“Life In The Office” features recaps written by a revolving corps of four. We four writers often feel “lucky” when our turn comes up, and the episode coincides with a subject that we are particularly fond of, or close to; Donna, a Halloween aficionado, recently had the privilege to review that always-fun episode; Suri has gotten many of the pivotal, “bigger-picture” one-hour episodes, that she gleefully tackles. Kevin has also gotten many of the more “introspective” relationship shows, that he is able to skillfully dissect. And me? I feel lucky, because as a bartender, I got “Christmas Wishes,” the episode where people get drunk and act stupid, and I get to comment authoritatively on the poor judgment of those that are pouring the drinks, along with the over-indulgers. I would have cut Erin and Meredith off long before, but then we wouldn’t have had much of an episode, would we? 
The show starts off in the conference room, with a Santa-suited Andy trying too hard (as usual) to grant everyone’s “Christmas Wishes.” All too soon, Andy’s attempts at good cheer are seriously derailed by a seriously annoyed Stanley. I was puzzled by Stanley’s over-reactionary rant, but then a Jim Halpert talking head provided the clue: He laments buying Stanley tickets to see Lewis Black. I had to look up Lewis Black, and I see he is a comedian with a “schtick” involving near out-of-control rants on nearly everything. So, now I “get” the cold opening, but it took some research to figure it out. Now I wonder; are most of “The Office” viewers familiar with Lewis Black’s act? It wouldn’t be the first loop that I was out of, and it won’t be the last.
Andy calls Jim and Dwight into his office, and informs them that their constant “pranking” of one another is seriously annoying Kathy, Pam’s temp. Andy issues an ultimatum to stop the pranking, which (as usual) is toothless and in fact (as we all know) it will actually accelerate the pranking. I’m probably not the only one that thought that Jim’s reaction to this news was a little odd. He didn’t seem at all concerned with Kathy’s uncomfortable feelings, which seems to me to be rather “Dwight-ish.” I’ve been a big advocate of the writers not making Jim Halpert out to be too holy of a saint, but this selfish, cavalier attitude of his caught me by surprise. Meanwhile, Robert California arrives at the office, and he appears to be in need of a pick-me-up party, as we learn his wife has left him. Then, Andy’s girlfriend Jessica walks in, and Erin is obviously not pleased to meet her.
Anyway (as expected), Jim and Dwight’s quickly pick up the pranking pace. Both are now in full-on “prank” mode, spending all their time and energy setting elaborate traps for one another. There was a certain childish charm to these goings-on, as Dwight and Jim playfully punch each other’s arms like junior high school goons. Meanwhile, as Robert tends bar at the party, I was finding no childish charm in blatantly over-serving a simpleton like Erin. When Andy shows enough concern to warn her that “maybe she should slow down,” Erin responds with a confrontational “Maybe you should mind your own business…” followed by a sugar-coated “Just kidding.” Wow. As a bartender I deal with these situations a lot. I like my job, but this is sure an ugly part of it that demands attention, and careful handling. I found myself being taken “out of the moment” of the show, wanting someone to step in and take charge. I love the many awkward moments on The Office, but I almost felt like I should do something!
Erin’s over-service inevitably leads to her telling Andy that she wishes Jessica was dead. And not metaphorically dead, but “in the graveyard, with worms crawling out her mouth” dead. Andy walks away at that point, leaving Kevin to inquire of Erin about the possibility of oatmeal being served. Meanwhile, Dwight trashes the iPod that is playing Vince Guaraldi’s soothing “Charlie Brown Christmas” music, and replace it with his own boombox, which is booming the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. That was a nice touch, as Dwight got to show off the many heavy metal moves that you know he busts in his mirrors at home. 
That led to my favorite part of the episode, with a montage of goofy office gift-giving, soundtracked by an absolutely ominous version of “Carol Of The Bells.” This was a perfect balance of the sweet Christmas spirit with the somewhat subversive nature of the show. And it leads into another beautiful touch: the possibly budding romance of Darryl and Val. Val misinterprets Darryl’s invitation to the party, and she arrives in a gown, dressed like she’s ready for “Dancing With The Stars.” Darryl apparently zoomed home unnoticed, and he returns wearing a snazzy tuxedo. Now, he is seriously over-dressed, just like Val, and his entrance was the kind of visual payoff that a great show can deliver. That was a feel-good moment!
Andy, as he promised as a “Christmas Wish,” drives a drunken Meredith home in her van. Robert California became Erin’s designated driver, and Andy surreptitiously followed his boss’ Corvette to make sure that nothing untoward took place. Whew, was I glad that nothing untoward took place; that would have been seriously creepy. The episode ends with Dwight unaware that Jim has written “idiot” boldly his forehead while he inexplicably “napped.” (At his desk, with his forehead up?) This “prank” will probably not be going into any “best-of-Jim” montages any time soon. (Edit: Since this recap was posted, it has been “gently” pointed out to me that I didn’t “get” the very clever “reverse pranking” antics of Dwight and Jim. Well, I “get” it now and I regret the error. Sorry!)
Right after the show was over, I knew I was gonna have to watch it a second time. That usually makes it get better for me, and indeed it did. There was good stuff, for sure, but there were also enough clunky moments that I have to rate this a disappointment, especially after last week’s stellar episode. I may be in the minority here, because from what I’m reading on the internet, a lot of people liked “Christmas Wishes” a lot. Well, I guess after a second viewing that I can say I kinda liked it. Now, I am anxious to see what LITO-ites thought of it. Did this episode answer your Office “Christmas Wishes?”
~ Robert
This episode had it tough before it even started because it had to follow “Mrs. California”. But there were some good parts. I enjoyed watching Jim & Dwight try to lure each other into pranks, due to Andy’s offer of a bonus.
In fact, there was a bit you mentioned in your recap where Jim writes on Dwight’s forehead while he napped. I believe that was actually Dwight who wrote on his own forehead & tried to set it up to look like Jim did it, thereby securing the bonus for himself. At that point in the episode, Andy had told Jim that the offer of the bonus was rescinded, and Jim “promised” to let Dwight know. Of course he did not tell Dwight. So, Dwight was still trying to make it see like Jim was pranking him. The closing credits show more of this with Dwight spray painting his own car to make it seem like Jim did it.
Surprisingly, I really liked the dynamic between Erin and Robert. Not that I wanted to see them hook up while he’s heart broken and she’s drunk. But there was something endearing about the two of them wallowing in their misery together.
Also, anyone else surprised by Andy’s girlfriend? After watching Angela torture him for months & then him pining after Erin for months, I thought this new girlfriend seemed out of his league? She was pretty, smart, nice, and didn’t bat an eye when he said, “are you two talking about my penis”. Seems too good to be true for our Andy Bernard. Guess his promotion really scored for him with the ladies…
Good recap Bob. I liked to hear a bartenders view of the situation. I never really thought of it from that POV. What do you think of Merediths drunken antics in general. Are you able to see the funny, or is it all too “work-like” for you?
Thanks for setting me straight, Donna. And I’ll explain more about dealing with real-life drunken antics over at the LITO forum. Yeah, maybe that’ll even increase traffic over there.
… 
http://www.lifeintheoffice.com/forum/
Hi Bob,
Great recap. Thanks!
The only thing I didn’t really care for in this episode was Darryl and Val. To me, it seemed to make Val a complete idiot to think one should dress up THAT much to an office party. Just bothered me and the relationship between the two bores me to tears.
Now, unlike some or perhaps even most, I ADORE the on again, off again romance between Erin and Andy. One of my all time favorite scenes from the series is when Andy and .Erin are romantic at the trash dump. This was so great.
The fact that this episode centers around Erin and Andy thrilled me. I thought Erin’s drunknesness was very cringe worthy and made the episode both funny and dramatic. Tepee tension between Erin and Andy was at an all time high.
Having Andy follow Erin home also proved that Andy still very much likes Erin and seems to hint that they may eventually wind up together again. That made me very happy.
I don’t know, I laughed all through the episode, found Jim and Dwight hilarious, and absolutely loved the Erin and Andy drama. To me this was a great episode, and I don’t even celebrate Christmas!
Which reminds me, an early Happy Hannukah to Suri!
Did not mean to say teepee tension but the tension. My stupid iPad makes up words for me when I misspell. Very annoying.
Thanks Daniel, I appreciate that. It seems that all the holidays will coincide this year, even though Channukah is 8 days and X-mas is only one.
Do you have a December holiday that you do celebrate? If so, let us know and we’ll be sure to wish you season’s greetings.
Also, I did figure out that your forum name was danjlion7, it made sense since you put up a comment that you were finally accepted on the forums and then danjlion7 began posting right afterwards. But we’re always happy to welcome anyone who comments aside from the 4 of us as many times as it takes to get them to stick around.
So welcome again. If it gets old, just let us know and we’ll cut it out.
Thanks for commenting, Daniel Lee! I’m happy to see that although we somewhat disagree about the merits of this particular show, we can still find lots of common ground. Who doesn’t get all misty-eyed at the romantic memory of Andy and Erin at the dump?
Also, I’m GLAD you cleared that up about the, uh… “teepee tension.” I was WONDERING what that was, and why was it at an all-time high last night! Hmm… I REALLY like the phrase “teepee tension.”
Maybe there was teepee tension on the part of Andy as he referred to a certain part of his anatomy so perhaps I made a Freudian slip?????
Bob, it’s becoming way too easy for us to get off topic.
Which reminds me, I feel I need to clarify that I am danjlion7 on the forum. I’ve been welcomed a zillion times,and it occurred to me that people think I’m two different people. Seems like an office moment actually.
Daniel Lee / danjilion7 are the same person?! Thanks for clearing that up! I know I didn’t realize it, but I may have been the only one. So sorry! I know that I have welcomed you more than once. Glad to see you’re becoming a regular contributor around these parts.
Daniel Lee, you’re not the only one around LITO that has a couple of different “handles.” Suri on this main page goes by “hotdogfingers” on the forum.
And not that anyone knows or cares, but I’ve been writing “Scrantonicity” as Bob, and my episode reviews are titled “Robert’s Recap.” (It has a little more, uh… “pizzazz.”)
Hi Bob, I really enjoyed your recap. My husband happens to be a fan of Lewis Black, so I cracked up at Jim’s TH in the cold opening. At first I just thought it was another Stanley rant, but then Jim made it that much better.
I thought this was a particularly good episode. It had all the craziness of a classic Office holiday party episode and all of the heart as well.
I was wondering what you thought of Oscar’s reaction to taking over the bar tending duties, as a professional bar tender.
Val and Darryl were cute and Andy checking up on Robert and Erin to make sure nothing inappropriate happened and the relief on his face when he realized that she was going inside alone was really touching. I think there’s hope for those two. Although, I’m still not as invested in them as I was in Jim and Pam. I’ll never forget the Season 3 x-mas party where Pam and Karen team up and seem to be friends, but then we see them exchanging gifts with their significant others and your heart just breaks because you know they’re with the wrong person. I guess we’ll never get that level of longing back on the show. Jim and Pam are a one in a million couple.
I liked the Jim/Dwight interaction. It brought back a certain Season 2 feel, but sadly, without Pam in the mix, it just wasn’t the same. I don’t really think that Jim was being thoughtless or selfish, he’s just used to having a partner in crime and the thought of having a deskmate that wasn’t on board with the pranking is just unnatural to him.
All in all, I’d say this episode was high up there on the rating scale for me.
Thanks, Suri! The comedian Lewis Black was completely off my radar. (As are millions and billions of other things.) Anyway, now I have looked him up, and here is Lewis Black ranting about Starbucks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENGUYeiGtNk Being from Seattle, the home of the original Starbucks, this rant, uh… “hits home”.
As a bartender, I LOVED Oscar’s enthusiasm! On those occasions when I am asked to work a portable “party bar,” the first thing I notice is what’s missing… like the muddler… and the chocolate shavings.