I didn't actually think that stuff was far-fetched at all. Jim has seldom been in a position where he has had to be a public figure of authority or speak in front of people, and when he has, he's always been bad at it. The difference is that he probably knows he's bad at it and dreads it where Michael thinks he's great at it. But the end result is similar - Jim gets nervous and falls back on his humor (all the little quirky, funny things that, one-on-one come across as "cute") but standing in front of an anxious group of people makes him seem utterly inept.

Jim being bad at this is actually a payoff of Jim having never taken work or anything seriously enough to actually try to get good at it...that would include managing people and communicating to anyone other than his soul mate.

The whole point of the "Ryan has it out for Jim" storyline was that Jim DID get serious about his job and try for the first time. That and he and Pam getting engaged seemed to put him on a more solid career path. He was very worried about Charles not liking him, for instance, because it could hurt his career.

I don't want to harp on this though, because like I said I still like the show. Hopefully the next episode is a bit more to my liking and I can stop acting like one of the people I'm usually here arguing with :p

Someone needs to quit or get fired for a little while to make things interesting again. However, this season is alright aside from the super lame mafia salesman episode.

Micheal in a relationship with Pam's mom is a good development. The show always shines when Michael fumbles through a relationship. I suspect a Holly return and Michael clumsily trying to dump Pam's mom and get back with Holly.

Oh, and Oscar as the offended comedic straight man never gets old. We need Oscar to bring a boyfried to the office and then get stuck in an elevator with Michael.

The quit or get fired thing has been done to death on the show. Michael quit to form The Michael Scott Paper Company. Pam quit to go with him. Dwight was fired for betraying Michael and refusing to tell him who he met with at Corporate. Jim left to go to another branch. Ryan was promoted to Corporate, went to prison, came back as a temp, faked going to Thailand, and is back again. Tobey quit to move to Costa Rica. Oscar went on an extended trip after manly beyond my wildest expectations Witch Hunt. Roy was fired for attacking Jim. Jan was fired from corporate. Plus all the people from Connecticut quit or were fired except Andy.

what if someone really gets fired? like, fired fired, as in they aren't coming back? (like devon in season 2) how would michael, and more importantly jim, handle that? many of the secondary characters serve no real purpose now, so it seems like one of them could leave without much of a problem for the show.

or what if a salesperson has to be fired, and michael and jim have to face the fact that pam is the logical person to be let go? (it's not like she makes any sales or anything, as far as we know) not sure how she could be fired, since she got her job as part of the deal that bought out michael scott paper co., but it probably wouldn't be too hard to explain that. but putting michael and jim in that position would be something fresh, since pam is of "jim and pam," and michael would have to consider that she (sort of) stood by him when he quit, and he's boning her mom (and the conflict between them over that).

jan stayed part of the show after she was fired, and it seems like they could sort of work it the same way if pam gets fired, only she wouldn't be a nutcase like jan. maybe she could rediscover her art, or whatever.

Hey speaking of Pam what was up with the candy power struggle between Pam and Erin this week? Was there some joke to that I didn't clue in on or something?

The thing I got from that is, when Pam worked reception, she just did little things like that without consulting Michael.
Erin thought that Michael's position of authority in the office should include even miniscule things like a candy dish on the counter. Perhaps that's why he said, "And thank you for asking."

There's a deleted scene from two weeks ago that sets up some tension with Erin trying to replace the popular former secretary who's still around. It was mentioned in the preview for the show, but didn't make the final cut.

That scenario with Pam sounds intriguing.

Does anyone else feel that Meredith brings the least to the table out of the secondary characters and would be the most logical one to cut if a secondary character were to get fired and stay gone? Just curious.

I think she pretty clearly is the odd man out, so to speak. She has a cute one-liner now and then but hasn't been a big part of a storyline in awhile and I think that what she brings to the table (mostly being an alcoholic) has been used about all it can be. I don't think she would be dramatically missed.

And there is the problem. If they "fire" her and get rid of the character it makes almost no impact and nobody cares. For a "real" firing to have impact it would have to be a major character, and they aren't going to get rid of one of the top four characters because it just wouldn't make sense. I think even the loss of an important minor character, Andy or Angela or Kevin, wouldn't have nearly enough of an impact to make it worth losing the character.

Might not make the "impact" you are looking for but I am all for trimming the dead weight, personally. Leaves more screen time for Stanley and Creed.

if "impact" is the main concern, then creed would be the best choice. he's never been a part of a meaningful storyline, (maybe when he almost got fired) and despite that he's one of the most popular characters on the show. so he almost seems like the ideal person to eliminate.

not that i'm advocating getting rid of creed.

The funniest part of that episode was that the guy who actually DID get fired was dressed up for Halloween as a hobo. Great touch.

If they did fire Creed, he'd probably show up the next day anyways as if nothing happened.

that would be great, if it turned into a running joke that, every time someone needs to be fired, creed is always the first choice, but they just can't get rid of him. he just shows up the next day and jim and michael don't know what to do so they fire someone else. (but then, how would they pull that off in a believable way? probably better if he just talks his way out of it like he did the first time, and jim is just as ineffectual as michael, even if it is less funny) creed as the guy who does a terrible job, doesn't even actually know what his job even is, but somehow holds on to that job is pretty funny stuff. i would love references to past attempted firings that came before the show, like even ed truck tried and failed to get rid of creed.

Subtle Sexuality

The new webisodes Mindy Kaling directed..

Trust me.

Dave

Oh my word, that is going to be stuck in my head forever.

You forgot the obscene watermark episode?!

Oh my god. He screwed up and didn't do his quality assurance visit, found out who called in sick that day at the plant, got them fired, sent a sympathy card around the office to be filled with donations, and then pocketed the cash. He was a fucking evil tour de force in that one. That episode all gave me one of my oft repeated phrases: "Lord, beer me strength."

As awesome as that music video was, no comments on tonight's episode? I really expected Pam to be more sympathetic to Andy during the car ride back. Can't you see that he just wants to love and be loved??? I suppose she sort of made up for it talking to Erin in the tag, but the old Pam would have totally set them up. The jokes at Michael and Jim's expenses were really great. "Jim, let me get out of your way." "See, flounder has two meanings...."

Really enjoyed tonight's episode. This was a great night of tv.

Sonofabitch. DVR cut off just after the Deedle Dee card again. Missed the tag. Someone fill me in plz?

Pam asked Erin what she though of Andy. Erin said Andy is the coolest guy she ever met, and said he looked just like Marlon Wayans.

Gracias.

... looks like Marlon Wayans?

Erin said Andy was the coolest person she had ever met in her life. Pam, trying to be nice, said "Yeah......he is.....he's just like Marlon Brando."

Erin waited a couple beats and said something to the effect of "Do you mean Marlon Wayans? Because yeah, he's just like him."

Pam, perplexed, just went with it and said "Yeah, you know, actually I did mean Marlon Wayans."

The weird thing is I can sorta see it.

i don't know if i'd call that "meaningful", but fair enough, that was an awesome episode. and another example of creed somehow getting someone else fired when it should be him.

this week's wasn't bad, either. the stuff with andy and erin was very funny. i loved when kevin said, "i'm going to kill you" after erin ruined his joke, and how erin doesn't quite fit in yet.

it was strange how they dropped the pam's mom stuff like it never happened, though.

I remember Creed having a bigger role in the Ageism episode where he dies his hair with printer ink to appear young.

SEX WITH A TERRORIST.

That is all.

Ok, that's not all, because "I vant to sell your blood" was just awesome.

My DVR cut off the first few seconds of the episode.........was any explanation given as to why Michael was dressed in a Dick In A Box costume? Not complaining, because the visual immediately cracked me up, but I was just curious.

Because it's Halloween.

Well, um, yeah, I get that.

Just wondered if there any jokes or comments around it during the part that was cut off by my DVR.

I just think it was extension of Michael being ridiculously out of touch with pop culture, latching onto something that is two years out of date and thinking it's the cleverest thing in existence. He mentioned in an earlier season dressing as Monica Lewinsky YEARS after that could possibly be seen as timely.

While I liked the "Koi Pond" ep well enough, MY GOD IS THAT MUSIC VIDEO AWESOME. I've been replaying that thing for seemingly ever on Hulu - damned catchy and Ellie Kemper looks so cute in it.

Best episode of the season by far. Hilarious from start to finish. Dwight having to explain why "carping" was an insult to Michael, and then feeling he'd have to do it with flounder too was great. I wish they would have thrown in a line about Pam's mom, because the storyline is obviously going to continue, but I wont bitch too much here. Really strong episode.

new Office tonight???

Yep

This was a good episode. This has to be one of the worst things he has ever done.

Toby teaching Pam how to punch was pretty awesome.

I really liked this episode. Felt like a lot happened, although I was very surprised to see the Michael dating Pam's mom storyline (apparently) blown off so abruptly. Tons of great little gags here though with Dwight/Andy being completely awesome, Toby teaching Pam how to punch, Jim rationalizing that yes Pam was wrong but knowing it was in his best interest not to do anything about it, Ryan the photographer approaching Erin (can't wait for when he inevitably hits them up for some three-way action) -- huge thumbs up.

I'm not going to complain, because the blow-off of the Pam's mom deal was so amazing, but I still hate how they hot-shot storylines that can be worked with inside jokes and milked for a lot longer.

It was a good show last night.....not sure where they are going with Dwight though, other than a complete meltdown....
I did chuckle at his suggestion of a Tri-Manager system though...

By the way - were "Koi Pond" and the most recent episode aired out of order? I don't remember any mention of Pam's Mom dating Michael in the "Koi Pond" episode despite lots about it the week before. The most recent episode was all about Michael dating Pam's Mom. I jsut assume they aired them in a different order than they were filmed.

TUBE CITY!!!

I LOVE Creed.

Creed's bit was so awesome. I noticed he wasn't there, and when he showed up late, you knew it was going to be something awesome, and it was.

To those who complain about Oscar's appearances being one note lately........last night was a great episode for Oscar. He might not have done a LOT, but going from being super concerned about what was happening to making the worst attempt in history at a Southern accent was hysterical.

It's from Sesame Street, DUMBASS.

Oscar's insane accent was the highlight of the episode.

I was really hoping after Kevin's angry DUMBASS comment that Oscar would have pointed out that Swedish Chef was technically on The Muppet Show.

God. That would have been perfect after last week's "Why can't you just AGREE WITH ME ON THIS!"

This was another ep that I really wish would've gotten an hour. Loved everything once they got to the shareholder's meeting, loved Jim sticking Ryan in the closet and Oscar chickening out after having so many good, sound arguments throughout the show was just as cringe-worthy to me as Michael at his worst. Great episode.

I thought this was the best episode of the season so far. With Michaels huge blunder in front of the shareholders and Jim earning some boss cred by isolating Ryan, I wonder if a Michael demotion is in the works in the near future. I felt so bad for Oscar being put in that situation and being so nervous that he could barely speak.