The Office #601: Gossip

I decided, due to a packed work schedule this week, to start out easy. So I only logged 22 minutes today. Stats:

Time watched: 22 minutes
Time walked: 22 minutes
Calories burned: 71
Distance: .68 miles

As with so many of the things I'll be writing about here, I've seen this episode before. Here's the mail I sent out to my Office-watching peeps that day (names have been changed to protect anonymity):

CAUTION: SPOILERS ABOUND

First, the opening is right on the cusp of being funny. It's a nice idea that Michael/Dwight/Andy are five years behind, but the actual doing of it isn't that great. I paused the show to start writing this mail, but unless that refrigerator box was full of styrofoam peanuts I wanna see Andy in a cast of some kind.

Um, I shouldn't care about the intern relationship, should I? I mean, Pam just told me it's their last week, so I won't even bother remembering their names.

Since when can Michael's side window open like that?!? He's never done that before. Like you said, [SKR], it's kind of a sitcom now.

I'm not sure if I like Erin's new hair -- she was so cute in a totally real way before. Now she looks just like every other woman on TV.

Dunder Mifflin hasn't bothered to update its minimum wage poster since they got a new one way back in 1996 or '97. (Behind Andy as he makes tea. Also, he's using his star mug he got at Kelly's party last year.)

The Andy/Oscar scene feels a little like a deleted scene from last season (Business Trip) where Andy asks if he's ugly, and Oscar tells him he's a little odd but has kind eyes, like Elijah Wood. Then Andy, in an attempt at reciprocation, describes a scenario in which he would do Oscar. I did mention I'd be including spoilers here, right?

Stanley killing Michael's car: why. Not even a question, not even a Toby level of resigned question. Just: why.

I did laugh at the interns' talking head at the end, and Jim taping up the sonogram is pretty sweet. [CTB], you're right -- a baby is not the end-all-be-all of love, but it makes some people insanely happy. I'm glad that Jim and Pam are happy, but I'd like to see some problems too; that's how this show works. (If your theory about Pam's mom holds up, that should be fun.)

Okay, we're back to today now. For some reason, I didn't mention how much I liked Andy's plot in this episode -- it's a totally Bernard reaction in that situation. I also like that the writers, formulaic as they can be, didn't drag out the pregnancy reveal. Finally, the best part of the opening is that Michael/Dwight/Andy think the point of parkour is shouting "parkour!" every time they move. That's funny!

I've only seen the first 4 episodes of this season, so I have more or less no idea how this season goes -- I'm watching it with fresh eyes. I pretty much stopped watching live TV in October last year, so I still have to catch up on every show I care about.

There are two buy links below: one for the episode, one for the DVD box.

Gossip -- The Office: Season Six