TVSquad

(S04E12) Jay Black couldn't be with us today because he was called away suddenly. Something about not leaving the table until he'd finished all his vegetables but he didn't like asparagus and yet that didn't matter he can sit there all night if he has to or until the asparagus evolves arms and legs and jumps off his plate and leaves on its own. So he figured since my name is the closest to his, maybe we could get away with this last minute pinch hit.

I got an episode that won't necessarily go down in the annals of time as an Office classic, but does bring us back to the core of the show: the office. The episode takes place entirely in one day, entirely in the office, and virtually every cast member gets pulled into one storyline or the other. For me, this is when The Office is at its best, when its presenting us barely controlled chaos. Offices are constantly bustling with activity productive or otherwise. Tonight's episode captured just that, and very well.

The episode opened up in typical Michael Scott fashion, with him running in needing ideas for the most important moment in a man's life; the opportunity to write something in wet cement. What do you do? Do you write your name? A picture? Maybe a witty line? Not if you're Michael Scott. When Jim threw out the idea of one-upping the celebrity handprints in cement by putting his face in the concrete, Michael jumped all over that. As someone with an impressive schnozz of my own, I kept thinking that he was basically adorning the company parking lot with a pothole, or something else for Meredith to trip over when she's coming in to work drunk (or leaving).

The main story tonight dealt with Michael and Stanley. Michael called an emergency meeting in the conference room, because those always go so well. I'm going to go out on a limb and give Michael credit for actually putting together a valid business meeting: brainstorming ideas to invigorate sales and get things exciting again. When Michael keeps trying to push Stanley to contribute, after all he was wanting to think urban and who better than Stanley for that, right?. But he refuses repetitively until he finally shouts, "Did I stutter?" We all know how Michael handles confrontation, and thus endeth the meeting.

I guess I never realized how far Stanley's dick-ness could go. He'd always been a bit of an ass, but more in the fun jackass way ("Oh, that Stanley!"). Tonight he didn't come across as that fun guy anymore. Toby dropped by Michael's office to try and encourage him to address the insubordination issue with Stanley. But by then, of course, Michael had concocted his own version of that reality wherein he and Stanley were just two buds joshing around.

Michael finally came up with his solution on how to deal with Stanley. He would "fake fire" him. Toby suggested he outright fire him, but that was dismissed. How could Stanley like him if he fired him? Come on, Toby. But a "fake firing." Michael can totally make that work. Just like all his other brilliant schemes work. And this one worked just as well.

After the public "firing," Stanley countered by threatening to sue the company and reveal every stupid thing Michael's ever done. Then when Michael revealed that it was faked so Stanley would understand how he felt in the meeting earlier, Stanley just unloaded on him until, finally, Michael reached his own limit and cleared the room of everyone but him and Stanley. Michael's going to finally let him have it, right? Well ...

After the room is empty, Michael cracks and tearfully asks Stanley why he's so mean to him, Stanley lays it out for him cold and clinical. Stanley has no respect for him and no sympathy or heart. Michael accepts that Stanley doesn't respect him but tells him that regardless, Stanley just can't talk to him the way he does. Michael is his boss and he can't allow it. Stanley accepts that. This is painfully realistic. I've had just this kind of an encounter with a boss, albeit with minor differences on the grievances and details. Believe it or not, you can scream and yell at a manager and not automatically get fired so long as you are being honest and at some point are reasonable to their side and expectations.

Michael massaged his ego and hurt feelings in his confessional by comparing the lack of respect to Rodney Dangerfield, doing a painfully long and awkwardly terrible impression of him. Bonus points for him slipping into Jeff Foxworthy, Jerry Seinfeld and other comedians by the end. I love how complex and real the character of Michael Scott has become. He's so pathetic and awkward and yet you pull for him to get a clue and find happiness. Then he does something stupid and you think he's an idiot again.

I'll give them credit for cleverly hiding Angela's pregnancy thus far with positioning her behind tables and desks and having her hold her handbag high in wider shots. It helps that she's only 3'2" tall so in any shot with other people her belly's going to be below the shot anyway. Tonight, she was at the table in the break room doing one of those HILARIOUS MadLibs. "It's a man eating cat food," she giggled at the end. Oh the inanity! For the most part, though, I guess they're struggling with what to do with her character due to these restrictions. She's been relegated to bit parts and just being Andy's girlfriend. In fact, other than Dwight occasionally wishing them well with daggers in his eyes, the whole thing is a non-issue.

I wasn't sure if we were going to see Ryan tonight, after the heaviness of his appearance last week, but he showed up and suckered Jim into getting a formal warning. See, Ryan was in the conference room with Toby and called Jim in just to ask about the Eagles. Then it's, "Oh hey, while I have you I need to give you a formal warning about your job performance." Classic bait and switch. That Ryan, he's so good at what he does, isn't he! Actually, the sad thing is that he's every business cliche and Dilbert strip wrapped under George Michael beard fuzz and yet he actually buys into his own hype.

Honestly, with the heaviness of the storyline established for him last week, and the fact that B.J. Novak is still listed as one of the main stars of the show, I think his decline and fall is going to be a major side story threading through the next year or so. This is just petty vengeance against Jim for going over Ryan's head in criticizing his website. Never bruise the ego of middle management because they can and often will try and destroy you. It's scary how The Office can nail the cold-hearted bastard side of corporate America so well and yet still be funny. And Ryan's a douchebag. Just to put that out there.

Jim couldn't bring himself to tell Pam about the meeting, though she knew he was lying to her. The two are more alike than Jim would ever like to admit. He too wants to be liked by everyone and doesn't take criticism well. I think that's one of the points the show is trying to show us about people, both likable and somewhat unlikable. We're all struggling with the same demons in our own ways.

While I liked the side story with Andy and Dwight, it felt unfinished to me. The very idea of those two haggling over a car deal is priceless. So when Dwight decides he wants to buy Andy's Xterra, the negotiating begins in earnest with Dwight offering to buy it for next to nothing due to the string of non-existent problems he finds. But those anger management classes must have really did a number on Andy because he all of his fire was gone and Dwight manhandled him through the entire process until finally he caved. I can totally see Dwight using the same tactics at a real dealership, or even at a nice little old lady's garage sale. "You'll sell me this lamp for twenty-five cents! Or would you rather watch some poor innocent child electrocute themselves in front of their parents on Christmas morning. Is that what you want?"

After the deal, Dwight immediately "flipped" the Xterra, washing it, raising the price and posting it for sale right where Andy had posted it, as well as sticking it up on eBay. Isn't that against eBay policy? What would happen if someone would want to buy it direct via the flyer? Oh no, Dwight would get a warning at eBay. Or maybe the flyer was just a plot device so Andy would be aware of the sale. Sloppy writers, tsk tsk tsk. And then they just left it there. I guess it could end there, but it feels a little unsatisfying to me.

In the end, we came full circle as we wound up in another meeting. Only this time Stanley was totally fake and overly enthusiastic in his support of another terrible Michael Scott idea. Phyllis, however, declared the idea stupid and so Michael had to clear the room of everyone but him and Phyllis. I'm glad they cut it before he started crying again.

Other Stuff:

• Michael turning to Pam to translate Kelly's pop culture celebrity ramblings. The girl speaks Perez Hilton. Funnier even that Pam knew what Kelly was trying to convey.
• Picture it: Michael rambling on about "Energize," Pam wearing those hideous glasses, Everybody crammed into one tiny room looking bored. I mean what possible better time would there be to drop a proposal ("You know what would energize me? If you Pamela Morgan Beesly ... [would] get me a cup of coffee."). As far as I'm concerned they can string this almost-proposal schtick for awhile because for some reason it's always funny.
• Jim upstaging Andy's idea for putting zing and pep in their outgoing voicemail message by using the word "more" before zing and pep but otherwise repeating it word for word... and Michael loving it!
• "Stanley is a beautiful, powerful, sassy black man." -- Michael Scott
• In the gang world, what do you do when one of your homeboys disses you? According to Daryll: "Fluffy fingers." Fluffy fingers is a tickle-fest that leads to laughing, hugging, forgetting the whole thing and going to church and getting ice cream together.
• Dwight's organizational chart was so awesomely complex as to who had authority over who in what situations. Bonus points for the menstrual cycles being on there, as well as the "Emergency Disaster Mode" for the chart giving Dwight full authority over everyone.
• I loved how Pam finally took off her glasses after Kevin shared with her his librarian fantasy, and then tried to get her to play act it a little bit.
• Creed's confessions are always awesome. After Pam took off her glasses, he compared her to blind jazz pianists. "I'd like to put the piano in front of Pam, without her glasses, and see what happens. I'd also like to see her topless." So random and so classic!
• Kevin pointing out to Michael that if he hadn't told anyone he was pretend firing Stanley, then they wouldn't have had to act like it was real because they would have all thought it was real. And of course, Michael didn't get that at all.

I loved how there were so many different threads running throughout the night. I don't think this will go down as one of the best Office episodes we've seen, but it continues a string of entertaining and strong episodes. In his own way, Michael did stand up to Stanley and demand a certain level of respect. That's growth, right?