The Office Returns!!! (Dinner Party Review Inside)
I’ve got so much to blog about, but every day, other material comes to me (take, for example, The Office returning tonight!)
Oh well…on with it!
Quick-hitters:
- Seriously, Brett Favre, please go away. You might consider coming back if the Packers need you? You just got the entire town of Green Bay, WI, praying for a serious injury to Aaron Rodgers.
What did Rodgers ever do to you, by the way? You’ve hated this guy since day one, it appeared (anyone remember when Favre said something to the effect of “I’m not here to groom a new QB?”).
Go away. Seriously.
- Taxes are due in five days, and yours truly still has not filed them yet. Geez…what is so difficult about clicking the “submit” button? 
- Current rebate-o-meter: $1800, and that’s after receiving $80 worth of rebates.
I’ve got about another $300 coming soon, though.
- One bit of television talk before I get to my Office review…
(For the record, I will neither confirm nor deny that I watch American Idol.)
but did Michael Johns really get eliminated this week? And WTF was with Ryan Seacrest reminding the viewers that, at this time last year, nobody was eliminated…but that wasn’t going to be happening this year? That was seriously messed up.
Did I just rant about reality television? Let’s just pretend that that never happened…
- So I’ve got one thing to say about tonight’s episode of The Office:
L O [expletive!] L.
Tonight’s episode was just like another season premiere, and boy, was it worth the wait! Michael had three vasectomies? Just the thought of that hurt me down there.
(Totally OT, but I live just a few blocks south of that hot dog stand that Jim and Pam were at, at the end of the episode. I’ve lived near it for almost three years now, and I have never eaten there!)
Watching the Michael-Jan relationship slowly obliterate around the rest of the party was incredible. I kinda expected something bad to happen between them, especially after how nauseating they were at the beginning of the episode. WTF happened to Michael’s condo? Jan has an office AND a candle-making room? And WTF was with that painting??? Was it just me, or were those images of Jan? Well, at least Michael has a little (literally!) area to sleep in. He might as well sleep on the couch every night. Oh yeah, and don’t forget his awesome TV! Seeing that thing made me spit water all over my TV, which, I should point out, is slightly larger than Michael’s.
Speaking of the party…who didn’t figure out immediately that Michael intentionally kept the staff at the office for some reason?
When Michael had Jim and Andy in the garage, and he started with the line, “Did you know that candles are the #1 fastest-growing product…,” I was immediately thinking “Oh no…Jan’s candle business is an MLM??? LOL!!!” The writers should have gone with that…not that Michael’s straight-up asking for $10,000 investments wasn’t hilarious enough. And did it surprise anybody to find out that Jan put Michael up to asking for investors? All I know is, I’d like to know what a bonfire-scented candle smells like :P.
Also, was there anything more priceless than the look on Pam’s face when it was brought to her attention that she had a relationship with Michael? And I loved how Angela chimed in with the “I’ve noticed how you look at him” remark. The tension between Jan and Pam—I forget the details, but there was an earlier episode where Jan reminded Pam that Michael was hers, or something like that—were evident, starting with the embrace between Michael and Pam, and I loved Pam’s facial expressions each time Jan threw a jab at her.
I also loved what Jim was willing to go through to get out of the party, even if it meant abandoning Pam. My sister wasn’t happy with what he did, but I thought it was hilarious. She loved how Pam got Jim back, though, by pointing out that Jim could not “buy a new party.”
(Tangent: John Krasinski, I found out earlier today, was interviewed on the Jim Rome Show last Thursday. That was a damn funny interview.
At the end of the episode—when the cops were called over—I was expecting Jan to run out crying, pleading with Michael not to leave, and I figured the episode would end with Jan and Michael embracing, thus immediately smoothing things over between the two of them. Once Michael insisted that there was nothing wrong, I was certain that the writers were going down this route. You could imagine my surprise when I found out that this was not the case; we were left with Jan literally picking up the pieces (of a Dundee), while Michael morphed back into the laugh-at-him idiot that we know and love. Could Michael finally be coming to his senses?
(Nah.)
Favorite moments:
- It wasn’t funny at all, but who wasn’t happy to see the opening scene with most of the cast there?
- Dwight: “Does it bother me that I wasn’t invited to Michael’s dinner party?” followed by his running off-camera. Poor Dwight.
- Jan (referring to the bottle of wine Pam gave them): “…this will be great to cook with!” (At this point, I knew that the party was going to be a disaster, with Michael and Jan right in the middle of it all.)
- Pam: “What a cute bench.” Michael: “Thanks. That’s my bed. Jan has, uh, some space issues, so I curl up on that puppy.” (Great choice of words, BTW.”
- Michael (after Pam announced that Jim couldn’t set up her TiVo): If you ever need any help, I’m just a phone call away.” Did you see the look on Jan’s face???
- Andy (to Pam): “I bet you’re sick of tuna, right? You probably have tuna every night.”
- Pam: “I just want to eat…which I realize is a lot to ask for…at a dinner party.”
- Jan’s stare of death at Pam after Michael gave Pam his jacket. Now THAT was priceless. The back and forth banter between Michael and Jan afterwards was great, especially Michael remarking that Jan loves to sue! Something tells me that Jan hasn’t forgotten that Michael cost her…er…them a great deal of money!
- Angela remarking that Jan and Michael shouldn’t joke about the devil.
- Michael: “Snip, snap, snip, snap, snip, snap…you have no idea the physical toll that three vasectomies have on a person.
(I just keeled over again for a minute.)
- Pam: “And now you guys are dating?” Dwight: “Purely carnal. That’s all you need to know.”
- Michael: “That was a $200 plasma screen TV you just killed! Good luck paying me back on your zero dollars a year salary + benefits!”
- Cop: “Not now, Dwight.” A nice way to remind us that Dwight was once (still is?) a volunteer cop.
- Jim: “My apartment’s on fire” which was immediately followed by Pam saying “Flooded.”
And for my sister’s one un-favorite moment:
- Angela slamming the Cold Stone ice cream cone on Andy’s car door. What a waste of ice cream!
It’s good to have The Office back.