Another wild episode to add to the stable of them that The Office has produced. The main plot, as the title of the episode (“Double Date”) suggests, was a double date involving Pam and Jim, and Helene (Pam’s mom) and Michael. On Helene’s birthday. A more awkward dining experience I can’t imagine.
Or can I? Anyone else recall the ill-fated lunch that Jim and Pam shared with Phyllis and Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration? The one where Phyllis and Bob disappear, only to have Jim and Pam discover that they’re having sex in a closet? I’m honestly not sure which date was worse.
But last night, Michael discovered that Helene was turning 58, and not 49 (for the ninth time) as he believed. “I am not robbing the cradle … if anything, I’m robbing the grave,” said he, in a talking head. Thus began a series of events that began with Michael discussing competing in a triathlon, and ended with Pam slapping him across the face in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot.
In between, Pam gave the couple her blessing, Michael dumped Helene at her birthday lunch, and he offered Pam a raise/bribe back at the office for her understanding. I found myself disappointed in Pam for not actually punching Michael in the face, or at least kneeing him in the groin one of the times that he went to cover his face. What a waste of a good punching tutorial from Toby. You could almost see Toby salivating at the thought of getting the opportunity to be in Pam’s shoes one day.
The “B” plot was a tad more confusing. Dwight’s quest to get everyone in the office to owe him one, with dreams of cashing in those chits to get Jim fired, seemed a bit odd to me, even for Dwight, and even before it veered off into a Dwight/Andy favor-a-thon. At first this season I just saw Andy being wasted, but as my wife pointed out to me recently, Dwight is also not getting much to do. And when he is wading into something, it’s a lot more ho-hum than funny.
I’m not sure where The Office is spending its time instead, because it’s not like Jim, Pam, and Michael weren’t the focus before, but I’m not even sure that Rainn Wilson would qualify for a supporting actor nomination this season — he’s just not involved enough. In fact, somehow the entire balance of the series, and the workplace action, has shifted. To where, I know not.
But I digress. It was funny that a $15 Starbucks gift card from everyone in the office was enough to counter-balance the bagels that Dwight brought in for his coworkers. Also funny was his lesson about deer penis being an aphrodisiac. And it actually did work in the humor department in the close when Dwight attempted to cash in his favor for icing Michael’s face with first a request to have Jim fired, then for a promotion to co-manager, and finally for an office. Maybe it just needed to be put into action to connect.
Anyway, good riddance to the questionable drama in Michael dating Pam’s mom. But did anyone else see a glimmer of possibility when Pam asked Michael to promise not to date any of her other family members? Do you think something’s amiss?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Nov 06, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
