First off, Ryan's fedora was fucking awesome. It practically stole the thunder from the A story of Pam finding out Michael's sleeping with her mom and the B story of Dwight, Jim and the wooden mallard. I loved how he was just wearing it in the meeting with no explanation and with all the stuff going on in the conference room, there was Ryan wearing a hat with a smug look on his face.
I watch repeats of The Office on TBS and in syndication now and Pam is light years beyond the mousey secretary she was when the series started. That Pam would never have lost it in front of Michael over and over. Jenna Fischer went from acting really cute when they were giving Michael the rum ("I feel like a Puerto Rican.") to screaming in the parking lot, which I thought was great. Never seen Pam lose it like that before. I liked that Pam and Jim at the end did acknowledge that Pam went too far in screaming at Michael, who is still her boss. I also liked Oscar and the others kind of taking Michael's side that Pam was overreacting. And Jim was a prince in trying to straddle the middle.
All the Toby interaction was great too, from Jim screaming at him to Michael pretending to befriend him so he'd talk to Pam.
What the fuck are the writers doing? They've turned Jim and Pam into Ray and Debra from "Everybody Loves Raymond." She's a harpy bitch and he's completely pussy-whipped and afraid to express any kind of opinion. They've gone from two of my favorite characters on TV to completely and totally unlikeable. Another terrible episode. Really, outside of the wedding, this whole season has been awful and shows no signs of improving.
Very, very funny tonight. We knew 'Thou shalt not cross Pam Beasley' from the 'Surplus' episode, but man did she take it up a notch.
Yeah, the fedora was great, but I thought it would have been much funnier if no one had said a word about it all episode.
Poor, poor, poor Toby. I've almost stopped feeling bad for him because he just keeps going back for more. He's like Charlie Brown to Michael's football-holding Peppermint Patty.
If there's anything that we've learned from this series, it's that Michael Scott cannot, will not, absolutely refuses to be able to keep a secret. It's his kryptonite, plain and simple.
The bit with the pen at the end was the sort of thing that I should have seen coming from the top of the episode...so when I DIDN'T see it coming, yet still got to have an "a-ha" moment JUST before Dwight launched his explanation, I was left very satisfied with the entire episode.
I am loving the continued descent of Jim into Michael Scott 2.0. I get the sense that the only thing keeping Jim from completing the transformation is Pam. The scene with the two of them overlooking Dwight washing the car while he tried to cheer her up was sweet.
Dwight was awesomely creepy at the end. Well played on all counts.
You believe me, don't you? Please believe what I just said...
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Do any of you watch this show? I find it kind of Schmaltzy and more than a little contrived at times (and a bit off my religious beliefs as a rule), but an interesting concept.