For the first episode of 2010, the writer’s of “The Office” tried something different – a clip show. But like many things on “The Office” this wasn’t just another ordinary clip show.
This episode made the show really feel like an actual ‘documentary’ instead of a just a television show. Interweaving old clips with some new ones they created a hilarious episode that also moved the storyline of the show along gracefully.
Since “The Office” went on hiatus, Dunder Mifflin has hit some financial trouble in these hard economic times, and is currently in the process of being sold. In the newest episode, a potential buyer comes to Dunder Mifflin, forcing Michael (Steve Carell), Dwight (Rainn Wilson), Andy (Ed Helms) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) to pull out all the stops in hopes of impressing him.
The opening scene showed Michael stressing about the buyer coming into the office to check things out and see how Dunder Mifflin Scranton is run. He proceeds to make some, in his words, “cosmetic tweaks” to the office, which include giving himself the ‘Employee of the Month’ award.
He replaces Stanley with a younger, slimmer, “new Stanley”, and adds the personal assistant gadget ‘Computron’ (aka Dwight on the other end of a phone line). Michael then rolls out of his office on all of things, a Segway, and has Andy and Pam show off their clients, one of which is “the NFL”. Pam deadpans perfectly: “I am not okay with the New Stanley.”
The buyer needs to speak with Human Resources, so Michael also replaces Toby with Dwight in hopes of keeping the guy impressed, but Toby quickly returns from an extended bathroom break and foils his plan, making things a bit awkward.
The rest of the episode consisted of new footage followed by a montage that connected to the topic at hand. The “glorified fact-checker” sent by the potential buyer sat down with Toby and proceeded to ask him questions about the day-to-day operations and what the employees are like. When asked about any “safety issues”, or injuries that could come up in court later on, Toby merely responds, “Nothing comes to mind.”
From that the episode turns to its first montage showing hilarious footage of safety gone haywire within the walls of Dunder Mifflin. Michael destroying the warehouse with the forklift from “Safety Training”, Dwight conducting his own type of “fire drill” in “Stress Relief”, as well as Michael hitting Meredith with his car in “Fun Run.” But the best surprise of the montage was the deleted scene from “Boys and Girls” in which Dwight shatters a window in the warehouse with his spud gun.
The fact-checker finds Toby’s answer sufficient and then asks about the happiness of the employees in the office. “Happy is a funny word,” Toby responds, bringing us into the next montage, which shows off some of the wildest fights, slaps and arguments in Dunder Mifflin History. Andy punching through the wall in “The Return”, Pam slapping Michael for dating her mother from season six, and Dwight showing off some martial arts moves from season two’s “The Fight”. But the best slap of the clips was Kelly from “Diversity Day”, slapping Michael after he impersonates an Indian man.
Next up is everyone’s favorite topic, especially Michael’s, “sexual harassment” and inappropriate behavior in the office. Toby can’t think of anything that can come to mind, but the tape reads differently. Hilarious clips of some steamy office make out sessions with Ryan and Kelly, and also Meredith showing way too much skin in “Casual Friday”.
The best part of the montage was the mini-montage of “That’s what she said”. Every “Office” fan knows the saying, and when shown back-to-back-to-back-to-back, it’s pretty damn hilarious.
Toby tries to justify his inability to elaborate on the operations of Dunder Mifflin to the camera before the first commercial break: “I don’t know how I’m going to get through this. I don’t want to lie, but I don’t want to tell the truth.”
As we return to the line of questioning, Michael joins in with Toby, who looks worried that Michael will say something “inappropriate”, which of course he does within about three seconds. He then proceeds to say that the company “does not waste time or resources…ever.”
The next, and possibly best montage showed the assortment of ways the employees of Dunder Mifflin spend their time. Starting off with the highlights of season two’s “Office Olympics”, the montage shows off the best clips of Jim’s pranks on Dwight. From Jim putting Dwight’s stapler in Jell-O in “The Pilot”, to him gift-wrapping Dwight’s entire desk in “Moroccan Christmas”. They even threw in one of the best “Office” pranks of all-time from season three’s “Product Recall” when Jim comes into work dressed as Dwight. “Identity theft is not a joke Jim!” Dwight warns.
The fact-checker then set his sights on productivity and if anyone is close to “retirement” age, so the montage centered on the eccentric and “elderly” Creed. The clips show him as he scares off a group of children, eats smelly beans and just acting very strange.
After finishing up questioning Toby, the fact-checker calls in to his boss as Dwight eavesdrops on his conversation. He says he is progressing, but he “might be here for a while.”
Michael begins to speak out a bit more, mentioning how “friends can become lovers, and lovers become sexually interactive”. Quickly the montage turns towards the romantic side once again, showing off some more office make out sessions, including Dwight and Angela numerous times, as well as Michael and Jan’s awkward fight from season four’s “Dinner Party”. The funniest though was Michael and Oscars unforgettable kiss from season three’s “Gay Witch Hunt”.
Then the emotional music kicked in and brought on the cheesiest, but still necessary montage, the story of Jim and Pam. Showing the relationship from it’s humble beginnings of inside jokes and careless flirting, to Pam leaving Roy, Jim leaving Karen and eventually proposing, and marrying Pam. Hard not to feel a little bit good inside after seeing Jim smile back at the camera on the ‘Maid of the Mist’ from the wedding episode, “Niagra”.
Eventually the fact-checker leaves, remarking that it “was nice to meet you all”, while Michael does an interview with the camera. He contemplates how the fact-checker can evaluate what the people in the office are worth and what “Jim, or Pam or Kevin is capable of.”
The final montage shows off how “valuable” everyone in the office is, and the different quriks they bring to the table. Kevin bringing in his famous Chili to work, in the episode “Business Trip” and Jim during “Office Olympics” leading the crowd. Of course Kevin spills the Chili, and Jim finds yet another way to make work fun, but as Michael says, you can’t predict what everyone is capable of. Michael finishes off by getting in a hilarious argument with ‘Computron’ (aka Dwight) where he threatens to pull the chords out of him.
The closing scene should have been predictable but it caught me by surprise. The full-length video of Michael and Dwight performing “Lazy Scranton” was a perfect way to cap off another great episode of “The Office”.
The episode reminded me a lot of the way “Seinfeld” did their clip shows, which were also in an unconventional way. While not a ‘real’ episode with a storyline like “The Office” had, “Seinfeld” grouped their montages together just like in this episode, working to hilarious effect.
Next week should be a fantastic episode as the show brings on Kathy Bates to guest star and John Krasinski makes his television directorial debut on “Sabre” which will air next Thursday, February 4th at 9 p.m.
Check out the recap over at Have U Heard??, along with some extra video footage.
