“The Chairmodel”
April 17th, 2008
On its surface, and in its synopsis, “The Chairmodel” was about Michael Scott overcoming an offscreen breakup with Jan by pining over a model he finds in a catalogue. On the surface, his immediate attempt to get the entire office to set him up seems like the typical office scenario: Michael makes a fool of himself multiple times, we all laugh, Dwight plays along, and then Michael comes to a false epiphany that is just so twisted it hurts. It’s a formula that works, and it was nice to return to this type of strong structure that is indicative of the latter fall episodes.
But, leaving the episode, is anyone really thinking about Michael? After Pam’s landlord was given reason to hate Pam forever, the real story kicked in: Pam pondered moving, Pam tested the waters for moving in with Jim and that she wouldn’t do it if she was engaged, and then Jim did it: he said it was coming. An engagement, he said, was going to happen – Pam played along, but her face right afterwards showed some trepidation. And then Jim, in a talking head, says he wasn’t kidding, pops out a ring, and then saying the most twisted thing of the entire episode:
“I bought it a week after we started dating”
Which may be the most compelling argument ever that Michael and Dwight might not be the dumbest people on this show after all.
Cultural Learnings 