“The Negotiation” RECAP
After a six-week drought, our favorite show has returned to the airwaves!
Read the recap of “The Negotiation” after the jump. WARNING: Do not read this if you have not seen the episode yet! SPOILERS!
One of the many, many things I love about “The Office” is that you can watch an episode over and over and continually make new discoveries. For me, the brilliance of the show is in the little moments—for example, in this episode, the bit where Michael notices his suit is a little too similar to that of the woman sitting next to him. Or the scene when Roy remembers the camera is on him and quickly qualifies, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that” after he mentions that he thought Jim was gay. Or the way Jan snaps, “What did I tell you about ‘yeppers’?” to Michael, letting out her significant other status in full force.
With that said, this episode had plenty of terrific over-the-top moments as well. How great was Dwight’s talking head immediately post-peppering or Michael’s Wikipedia-proven negotiation tactics?
The episode started with the resolution of Roy’s vow to kill Jim Halpert. When Roy furiously stormed into the office and lunged at Jim, Dwight finally found a good use for his pepper spray. Roy was fired, which brought Darryl’s quest for a raise to the foreground. Darryl rationally pointed out that since the merger, Dunder-Mifflin Scranton was shipping out twice as much paper, and with Roy out of the picture, he, as manager of the warehouse, was doing even more work. In Michael’s so-bad-it-was-funny negotiation, it was revealed that Michael’s salary is only slightly higher than Darryl’s. Also revealed in the course of the discussion was the fact that Michael was wearing a ladies’ suit.
Darryl convinced Michael a trip to Corporate was necessary, and a frustrated Jan agreed. So Darryl, Michael, and Toby set off for the Big Apple, while the JAM quadrangle made some telling advances. Before the pepper-spray incident, Jim and Karen showed subtle signs of tension as Pam looked on. While Jim was hoping to stay in, Karen insisted on going out, since it was a Friday night. Later, post-pepper, Pam apologized to Jim, who basically brushed her off. Even worse, when Pam insists that things with her and Roy are really over, he says “We’ll see…I’m sure you guys will find your way back to each other some day.” While Pam tries to be honest, Jim ignores her attempts, but I couldn’t decide why. Was it because Pam getting back together with Roy really upset him, and he vowed it was over? Was he being sarcastic when he said, “No, I mean, you guys really seem to have a strong connection”? Or is he just ignoring Pam in order to make his relationship with Karen work? No matter the circumstances, I love screen time for JAM. John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer (along with the rest of the cast) never fail to amaze me. Roy returned to pick up his last paycheck (police officer in tow, of course) and apologized to Jim and Pam. Later, he and Pam have a sweet scene at a diner. He asks her if she’ll try to date Jim now, and when she tells him, “No,” he tells her he doesn’t get her. And really, he never did. Even though it was always apparent that Roy and Pam were one of those couples that should have broken up in high school, it was still sad to see them both accept that they were moving on.
Elsewhere, Angela got all hot and bothered by hearing everyone recount Dwight’s heroism in the face of danger. Dwight shrugs off the ‘hero’ label and explains to us who the real heroes are, like Hiro from Heroes. He also would not accept Jim’s adorably thoughtful gift (a case for Dwight’s bobblehead!) or offer to buy Dwight a beer, saying he was just doing his duty as a citizen. Jim found that trying to thank Dwight for saving him from Roy’s attack was surprisingly harder than pulling a prank on him. Finally, in the last minutes of the episode, we were treated to a Jim Halpert original expression when he caught Angela and Dwight in a passionate lip lock. Jim decided that his repayment to Dwight would be keeping mum about his office romance.
Back in New York, Michael’s meeting with Jan (despite typical Michael fumbling) culminates in a 12% raise for himself, meaning a bump up for Darryl as well. So all in all, a pretty productive day at “The Office.”
Tonight’s episode was a welcome return from six weeks of repeats (and newpeats), but what excited me most was the way it is setting up the few remaining episodes of the season. I also can’t wait to see the deleted scenes—there were so many funny storylines I wanted to see more of—because even a super-sized “Office” is not enough “Office” for me. So enjoy those deleted scenes on NBC.com as soon as they are posted, and get pumped for next week’s episode, “Safety Training”!
~Elyse~
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April 5th, 2007 19:28
Looooooooooooooved it.
April 5th, 2007 19:45
Funniest. Jim. Face. Ever.
April 5th, 2007 19:56
A-WESOME…like pink, the color. And speaking of the adorable assistant, seems like Michael found a new Ryan!
April 5th, 2007 20:50
~great moments~
Other than the fact that the episode was extra-long! AND followed by 30 Rock! They renewed it! Hallelujah!! Anywhoooo…
Toby: Where are we going?
Michael: I’ll bash your head in with a hammer.
The teddy bear on the certificate.
That hawt assistant of Jan’s (I’d hit it).
Kelly calling Ryan by his full name. (Bailey?)
JIM FACES. ENOUGH SAID. Me gusta Jim faces mucho!
I’m so glad The Office is back. Thursday night wasn’t the same without it.
April 5th, 2007 20:57
That episode was great. I like the Wikipedia love. Good to see. And the new phrases, a la Dinkin Flicka. Daryll is a good character, I’m glad he got some air time.
April 5th, 2007 21:19
its about friggin time, um i loved when dwight nailed andy with pepper spray at the very end out of no where? and micheals raise scandle was classic.
April 5th, 2007 21:20
loved that dwight nailed andy at the very end with pepper spray, and michaels whole raise scandle. Amazing!!
April 6th, 2007 01:21
did anyone else hear daryll say “some m**herf**kers have to see this?” in the scene where michael shows him his paystub??
April 6th, 2007 05:08
This may be too optimistic, but I think that this episode really showed how little Jim and Karen had in common. He didn’t want to go out on a Friday night and she didn’t know how to help him thank Dwight. She didn’t even try. She mentioned something also in her talking head.
April 6th, 2007 05:46
I made only one tiny mistake…. I wore women’s clothing. lololol
April 6th, 2007 06:02
What was the opening scene? I remember dying laughing but can’t quite remember if it was the suit.
April 6th, 2007 06:07
I love this show. Jim’s a wuss, Dwight has nunchucks, a throwing star, lead pipe, candlestick, a revolver…Creed never changes, Angela’s gonna blow something up tonight, Michael looks good in MISSterious, Kelly and Ryan WILL get married (they’ve turned into one of those couples), Andy’s back, and we’re all gruntled. How can anyone not see this show as the best on television? I can’t tell if it was one of the best of the season or if I just missed it that much.
April 6th, 2007 07:55
What a great show! The “super-size” sure feels right to me. 40 minutes is kind of like a regular episode with a bunch of really good deleted scenes left in. My ONLY complaint is that they didn’t find any screen time for Meredith. (I find her intoxicating.)
April 6th, 2007 09:10
Since everyone’s covered the major story arcs fairly thoroughly, I thought I’d give my take on the episode as it pertains to some of the secondary characters starting with the lovebirds in the annex.
(Note: This is pretty long. Be advised.)
Ryan and Kelly were absolutely killing me this entire episode. Kelly wanting to name her baby “Usher Jennifer Hudson Kapoor” and Ryan’s subsequent arguing with her about it is a perfect snapshot of their relationship. No man in his right mind would ever even engage his woman in this kind of absurd argument, but it illustrates Ryan’s inability to proactively better his situation. He can’t make a sale, he doesn’t have the wherewithal just to quit this awful job, and he stays with Kelly because (as far as I can tell) he can’t think of anything better to do and she puts out regularly. Watching them make out like teenagers from the view of the conference room only proves my point. That type of behavior is unforgivably rude in an office, yet Ryan and Kelly go at it with reckless abandon. They’re both ridiculously immature which makes them the perfect couple as much as Ryan might want to deny it. They’ll make each other miserable for a few years but will have energetic sex on a fairly regular basis which will be enough for Ryan until Kelly stops giving it up, at which point Ryan will either check out of the relationship forcing Kelly to start over with a new sucker or just submit forever and live the life of the (metaphorically) castrated, dead-inside shell of a man.
No, I don’t speak from experience, why do you ask?
On top of this, watching Toby’s agony was voyeuristically entertaining. I don’t think there is a one among us who hasn’t had to endure the awful couple who does nothing but argue about claptrap all day. The writers had to create a reason for Toby to choose to ride with Michael all the way to New York, and they succeeded flawlessly. The only one more purely annoying than Michael is Kelly, and when she’s debating her hopeless boyfriend about what to name her kids, well, I’d hit the ejection seat button too even if it meant two hours in the car with a person who obviously doesn’t like me at all.
I was duly impressed with Angela this episode too. As she listened to everyone re-tell the story of Dwight’s heroics, it was almost like we saw the awakening of a part of a woman whose libido has laid dormant for far too long. Angela strikes me as a woman who rarely (if ever) cuts loose completely. She’s calculated in everything she does, so instances of losing herself in the moment are as few and far between as the Cubs winning the World Series. We as viewers can take vicarious joy in seeing Angela become more human than the uptight, judgmental, stone-faced, Christian robot she usually is. Angela deserves joy too. She’s got some now, and we as viewers can take joy in that as well.
Best re-telling of the story of course goes to Creed. Creed is in his own universe all the time and couldn’t care less. Angela calls him worthless, and Creed simply turns around and returns to whatever he was doing before without batting an eyelash. He’s obviously detached himself from the other members of the office and only works to support whatever it is he does on the side. The more airtime he gets, the more curious I get about him.
Overall, this might be the best episode I’ve ever seen. Loved the Jim/Pam/Dwight/Roy thing, and Michael’s negotiations were painfully hilarious. Great, great, greatness from The Office. Welcome back!
April 6th, 2007 09:12
Creeds take on the confrontation was by far my favorite part…..it was late, 11 or 11:30, bag of nickels, oh my god, he’s great, MORE CREED!
April 6th, 2007 12:07
The cold open was Roy’s attack and Dwight’s pepper spraying, and then Dwight’s talking head saying something like “Everyday for 8 years, I’ve brought pepper spray to work, and everyday for 8 years, people have laughed at me…well who’s laughnig now?” and that being said while he squints his eyes that incidently got pepper sprayed in the process.
This ep was pretty good…who thought the funniest part was Dwight pepper spraying Andy at the end and having his weps confiscated by Toby? Omg that was hilarious.
April 6th, 2007 13:53
Also, I want a MISSterious suit–if it can make Michael look good, it sure can make me look good! I think it’d be a laugh if someone actually made MISSterious. (I liked the pink lining!)
Ceeloo: I believe he said “some more friends have to see this”. (Not sure that NBC would let an utterance of something like THAT go, what with Nipplegate and all. Though I am surprised they let ‘douchebag’ go on Scrubs. Or was it Scrubs? I like Scrubs.)
April 6th, 2007 21:40
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negotiation_tactics
Declining to speak first
Walking out
^^^ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I am a WIKIPEDIA FREAK! And, it just shows my friends even more how i remind them of Michael, lmao.