Life In The Office

When we last left Michael Scott, he was jubilant over the fact that his true love Holly, finally realized that they were meant for each other. Up next? The perfect Valentine’s Day episode, “PDA”. I really liked this episode. It had all the right ingredients for a classic Office episode; it was set in the office, and it had a simple relatable plot line. After all, who among us hasn’t wanted to shout, “Get a room!” at one time or another in our lives to some in-love/lust couple? And if you haven’t felt the need to do that, then YOU may be one of those PDA people yourself! (we kid, we kid! LITO does not imply any preconceived notions about our readers, however perverted they may be!)

The cold-open center around Darryl. Pam extends her condolences for the loss of his beloved Grandmother, and hands Darryl a card from the office. When Darryl opens the card and reads it, it’s full of congratulatory wishes, “Way to go big guy!” and “You deserve this!”

Huh? Pam sheepishly realizes that her co-workers may have thought the card was for Darryl’s birthday instead of a sympathy card for his dead Granny. In the door comes Andy & Dwight ready to party it up with a grieving Darryl.

I thought this was very funny. When I worked in an office, it seems there was always some card or another we were signing for someone. I found the idea of everyone thinking it was a birthday card and not even checking as they scrawled their messages & signatures very funny and believable.

Right from the start we see the title of this episode, PDA (public displays of affection) between Michael and Holly. It’s Valentine’s Day, and the happy couple are seen kissing, hugging, and shmooing all over each other in full view of all their uncomfortable co-workers. In a talking-head, Micheal states the obvious, “Holly and I are dating”. Well, duh!

Valentine flowers arrive for Erin from Gabe. The gift includes a puzzle that once solved is the beginning clue of a treasure hunt. In a talking-head, Gabe tells us, “I dominate Valentine’s Day. I practically make romance into a science”. Ooh, how romantic (not!). I think Gabe’s kind of missing the whole point of romance.

A cab pulls up outside the office and drops off Jim and Pam. They decided to go to Valentine’s Day lunch so they could spend the evening with their daughter CeCe. Great idea! Except, the restaurant offered a “bottomless champagne”. Pam tells Jim, “we never found that bottom did we?” Oopsie! Our favorite couple is a teensy-bit schnockered (ie-drunk).

Erin tries to work on her puzzle, but isn’t having much luck. So, she asks Andy to help her. He refuses, saying it’s supposed to be some romantic thing between her and Gabe, but Erin pleads with him. After all, Andy and Erin are just friends right? No harm in him helping her out, right? Right?! lol

Drunken Jim is slurring his words while making sales calls. Dwight makes fun of him and Jim finds this hysterical. Jim gives Dwight a child’s paper Valentine that Dwight refuses, “because Jim signed it right in front of him”. There is such history between these characters that even a simple scene like this one was a good one.

At lunch in the break-room, Angela brings up a subject that has obviously been on every one’s mind, the PDA between Michael and Holly. Everyone is in agreement that while they are very happy for them, the PDA is just too much. Everyone that is, except Kevin, who enjoys the PDA. Why? It makes him horny.

With Andy’s help, Erin solves her love-puzzle. It’s a photo of Gabe’s boom box. Erin wants Andy to continue to help her in her treasure hunt. Andy again begs off. She again pleads with him and he agrees to continue to help her.

We finally get Holly’s perspective on all the office PDA in her talking-head. She tells us that she really can’t keep herself from Michael. “He exudes sex like a jungle cat”. While we hear this from her, the camera cuts to Michael doing silly stuff in the office like bending over by the copier, etc…Hard to imagine a jungle cat doing that, but to each his own!

The staff meet up for a meeting in the conference room. Gabe is heading the meeting. The subject is office PDA. Even during the meeting, Michael is sitting on Holly’s lap, and the two can’t keep their hands off each other. Kevin is right next to them, staring at them (and now we know why, eww!). Gabe explains that although office romance is not prohibited, certain behaviors are not appropriate in the workplace, like kissing and hugging. Kevin chimes in, “How about boob honking?” Gabe replies, “yes”. Kevin, “How about butt honking?” Gabe, “yes, all the honkings”. Too funny!

The happy couple finally realizes the meeting is because of their behavior in the office. Michael doesn’t want to stop his behavior, so he has a solution. How about a “hook-up closet”? Dwight chimes in that he knows for a fact that many staff members have had sex right in the office, so why not designate an area? Gabe can’t allow this, so Michael is upset. He tells us in a talking-head that he “loves working for Dunder Mifflin Sabre, a division of Taliban Enterprises”.

All this talk about office-nookie has Pam thinking. Now maybe it’s just the large amount of alcohol she consumed on her lunch break, but she thinks that maybe sex in the office is something she and Jim should try?

Erin and Andy find Gabe’s boom box and play the CD. It repeats, “the tent at night” over and over. This clue leads them to think of “temp at night” which leads them to Ryan’s closet-office. They turn off the lights and see that Gabe has glued a bunch of glow stars to the walls. Erin exclaims, “this is so romantic”. And it is. Except, it’s supposed to be romantic between Gabe and Erin, not Erin and Andy. Whoopsie! In glow letters is the next clue, “Eat at Hanks”.

Michael is still upset about the anti-PDA meeting. He explains in a talking-head, “Holly and I are like Romeo and Juliet and this office is like the dragon that kept them apart”. *Sigh* – I’m gonna miss those Michael-isms!

This anger leads him to make an announcement that everyone is just jealous of his love for Holly. Holly seems shocked. He loves her?! Uh-oh, this could be bad, but it’s not. Turns out, Holly loves him too! Michael is so happy, but because they can’t do PDA, the happy couple shakes hands.

Jim and Pam decide to try office sex and attempt to sneak into the closet that doubles as Ryan’s office, just as Erin and Andy come running out to follow the next clue in the treasure hunt. Ryan catches their embarrassment and realizes what they were about to do. He approves of them doing-it in his office, just clean up afterwards. Pam is mortified and now way to embarrassed to continue. We can see from Jim’s face that he had no problem with embarrassment, but like a good husband, he follows his lady’s lead and they leave.

Pam explains in a talking-head. They don’t need to have sex at work. They are married, and have a perfectly good bed at home. Jim chimes in, “and a shower!” Pam gives him the death-stare for revealing that they do it in the shower to the camera man. Oops, again!

At security-guard Hank’s cafe, Erin finds her next clue, “look in the break room”. She and Andy do, and they find a pink cookie in the vending machine. On it, is a note saying something about Valentine’s kisses. Erin and Andy share this angsty-stare at each other. The viewer can only imagine that they are both imagining a Valentine kiss between each other. But just then, they spot Gabe though the break-room window, blowing kisses at Erin. And, just like that, the spell is broken.

I’m really starting to enjoy this little crush Andy and Erin have on each other. It worked to perfection with Pam and Jim. And Office writer’s sure do know their angsty-love! I’ll admit I’m not as invested in Andy and Erin as I was in JAM, but it’s still fun.

Rebellious Michael and Holly decide to make fun of their anti-PDA order. And their new behavior is just as annoying as the PDA was! Gabe pulls them into his office to talk.

Gabe tells them that he can only think of three reasons why they won’t/can’t stop their PDA behavior. Number one, they’re on Ecstasy (surprise, surprise, Gabe reveals, he’s done X!) Number two, they realize their romance will be done once Tobi’s jury duty is over and Holly goes back to Nashua. Number three, they’re both old and need extra foreplay to get it going after work.

Gabe’s speech hits home with Michael. Once Tobi comes back, Holly will leave. He is so upset that he decides to break up with her now rather than face the heartache later. Holly refuses him and says they will make it work. The two decide to move in together.

Pam and Jim enter the office looking all disheveled. Did they do it somewhere in the office?! The two explain in a talking-head, “no way. we went for a walk”. Then Pam flashes a smile. Seems as if our favorite office couple may have indulged. Love that JAM!

The episode ends with a few of the staff explaining their perfect Valentine’s Day in talking-heads.

Dwight’s perfect day centers around him fielding phone calls from desperate lovers bidding on one of the 50 restaurant reservations he’s make throughout the year for Valentine’s Day, with no intention of keeping.

Ryan laments that anyone can be a prince on Valentine’s Day. The only thing that impresses him is the guy that can be a prince no days a year.

Kelly’s perfect day centers around all the cliche’s; candy, flowers, dinner with a violinist. Shame her boyfriend has plans to do none of those things!

Kevin’s perfect day is food-centric. Pizza, soda, and oh yeah…someone to share it with!

And how about new roomies, Michael and Holly? Holly explains their perfect Valentine’s night by making “bed-squeaking” noises. Guess we know what they’ll be doing tonight!

Well, that’s all folks. I have to say, I loved this episode. It was funny and sweet, with a bit of angst thrown in for good measure. But, what did you think? Sound off in the comments or over on the forums.

Thanks for reading! – Donna