Life In The Office

So here we are folks, the premiere of season 6 of The Office. I’ll admit, I was nervous after last season’s finale. Pam pregnant? It smacked of desperation to me. Almost as if the writers didn’t know where to go with the story anymore and decided to go the route of so many sitcoms before ~ marriage & baby. And I’m fine with that…really. The idea of JAM babies makes me warm and fuzzy inside. However, being a fan of tv, I was worried that this plot twist would be the beginning of the end for our beloved show. Once you get into marriage & baby territory, the show usually loses it’s magic. And let’s face it, a big part of the show is the JAM magic. Albeit, it’s not the whole of the show. But, in a show featuring superb characters and spot-on comedy, it’s the JAM relationship that had me glued to my tv dying to see what would happen next for the last five seasons. That said, last night’s episode proved to me once again that The Office is sooo not your typical sitcom! I was thrilled with how they handled the pregnancy announcement. And the show itself? Superb! Ok, now let’s dissect it a bit.

The cold open was funny. Not great, but funny. (For really great c/o’s check out LITO blogger, KG’s musings. They’re d’awesome!) Maybe I wasn’t too impressed because I’d never heard of this supposed internet sensation, Parkor, before. If you haven’t either, here’s the gist of it. People film themselves going from point A to point B in an interesting way, like jumping over cars and climbing up railings. Then, they post it on the internet as “Parkor”. So, here we have Michael, Dwight and Andy going around work doing this Parkor. Lots of physical comedy here. It ends with Andy jumping into a Vance Refrigeration refrigerator box, by accident of course!

Next up, we meet the outgoing summer interns. Dwight is making them step and fetch like only Dwight can. Kelly is crying about God knows what while they all are forced to sit at her feet and listen, etc…The interns look…resigned? Being the end of summer, they’re almost done, so I’m sure they’re just killing time at this point.

Jim and Pam have a cutsie talking-head where they discuss the state of their nuptuals and impending parenthood. They tell the camera that no, they haven’t told anyone at work about the pregnancy yet. They reason that everyone is such gossips and it’s really no ones business. This leads into the plot of the show, gossip.

In the break room, two of the interns are looking a bit cozy. Michael notices and says, “Man, it’s like like Spaniard fly around here”. Michael then gets embarrassed because apparently everyone in the office knows that these two interns are “together” except him. He feels left out of all the office gossip. And we all know Michael has issues about being left out in his life. This really upsets him and he makes it his mission to be in-the-know about office gossip from now on.

To that end, he pulls one of the interns aside and begins quizzing the poor kid about the interns supposed “group date” where the hook-up occured between two of them. During the inquisition, it is mentioned that Stanley was out that night. Not partying with the interns, but making-out with his “wife”. Funny thing is, when the interns said hello to Stanley, he ignored them.

Michael is thrilled with his intern gossip. He runs right to Phyllis to tell her the news. Phyllis listens patiently and then tells Michael that his gossip is false because Stanley’s wife Teri was out of town that night. Therefore, there is no way Stanley would have been making-out with her in the club. Uh-oh! Now it’s obvious to the viewer that something’s up with Stanley…

Michael however, is confused. How can the interns be wrong? He goes back to them and questions Stanley’s involvement again. They assure him that yes indeed, he was at the club making-out with someone. If his wife was out of town, well then…it couldn’t be her could it?

Now the light-bulb finally goes on for Michael! Stanley is having an affair!! He checks with Stanley and guess what? It’s true!! The best of it all? He’s the first at work to know!! He is positively joyful about this, and immediately begins spreading it all over the office, even though Stanley asked him to keep it quiet.

Michael explains in a talking head how wonderful this makes him feel. The rush, the excitement, seeing everyone’s eyes light up when he tells them the news. But typical for Michael, he is completely unaware of what the fallout will be for Stanley. It’s Jim who pulls him aside and says, you need to stop spreading this rumor. Chagrined, Michael agrees even though it’s makes him sad to stop. But Michael’s way of “fixing” this situation is a bit unusual…

In a talking head he explains his solution. “How do you untell something? How can you put words back in your mouth? You can’t. All you can do is spread false gossip to make everyone forget about the real rumor.” What?! Well, that’s Michael logic for you!

Now is where the fun begins. Michael is busy like a bee buzzing from co-worker to co-worker to spread his new lies. He tells Erin that Kelly is anorexic. When Erin questions this, saying that she herself has seen Kelly eat numorous times, Michael assures her that it is true, “yep, she’s an-or-rex-a-tic“. lol

Then he’s off to tell Kelly that Erin is doing a terrible job at work. She won’t be around much longer don’ cha know? And oh yeah Meredith, did you hear that Pam is pregnant? Meredith’s reply was hysterical, “She’s going to hate being a mom!” ha ha! Next up? Telling Kelly that Andy is gay. He’s like a gossip-tornado at this point!

Next scene we see Andy and Kevin at the watercooler. Andy is getting some hot tea. Kevin watches this with amusement. “Like tea do you?” Andy is clueless at first, then Kevin clarifys, “do you like tea as much as you like mens’ butts?” Oh boy!

At first, Andy is really ticked off. He begins advancing on Kevin and my first thought was uh-oh looks like anger management is out the window on this one! But after he quizzes him where he heard that rumor, “delta chi? guys from my high school?” (lol )we find out there is definitely more to consider here?

The rumor that Andy’s gay might be total fabrication on Michael’s part, but in Andy’s mind — maybe not? In a talking head we discover that Andy himself is confused about his sexuality. He’s heard these rumors in his past before and he is starting to wonder if maybe they could be true?

Andy tracks down Oscar to ask and actual gay man what he thinks. Poor Oscar! ha ha This is a great scene. Andy asks, “do you think I’m gay?” Oscar responds, “Are you attracted to men?” Andy replies, “No, but let me give you a scenario.” (ha ha! Anytime you need to be “given a scenario” there is definitely something there in my opinion.) Here is his scenario; beach cabana, Brad Pitt and him, Brad Pitt is the persuer. Andy reasons, “I would resisit him – at first“. Oscar is exasperated, “If you pushed Brad Pitt away, you think he would come after you?” Andy retorts, “No, this isn’t the real Brad Pitt. This is my fantasy, I mean scenario.” Oops! ha ha Oscar seems weary at this point. He says, “I wish I could help you. You may be gay.”

In a talking head Oscar looks distraught. “What is my responsibility here? To comfort heterosexual men? That can’t possibly fall to me!” ha ha

Andy’s chatting with Jim. He wants to know if he can fix him up with someone. Jim replies that he can’t, but maybe Pam knows of someone. Andy says, some woman or some man? Jim gets it right away and asks, “Do you want her to fix you up with a man?” Andy replies, “for the record I prefer women, but I’m confused. Evidence is sort of stacking up…” ha ha

Next scene is in the conference room. The interns are leaving. Time for good-byes and cake (of course!). Everyone is buzzing about the rumors flying around. Angela confronts Pam, “You know babies conceived out of wedlock are still bastards”. Alarmed, Pam responds, “Why did that even enter your brain?”

At the same time, Andy comes up to Jim to chat again. He tells him, “congratulations by the way, on Baby Tuna, Little Junior Toro!” Jim and Pam make a bee-line for each other. “Did you tell? No! Did you?!”

When they realize neither of them told about their pregnancy, they decide to get to the source of the rumor. Jim makes the announcement and finds out that alot of rumors have been spread today. A few quick questions and they trace it back to the source – Michael!

Cornered, Michael admits he made all the gossip up. Except for one rumor. He tells everyone that one rumor is true. Of course, everyone demands to know which one. Realizing that Michael is about to reveal Stanley’s affair to the entire office, JAM jumps in to save the day. They admit that they’re pregnant. That’s the true rumor they say. Michael tries to discredit them, but Pam produces an ultrasound so there is nothing more to say on the subject! It looks like the Stanley-affair may go away quietly. Or maybe not…

Back in his office, Michael is made at Jim & Pam for not telling him right away about their pregnancy. Then, a call comes through. It’s Teri, Stanley’s wife! Seems Michael called her to try and find out if the rumor is true. Both Pam and Jim implore him to not take the call. Let it lie man, let it lie! But it just wouldn’t be Michael to do that, so he answers the phone and immediately calls her the mistresses name, “Cynthia”, not once but twice! While Michael is floundering, Jim reaches over and hangs up the phone. So Michael, so Jim, so perfect!

In a talking head Michael explains that his ill-timed phone call was fine, because Teri already suspected about Stanley & Cynthia anyway. He goes onto explain that Stanley ended the affair and apologized to Teri.  In the background the camera pans to the parking lot where we see Stanley hammering away on Michael’s car. Just tearing it apart! Michael appears unconcerned. I guess in his mind, all’s well that ends well!

The episode ends with parting words from the interns. Seems they learned nothing all summer except that if Michael thinks you look like a celebrity he will call you that celebrity’s name continuously. The interns were nicknamed; Jet Li, Julia Stiles and Alan Thicke. ha ha!

Overall a great episode. Very well written & acted. Lots of great quotes. They stayed true to the characters and they didn’t let the JAM pregnancy overshadow everything else. I love that it was treated as a sub-plot. Long live The Office!

What did you think? Sound off in the comments section. And as always, thanks for reading. ~Donna