Just when a ray of hope was starting to shine from The Office, along comes an episode like last night’s and pops our hopes like the balloon in the cold open.
I’m not sure how many opens on the show have cast Pam in a central role, but it was a fitting moment for her, to be sure. The balloon is falling! I loved how excited the entire office got by the prospect, and how they all raced down to the warehouse and likely stood around for quite some time watching that thing land on the ground. Great idea popping it using heavy machinery.
There were two Offices last night, just like there have been since the gang went down to Florida to open the Sabre stores. I hate to admit it, but by comparison it was the Erin/Andy story that I preferred. The other one was miserably insufferable.
Andy finally made it to Florida to bring Erin back home. For some reason, having overshot Tallahassee by some two hundred miles, Andy found himself shaving in the ocean. Okay, interesting. I’m not sure how much you want to be rinsing your razor in sea water, particularly the water that’s lapping up onto the beach, but why not. I suppose Florida probably doesn’t have a lot of hotels where you could walk in and use the main restroom on the lobby level, so the ocean seems like the logical place to go to clean up. That made me laugh.
I was impressed that Georgia Engel’s Old Lady was still alive after being “cared for” by Erin. Reusing hotdog water won’t kill you, but it certainly isn’t the direction most of us would opt to go in. The pill incident from last week, on the other hand, probably could seriously injure a person, so I hope she’s been monitoring her own medicinal intake.
The love story itself I feel no investment in, but I’m sure that fans of Erin and Andy are happy to see them reconciled. I will hand it to Erin for her ridiculous take on toothbrushes — there’s always one lying around; why buy your own? — but I don’t see why take two of their relationship will end any differently than take one. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how that develops.
That was where the “good” part of the episode ended. I’m not sure if I so disliked the Scranton portion because of Nellie — Robert California was pretty bad, too — or because of the plot line, but if I was actively rooting to get back to Erin and Andy, you know that something was very wrong. I suggest that, from the moment the next episode opens, they go back to normal land as if last night never happened. It’ll be better for everyone.
There were a handful of moments I did enjoy back in the office:
Is it a success when two minutes of a thirty minute sitcom are fun?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 16, 2012 @ 17:05 EST5EDT
I loved the scene with Jim and Robert in the conference room, but there wasn’t anything I liked about Nellie’s scenes.
I can’t wait until Cathy Simms, Lindsey Broad, comes back. When she is the main character that’s a plot line that will fire up the office. The Jim/Cathy scenes in Florida were the best.