"Do you think Stanleys grow on trees? Well, they don't. There is no Stanley tree."
There were many reasons I loved this episode, and I will try to peel myself down off the ceiling so that I can express some of them in words other than "EEEEEEEEEE!"
The Office 3.07 - "Branch Closing"
Jim totally misses the Scranton branch--and it's not just Pam, he's still messing with Dwight's head, still maintaining that tie. Dwight might have bugged the everloving shit out of him almost every moment they spent at adjacent desks, but Jim would not be sending faxes from FutureDwight (SO FUNNY!)--with malice aforesight with the stolen stationary, and coming into the office early to do so--unless he cared on some level.
And the best part of the fax prank was that it played into the hero narrative that abounded in this episode, and hooked Jim into it even from his distant location. Michael was so devastated at the news that the Scranton branch was closing that for once he had no schtick; he'd forgotten about the camera. The most important thing in his life is how his employees see him, because in his own head he is the hero of his story (this is something about him that leaks out in random and alarming ways, like the screenplay, and his improv), and he had to confront the possibility that he couldn't protect them from this, that he was just an ordinary man after all, and a failure. So of course he has to go haring off after the board member in some grand gesture that plays out the narrative of him as hero, swooping in to save the day, but that in reality probably would have ruined the magic second life the Scranton branch got thanks to Josh's assholishness. And in this, Dwight is his perfect sidekick, because Dwight also understands the story they're in, so it was perfect that Dwight even compared Michael's story to a book, cowritten by him and Michael, and that Michael made Dwight act out the story of Michael confronting the board member, correcting him when Dwight deviated too far from the narrative path that would lead to Michael heroically saving the day, and that Dwight is there to remind Michael to replenish his fluids (hee!), and that Dwight's devotion to Michael is borderline creepy. One of the best things about Jim's pranks on Dwight is that Jim understands this hero narrative, knows how receptive Dwight is to the idea that his future self is offering him warnings that he can use to save others.
Ryan was not heroic here, and I kind of wanted to kick him. Is he so passive, such a coward, that he can't face a messy office breakup and has to seize on the news of the branch closing to break it off with Kelly, and to think about finding another job? But oh, the trapped animal look on his face when he realized that no, he was still working at Dunder Miffling, and he was still dating Kelly.
Jim's attitude in this episode was kind of interesting. I had a hard time telling, when he heard about the Scranton branch closing, whether he was worried about Pam's job or worried that Pam would be transferred to Stamford and he'd have to deal with her. But I liked that he wasn't sure he wanted to return to Scranton, and the hints that dealing with Pam is still a huge problem for him, he still feels really vulnerable about it, because I felt like it set the stage nicely for where they're going with the inevitable Karen/Jim/Pam love triangle. Jim thoughtlessly encouraging Karen to go to New York was an interesting parallel to Pam thoughtlessly enthusing about Jim's job opportunities in Maryland last season, not only for structural reasons, but because Pam did that because she genuinely thought Jim was great and deserved better than Dunder Mifflin Scranton, and I think Jim was operating on the same instinct here. His sudden reversal, encouraging Karen to go to Scranton if she was offered a place, made me wonder if Jim isn't using Karen as a shield against Pam--not intentionally or consciously, because Jim is not someone who uses people like that, but unconsciously, because he does feel so vulnerable where Pam is concerned, and having Karen there would give him something new and different to hang onto as he negotiates reestablishing some kind of contact with Pam.
I think the hardest part of the Jim/Pam/Karen love triange that is coming is probably going to be seeing Karen's inclusion in the Scranton office in-jokes, because right now it's something that Pam and Jim share. Jim doesn't even try to explain to Karen what he's doing at the fax machine; he can't, because if you don't know Dwight, you probably wouldn't believe him. Jim's roommate thought Jim was making Dwight up.
Random bits:
* I really, really, really want to see Dwight and Andy in the same office, because they both seem like aggressive beta males snarling over scraps.
* Before I moved to my current house, every time I got new checks printed with my current address, I ended up moving again, so I was really feeling Ryan there with the business cards.
* During my brief and unhappy stint as a receptionist some years ago, I also answered my home phone with the office spiel a few times. It was disturbing. So I was really feeling Pam there too.
* Oh Roy. Cinderella says it for you?
* I loved, loved, loved Jim's observation that whatever you say about Michael, he would never pull a move like Josh's. Michael is constantly thinking of others, albeit in the most disturbing ways possible.
* I adored Phyllis trying to organize the lunch, not being able to make headway against Kevin and Angela's bickering, and the way that bickering magically disappeared for a single moment when they heard the branch would stay open.
* Oh Toby, with your dreams of giving it all up and surfing in Costa Rica. Sadly, I fear that Michael is going to hate you even more, because your finding out about the branch closing 10 minutes before he did is, in his mind, a sign of your evil, and every hero needs a nemesis.
* I was willing to accept some level of contrivance to see the Scranton branch triumph over the Stamford one, and I think they pulled it off well here, because it certainly wasn't on the merits of the Scranton branch but basically just dumb luck, and that is certainly fitting.
This show is so dense. There are literally about five things going on simultaneously, on different levels, in every moment. I realized this after brynnmck and I had spent about ten minutes discussing Roy, Toby, Phyllis, Angela, and Kevin in this episode, and they had about eighty seconds of screen time apiece tops--and they often don't have much, but we know so much about their history and their hopes and dreams, and their continuing arcs, and it is just an amazing piece of writing.
Next week: REUNION! HUGGING! ANGST!
* * * * *
I thought I could not be more relieved and giddy over the results of the election on Tuesday (some quibbles about CA ballot initiatives aside), but then Britney kicked K-Fed to the curb and it was like Christmas and my birthday and a pony all rolled up into one. The nation breathes a huge sigh of relief. I think this K-Fed interview in Salon (you have to sit through an ad to read it) should be Britney's exhibit A at the divorce trial. I also think the interviewer asked the last question ("What was the last book you read?") just to be mean.
* * * * *
Via tzikeh, this hilariously rueful inside look at the experience of being a Star Wars fan. (And apparently, according to the criteria of the article, I actually am a Star Wars fan. Who knew?) Substitute any other fandom and it still works. The only fandom I've participated in that didn't share that dynamic was Farscape fandom; either it is immune to the normal laws of fandom or I found it too late and missed all the wank.
* * * * *
Happy Friday! (Or, as I like to think of it, New Battlestar Galactica Day.) I for one am really glad this week is over, and am wondering why it felt so chaotic and full despite the fact that I was out of the office on Tuesday. Our documentation team had their annual offsite meeting, and because my manager is awesome, her idea of a team offsite involves an exquisite lunch at Boulevard and an afternoon at the de Young Museum. At least I was able to get through the rest of the week without committing murder.
The Office 3.07 - "Branch Closing"
Jim totally misses the Scranton branch--and it's not just Pam, he's still messing with Dwight's head, still maintaining that tie. Dwight might have bugged the everloving shit out of him almost every moment they spent at adjacent desks, but Jim would not be sending faxes from FutureDwight (SO FUNNY!)--with malice aforesight with the stolen stationary, and coming into the office early to do so--unless he cared on some level.
And the best part of the fax prank was that it played into the hero narrative that abounded in this episode, and hooked Jim into it even from his distant location. Michael was so devastated at the news that the Scranton branch was closing that for once he had no schtick; he'd forgotten about the camera. The most important thing in his life is how his employees see him, because in his own head he is the hero of his story (this is something about him that leaks out in random and alarming ways, like the screenplay, and his improv), and he had to confront the possibility that he couldn't protect them from this, that he was just an ordinary man after all, and a failure. So of course he has to go haring off after the board member in some grand gesture that plays out the narrative of him as hero, swooping in to save the day, but that in reality probably would have ruined the magic second life the Scranton branch got thanks to Josh's assholishness. And in this, Dwight is his perfect sidekick, because Dwight also understands the story they're in, so it was perfect that Dwight even compared Michael's story to a book, cowritten by him and Michael, and that Michael made Dwight act out the story of Michael confronting the board member, correcting him when Dwight deviated too far from the narrative path that would lead to Michael heroically saving the day, and that Dwight is there to remind Michael to replenish his fluids (hee!), and that Dwight's devotion to Michael is borderline creepy. One of the best things about Jim's pranks on Dwight is that Jim understands this hero narrative, knows how receptive Dwight is to the idea that his future self is offering him warnings that he can use to save others.
Ryan was not heroic here, and I kind of wanted to kick him. Is he so passive, such a coward, that he can't face a messy office breakup and has to seize on the news of the branch closing to break it off with Kelly, and to think about finding another job? But oh, the trapped animal look on his face when he realized that no, he was still working at Dunder Miffling, and he was still dating Kelly.
Jim's attitude in this episode was kind of interesting. I had a hard time telling, when he heard about the Scranton branch closing, whether he was worried about Pam's job or worried that Pam would be transferred to Stamford and he'd have to deal with her. But I liked that he wasn't sure he wanted to return to Scranton, and the hints that dealing with Pam is still a huge problem for him, he still feels really vulnerable about it, because I felt like it set the stage nicely for where they're going with the inevitable Karen/Jim/Pam love triangle. Jim thoughtlessly encouraging Karen to go to New York was an interesting parallel to Pam thoughtlessly enthusing about Jim's job opportunities in Maryland last season, not only for structural reasons, but because Pam did that because she genuinely thought Jim was great and deserved better than Dunder Mifflin Scranton, and I think Jim was operating on the same instinct here. His sudden reversal, encouraging Karen to go to Scranton if she was offered a place, made me wonder if Jim isn't using Karen as a shield against Pam--not intentionally or consciously, because Jim is not someone who uses people like that, but unconsciously, because he does feel so vulnerable where Pam is concerned, and having Karen there would give him something new and different to hang onto as he negotiates reestablishing some kind of contact with Pam.
I think the hardest part of the Jim/Pam/Karen love triange that is coming is probably going to be seeing Karen's inclusion in the Scranton office in-jokes, because right now it's something that Pam and Jim share. Jim doesn't even try to explain to Karen what he's doing at the fax machine; he can't, because if you don't know Dwight, you probably wouldn't believe him. Jim's roommate thought Jim was making Dwight up.
Random bits:
* I really, really, really want to see Dwight and Andy in the same office, because they both seem like aggressive beta males snarling over scraps.
* Before I moved to my current house, every time I got new checks printed with my current address, I ended up moving again, so I was really feeling Ryan there with the business cards.
* During my brief and unhappy stint as a receptionist some years ago, I also answered my home phone with the office spiel a few times. It was disturbing. So I was really feeling Pam there too.
* Oh Roy. Cinderella says it for you?
* I loved, loved, loved Jim's observation that whatever you say about Michael, he would never pull a move like Josh's. Michael is constantly thinking of others, albeit in the most disturbing ways possible.
* I adored Phyllis trying to organize the lunch, not being able to make headway against Kevin and Angela's bickering, and the way that bickering magically disappeared for a single moment when they heard the branch would stay open.
* Oh Toby, with your dreams of giving it all up and surfing in Costa Rica. Sadly, I fear that Michael is going to hate you even more, because your finding out about the branch closing 10 minutes before he did is, in his mind, a sign of your evil, and every hero needs a nemesis.
* I was willing to accept some level of contrivance to see the Scranton branch triumph over the Stamford one, and I think they pulled it off well here, because it certainly wasn't on the merits of the Scranton branch but basically just dumb luck, and that is certainly fitting.
This show is so dense. There are literally about five things going on simultaneously, on different levels, in every moment. I realized this after brynnmck and I had spent about ten minutes discussing Roy, Toby, Phyllis, Angela, and Kevin in this episode, and they had about eighty seconds of screen time apiece tops--and they often don't have much, but we know so much about their history and their hopes and dreams, and their continuing arcs, and it is just an amazing piece of writing.
Next week: REUNION! HUGGING! ANGST!
* * * * *
I thought I could not be more relieved and giddy over the results of the election on Tuesday (some quibbles about CA ballot initiatives aside), but then Britney kicked K-Fed to the curb and it was like Christmas and my birthday and a pony all rolled up into one. The nation breathes a huge sigh of relief. I think this K-Fed interview in Salon (you have to sit through an ad to read it) should be Britney's exhibit A at the divorce trial. I also think the interviewer asked the last question ("What was the last book you read?") just to be mean.
* * * * *
Via tzikeh, this hilariously rueful inside look at the experience of being a Star Wars fan. (And apparently, according to the criteria of the article, I actually am a Star Wars fan. Who knew?) Substitute any other fandom and it still works. The only fandom I've participated in that didn't share that dynamic was Farscape fandom; either it is immune to the normal laws of fandom or I found it too late and missed all the wank.
* * * * *
Happy Friday! (Or, as I like to think of it, New Battlestar Galactica Day.) I for one am really glad this week is over, and am wondering why it felt so chaotic and full despite the fact that I was out of the office on Tuesday. Our documentation team had their annual offsite meeting, and because my manager is awesome, her idea of a team offsite involves an exquisite lunch at Boulevard and an afternoon at the de Young Museum. At least I was able to get through the rest of the week without committing murder.