Ask and you shall receive! I was hoping we’d get to see lots of Michael and Toby’s therapy sessions, and The Office didn’t disappoint. In fact, The Office delivered a pretty solid episode – Michael’s counseling, Dwight’s reenactment of Pretty Women, and Pam trying to scam her way into a new job were all great storylines.
Do the job you want, not the job you have
I think Pam’s storyline was my favorite, perhaps just because it’s been a while since we got a really good Pam story – and there’s a difference between a Pam story and a Pam & Jim story. It started with Pam realizing that she’s terrible at sales. And since salespeople work almost entirely on commission, it means she’s not making any money. So when a guy came into the office looking for the office administrator, Pam seized the opportunity and said it was her.
Brilliant. So, so brilliant. If I ever work in a large, dysfunctional office I am totally going to try this. “Oh, didn’t you hear? A couple months ago they made me the official office blogger…so weird that the paperwork got lost!” Pam just started convincing people that she’d been the office administrator for several months – it conveniently happened just before Sabre took over. The best part was when she was trying to tell Oscar her new salary – $40,000…I mean $50,000…I mean…$41,500. She had to get every department head to sign off on it (who’s the head of sales? Obviously not Dwight, he would have called her bluff…Jim? Phyllis? Stanley?), but Gabe ended up being her biggest obstacle. He tried to get her to call her own bluff, but Pam knew he would never accuse her of lying so she stuck her ground. Apparently watching poker on TV at 2am paid off – “You play the opponent, not the cards,” Pam said. So now Pam is the Dunder Mifflin office administrator!
Big mistake. Big. Huge!
The weakest storyline probably was Dwight seeking some revenge on a fancy store that refused to serve him, Pretty Woman style. Watching the rest of the office crew try to make him over was pretty funny – Andy exclaiming “I think he’s got it!” in a British accent like in My Fair Lady was a highlight – but I expected more from the end result. Dwight returned to the store with Andy and Jim, the sales clerk was very nice, and it turned out that Dwight had actually tried to enter the store in nothing but overalls, with his hands so stained with beet juice that it looked like blood. Dwight fumbled his big line, bought a statue of a wizard and left.
Dr. Toby will see you now
I would love for The Office to do a flashback episode that explains why Michael hates Toby so much before Steve Carell leaves. We don’t know why, right? It’s just this irrational hatred of possibly one of the most harmless people ever! Poor Toby!
After a disastrous counseling session that ended in Michael making Toby feel bad/worse than usual about his failed marriage, Toby told Michael to check off the boxes on the form however he wanted. Michael furiously checked them off, and then they heard back from corporate that he’d actually answered “severe” for everything. Wheee, more counseling!
Toby decided to get through to Michael by playing the games he owns in case his daughter ever comes over (SO sad!) It worked, until Michael realized what was happening. In the end though, they seemed to bond over a mutual dislike for Gabe. Could the pencil-necked geek without a clear job description become the new Public Enemy #1? I hope so.
Overall, it was a solid episode. Not super memorable, but it certainly brightened my Thursday. Here’s some more great moments:
- “I talk a lot, so I’ve learned to just tune myself out.” – Kelly
- Dwight’s “Sesame Avenue” daycare.
- Angela’s punch card for sexual encounters with Dwight. Doe she get the tenth one free?
- “Disposable cameras are fun, although it does seem wasteful and you don’t ever get to see your pictures. If it’s an important event that you want to remember, I recommend using a real camera.” – Erin
- “I don’t know, just use the best one.” – Ryan, after rattling off a bunch of insights on crazy people and counseling during his confessional interview.
(The Office, S07E02, Aired 9/30/10)
