michael Scott, Bob Vance (Vance Refrigeration), Paul Faust (they call him "Cool Guy Paul"), W. B. Jones (Grade A badass), and Bill Cress (super old and really mean). If that's not a crew to rival the Corleones, the Tattaglias, the Barzinis, the Cuneos, and the Straccis, then I don't know what is.
-- It was nice to see Kevin win one. Really, it was.
-- A banner day for Michael's unwitting gay-bashing: "My little Oscar-Meyer Weiner... Lover" and referring to Oscar's homosexuality as a "condition."
-- This is our third Michael-centric plot in a row. Coincidence? Or do you think the producers might be doing anything they can to keep Steve Carell from jumping ship at the end of his contact?
Tonight's episode was solid, if a peg or two lower than the brilliance of the two episodes that preceded it. What's your take on it? As always, tell me how wrong I am in the comments!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-18-2008 @ 12:59AM
Peanut said...
The actress who played Pam's landlady will probably find this site and add the "attractive enough that female friends..." language to her resume.
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4-18-2008 @ 1:18AM
James said...
I preferred this episode to the last one - it was just nice to be back in the actual Office and there was a lot of little stuff that made me happy - like the whole parking lot subplot (I am so loving the Kevin-Andy dynamic) and Michael making a phone call to 'Wendy' and Phyllis admitting that her friend would probably capsize a small rowboat.
I too sense a little hesitance on Pam's part re: the proposal, but I think it's more a consequence of the way her last relationship didn't work out than something wrong with Jim and/or the relationship itself. It's going to be interesting to see how things pan out...
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4-18-2008 @ 1:25AM
Chris Shifty said...
Loved last week's episodes, and this was great but wasn't as funny. As for the Michael-centric episodes, the Dinner Party was filming just before the Writer's Strike and then they had to scrap the Christmas episode and who knows what plans they had for the 5 episodes or so that they lost but they just have to squeeze all the relationship storylines in these final episodes.
The teaming of Andy and Kevin looks like a pair NBC hasn't had since Kramer and Frank Costanza hooked up.
The "unattractive date" is borrowed from Ricky Gervais' final appearance as David Brent.
I don't think Pam is ready for marriage, this is NBC so they're going to unfortunately add drama. Hopefully it doesn't turn into a trainwreck like Friends or even Gilmore Girls.
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4-18-2008 @ 1:37AM
Blair Mitchelmore said...
I didn't really notice Pam's reaction to Jim's proposal talk because I was too busy squeeeing... same goes for when he was on his knee...
Yes, I'm a man.
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4-18-2008 @ 2:38AM
Ryan S. said...
Right with you Blair, I really thought Jim was going to do it; but to no avail.
I think that Pam is just more worried about a long term engagement like what she went through with Roy, plus it is a tv show, what is a tv show without there being a little drama and intrigue.
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4-18-2008 @ 2:44AM
willmore2000 said...
I am a man, though I question my manliness after today's episode.
I don't watch the show live preferring to download the episode and not have to bother with the commercials. When Jim went on his knee, I had to slam on the "pause" button and run out of the room for a minute before I could bring myself to watch the rest of the scene. And I can't explain why I had the reaction, it was just this unexpected thing that struck me from out of nowhere.
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4-18-2008 @ 6:10AM
Jay Black said...
Hey Willmore: I got a sense of dread watching the "bended knee" scene too. Joel Keller and I were talking right after the episode ended and we decided that the build-up to it felt exactly like one of those botched public proposals. I'm thinking specifically of the one where the guy proposes at halftime of an NBA game and the woman goes from excited (she thought something _else_ was happening) to mortified (once she realizes what he's doing).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac3AzaDohd0&eurl=http://www.letsgettight.com/blog/2008/2/25/top-5-botched-marriage-proposals.html
(if you haven't seen it and want to get that same feeling again!)
4-18-2008 @ 2:49AM
steve said...
during the show i was wondering how much lonver steve carell would be on for, when does his contract run out ?
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4-18-2008 @ 6:23AM
Jay Black said...
I was under the impression that he had signed a five-year deal (as that's the initial contract for most sitcoms). I know he renegotiated in 2006 after the success of 40 Year Old Virgin, but the article in Variety was clear that the new deal did _not_ add any years to the original contract. My guess is that his obligation to the show is up at the end of next season... (if anyone else knows otherwise, please comment!)
4-18-2008 @ 5:27AM
groy said...
Good words Jay.
I agree with Willmore, I download it (what, the man in the $5,000 dollar suit is going to wait a year for it to broadcast in the UK, COME ON!!?), and the combination of Jim's eagerness to get engaged, with Pam's reluctance, made me cringe when he went down on one knee. I'm sure he will propose and she will say it's 'too soon' in the next few episodes.
I also cringed on Michal's date - painful stuff!
A god episode, a return to form. Not one of the best episodes ever, but a good solid season 4 episode.
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4-18-2008 @ 5:31AM
Jay Black said...
Hey Groy. If you don't mind me taking advantage of your UKness, I'm really curious as to what the general reaction to the show is over there. Is there a feeling that the American version of the show can't compare to the original? Or is it appreciated on its own terms?
4-18-2008 @ 6:45AM
groy said...
Hey,
I'd say it was generally unknown until a few months ago - obviously there was a big fuss when the show was first commissioned ("how dare they turn our masterpiece into some generic sitcom?", asked the hysterical tabloids), but the show went generally un-noticed when first shown on the BBC - partly because all they showed at first was the first season, when the show was still finding it's groove.
Recently it's been re-ran on Paramount UK, and it's picked up a good audience - it will often get 'pick of the day' in TV listing guides and more and more people are seeing it and liking. My younger, 22-year-old sister has become a big convert after watching it on streaming websites, and is keen to get the DVDs if/when they're released over here, and I find she's a good indicator as she's not very TV or Internet-orientated, s once something lands with her I know it's hitting the mainstream!
The UK and US shows are completely different beasts, and for that reason, I don't think there's much snobbery from Brits about the remake. More importantly, the US one is laugh-out-loud funny (and season 2 and half of season 3 were fantastic), so its hard to knock.
I'm also glad that my pet-favourite Arrested Development is getting some screen time on the BBC at the moment. Three episodes a night on both Wednesdays and Thursdays.
On a completely unrelated note, I sent a CV to Weblogs last week, seeing if you wanted a London-based TV reporter. I'm a senior, qualified reporter with three year's experience on a countywide paper, don't suppose it landed on your desk (under the name Eddie Wrenn)? No matter if not.
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4-18-2008 @ 6:55AM
Christian said...
Man, this is one of these episodes I worship. I'm not so much in it for "the funny" as for the interpersonal relationships which "The Office" does better (meaning more realistic) than any other show I know.
When Jim went on his knee I had no chance to pause and I thought my head was gonna explode. Thankfully he did not propose and what you chose as quote of the episode was an absolutely fantastic tease. I can't remember the last time I was fooled by a TV show...
And I believe tomorrow they will air the "Booze Cruise" episode here in Germany, my favorite. I am so spoiled :)
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4-18-2008 @ 7:55AM
Mark said...
The American Pie sequence and Andy's breakdancing were phenomenal. Plus the nice Kevin moment and joke-of-the-episode with Creed's one-liner, then the Jim and Pam stuff, ahh...
To further what groy says about a UK audience, I certainly regard the US version as superior in every way to the original. A hilarious and truly poignant show. However I do think there is a reluctance to accept this, to even watch the show, because people are averse to 'remakes' (which The Office most certainly, following the Pilot, is not) and there's a strange feeling, certainly on places like IMDB, of 'us vs. them'.
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4-18-2008 @ 8:08AM
Wendy said...
Not to be too gross, but did anyone notice Steve Carell's thumb nails when he was making the call to Wendy's. Very odd, infected looking, maybe fungus. It looked like he was trying to hide them the whole scene.
He seems like a nervous wreck.
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4-18-2008 @ 8:19AM
Jack said...
Jay, Have you never seen one of those "Stars Without Their Makeup" photo spreads in the tabloids?
95% of the women in Hollywood can look as plain as Pam's landlady just by skipping the makeup.
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4-18-2008 @ 8:51AM
Jimmy said...
Solid ep. I loved Andy's speech about the guy sitting in his apartment worrying about paying his mortgage and orphanage bills. Subtle stuff. And the switch from day to night for the American Pie sequence was classic.
P.S. I didn't pick up on any of Pam's anti-proposal anxiety, and I thought Jim going down on one knee -- to tie his shoe -- was perfect.
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4-18-2008 @ 9:06AM
kip (SSBB:3437-2813-1377) said...
I thought this was a pretty bad episode personally. If not for the Jim/Pam thing there would be very little to take away from this episode. I took Pam's uneasiness after the question mainly to indicate that she wasn't sure if he was joking or serious. But I agree with another commenter that he will propose before the end of the season and she will say it is too soon.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the funniest lines, when Andy was in the parking lot: "he doesn't know how he's going to pay his $400 a month rent this month, or how he's going to put oil in his car, and the kids' orphanage bills are due."
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4-18-2008 @ 10:01AM
annacsmith08 said...
This was such a great episode! I didn't pick up on Pam's hesitance (mainly b.c. i didn't want to) until you said brought it up. and even then i thought, "well the reason she wasn't jumping for joy is because she wants a more romantic proposal... one that's not on the way back to the parking lot." but then i remembered her facial expression as Jim walked back to his desk... yikes. there could be trouble up ahead... as i told my roommates, either its going to be an amazingly awesome proposal... or an amazingly awkward one where everything goes wrong... either/or.
other notes:
it definitely was good to see Kevin win one!
Andy is possibly one of my favorite characters with some of the best lines, "this wasn't for me.. .it's for the guy who doesn't know how he's going to pay his $400 a month rent this month, or how he's going to put oil in his car, and the kids' orphanage bills are due."
and what DOES Creed need with 3 chairs???? such a small part of the show, but so many questions!!
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4-18-2008 @ 10:20AM
Matt M said...
I think Pam's reaction was more of a "What... you're doing it here?!? Walking back to our car??". You know, that kind of disappointment. I would expect some kind of epic proposal from Jim (especially since he got the ring a week after their first date... he has to have been planning something good)
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