It’s a dangerous thing, basing a whole episode around a character that pretty much no one likes. Todd Packer, certainly, has never been likable. But his appearances have always been brief enough to be funny. What kept this episode from failing, thankfully, was the fact that we know he’s not sticking around.
What I liked best about the storyline was that it shows just how much Michael cares about Holly, and how she’s changing him for the better. Old Michael loved Todd Packer. So of course, Holly allowed Todd to trade in his traveling sales gig for a desk job. She soon realized, though, that everyone else in the office was right – Todd was a chauvinistic, inappropriate, gross jerk.
The other thing I loved? That Todd’s new gig, which meant Dwight got shuffled over to the annex, prompted Jim and Dwight to try and work together to run Todd out of the office. Jim immediately came up with a great plan – jam all his desk drawers so they’ll only open two inches – but Dwight was only interested in poisoning his hot chocolate. Dwight freaking out after Jim jammed his drawers, but not making the connection, was hysterically funny.
Meanwhile, the interactions between Pam and Andy made for a great secondary storyline. Andy has that rage issue, and Pam has a tendency to be a bit stubborn or uptight, so I liked seeing them go head to head only to end up working together.
The resolution of the episode followed a similar path to the past few we’ve seen – Michael’s feelings for Holly deepening. He almost outed Jim and Dwight’s ruse to get Todd to fly to Florida for a head office job that didn’t exist, but once Todd insulted Holly he just went along with it. It can’t be long now before Carell makes his exit. Will he simply transfer to Nashua or quit the company so he can be with Holly? Or will it be bigger than that?
Here are a few of my favorite moments and lines from “Todd Packer”:
- “Kevin will be eaten. Pam will be taken slave. Jim will be made a Warlord’s jester. Meredith will be okay.” – Dwight
- “We can’t just sit around waiting for Creed to die.” – Michael
- “So something good happening to Stanley is crazy now?” – Stanley
- Erin’s frustration when Holly didn’t promptly deliver the ant farm to Dwight
- AWESOME “Charlie Bit My Finger” reference from Holly
- “Who is Justice Beaver?” – Dwight, when Jim mentions Justin Bieber
- …and Jim telling Dwight that it’s a crime-fighting beaver.
- “If you donated my computer to Africa, it would become famous as the slowest computer in Africa.” – Andy
- Michael: “Just so you know, he’s at his funniest when you give him like five shots. And it also helps if you’ve had five shots.”
Holly: “I already have.” - Dwight: “Who’s dirt box is this?”
Holly: “That’s our zen garden.”
Dwight: “What are you growing here, bull crap?” (throws it in the trash) - “You’ve been on the road a long time, and you’ve been an outdoor cat. And now you have to be an indoor cat, so you can’t be peeing all over the walls.” – Michael
- “Maybe you can go back down there and find me some extra sick days.” – Darryl
- “I’m full on corrupt.” – Pam
