The Office – “Dunder Mifflin Infinity”

“Dunder Mifflin Infinity”

October 4th, 2007

Dwight thinks they could do better, Angela thinks it’s fitting since Pam’s the office “mattress”, Andy’s happy to be the sexiest single guy in the office, and Michael thinks it is a life-changing event. The Jim and Pam union is officially known to the office, and the office reaction is clear. However, they continue to take a backseat to other focuses: Ryan’s return to the office is the big story this week, and I couldn’t be happier.

Why? Because Ryan dealing with an obvious lack of authority within the Scranton environment is a unique and new situation for the series. The transition from office temp to corporate boss, having to present a new-age Dunder Mifflin Infinity internet overhaul (NBC’s Meta site can be found at DunderMifflinInfinity.com), is an incredibly tough sell when you have Kelly dressing scantily, Creed feeling pushed out, and the pita fire still haunting his past. The theme of the week is change, and it leads to an episode that feels more integrated and natural than last week’s…until its conclusion.

Relationship drama is the name of the game: Michael and Ryan, Jan and Ryan, Jim and Pam, Jam and the Office, Dwight and Angela, Creed and Time, Ryan and Kelly…it was a strong interpersonal and interoffice episode, and I think that it brought the show back to its balanced point.

In the first half hour, Angela and Dwight try to work through Sprinkles’ stiff, lifeless body haunting her dreams. Their relationship remains a highlight, along with Ryan in general. Ryan struggles to overcome his past with both Michael and Kelly, the latter providing a great deal of comedy and a strong return to inter-office discussion.

Jim and Pam, meanwhile, are dealing with their relationship being public in both internal and external affairs: they start to feel pressured to reveal secrets, and others (Including Phyllis of all people) are worried about preferential treatment. Just as Ryan is trying to institute a brand new system to adjust to new changes, so too is Jim and Pam trying to establish a new workplace relationship to adjust to these changes.

The second half hour, meanwhile, was a bit more predictable: Michael and Dwight head out to attempt to bring back clients with gift baskets (Naive Michael as opposed to outrageous Michael, in other words), which is annoying since Michael was actually really GOOD at sales in Traveling Salesmen last season. What is actually reveals is that Ryan’s website is actually going to work, and that Michael might actually be wrong.

Except that it also falls into a ludicrous storyline about Michael driving a car into a lake, which raises his stupidity to a new level. Michael looked a bit out of sorts before, but following a GPS into a lake is the moment when stupidity took over from cluelessness. And, rather than the driving into the lake shocking Michael into some sense of logic, it actually make him even more petty and ignorant.

And this is infuriating: Michael’s end of episode rant was illogical, frustrating and downright nonsensical. He blames a machine for driving into a lake, but this is a frustrating lack of adjustment for his character. It’s also frustrating because Michael’s idiocy ends up being the episode’s representative development, as opposed to Ryan’s awkward and unfortunate return. These hour long episodes are frustrating in that the first half was right on, while the second sent it totally off the rails. This way, I have to be all wishy washy, and I’d much rather make a definitive statement.

Cultural Observations:

• I vaguely love that Toby is so jealous of Jim that he essentially outs the relationship over a peck on the cheek. So often we see Toby only as Michael’s foil, but his role as Pam’s office stalker is also quite great.
• Blackberries for everyone is definitely how these
• Kelly’s “I’m Pregnant” being followed by the absolutely fantastic headshake was a highlight.
• Michael shooting down Toby for agreeing with him is perfect.
• Michael representative old people: Old Titanic Lady, Where’s the Beef, Big and Ben Kingsley. In other words, the same images he used when he hurt his foot.
• The story of Dunder Mifflin: Started in 1947, and Mifflin committed suicide. The end.
• The episode divides: one half covers the introduction of new-fashioned business methods, while the other half covers the sales pitch of Michael’s old-fashioned business methods.
• Global completely screwed up the airing of the episode, airing the beginning of the second episode twice.
• The idea of downsizing Kelly and exporting consumer service to India IS confusing.
• Why Ryan is cool: he’s rich, he has a cool job, he smells like Andy thinks Pierce Brosnan smells like, and gets all the girls he wants.
• I may have thought that Michael driving his car into the lake was silly, but I do have to admit that it was well shot.
• Ryan’s cluelessness has not ended: Ryan’s sketchy attempt at getting with Pam shows he has not actually changed.