"I feel God in this Chili's tonight...."

[el badman]

Yeah, this one definitely had its load of awkward moments.

[benji]

We should hang out sometime at the quarry and throw stuff in it.

[el badman]

Haha, Creed is one crazy weirdo, I liked his reaction when the cops showed up...

[Lamrock]

Mediocre, like the past few episodes have been. I feel that aside from Michael getting dumber by the day, the biggest flaw of the past two seasons is the utter lack of plot. The thing with Pam's NY friend went nowhere, the Holly story went nowhere, the Dwight/Andy/Angela storyline is going nowhere... the show is becoming a soap opera, and less of a must-see every week.

[benji]

That last one was pretty great.

Those mines aren't going to sweep themselves.

The ending with the office staying for Michael is brilliant. Him laughing with Oscar and Stanley on the way out is perfect. The characters need that dimensionality.

The ending with Stanley, Phylilis and Creed? Brilliant, just as good, nay better, than the the Pam-Jim-Michael opening. Just a great episode start to finish.

Also, am I the only person who never misses Andy when he's not in an episode? I hope he stays on those honeymoons.

[benji]

Brutal episode. Everyone got owned by Stringer.

I think someone should add "The Office" to the thread title.

[cyanide]

Since Charles made his appearance, the show's been dull and annoying... however, hopefully it'll start to pick up after Charles assigned Kevin to phones and Stanley to productivity watch at the very end.

[benji]

They've somehow botched this. This is not just Michael's life, but it's his identity. His loss and hurt was solid at the end of the first episode with David, but he literally did not care in this episode. Outside of finding out that the one small paper company was out of business, Michael's entire emotional arc over the last few episodes was more or less ignored. It seemed like they were plotting out a buildup and emotional arc for him, first Prince Paper, then hitting him with Holly, then the Valentines party/exit, then the Golden Ticket debacle leading to Stringer coming in.

Somehow there's still eight episodes left in this season. Dear god. Maybe they will figure out how to end it as well as the other seasons after all. (The Pam and Michael ending, with the new assignments would've been not terrible cliffhangers though.)

[buzzy]

Two new episodes tonight!

[cyanide]

I enjoyed both episodes in term of its humor. Should be interesting to see what happens to Michael Scott's Paper Company.

That reminds me, I gotta get the recent episode and play catch up.

[Lamrock]

Michael is going to start taking business away from Dunder-Mifflin and ends up being re-hired. Quote me when/if this happens.

[cyanide]

Michael is going to start taking business away from Dunder-Mifflin and ends up being re-hired. Quote me when/if this happens.

That's pretty plausible. I was thinking of a merger instead of Michael shutting down his business for his old job.

[Lamrock]

Guess I was right.

[el badman]

Yeah, that was pretty predictable.
Very funny episode, but just not very credible at all.

[benji]

Fuck, this thread was hard to find. I almost bumped one with only two replies.

"Gossip" was okay, but I actually wanted to mention a rerun I saw in syndication. "Business School" is it.

The rejection that Michael gets in Ryan's class, and the rejection Pam gets at her art show, and when it ends with Michael showing up and buying Pam's drawing/painting of Dunder-Mifflin's building. That's one of the great moments in the series.

I want more of that Michael. I like when Dunder-Mifflin is all Michael has and his life is built around that, so no matter how stupid/crazy/etc. he gets he shows that loyalty to it and his "family" he's gained working there. Even though they hate or at minimum tolerate him. Looking at this thread now, I mentioned it before, with the rest of the office staying for Michael in that one episode.

Michael's funny when he's goofy and crap, but I think the character is best when they do that but allow for him to show that caring and how important the office is to him. They had this early on with how he considers these people his friends, but they don't, but he literally has nothing else. It's better than Jam and Dwight/Angela (although based on the first episode if they keep Jam to that, or even most of last season, things won't be insufferable) or whatever else drama they want to bring up. The Michael drama always seems to be the best, because of that fact that this is all his life is. Which is why Michael Scott Paper Company was so good.

I mean, assuming we don't talk about Creed, since he destroys the awesome scale.

[J@3]

Creed is not human. He is potentially the greatest man-made invention since Superman. You're right, the MSPC was fantastic... to be honest I could have lived with them not shutting it down at all and just letting it continue to run in the boiler room or whatever.

I liked the new episode, the parkour stuff was great and I always enjoy seeing Stanley and Michael interact. I get the feeling Stanley doesn't hate Michael as much as he shows, but he doesn't realize it either. They were pretty friendly on free pretzel day, in the deleted scenes there's a great one of them eating together. Michael goes "they tastes so good in my mouth" and Stanley looks over and says "that's what she said". One of my favourite Office moments ever... that and Creed threatening to flood the market with photocopied Schrute Bucks, also deleted

[Lamrock]

The show has been gradually declining in my opinion, and its finally declined into mediocrity. The new episode has some decent moments, like the parkour, but wasn't all that funny. (Though I did watch it right after the Curb Your Enthusiasm season opener, which was awesome) I miss the overarching storylines though. Pam & Jim (if you can even call it a storyline at this point) is lame and going nowhere, while Dwight, Michael and the rest of the main cast seem to be going through the motions. I'm just not all that excited for the next episode, whereas I used to groan when it ended and get excited on Thursdays.

I'll still watch it, as its decent, and hasn't turned into a steaming pile of shit like 30 Rock did in its third season, but its definitely starting to become uninspired.

[Oznogrd]

Wasnt a big fan of the season premiere..the premise was good but the execution wasnt there. The cast seemed bored. When your intro before the opening credits is the funniest part of an episode, something is wrong

[el badman]

I kinda liked it, mostly the ending. It went a little too far regarding how inconsiderate and oblivious Michael can be, but I thought it ended up being funny.

[benji]

Michael did go too far. But at the same time, making up all that stuff to me made sense as what he'd do. It was when he revealed the Stanley stuff even after Jim tried to give him an out multiple times. It makes sense and I know why they did it. But they should've cut out that, let Michael off the hook, and instead shown more of the gossip wreaking havoc on the Office to fill the time beforehand. Especially after Creed's scuba rant was so great.

[el badman]

It was when he revealed the Stanley stuff even after Jim tried to give him an out multiple times. It makes sense and I know why they did it. But they should've cut out that, let Michael off the hook

Yeah, I was not expecting that actually. At some point, even Michael can typically take a hint, so it felt like even he would not go that far...But considering his initial motive for spreading gossips, I guess it's not totally suprising they chose that alternative.

[Doobie]

Today's episode was pretty good. Jim getting promoted is a nice bonus to the storyline... Anyone checking out 'community'?

[buzzy]

Anybody thought that Michael was too much of a dick in the last one, even for him? He's done some bad things and the past, but you could still like him. But preventing Jim from getting the job kind of crossed the line.
It wouldn't suprise me if the last scene went like this: "Is that what you wanna do? - Yes", and still tells Jim that he got promoted so he wouldn't disappoint him. Guess we'll see next episode.

Oh and Toby screaming at Darrell's sister was hilarious.

[Oznogrd]

for the love of god before giving away plot points use this function...havent watched it yet..

[J@3]

illini it was on like two days ago, even I've watched it.

Yeah I agree with buzzy, I don't like the "Michael's a genuine prick' episodes. Purely because the appeal of his character is that he is a good person but he's just so detached from reality and society that he doesn't realize how offensive and stupid the things he says are.

Dwight stole the episode for me, especially towards the end "you look exactly alike"