Friday, April 17, 2009

The Office - Heavy Competiton

I'm guessing that eventually this storyline with Michael, Pam and Ryan ousted from the office is going to end with Michael and company getting their old jobs back. Maybe Pam will come back to Dunder-Mifflin as a salesperson. Might be interesting to have her competing for sales against her future hubby Jim...

IMDB only credits new boss Charles Miner through last night's episode. And Wikipedia reports Idris Elba had a six episode arc on the show. I guess the situation will be resolved in the next episode or two...

Last night's episode pitted the master (Michael Scott) against the sycophant--I mean "apprentice" (Dwight).

Although Dwight initially is helping Michael's nascent company as he chafes under Charles' dress code which requires him to wear LONG sleeves, he switches allegiance after a meeting with Charles.

Charles calls him into his office and asks him to sit down. "I prefer to stand. Less blood clots." But when Charles compliments his work ethic and focus, Dwight is conflicted. He tries to explain this to Michael but it's clear to Michael that he should take precedence having been in Dwight's life prior to Charles' appearance on the scene. "You respect dibs, don't you?" Michael asks Dwight. "Of course. I'm not a barbarian!" Dwight replies.

But Dwight ends up betraying his old mentor by setting Michael up for a confrontation with Charles in the parking lot. This leads Michael to threaten Dwight telling him, "I’m going to steal all of your clients and then I’m going to kill them in front of you!"

Michael pulls out his rolodex and starts working his magic. "I spent a month putting his rolodex on a blackberry which he now uses as a nightlight," Pam observes.

Dwight retaliates by breaking into the Michael Scott Paper Company office and stealing Michael's rolodex. Michael ups the ante by stealing Dwight's biggest client while keeping Dwight on speakerphone so he can hear it happening.

Dwight rushes to stop him, bursting into the meeting between Michael and Mr. Schofield. "I barge because I care!" he tells the startled client. When Dwight misuses Michael's rolodex notes and makes reference to Schofield's gay son, he botches everything.

"I wanted to start a company, not a war," Michael muses at the end of the show. Not too have Michael morph completely into wise and pithy mode, the very end of the show featured Michael, Ryan and Pam in a contest to see who could stuff the most Chee-tos into their mouth.

Now that's The Office I know and love...

3 comments:

  1. I followed Elba to The Office, and I hope he stays around. I'm currently working my way through Season 3 of The Wire, and it's great to see him do a character so different from String. The Office is a fun show, and I think Charles adds a lot. But Elba probably has films in the works.

    And I thought of you yesterday when NPR Morning Edition did a long piece on Spongebob's 10th anniversary. My son enjoyed the Depp ep, as always.

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  2. I this Idris Elba is doing a super job in a fairly thankless role as the stick up his @$$ new boss. But the character's presence changes the dynamic too drastically for him to be a long-term regular player. Sort of like how Amy Ryan couldn't stay on, either.

    You can't have a happy and in love Michael Scott and you can't have a Michael Scott ousted from the office.

    Anyway, did you see this article in the Washington Post about him? He seems like a genuine and down-to-earth guy...

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  3. Thanks, Stella. Great picture of him. I hadn't seen the article. I'm pretty mad at the Post for that tacky item about Gale Harold. But I like The Office and I'll keep watching.

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