The Office S05E07 (”Business Trip”) Running Blog And Review
Go!
- My friends in Morocco, Japan, and Italy, I assure you that Michael Scott is only kidding. You too, Ca-NA-da.
I hope.
- Michael: “My boss is sending me abroad to do a presentation to an international client, and I have always been intrigued by all things international: the women, the pancakes, the “man of mystery.” Michael Scott, star of “Match Game 2008!”
- Jim sure is grinning a lot. I’m certain it is because he’s in charge while Michael is away!
(Uh-huh.)
- Kevin’s butt slap of Jim was the most unfunny thing I’ve ever seen that still caused me to spit water all over my monitor.
And yes, it took me more than a few seconds to figure out what was going to happen in one week. I must be sleepy.
- $50 for per diem? Winnipeg in November??? You’re a brave man, Michael. A brave man, or an idiot. Probably an idiot.
- LOL. Andy and Oscar get to go with Michael…but they don’t get business class seats? Sucks to be them.
- Did Michael get hit by a drink cart, or was he shot?
(This episode is putting me to sleep. It better get better in a hurry!)
- Wait a second…why is Ryan headed back to where Kelly is? Don’t tell me Michael is re-hiring him as a salesman!
Nice one-armed pushups, by the way.
- Raise your hand if you didn’t see Ryan and Kelly doing something right after Kelly’s talking head.
- Michael: “The concierge is the Winnipeg equivalent of a geisha. This is a woman who has been trained in the fine art of fanciness and pleasure, and when you meet one, it is intoxicating. Just what the doctor ordered.” OK.
- Pam: “I have to stay and retake it.” Please, please, please, don’t tell me that this means Pam is going to stay in NY until the end of the season!
(PLEASE!!!)
“That means another twelve weeks.” Well, at least it won’t be a Winter break cliffhanger!
Poor Jim and Pam. Is it just me, or does Jim kinda doesn’t want Pam in NY, and does Pam kinda wants to be back in Scranton?
(Yeah, kinda. And I kinda like ice cream.)
- Michael: “Everybody’s going to end up dying someday, and I think it’s better to die with some people that you like, like Oscar, and Andy, and concierge Marie, than to know that there’s somebody out there that you love that you’re not with.” It’s pretty obvious that this is referring to Holly…but could he be talking about Jan here?
- Oscar: “How can ANYONE stand that woman [Angela]?” Ask Dwight.
- Sign that this episode is boring me to tears: I didn’t even crack a smile at the entire drunk-dialing scene with Andy and Oscar (am I using the term “drunk-dialing” correctly?)
- OK, Dwight explaining why he knew that Pam was going to fail in art school actually made me laugh a bit. Seriously, this episode is awful.
- Andy’s realization that he called Angela while drunk might have saved what might end up being the worst episode of The Office to date.
- I take that back. The text message/breakup between Kelly and Darryl, Darryl’s “It’s cool” response, and a kicking-up-his-heels Darryl walking towards his truck might have saved this episode.
- Andy: “Oh man, she is so pissed. She’s taking us back to first base.” Oscar: “What’s first base with Angela?” Andy: “I get to kiss her forehead.”
- Please allow me to change my opinion again. Michael finally realizing that the business trip was anything but great saved tonight’s episode. Sure, the rant about the shuttle, the flight, and the hotel was classic idiot Michael, but for him to call out David Wallace for sending away Holly was shocking. Yes, it was highly inappropriate, but incredible at the same time! Like I always say, sympathetic Michael is the most entertaining Michael on this show.
- Michael: “…Why have I stayed at Dunder-Mifflin for so long? Certainly not because of the paycheck, because I could be making more money as a doctor, or a professional athlete. I think it’s because they respect me. A boss that will not fire you even though you just tell him off right to his face, over the phone. That’s respect.” Idiot Michael is fun, too.
- Who didn’t expect Jim to see Pam in the parking lot there?
- Pam: “It’s not because of you.” Sure it isn’t.
- Dwight: “You’re back.” LOL, freaking Dwight.
- Ryan: “I…I realized that, for whatever reason, I just couldn’t do better than Kelly.” Stupid, stupid Ryan!
Great way to end an otherwise forgettable episode.
- Time for my review:
“Forgettable” describes this episode nicely. It was way too predictable (Pam’s back? Kelly and Ryan are back together?), and the first fifteen minutes of the episode bordered on completely unwatchable. The last five minutes absolutely saved tonight’s episode. Ryan and Kelly’s second go-around doesn’t interest me in the least (though I’m still laughing a bit at Darryl’s reaction to the break-up), Dwight was woefully underused (Why didn’t the writers send him along on Michael’s trip???), and Pam’s abrupt return to Scranton was, in a word, dumb.
I know I was clamoring for a quick end to the long-distance part of the Jim/Pam relationship, but I was prepared to wait until after the Winter break for resolution. For the writers to bring Pam back to Scranton like that is just plain awful. It’s as if the writers wanted to stretch out their storyline to the winter break, and then immediately realized that they were going to run out of material a few weeks before the Winter break. I could imagine the writers finishing the script the day of the taping, ultimately deciding to bring Pam back to Scranton ASAP. What’s next for them? Are we going to see tensions develop between them? Will Jim try to push Pam back towards the art program again?
So the Andy-Angela relationship is back to “first base,” huh? What happens next with their relationship? I’m surprised that, given how quickly the writers sent Pam back to Scranton, the writers didn’t immediately have Angela dump Andy and profess her love for Dwight! Would anyone have been surprised if Andy’s drunk call caused that to happen? That being said, I hope that the tensions between Angela and Andy, as a result of the drunk call, is a theme that carries throughout the rest of the Andy/Angela/Dwight storyline.
The truly redeeming scene of tonight’s episode, though, had to be Michael’s chewing out of David Wallace. It was great to see Michael pour his heart out, explaining how “sucky” the entire situation was. There’s no way Wallace gets that go without disciplining Michael, right? If not, then what was the point of tonight’s episode? Of course, the show won’t work if he leaves the office, but would a storyline where Michael might really considering leaving Dunder-Mifflin be that outrageous?
Consider this a first-draft of my review of tonight’s episode. I’ll probably watch the episode again later, and hopefully, I’ll have better things to say about it. Tonight’s episode could not really be that bad, could it?
Right?
As it stands right now, I didn’t see the worst episode of The Office of all time, but I’m thinking “bottom five” for sure. Extremely disappointing, coming off such a strong episode last week!
Until next time.