Ok, OMG! Where to even begin?! What an amazing episode! They really packed a ton into that hour. Loose ends were tied up, questions were answered. And even with all that, they didn’t scrimp on the laugh-out-loud moments. Definitely a win-win-win in my book!
So, here’s the deal, corporate is sponsoring a weight-loss competition between the branches. The prize is extra vacation days. The Scranton branch eagerly joins in the contest. Andy is especially excited. He explains in his first ”talking-head” of the episode that he can’t wait to be sporting “washboard abs for the first time Angela sees him naked”. Oh boy, maybe this reveals too much about my own wayward moral compass (sorry kids! lol), but he’s engaged and she hasn’t seen him naked yet?! Seems the Andy-Angela-Dwight triangle is picking up exactly where we left them in May. Looves it!
The staff all meet in the conference room to enjoy a last meal of fattening foods for their inital weigh-in. Pam is there, but we quickly learn that she will soon be leaving to start her art class in NYC. So therefore she isn’t included in the staff weigh-in on the big industrial scale in the warehouse.
When Pam gets off the scale, Kevin is amazed by the weight difference. He is shocked that Pam weighs over 200 lbs! Of course she doesn’t, it’s just Kevin being Kevin. But Holly quickly comes to his “rescue” saying, “Math is hard”, to which Kevin shakes his head in agreement. Seems no one has clued the new girl in to the fact that Kevin isn’t really mentally challenged yet! And that is awesome. That was my favorite joke of the season 4 finale. I’m glad to see they kept it up into this season.
The whole staff seems to be getting into the competition. Holly is teaching the staff yoga, and Dwight is replacing the vending machine products with fresh fruits and veggies. And even though they don’t fit in the slots, a resourceful Dwight is pounding them in place with a hammer. yuck!
Michael and new HR representative Holly are still enjoying a casual flirtation. As they bump into one another on the scale, Holly says, “exsqueeze me”. Michael replies, “No, I will exsqueeze you”. Ok, so it’s kinda stupid, but still sweet nonetheless.
Dwight, ever the task-master, tries to get the group to down one last fattening bite before the weigh-in. He says, “Wait a minute, one more bite of eclair each. Hold it in your mouth if you can’t swallow.” Jim grins and looks expectantly at Michael just waiting for his patented, “that’s what she said”. But…nada! That one went right over Michaels head. Or, maybe he’s just too distracted by Holly? hmm…
Holly and Oscar have a nice cringe-worthy moment in the kitchen. Oscar offers to fix Holly up with his yoga instructor, but she tells him she’s a lesbian. She’s not, of course. She’s just trying to make a joke, not realizing that Oscar is himself gay until he tells her and she’s left stammering like a fool. It seems Holly isn’t all that adept in the social situations. Remind you of anyone else in the office?! If you guessed Michael Scott, than go past GO and collect $200 folks! I like that Holly and Michael seem so right for each other, but that it’s not going to be an easy situation. Because lest we forget, Jan Levinson is carrying Michael’s…umm..baby? Well, we know it’s not his baby, but he’s agreeing to stand by her anyway. But I digress, more on that later on…
And poor Andy! It seems he has been peppering his fiance with questions about wedding planning all summer. He’s planning it, and she’s busy meeting Dwight in the warehouse for illicit trysts during work hours. He tries to approach her with a wedding day proposal saying what’s up Ang–ella. Then he goes right into serenading her a version of Rhianna’s song “Umbrella”. Ang–ella, ella, ella! Too funny! As he explains in his talking head, “every little boy fantasizes about his fairytale wedding”. So, it doesn’t appear that Mr. Bernard has any idea of Angela’s umm…”doings” or any idea that she is completely uninterested in finalizing wedding plans with him.
Pam is finally off to NYC. Jim explains in a talking-head why he hasn’t proposed yet. It seems they talked about it, and that Pam doesn’t want another long engagement. Jim quips, “something in her past I guess, not really sure of the whole story, something about a guy who used to work here.” lol
Week three into the office-diet, and Pam has been temporarily replaced in reception by new temp. Ronnie. Jim quips, “I don’t really know Ronnie, but I have a feeling I will get to know her over the next few years and eventually declare my love for her.” Oh Jim! How can you tease us JAM’mers so! lol
Kelly Kapoor is doing her part for the weigh-in. She’s cleanse-dieting! Now this part was especially hysterical for me because I have a few friends who are currently on a…you guessed it – cleanse diet! I loved Kelly’s reaction to this particular diet. Exhausted and looking pitiful, her voice flat and wan, she explains that she’s ordered a size two bikini online and “I’m gonna look amazing”. Minus her typical enthusiasm, this scene was hysterical.
Jan arrives in the office, looking very pregnant. It seems Michael is indeed standing by his ex in her time of need. Also, Jan’s candle business is taking off. She tells Kevin, “remember last week when that girl went missing? Guess who supplied all the candles for the vigil?” When Kevin mentioned that it was wonderful they had found the missing girl, Jan replied, “Oh, they found her?” Sooo, impending motherhood hasn’t changed Jan too much it seems. lol
Jan’s appearance in the office prompts Holly to take Oscar up on his offer of fixing her up with his yoga instructor. Shortly after, there is a commotion in accounting. Angela is screaming at Kevin, calling him an “idiot”. Holly is outraged! How dare she attack a poor defenseless mentally challenged man? lol It is here that Holly finally realized (painfully, of course) that Kevin is not a mentally challenged man, just an idiot after all. And so ends the joke. Bummer…
Next scene we see poor Andy at it again. He is still trying to get Angela to agree to some wedding plans. Once again, Angela texts Dwight to escape, and off they go to their secret love nest in the warehouse, the camera following them the whole way. When the camera man questions Anglea off-screen, she answers in a talking head, “I have a nice comforter and several cozy pillows. I usually read a chapter of a book and it’s lights out at 8:30. That’s how I sleep at night.” Ouch! Seems Angela is ok with her cheatin’ ways.
On the JAM-front, Jim and Pam have set up video on their computers so they can gaze and chat. Jim walks Pam through the set-up while at work. Probably not the best idea because as soon as Michael sees virtual-Pam he parades her around the office. He also “introduces” her to her temporary replacement, Ronnie. Or as Michael calls her, Rice-A-Ronnie. He tells Pam that Ronnie, “is a beam of light in this dark, dark office. Not really, so much.” Ouch! Poor Ronnie, but that’s Michael for you! Tact is not his strong-suit.
Week four of the diet. The group is weighed again and they gained 5lbs! At this news, a starving Kelly faints and falls of the scale. Everyone is shocked, but Stanley seems pleased. Cut to his talking-head. He had lost 4lbs., so all is right in Stanley’s world.
Cut to the party planning committee and it’s new leader, Phyllis Vance. She explains in her talking-head that she’s the new leader. “I guess I was just in the right place at the right time.” She is of course referring to last season’s finale when she walked in on Dwight and Angela hooking up in the darkened office. She now has dirt on Ms. Martin and apparently isn’t afraid to use it to her advantage. Go Phyllis!
Michael brings eveyone in to the conference room to discuss their collective weight gain. He asks the staff to all pledge to lose a certain amount of weight. Jim being silly, pledges to lose 65lbs. Michael is thrilled, saying, ” I want us all to live forever. How are we gonna do this?” Jim quips, “Cryogenics”, then turns to Dwight and tries to high-five him, “Beer me five!” Dwight, pushes him off disgusted. Looves their “relationship”!
After this educational meeting, Jim heads off to NYC to see his lady-love. The cameras follow so Jim distracts them at Pam’s apartment door. His ruse is successful and he locks them out of Pam’s room so they can have a proper greeting. *sigh* Later we see Jim sitting on the couch in the communal area outside of Pam’s dorm room. Did they have a fight? No, it seems Pam’s roommate is upset over something, so Jim decided to wait it out while Pam’s consoles her new friend. Me-thinks Jim is getting sick of all these interuptions in their relationship…
Week five of the weight-loss. Kelly is onto drastic measures to keep the weight off. She explains in a talking-head that she’s swallowed a tape worm from Mexico that Creed sold her. It’s going to get really big and eat all her food then she’ll pass it (ew!). Creed explains in his talking-head that whatever he sold her, it wasn’t a tape worm. Ugh…
Next scene, Ryan walks in! This was one thing that I really loved about this episode, it was so jam-packed (pun intended 
). It moved very quickly from one plot to the next, but you didn’t feel as if you were missing anything. Very well done! Anyway, Ryan walks in and greets the office. It’s as if he’s still their boss and in charge, but then he sits down at reception and puts on the bluetooth earpiece. Ouch! Seems Ryan is now back to temping. Michael explains in his talking-head that when he heard Ryan was available, he just had to have him. I bet!
Ryan is very sweet and nice to everyone in the office. But we find out in his talking-head that he’s keeping a list of everyone who “wrongs” him so that when he’s back on top, he can crush them. Kevin and Jim quickly make his “list”. lol
Ryan then approaches Kelly to apoligize for how he treated her. He blames his behavior toward her on that he “never really processed 9/11″. lol But, good for Kelly, she tells him that she’s flattered, but she’s still dating Darryl and “they’re madly in love”. Score one for Kelly Kapoor!
Dwight decided to take the staff’s lack of weight-loss into his own hands and demands that a randomly selected group get lipo-suction at their own expense! He then rattles off the random names. Um…guess who? Phyllis, Stanley and Kevin. I was waiting for the inevitable fat jokes, especially in an episode titled, “Weight Loss” and there it is! Dwight then apoligizes to Phyllis for his rudeness and offers to give her a sure thing sales call to make up for it. But when they go on the sales call, Dwight leaves her stranded five miles from the office as a sort of “forced excercise” routine. Oh boy and Phyllis is p-od when she gets back! She calls corporate on Dwight…
Which causes another meeting in the conference room to discuss the parameters of the contest again. This time Michael, in his sumo-suit from season three’s “Beach Games” ,to push home the point that fat people are beautiful too. In typical Michael-fashion he totally misses the point of what the conference is supposed to be about and winds up making the situation worse. He demands that Dwight apoligize to Phyllis telling the group that making her walk five miles “is basically a death march”. lol My question is, where is Bob Vance in this episode to kick some butt?!
Next scene find the staff at lunch. Dwight is seen spraying bug spray up into the vending machine full of “fresh fruit and veggies”. Again…ew! Jim explains in his talking-head that lunch time is when he really misses Pam. He calls her and suggests they meet half-way for lunch.
Angela, in an unusual sweet mood, approaches her fiance to ask if she can have her favorite song “The Little Drummer Boy” for their first dance at their wedding. Andy says no problems, that “Here comes Treble” his accapella group could handle that. Angela is annoyed. She doesn’t want Andy’s old group performing at their wedding. But on this point Mr. Bernard won’t budge. He tells his love that if she refuses his friends, “it’s a deal breaker”. Sooo, now Angela has her out, if she wants it…But she doesn’t act on it….yet.
Cut to a very rainy “Fairview” rest stop/gas station where Pam and Jim meet halfway for their lunch date. Pam is complaining good-naturedly that it’s not really half-way, she had to drive farther. Blah, blah, blah. Then Jim drops down on one knee, in the freakin’ rain outside the gas station, and says, “I just….can’t wait. Pam will you marry me?” OMG!! And *squee!!*. Pam says, “OMG!” Then Jim says, “So?”. And she says, “YES!”. Then they kiss and hug in the rain. *sigh*
Ok, so here’s my rant on that. Yes, I was moved that Jim just couldn’t wait anymore to make things permanent with his Pam. It’s very passionate and romantic and wonderful. I had hoped for a better locale than a gas-station though. Although, because they shared a moment there (an exploded soda), I guess one could say it’s typical and perfect for JAM. Either way, their engaged! Hooray!!!
Back at the office, the branch has lost the weight loss competition to Utica (Karen!). Michael is disappointed, but tells his staff, “I don’t care what the scale says, you guys are all gigantic losers”. Stanley is happy though, because he lost 7lbs! Yeah Stanley!!
Cut to a hospital in Costa Rica, where Toby lies in traction in a bed. He explains to the camera crew that he went “zip lining” on his third day there and broke his neck. He has been in the hospital for five weeks. He still hasn’t seen the beach yet. Poor Toby!! He is thrilled to have the camera crew there for company though. So, we obviously haven’t seen the last of Toby. 
I’m sure the shine is officially off Costa Rica for him at this point and expect to see him back at the office soon.
The End!!!
So darn wonderful, right guys? I mean we had THE PROPOSAL, updates on Dwight/Angela/Andy, Ryan’s back, info on Toby, basically updates on everyone and everything. Except Meredith’s red-face. Still no explanation on that. But overall, I was thrilled with the premiere. What did you guys think?!! Weigh-in please. I love the comments. ~Donna
Whoa – seriously! I feel like a big loser but I thought Michale WAS the father of Jan’s baby. Is that not correct? What did I miss from the season finale?
Jan used a sperm donor. Not Michael.
So you’re not gonna mention that guy the writers have totally snuggled up to Pam to make a lame love triangle? I really really hope they don’t do that. There are enough love triangles in this show. Why over do it?
There are always “little moments” in this show that make it awesome. For me, the one “little moment” that had me chuckling long after the episode was over was when Jan came up to Ronnie (the new receptionist) and very casually but authoritatively told her to make “100 copies on canary yellow”. Jan is just one of those women who will always be “The Boss” no matter how low she may sink on the actual totem pole!
No Michael is not the father, even though he proclaims to the office staff that he is lol.
Jan went to a sperm bank and is having the baby that way. In the finale last season she said she didn’t have a lot of time left to have a child, and didn’t want to risk having one with Michael. Poor Mr. Scott
Did you guys notice that michael’s goatee was shaved off and then came back?
Don’t feel like a big loser Robhouston! Kevin ran into Jan at the supermarket in last season’s finale. He hasJan claims that she was artificially inseminated because her biological clock was ticking. Michael gallantly offered to see her through the pregnancy and help out with the baby, even though she chose AI over his sperm! And now of course, that will be the reason that Michael and Holly won’t get together.
Hope that helps you!
sorry that last message was a little messed up. I am having some computer issues… Anyway, I will finish where it got goofy now.
He has Michael come to the market to see Jan for himself. This is the first time the audience (and Michael) knows that Jan is pregnant. Michael at first thinks it’s his, but she tells him that she was artificially inseminated.
Oh well I guess I just thought she was saying that to try and make him NOT want to be involved. Well this will help Michael out with Holly – the only problem is that it appears that Toby is coming back…….This is going to be the best season !!!
Very thorough recap, Donna. I gained a lot of insight from it, although I will have to take into account your “wayward moral compass.”
Here’s my observation from last night: There was not one, but TWO scenes of Pam interacting with some guy in her art classes. And by “interacting,” I think it’s safe to say the encounters were “mildly flirtatious.” Well, I predict an escalation from “mildly” to “wildly” flirtatious. That would certainly make things interesting, wouldn’t it?
One really small detail that I liked that you didn’t mention is that it appeared that Jim showing up soaking wet to the final weigh-in may have had just enough of an effect to keep Scranton from pulling it off…but Jim’s so oblivious anyway, just standing there in this own little world with a shit-eating grin. Great stuff.
This is just a hunch but I think Angela might be pregnant. That would explain why the group wasn’t losing as much weight even when most of the people thought they had lost weight. There is also a camera view with Angela looking ackward when they announce the group hadn’t lost much weight. What does everyone think?
However, I doubt the producers would have two people pregnant at the same time.
Who was the actor that played Pam’s classmate? He looks familiar.
Anyone see Meredith’s face in Week’s 1 and 2? Was that on purpose? Did something happen to her in real life? It was never explained on the show, but obviously something happened.
I enjoyed the recap, Donna. I too feel that this will be a great season. Did anyone else notice that Michael appeared to “lose” his goatee for a short scene and then for it to reappear a short time later?
Did I miss something? Did anyone else notice that Michael’s goatee was absent during one scene between the time he first displayed it and the time he officially got rid of it? Help
Jenn, I was wondering the same thing! there was no explanation yet about Meredith’s face. It appears to have been burned? Who knows? Anyone hear of any spoilers about that?
Bob, KP pointed out to me that Pam’s “NYC Jim” is the actor from “The Devil Wears Prada”.Makes we wonder why they have him play such a bit part? Maybe he will be around for a few episodes to stir things up? You might be onto something here Bob. I hope not, but maybe…
i read that her face burns were from the bug spray dwight sprayed in the conference room. there might be a deleted scene explaining it?
Just wanted to “weigh-in” and give you all my thoughts on the episode. Although I’m literally tipping the scales myself these days, albeit for a good reason.
I loved the episode. I thought the proposal was just perfect and spontaneous. I wouldn’t worry about that other guy. I read somewhere that he is on AMC’s Mad Men. I think the writer’s just wanted to show us how Pam can thrive outside the office and be well liked by people, she’s more like Jim than we realized before and all the changes in her life have been really good for her. It will be sad to see her go back to being a receptionist, but at least she’ll be planning a wedding and be in a good mood all the time. I think once she shows up back at school wearing an engagement ring, any flirting between her and that other guy will probably stop.
Did anyone else crack up when Dwight called Angela “half pint” after their tryst like Michael did last season during Launch Party?
I think that the lunch room scene was placed out of sequence on purpose. They could have spliced it in there after Michael grew his goatee just to validate Jim’s talking head, which also seemed to have been placed out of sequence since Pam had left several weeks before they actually showed it. I think the whole thing was just a matter of creative editing.
I love Phyllis taking charge of the party planning committee and calling David Wallace on Dwight. Don’t mess with Mrs. Vance people.
I loved the way they brought Ryan back to Scranton using the temp agency. There’s no way that DM would let Michael hire him back through the company, so it was very realistic to have Michael be cunning enough to get his way using an outside source. It’s one of those ways that shows that Michael is not a complete idiot. I wonder what will happen if David Wallace finds out.
Too bad the ended the Holly/Kevin joke so early in the season. It did make for a great awkward moment though. I really like Holly and wish Amy Ryan could stick around longer.
I’m really bummed about not having an episode this week. Dump vice-presidential debate. Who wants to hear from the vice-presidential candidates anyway. Once either of their running mates are elected, we’ll never hear from them again anyway (unless they accidentally shoot someone during a hunting trip).