Life In The Office

 Sorry I am a bit late with this recap everyone, but I was on vacation with very limited internet connection (I know, I know…the horror!). Despite the lack of internet, my family and I had a good time. Today, I finally got a chance to see “Jury Duty”. The verdict on “Jury Duty”? I loved it! It was like a little extra treat after my fun weekend.

The cold-open was cute. Andy Bernard was feeling stressed. How do we know that? He heads down to the warehouse where he asks Darryl’s crush Val to “clear the room”. Looking bored, she does as he requests, but asks that he “clean up after he’s done”. Obviously, Val has dealt with this request from Andy before. Seems Andy likes to deal with his stress by dancing around to Kenny Loggins, “Footloose”. For those of you who don’t remember the original “Footloose” movie, it features Kevin Bacon furiously dancing around in a warehouse, because he’s so stressed out that’s he’s stuck in a town that has outlawed dancing.  Andy obviously is acting out this scene as he dances around and trashes the warehouse. Ironically, in the movie, the song “Footloose” was not played during the warehouse scene, but at the prom. Why is this important you ask? Well…I guess it’s not. Carry on!

The episode kicks off with Jim returning to work after jury duty (ah-ha! that’s where they got the episode title). He was gone five days. Except, here’s the kicker. We find out in a talking-head that the actual court case only lasted a half of a day. What?! Well, Jim decided to give himself a little extra time to help an overwhelmed Pam out with the kids a bit. One day turns into two, then two days turns into three, you get the picture.

Then, the phone rings. Angela had her baby! They check the office baby pool, but no one’s even close, because Angela delivered a month early. Kevin says, “Is the baby black? Because that would be hilarious!” Darryl is obviously offended by this racist comment, but Kevin holds his ground asking the office to back him up about how funny that would be. Everyone looks appalled, except Ryan who agrees with him.

Oscar, Kevin, Erin and Gabe decide to go visit her at the hospital. Gabe? Seems Gabe love the maternity ward. He explains, “I love the maternity ward. It’s the perfect blend of love and horror. Things can go so wrong…or so right”. Oof Gabe, you are one strange bird!

At lunch, everyone wants to hear Jim’s jury duty story. Jim finds out that while he was playing hooky from work, everyone was filling in for him; staying late, meeting with his clients, etc…Now Jim feels terrible. He didn’t realize that everyone would have to pick up his slack. So, he decides to make up a jury duty story to entertain them & cover his lie.

During his story-telling, Dwight catches Jim in a slip-up and realizes that he’s not being truthful. Jim lies about having lunch in the same ”restaurant” that Toby did when he was on jury duty. Except once Toby tells the whole story it wasn’t a restaurant, it was a food truck. Dwight knows about food trucks, and he knows that no one calls them “resturants” by mistake. And oh boy, does anything make Dwight happier than to have something to hold over Jim? Nope…nothing at all!

At the hospital, Oscar prepares the group. He gently explains that premature babies are very small and wants to make sure that they don’t say or do anything to offend Angela. They go see the baby and he’s not little. He’s huge! He looks like a three month old. This is obviously no preemie baby.

Back at the office, Dwight lets Jim know he’s lying. He carries on a bit, thrilled to have gotten Jim’s goat. Finally, Andy comes out and tells Dwight to, “take a chill pill”. Dwight does, but only after he get’s Andy to promise that if he can prove Jim lied about jury duty that he would get fired. Andy promises him that he would. The camera flashes to Jim’s face and we can see that he’s worried. He already feels guilty for lying and now he can get fired? Uh-oh!

Jim decides to tell Andy the truth. Andy is upset, but doesn’t want to fire Jim over such a silly thing. So, he convinces Jim to keep up his lie and everything will just blow over. Jim isn’t happy, but he relents.

Dwight brings the food truck owner to the office. He only speaks spanish, but a warehouse worker interprets for him. Right away this guy recognizes Toby from his jury duty days. But strangely, he doesn’t recognize Jim? Dwight sees this as proof positive of Jim’s guilt. He says, “He doesn’t remember Jim, but yet he remembers Toby? The most forgettable man in the known world?!” Aww, Poor Toby!

Andy jumps in to defend Jim. But he’s such a bad liar himself, that he winds up digging a bigger hole for Jim. Andy claims that he knows Jim was at jury duty because he drove him there. What?! Exactly! This makes sense to no one. Jim pulls Andy aside to find out what he is doing. Freaking out, Andy tells Jim, “I’m not Rumplestilskin Jim, I can’t keep spinning gold out of your s**t”. Ha!

Back at the hospital, Oscar expresses his doubt about Angela’s baby Philip being a preemie. Angela tries to pass the huge infant off as five pounds. Her clueless husband (the senator), chimes in that the baby is actually nine pounds, seven ounces. That is one big baby! ( Personal note: my two sons were nine pounds two ounces and nine pounds eight ounces when they were born. Ouch! Hurts just thinking about it!)

Despite Andy’s request, Jim fesses up to the office about his jury duty lie. It was probably a combination of his own guilt and the realization that Andy could never keep the lie going. The staff is angry. They had alot of extra work while he was home “on vacation”. Jim tries to explain that Pam needed help with the kids and he’s really sorry he took advantage of everyone by taking extra days. No one cares about his excuses.

Dwight is elated. He begins to pack up Jim’s desk for him. After all, Andy said he’d fire Jim if he lied about jury duty. Andy jumps in and says he’s not firing Jim. Instead, he gives him a light slap on the face. Dwight is livid! How can this have happened?! Drats, thwarted again!

Back at the maternity ward, Oscar is showing Angela the gift he brought her. It’s a preemie size onesie, which looks like a postage stamp next to huge baby Philip. Oscar tells her that he will return it for a bigger size. Angela tells him that it’s fine, “baby clothes are not supposed to be baggy. It’s not the barrio”. Ha! This is the second time that I can remember The Office referring to “the barrio”. The last time had something to do with Sesame Street. Anyone remember the specifics? Anyone? Bueller? Bob?!

Oscar has had enough. He tells Angela that her baby is no preemie. Angela secretly confesses that her precious Philip was in fact conceived a month before her wedding. She claims she and the Senator went out on a date to see the movie “Thor” and her chicken marsala dinner had too much wine, etc…A bunch of excuses as to how her and the senator couldn’t wait to consumate their love. This all sounds very plausible…except that her husband is gay!

I love that she mentions the movie “Thor” as one of the reasons for her pre-wedding conception. I have yet to see the movie, but girlfriends of mine let me know that it’s a must-see for one reason only, a shirtless Chris Hemsworth. I can see how this movie would titillate both Angela…and the Senator!

Back at the office, Oscar sees Dwight and privately tells him that Angela’s baby was concieved one month before the wedding. Oscar’s no dummy. He must know that Angela and Dwight were “friends with benefits” and that he would want to know this information. Dwight is thrilled at the possibility of fatherhood. His feelings of rage about Jim are forgotten as he speeds off to the hospital.

Still wallowing in guilt about his lie, Jim asks Pam to bring their adorable children into work to smooth things over. He figures their sweet little faces will awe everyone into forgetting his lie. And hey, we finally get to see the original baby Philip on the show! The Halpert family is as cute as can be. Such a *squee* moment for JAM fans.

Dwight arrives at the hospital. He marches in Angela’s room and gazes lovingly at the baby. He tells Angela that he knows the baby is a Schrute. Angela denies it. But Dwight remembers that they had sex one month before the wedding because Angela told him, “the Senator wasn’t fullfilling her needs”. The Senator comes in, and Dwight lets the subject drop (for now).

At the office, Pam is giving everyone pictures that CeCe drew. Only, when the staff asks adorable CeCe if she drew the pictures she tells them, “no!” It becomes obvious that Pam drew the pictures, pretending they came from CeCe. When Pam tries to get CeCe to say she drew them, she starts to cry. Then, baby Philip starts to cry. Pam and Jim try to console the kids, but to no avail. This wailing continues while the office looks on. Darryl says in a talking-head that he has a kid and he knows Jim’s time off playing hooky, “was no vacation”.

Finally, after many unsuccessful attempts to soothe her crying children, Pam decides to pack them up and leave. Jim helps her. The staff tells him to “go on home and help her”. Jim can’t believe it, but his childrens crying jag put in perpective that his lie was not meant to take advantage of his co-workers. It’s just that he’s truly overwhelmed at home, as any new parent knows.

The closing scene is Dwight in a talking-head, letting us know that he doesn’t care Jim left to care for his children. After all, “kids will drive you crazy”. Then we see him applying a child stick figure sticker to his car window. Uh-oh, seems as if baby daddy Dwight is not going to go away quietly and allow Angela and her Senator to raise his baby. Stay tuned!

I really liked “Jury Duty”. It had realistic situations and alot of heart. And, we got to see two new office babies; Philip and…Philip? Heh, maybe Dwight will make her change the name! Ha!

As always, thanks for reading. – Donna