you have won a tiny dundie
I could probably do this meta from memory, I’ve seen it so many times. In fact, it’s been only a week since the last time I saw it (don’t you dare judge me). But I am willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for office_meta and watch it again. One last time. And then that’s it. I couldn’t possibly see it again.
You know, for at least a few days.
1) Still no cold open. That is sick and wrong and not of this earth.
2) This was a great, fresh start. I think they do a really good job of reintroducing the characters for new viewers without being too exposition-y, using the “past Dundie winners” tour as an excuse. Each character’s reaction to Michael illustrates them perfectly without having to say: “This is Stanley. He is bored and has no time for Michael’s shenanigans. Kevin eats a lot. Michael wants to entertain everyone. Jim doesn’t want to hurt Michael’s feelings. Dwight is a weird kiss-ass.” They give us all this info, plus the Pam/Jim/Roy triangle set-up in two and a half minutes without it being forced.
3) I love this episode so much I keep getting completely caught up in the action on screen and forgetting to type my thoughts.
4) I miss Jim’s earlier (season one, beginning of season two) looks to camera. They were less mug-gy, more “please kill me now”. I’m sure this has to do with his changing relationship with the cameras. They were allies in the beginning, but now they’re his enemy, always spying on him, looking for a reaction.
5) Toby smiles and it is glorious. (he’s more than okay with never having won a Dundie and is content to sit back and watch everyone else get humiliated).
6) Jim gets the Jim Halpert award. Because he is awesome, just for being Jim. He doesn’t need to be Busy or Spicy or Hot. He’s just Jim. Although, Busy Spicy Hot Jim sounds pretty good, too.
7) Mindy didn’t know who Johnny Carson and Lucille Ball were, which makes the “who’s Bob Hope?” joke in Beach Games even funnier. Like, maybe she asked that at a writer’s meeting once and everyone cracked up, so they wrote it in to an episode.
8) I was at the Bayside Mall in Miami and the Chili’s and the Hooters are almost right next door to each other. I didn’t even know what to do with myself.
9) The Dundies: “You can fall in love at Chili’s”
a) The actors’ blocking changes in almost every frame, like a game of musical tables. It’s so unlike them to be all over the place, and it’s one of the few moments of the series that takes me out of the documentary.
b) I just noticed that when Phyllis accepts her award, Dwight is piping her in on his recorder. Clearly, he brings it to each ceremony.
c) Michael slapping Ryan’s ass kills me every time. The audio is perfection. “Crack!” And of course: “What am I going to do with the award? Nothing. I, I don’t know what I’m going to do. That’s the least of my concerns right now.” Oh, BJ. This is one of my favourite talking heads, ever, and it was improv. So much love.
d) I really don’t understand why the scene where Toby has to speak to Michael about his harassment of Ryan did not make it into the final cut. I just love how Michael steps into frame in that ridiculous costume while saying “He’s hot. What do you want me to do about it?” And when Michael walks off, you can tell Toby is thinking about surfing in Costa Rica. And being stoned.
e) I don’t know how I feel anymore about Jim’s reaction to those a-holes heckling Michael. I used to love how upset he got about it, but after season three, I’m like “Jim! Why didn’t you tell them to go to hell?” Although, I adore Pam drunkenly trying to figure out how to salvage the situation and coming up with applauding Kevin’s bathroom habits. She does something. Jim does not. He only joins in when he knows it’s safe. Sound familiar?
f) “This last Dundie is for Kevin, this is the Don’t Go In There After Me award. It’s for the time that I went in the bathroom after him and it was really, really smelly.” The look Stacy gives Kevin is priceless. And Kevin’s Dundie is squatting. Michael, you think of everything. Jim wasn’t kidding about the effort Michael puts into the Dundies. Also, it’s a great set up for “it smells like cookies” in Office Olympics.
10) Michael: “You go, girlfriend.”
a) Michael educating the camera crew about the hip lingo in the deleted scenes is so sad. “They’re generally good for no more than like five or six years.” Oh, Michael.
b) “No reason? It was the 05 05 05 party.” I’m having an 07 07 07 party. True story.
c) I love it when Michael scratches his eye brow with his thumbnail. And his speech is so touching. He just wants everyone to feel the love and recognition he never had as a child.
d) Michael keeps performing when Pam falls off her stool and Dwight takes off his shirt. The show must go on.
e) I would have had so much fun pulling costumes for Michael’s backstage rack, trying to find the most ridiculous and random items possible, plus, you know, lots of ethnically insulting “traditional garb” leftover from Cher's world tours.
11) Dwight: “By any means necessary?”
a) “So what’s the joke? You’re not perfect either.” I feel like this is some throwback to Dwight’s childhood. He probably used to say that to all the other kids on the playground who would make fun of him for smelling like beets and manure.
b) “That is defacement of company property. So you better tell me. Kelly, if you tell me, you’ll be punished less.” Ooh, someone has a crush.
c) Dwight wrote letters to the women of Enron. This is a character trait that somehow slipped past me on the first viewing of the deleted scenes. It scares me. And it probably also scares the women of Enron.
d) I feel like it was a slip in writing for Dwight to even try to enter the ladies room without first establishing where all the ladies of the office were. And oh, his hurt look when Michael sells him out and calls him “Creepsville Central.” Ouch.
e) I wrote Dwight’s order of Goldschlager extra flakes thing into a fic once because it adds a whole new dimension to the character in such a short sentence. Dwight, the human body cannot digest gold. You are essentially poisoning yourself. Genius.
f) Dwight’s enraged “argh!” when he can’t get his shirt off cracks me up every time. He’s trying to save the day, but he is foiled by a button.
g) Dwight is so proud of Michael’s compliment and Ryan’s like “whatever, dude. I had my ass slapped by my male boss tonight. And I kind of liked it, so I’ve got bigger things on my mind.” I think The Dundies is to Dwight what Diversity Day was to Jim. It was an episode where nothing went right for them, but in the end they received a crumb of affection/hope from the person they most seek approval from, and it made their day one of the best ever.
12) Pam: “You are so drunk.”
a) Jenna Fischer does a disgusted look like no one else. It’s exactly what I picture in my head when someone does something really stupid. Angela’s good at it, but Jenna’s really embodies how I feel about people who are idiots. Also, Pam has some serious hateful feelings towards the Dundies. Not that I blame her. Jenna’s look to the camera when she sees Roy accepting the award for longest engagement totally breaks my heart. She’s so ashamed that someone is witnessing that and embarrassed that she doesn’t ever do anything about it.
b) But this year, she has the best Dundies ever, all thanks to Jim. And some margaritas. I think Pam has two beers, and at least three margaritas. Now, I’ve been to Chili’s, and those margaritas are ginormous. I drink single malt scotch, none of that sissy stuff for me, but I could not finish my margarita at Chili’s. I have to give Pam props for even being able to stand up, never mind aim for Jim’s lips.
c) “I have so many people to thank for this award. Okay, first off, my Keds. Because I couldn’t have done it without them. Thank you. Let’s give Michael a round of applause for emceeing tonight because, this is a lot harder than it looks. And also because of Dwight too. Um, so, finally, I want to thank God. Because God gave me this Dundie. And, I feel God in this Chili’s tonight. WOOOOOOO!” I love everything about what this scene chooses to be.
13) Jim and Pam: “Every year that Roy and Pam don’t get married, it gets funnier.”
a) When Pam looks away from the footage and shares a moment with Jim, that means he was ALREADY watching her. I did not really grasp until this moment how obsessed season two Jim could be.
b) Jim: I think those might be empty.
Pam: No, no cuz the ice melts, and then it’s like, second drink!
Man, I love Jim and Pam in this episode, but it’s also sad to see Jim so grateful for her company. It’s kind of pathetic. Adorable, but pathetic. Or maybe I’m just jealous because a guy has never been so in love with me that he willing surrendered every ounce of his masculinity.
c) Pam is a hilarious drunk. And her joy over the whitest sneaker award is brilliant. Jim is almost cry-laughing at her. He just can’t believe how adorable she is and how much he loves her.
d) Everything that is awesome about the kiss has already been said. I don’t think I can add to that, except to say that even watching it for the billionth time, I still have a strong emotional reaction. Which concerns me, because these are not real people.
e) Um, I really want to see the conversation that Jim and Pam were having on the bench before Angela picked her up. Obviously, nothing “really happened” or the documentary crew would have picked it up, but there’s a nice untapped moment there.
f) I could write a whole essay about the subtext and blocking during “hey, could I ask you a question?” But I won’t, because that’s what fanfic is for. John said that scene is the opposite moment of the Booze Cruise, because Pam almost says something, then doesn’t. Which, if that’s true, then Pam was the first to reach out, step over that line. That kind of changes everything when I think about it for too long. I think I’m going to really enjoy doing meta this summer, if only because I’m seeing all these episodes from a new perspective. Not “will they?” but “how did they get there?”