Life In The Office

Mrs. California was, in a word…wonderful. I only seem surprised because the premise of this episode did not interest me in the least. But this episode turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Color this long-time fan happy.

The cold-open was Dwight doing what Dwight does best, acting superior & annoying everyone. He’s decided that sitting down is a sign of weakness. By his way of thinking, standing is clearly best. He even elevated his desk so he could stand and still do his work. From that angle he feels the superior. He mockingly points out that from he new vantage point he can see Jim’s hair is thinning.

Then he announces to the entire office that they are losers for sitting while they work and by standing he is clearly better than them. Oscar begins to point out how silly this is when Jim interupts him. He has just seen Dwight shifting uncomfortably in his standing position, and wants to mess with him a bit. Jim says (loud enough so the entire office an hear) that Dwight is right and that he can’t imagine that Dwight would ever sit at work again, since it’s clearly better to stand.

 Now Dwight is stuck. He can’t sit at work, or he will admit that he’s not as superior as he claims to be. We can see this is becoming a problem for him as he shift around uncomfortably. But then Dwight stops shifting and seems smug. What’s up? Jim checks him out and discovers that Dwight has stilts up his pant legs so he can rest while he “stands”. Making it clear that the jig is up, Jim says to Dwight, “you know I have to do this”. Resigned, Dwight sighs and whispers, “I know”. Then Jim pushes him and his stilt legs over. Classic Jim/Dwight moment. So great!

After a stellar cold-open, our show begins. Andy is meeting with Jim in his office. A frantic Robert California pops his head in and tells them that his wife will be coming in 4 minutes looking for a job and that Andy is forbidden to hire her. What?!

But before that incident is explained, we get Dwight again. This time, he’s building an office gym. Why you ask? Well, as Dwight tells us in a talking-head, “fat people are a drain on the office resources. They wear out chairs faster, and their massive BM’s bust the rivets on my bathroom pipes”.  Ewww (tmi)! But more importantly, Dwight sees this as a money making opportunity. He will charge membership at this new gym.

Back to the main plot point. The office staff is introduced to Robert California’s wife, Susan. She is played by actress Maura Tierney (famous for her role on ER as well as many other tv show and movies). Robert explains that his wife is looking to go back to work and would like to see what each of the departments do and decide which is the best fit for her. Andy apologizes to Susan, telling her it’s nice to meet her but that they are fully staffed at the moment. Robert is not happy. He tells Andy (in front of the staff and his wife) that surely they can find something for the bosses wife.

Andy is clearly confused. On one hand, he knows that Robert doesn’t want his wife working at the office, but on the other hand, Robert is so convincing when he says he does want her there (in front of her of course) that Andy is torn. Has Robert changed his mind? Does he still want Andy to not hire Susan? Andy’s just not sure.

Back to Dwight’s gym idea. Darryl is interested. He’s into the new female warehouse worker and would like to lose some weight and tone up to look good. An office gym would help him out.

Andy now has the uncomfortable task of showing Susan around the office to find her perfect fit. He makes a bee-line for Jim because he is the only other person who knows that Robert doesn’t want Susan working there. He wants Jim to tell her how awful it is at the office, but before he can, Dwight chimes in. Dwight tells her that sales is the second easiest job in the world. Before anyone can ask what’s the first, he says in an aside that “motherhood” is the easiest job (I literally choked with laughter when he said this, having three kids myself ages 7, 8 & 10).

Susan tells Dwight that she loves shopping and that she figures sales is just the other side of that. Trying to disuade her, Andy tells her that if she chose sales, she’d be working very closely with Dwight. He figures Dwight himself is enough to disuade anyone!  He tells Dwight, “tell Susan about all your hobbies , ranking animals, etc…”

Unfortunately for Andy, Susan is not disuaded by Dwight. What to do now? Susan is not supposed to like it at the office! But everyone is being so nice to her and making her feel welcome. Andy says, “what I wouldn’t give for one of Phyllis’s classic room-clearing farts right now”.

Dwight’s gym is complete. He brings Darryl to check it out. The gym is exactly what you’d think Dwight would come up with. It is weilding a sledge hammer on an old tire, chopping wood station, etc…Darryl tells him, “this is not a gym, it’s something out of “Saw 5″”. He tells Dwight to make a real gym.

Despite Andy’s best efforts, Susan has decided that she wants a job at the office. Robert, Susan and Andy meet in his office. Susan’s decided accounting is the best fit for her. Andy tells her that accounting is fully staffed. Robert is again upset. He tells Andy (in front of Susan) that he cannot accept that. Andy must give his wife a job.

Andy is thoroughly upset and confused. He doesn’t know what to do. Does Robert want him to hire his wife, or not? He admires Robert so much, and he doesn’t want to do the wrong thing. Robert continues to tell him that he must find a place for Susan.

Finally Andy gives in. He tells Susan, you’ve got a job! Robert flashes him a look that  immediately lets Andy know he has made the wrong decision. Andy is stricken.

Away from Susan, Robert tells Andy, “undo this mistake”.

Andy is now desperate. He tells the office staff that even though they all like Susan, Robert doesn’t want her there, so they need to make her want to leave as soon as possible.

Susan feels their animosity. She explains in a talking head, “I get it. I hated the bosses wife at my old job. Of course she was married to Robert”. Oh boy…!

Susan complains to Robert that his employees aren’t treating her well and she’s suspicious why. Robert then complains to Andy about how Susan’s being treated. Then Robert slinks out and leaves Andy to deal with Susan. She masterfully quizzes Andy and figures out that Robert has put Andy up to this treatment of her. But, she wants Robert to admit it.

When Robert returns, she confronts him in front of Andy. Robert then turns to Andy and expects him to lie for him again. Andy is once again confused by what is expected of him. He is totally in over his head. Realizing this, he throws Jim under the bus and says that he could explain it better since he was there when Robert came in to speak with him.

Jim overhears this bit of the conversation and tries to escape. During his escape, he finds Creed who is on the roof top playing with a remote control helicopter. He tells Creed, “you never saw me”. Creed replies, “ok, but what about your friend?” Now Jim was alone, but this is Creed we’re talking about. Who knows who or what he actually sees? ha ha

Jim’s slap stick escape is thwarted. Robert and Andy desperate for another fall-guy find Jim and make him tell Susan “the truth”. Jim tells a heartwarming story about how he loves working with his wife, “just to see her face everyday”. Very loving JAM stuff. *sigh* Defeated, Robert tells Jim he can leave. He tells Andy he can leave too. Andy is so releaved. He feels that entire awkward situation is now over. He figures Robert will apologize to Susan and everything will be fine.

Dwight takes Darryl’s advice and makes a real gym in the office. He gets Darryl on board and is training him. Unhappy with Darryl’s effort, he tells him he will make sure he doesn’t “half-ass” his workouts. Spotting him, Dwight gets Darryl to admit that he is doing all this working out to “impress Val”. Confused, Dwight tells him that he will help him “get in shape for Val Kilmer”.

End of the work day, Andy’s leaving. He runs into Susan leaving as well. They chat. Andy tells her that he’s glad everything was out in the open and over because he really liked Susan and it was hard to reject her.

Susan seems flattered by this. She tells Andy that, “when all this settles down….it’s a date”. Then she walks away to her car.

Andy is shocked. “It’s a date??!!” What does that mean?! Obviously Andy’s little reveal to Mrs. California has opened a bigger can of worms that he anticipated. Things are not good. And what exactly does this mean for Andy…and the rest of the office?

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

I really liked “Mrs. California”. It had heart. There were great scenes with Dwight, Jim, and the rest of our beloved office staff. It was cringe-worthy too. Loved it from start to finish. If you missed this episode, do yourself a favor, and take the time to watch it. You won’t be disappointed.

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- Donna