It’s kind of funny that The Office would be able to do a Glee-centric episode, isn’t it? After all, they’re on opposing networks. I’m glad they did though, because I totally loved last night’s episode. I’m usually happy any time we see the whole Dunder Mifflin gang outside the office, and a Glee party at Gabe’s apartment was a delightfully bizarre reason for them to get together.
There were so many elements here that worked, and the episode was very successful in getting me to admit that Gabe has actually been a great addition to the cast. Michael is jealous of him because of their conflicting positions of authority. Who’s really in charge? Realistically, Michael has never been in charge. Not in the way of actually having authority over his employees. But back then it was a free-for-all. Now there’s Gabe. And then we have Andy, who’s jealous of Gabe because he’s dating Andy’s girl. (I think we all need to see a webisode that features one Andy Bernard belting out Cee-Lo’s “F— You”, since it perfectly sums up his situation.)
We also got to learn a lot more about Gabe himself, which was nice. Like everyone else in the office he’s kind of totally weird, but not entirely unlikable. He’s got a nice apartment. He has an Asian-themed man cave. He makes soundscapes.
Since this is The Office, the party had to be somewhat of a failure. Andy mixed powdered seahorse into his drink and spent the night puking. Michael tried to control the volume of the TV, got all pouty and stormed out to watch the show in the bedroom, and then sabotaged the whole thing by cutting off the cable. In smaller, funny little plots Phyllis totally nailed why I hate watching a show with someone who doesn’t normally watch by asking “Who’s that? Who’s that? So which one is Glee?” and Kelly echoed complaints of 99% of the Glee-watching world by complaining that Schue suddenly became a good dancer and that last season Jesse inexplicably turned out Rachel. It’s irresponsible!
The subplot was also funny – Jim and Pam brought the baby along, who was no longer sleeping through the night…until she met Dwight. Pam was so desperate to get the baby back on a normal sleep schedule that she would have done anything to have Dwight stick around. Which meant that Dwight got to boss Jim around, and have Jim feed him beer and pizza. It was also fun to see how turned on Angela was by the sight of Dwight holding a baby.
Overall, another fantastic episode of The Office. Here’s what else I loved:
- The cold open featuring the capture of the Scranton Strangler
- Michael pretending to be on The West Wing or something.
- “You know who my favorite character is? The invalid.” – Michael, talking about Artie I presume
- “I wonder if there’s a guy in China right now, looking at a bunch of our stuff.” – Darryl, looking at Gabe’s swords
- “If I had to choose between a tall dude who loved Asia, and a you-looking dude who loved sweaters and wearing sweaters? I’d choose you. And I’d blow your mind.” – Darryl to Andy (My favorite line of the night and possibly ever.)
- Oscar was wrong, Dianna Agron was never on Friday Night Lights. She’s been on Veronica Mars and Heroes, though.
- Kelly freaking out when the cable goes out. I turned to my mother and said “Wow. She’s me.” (I hate watching TV with other people. They talk and screw things up and don’t take it seriously enough.)
- “He’s a weird little skeevy guy with no waist.” – Michael, telling Erin why he doesn’t like Gabe
