“Launch Day”
October 11th, 2007
To expand on the cold open to tonight’s episode of The Office, the show is a little square bouncing around a TV screen. As a fan, I’ve been watching to see whether the series will be able to hit that sweet spot right in the corner of the screen. As the members of the office wait for the bouncing cube to finally enter into that elusive meeting place of perpindicular lines, something happens: it goes in the corner. And, as if to coincide, the show found its own corner as well.
What the show brought to the table this week, that it hasn’t in weeks past, is a focus on entirely Office-related activity. The show teased heading to New York, but staying grounded in Scranton brought out the best in the show’s characters. The episode wasn’t perfect: the second half still devolved into Michael’s crazy antics that went a tad too far, but it remained grounded in the office environment. Plus, Michael actually realized he had done something wrong: a step in the right direction!
It’s the first episode in a while that we have focused on Jim and Pam’s relationship, but it remained smartly in the background. They had their little rooftop moment remembering when they first liked one another (Jim when she warned him of Dwight, Pam when Jim warned her of expired yogurt), but for the most part their relationship took a backseat to Dwight and Angela once again.
That storyline took a very interesting turn this week, when Andy’s multi-phone harmonizing and Angela’s stubborn refusal to return to Dwight combined for some intra-office romance drama. Dwight tried to prove his love for her, but she is clearly spiteful and open to a relationship with Abba-loving Andy. I like this: it not only gives Andy a purpose, but also provides some further comic possibilities.
For the first time this season, Michael’s antics felt natural and forgivable: ridiculous, definitely, considering he kidnapped a pizza delivery guy and all, but the show smartly played it for laughs. The kid was never hurt, or driven into a lake, so the harm is minimal.
And the episode seemed to sober Michael up a little: his end of episode coda with Dwight in New York City on the hood of their car was an understanding that things are changing…without driving a car into a lake. It was subtle, for once, which is a nice return for the series. A subtle Office is a good Office for me: this resulted in what I consider the best episode of the season.
Cultural Observations:
- Stanley grooving to the website theme was, perhaps, the greatest thing ever.
- Ryan’s PR Speak is genius: it is entirely ridiculous, but it also makes total sense.
- “Oh, and your cat’s still dead!” Man, Angela’s got it bad.
- “It appears the website has come alive…”? Dwight’s best talking head of the season. And Dwight’s best plot of the season. Maybe of all time.
- Phyllis is really vindictive this year: taking advantage of Angela like this is very conniving, I enjoy it.
- Andy as the Office sleazebag who is actually respectable enough to be taken seriously is a decent characterization.
- “Because some town in Switzerland says so, you have rights” is the best description of the Geneva convention I’ve heard. Jack Bauer should totally use that.
- The end of the episode was kind of anti-climactic: part one was certainly superior to part two, just as in past weeks.
Cultural Learnings 