So, um...The Office?
Wow, that was a packed episode.
This was a great episode for Michael. He respects Jim's opinion enough to follow his advice and actually manages to pull off not coming on too strong. Unfortunately for Michael, he can't read women well enough to realize what Holly was asking him at the end. I like her so far; I just want to see what her personality dysfunction is (She's on The Office, she has to have one).
I wasn't a huge fan of either Jim or Andy proposing at the party (Don't get me wrong - I was really hoping for Jim to propose, just not there). For once, I wanted Toby to get the spotlight. But between the two of them, I was more annoyed by Andy, grabbing the microphone and having his parents crash the party. Jim was at least trying to create a moment for the two of them.
Toby did at least get most of a party for himself. Holly was the perfect check on Michael throughout the day; he didn't get to deliver his big tell-off speech and had to play off his gift of a rock as a joke (Which, BTW, was the perfect meta gift for Toby, as he is the Charlie Brown of the series). Putting his best foot forward for Michael means having to treat Toby like he's actually a valued employee.
"Phyllis, can you do this?" Finally, she gets out from under Angela's thumb on the Party Planning Committee and comes through. Phyllis comes alive! When Michael asked her to rent an anti-gravity machine, I figured that a moon bounce was going to be as close as they could come.
"The beard was the real crime." Heeeeeee. I saw it coming only when Ryan demanded that Jim log his sale into the website after it had already gone through. I searched for the perp walk on YouTube last night, but they hadn't actually uploaded it. I wonder how his actions will affect the rest of the business and who will be taking his place. Jim telling him off was fairly awesome, and that follow-up was quite the burn.
Pam! Accepted at Pratt! Going to New York for three months! You can tell that Jim is worried about the separation, but he wants to support her dreams. I wonder how she'll fit in at art school. The discussion between Oscar and Gil from "Business School" was horribly blunt, but it wasn't necessarily that far from the truth. Courage and honesty weren't Pam's strong suit then, but I hope that with Jim behind her she'll find her voice. I know she's going for graphic design, but commercial art is still art.
Oh, Jan. I'm surprised that she's still in Scranton; maybe even her sister in Scottsdale is avoiding her on advice from legal counsel. I think she knows she and Michael are terrible for each other, but she doesn't have anyone else to cling to, and Michael is so eager to have any sort of child that he's willing to make the same mistake again. At least she didn't visit a sperm bank frequented by the Duffy men.
Way to use that last minute, The Office. Whoa. I was hoping for it to be Jim getting the chance to propose somewhere else, maybe just a shot through his window at Pam's apartment or his house. But this is good too. Rainn Wilson, once again taking the opportunity to be shirtless.
The Office isn't really a comedy anymore. It's funny and absurd at times, but it's about pursuing the characters more than extracting jokes from them. It's neither a good nor a bad thing, but it's a comedy only for Emmy purposes.