Life In The Office

Wow! Another absolutely great episode. Feels like it should be Christmas or my birthday or something (but it’s not)…

“Lecture Circuit” brought us Office fans many things. We get to find out what’s been up with Jim’s ex,Karen Fillipelli. We get to see a Jim & Dwight talking-head (first ever, I believe). And, we get to hear a bit about Creed’s connection to the Manson Family. lol

Let’s begin that breakdown…

The episode’s cold-open is Michael’s voice carrying through the office. He is carrying on a non-stop stream of ridiculous jokes, impressions, etc…all the while hysterically laughing at his own humor. We see the staff rolling their eyes and sighing at his stupidity, trying to get some work done over the noise.

What gives? Jim explains in a talking-head, “the phone guy comes in this morning and he shows Michael that his phone has a PA function…and then he just left.” Jim says no more, but we can tell by his expression what a horrifying thing that was. ha ha

The film skips ahead a bit and Michael is now on the phone with his doctor. He has obviously forgotten that the PA function is on. He is questioning a mole or a cyst. Asking if he should pop it with a pin, etc…Everyone in the office is completely grossed out. We can hear their moans of disgust. Jim has finally had enough. He heads in to Michael’s office with scissors sticking out of his back pocket. Pretending he left something in there, he leans down and snips the phone line and leaves. Michael, completely unaware, just keeps up his one-man-PA-show. hysterical

Next scene is out of the office. We see Michael and Pam leaving a hotel room. What?! No silly, not together. Seems Michael has been asked by corporate to give lectures to the other branches about how he has kept Scranton’s branch so successful during these tough economic times.

Pam is there acting as his driver/assistant. It’s a job she is thrilled to have because it not only gets her out of the office, but it’s time and 1/2, 24 hours a day, for three days. She’s got a morgage to pay now. (Aww! JAM-love) Or, as she puts it, “I’ve got to bring home the bucks”. Michael chimes in, “don’t say ‘bucks’, it’s not ladylike”. Hmm…makes you wonder, time and 1/2 for three days with Michael?! She’s definitely underpaid!

Back at the office, Kelly is mad. How do I know? Well, the “screw yous” are flying out of her mouth, mostly aimed toward Jim and Dwight. Why you ask? Well, seems yesterday was Kelly’s birthday and no one remembered.

Jim & Dwight explain in a talking-head. Yes that’s right, I said Jim & Dwight! Correct me if I’m wrong somebody, but I think this is the first Jim/Dwight talking head. (Pretty monumental stuff…for an Office-geek like me anyway).

Anywho, seems Jim and Dwight have been assigned as co-heads of the Party Planning Committee after the whole “Phyllis was blackmailing Angela” debacle. Neither man wanted the job and they obviously stink at it too. Poor Kelly!

Kelly laments in a talking-head. “I got all dressed up for work and no one said a word about my birthday. I think sometimes people are really mean to the pretty popular girl.” lol At least the sadness of the forgotten birthday didn’t touch that fragile ego of hers.

Back to Pam/Michael. Next stop on the lecture circuit? Utica…which means…Karen! Yeppers, that’s Karen’s branch. Michael asks Pam if she’s nervous. Pam says no. Michael asks her, “then why are you wearing make-up today?” ha ha, busted!

Pam explains in her talking-head that she just hates it when someone hates her. She then goes into this rant about how it even upsets her that the terrorists hate her and that if they got to know her they would like her. Stupid yes, but I guess we can all relate about not wanting to be hated. Especially when technically, Karen has every right to hate Pam. She did steal her man. Granted JAM are soulmates, but Karen was with him first…so there! 

Back at the office, Stanley is chatting up a beautiful new female client. Andy sees her and is immediately attracted. Phyllis leans over and whispers, “she’s out of your league”. Andy is miffed saying, “For your information, I’ve been with lots of beautiful women”. Phyllis just shoots him a look and questions, “sexually?” Andy bristles and answers, “this conversation is over”. ha ha

Andy explains in a talking-head, “I am single now. What we have here is a smackdown between the Nard-dog and crippling lonliness, despair and depression. I intend to win.” so funny! Andy has been consistantly hysterical lately. I’m glad he’s gotten alot of time on-screen.

It’s so nice to see the subordinate characters shine. Last episode, being a full-hour, let everyone have their turn so-to-speak. And that was so nice. After five seasons, I’m definitely invested in all the characters on the show. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s fun to hear from everyone during an episode, even if it’s just a quick bit. (right Bob? lol) And lucky for us fans, it’s been two back-to-back episodes of quick bits!

Ok, back on track now…

Jim and Dwight seek out Kelly to make amends. Not that either of them cares really, but they’re now in charge of the Party Planning Committee so now it’s kinda their job. Jim asks Kelly how they can make it up to her. She goes into this whole ridiculous self-serving speech. Jim just sits there and lets her have her say. Probably because he’s guilty about forgetting her birthday. Not Dwight! He has had enough of her and cuts in, “What kind of cake do you want imbecile?” ha ha! And the best part? Kelly doesn’t bat an eye, just answers him, “ice cream”.

Back to the Utica branch. Pam and Michael finally arrive. Boss Karen greets them. She’s very pregnant. My reaction? Wow! Guess what? Michael had the same reaction!

 He even took it one step further to ask the other question that immediately came to my mind. Pointing to her burgeoning stomach, he asks, ”Is that Jim’s”. Oh man, I couldn’t believe he said it, but it was exactly that same thought I had when I saw her stomach! Kinda scary to be thinking like Michael, but I won’t dwell on that too much.

Back in Scranton, the new Party Planning Committee is getting ready for Kelly’s belated party. Dwight is in charge of decorations. He has plenty of gray and brown balloons (to match the carpet, of course!) only half-blown up and hung all around the room. There is also a generic “It’s Your Birthday” sign up, completely devoid of any festivity. Jim is horrified by the whole scene. He takes one looks at the birthday sign and complains, “there isn’t even an exclamation point”.

Dwight is upset by Jim’s remarks about his decorating. He asks him, “are you trying to hurt my feelings? Lucky for me my feelings regenerate twice the speed of a normal man”. Then he turns to Jim, who is in charge of collecting the money donations from the staff for the party. But Jim hasn’t faired much better with his duties. He only has the money that he and Dwight donated so far ($6.00). Two Party-Planning heads better than one? I think not!!

Andy is down in the parking lot. He wants to find out more about Stanley’s beautiful new client, Julia. He decides to do this by peeking into her car to see her cd’s and find out what music she likes. Then he accidently sets off her car alarm and the one next to it. Smooth Andy, real smooth!

Back in Utica, Michael begins his presentation. As usual, he is completely absurd. Karen wisely interupts him. Michael turns to her, “Yes Karen, do you need to go pump?” ha ha, love that! Calmly, Karen explains that no she doesn’t, because the baby isn’t born yet.

Michael then launches into a lecture about how to remember a client’s name. He uses memory association as his tool. He explains to the Utica group by example, showing them how he remebered their names. He walks the group through his “memory tool”, pointing to each staff member individually and assigning them the most base, racist, sexist nickname. Probably the first thing that popped into his head. He points to each of them; ”shirt-y, mole, lazy-eye, mexico, baldy, sugar-boobs, black woman.” oh yes he did!

Then, he explains how he takes the nickname “baldy” and uses that memory tool to bring him to the man’s real name, Mark. “Baldy, reflective like a mirror, m is for mirror… Mark!!”Karen interupts him, complaining that this excercise is offensive. Michael cuts her off, “but it works”. And technically, he’s right. lol Karen stops the meeting and asks Michael to come to her office.

Back in Scranton, Andy is trying to get Stanley’s client Julia’s attention. While they’re in a meeting, he brings them both coffee. He is also very annoying, so Stanley takes him outside and asks him what his problem is. Andy explains that he wants a shot with Julia. Wanting to give Andy a chance, but still make something off the situation, Stanley trades Julia for two of Andy’s clients.

In Karen’s office, Michael tries to show her the props he has for the rest of the lecture. The first prop is a chainsaw. Karen wisely decides not to continue with the meeting. Pam cordially asks Karen when she’s due. Karen very nicely replies, in a month. Michael interupts all the girly chit-chat to ask, “so, is there a guy, or a person, or a sperm machine that did this to you?” (Once again, that was what I was wondering!)

Karen replies that it was her new husband, Dan the dermatoligist, that “knocked her up”. She happily explains that it was a whirlwind courtship. Pam expresses how happy she is for Karen. She then tells Karen that she’s engaged to Jim. Karen is also happy for her. Both woman are now happy and in love. All’s well that ends well apparently.

Back in Scranton, Andy is trying to find out more personal info about his newly acquired client,  Julia. And he’s real smooth about it! lol He asks, “for billing purposes, do we send that directly to you, or your boyfriend’s house?” Oh Andy… Julia kindly replies that she doesn’t have a boyfriend.

Andy comes out of the conference room and tries to get Oscar and Creed to give him advice on what to do about Julia. He thinks she may be interested in him. What gave him that impression, you ask? Well, apparently, “whenever I walk into a room she looks up”. ha ha

Oscar quickly runs away, but (hurray!) not Creed. He tells Andy to pay attention to his advice because, “this is how I “got” Squeaky Fromme”. ha ha ha!

I love how they worked that in. It just seems so Creed, doesn’t it? And for those of you kids who are too young to have gotten that reference, Squeaky Fromme is one of infamous serial killer, Charles Manson’s, “family”. A definitely text-book case, cult-follower to the extreme. And we all know how Creed feels about cults. “It’s fun to be a follower, but you make more money as a leader”.

Anywho, Creed then gives this advice to Andy, “No small talk. Just show her who’s the boss. Just go right in and kiss her.” Andy is unsure. He asks Creed, “isn’t that a bit extreme?” Creed replies, “have I ever steered you wrong Jim?” ha ha ha!! Yea Creed!!!

In Utica, the meeting is over. Michael and Pam are heading to their car. Pam and Karen are friends, and Pam is happy about that. Michael asks her why. She replies, “because I’ll never have to wonder again if I did something wrong. Now I have closure”.

In Scranton, Andy is walking Julia out to her car. He’s nervous, and it’s awkward. Following Creed’s advice, he leans in and tries to kiss her. Her response? “What the hell?” Never a good response! But, when Andy explains that he’s just gone through a break-up, she is kind to him. Not kind enough to welcome his advances, but kind. It makes Andy feels better. Then, she drives away. Next scene is another Andy talking-head where he explains, “we lost the account”. lol

Next we see Dwight on the phone with Jim who is at the store buying stuff for Kelly’s party. They only have numbered candles on sale and he doesn’t know how old she is. Dwight checks her file. Now, this part I didn’t get, unless it’s going to be relevant in another episode. He finds out that Kelly was in “Berks County Youth Center” (or “Juvie”). He never does explain how old she is, or why that information is relevant. hmmm…

Driving to their next lecture, Michael is sullen. Pam asks why and he explains that her closure with Karen has reminded him that he never got closure with Holly. Pam decides, “what the heck” let’s go see Holly and get you your closure. Michael is reluctant, but then agrees. So, this episode will be continued next week…(cool, huh?)

So, what did you guys think? I loved it! I had many laugh-out-loud moments. It was nice to see Karen, and cool that Creed & Andy got mucho screen time. Let me know your opinons of the episode in the comments. And, as always, thanks for reading!

~Donna