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girl in a cardigan · 05-08-2008, 03:28 PM

Okay, so I just watched this episode Tuesday night/Wednesday morning when I got home from vacation. Seriously, I came inside, fired up the laptop and went straight to hulu.com to watch

...And then I read some fanfic and stayed up until morning because I'm still on Korea time.

I feel like I've dissected this episode already through the various threads around here, so forgive me if I'm repeating myself.

I liked this episode better than I have some of the others this season, but I'm not sure it's one I'll watch over and over again. Mostly because it feels like the set up for the last two episodes of the seasons and once I see those, I won't need this episode anymore. There was a lot of stuff going on in the periphery that was more interesting to me than either of the A or B plots. Well, the A plot anyway. I'm not sure which of the subplots they decided was the actual B plot.

But I'm rambling. I actually didn't think Stanley's outburst during the meeting was any worse than any other time he's done something like that. The rant near the end was much more damaging in my opinion. I was also happy to see a scripted Stanley-rant for once. I know that Leslie does good work with the improv'd rants (according to the commentaries by BJ and Leslie, usually when Stanley rants that's all it says in the stage directions - "Stanley Rants."), but it was really fun to see him work with real dialogue. I really liked that even though Michael was being Michael in front of every one else, when it got to be just him and Stanley, he really laid it out there and acted like a boss. One of the problems with this season has been that Michael has been SO broad and SO out there that it's hard to believe he hasn't been fired. But then you get a scene like that and you remember why he has his job in the first place.

Oh and the cold open! So funny! I'm a little disappointed they didn't go for a "That's What She Said" engraving, but the face hole was pretty good too. Loved John's improv'd Jim speech commemorating the moment. And I noticed before I read the writers Q&A that the concern for Steve/Michael to get out of the cement seemed real. I really love those moments when we get to sneak a peek at the actors' real relationships with each other.

I was NOT expecting Ryan's "formal warning" to Jim about his job performance. I really thought that Ryan was just being a ****** last week when he told Jim to "watch his back." I also thought it was very interesting to have Toby in the scene as well, considering the events of last week (especially Toby's TH after that scene). Seemed odd that those events weren't mentioned and it almost seemed like this episode should have come before last week's episode, even though I know it was shot in this order. Also it was kinda weird (though I know why) that Michael - as Jim's director supervisor - wasn't involved in the meeting. Though I like that this is making Jim (I hope) question his future at Dunder Mifflin and himself, I really hope that Ryan going after Jim will bite him in the ass. Not just because I love Jim, but because Ryan still thinks he is the ****, even with the website tanking and he needs to be taken down. Going after David Wallace's "guy" seems like a sure way to get himself out of a job. I guess we'll see.

I loved that Dwight was in full Dwight mode this week after a couple weeks of weirdness. I'm not a big enough Dwight fan to re-watch the episode just because of that, but it was good to see, nonetheless.

Jim's proposal fakeouts continue and though it made me laugh, it's not as funny as it was the first time. I loved that Pam was pissed that he might try to propose during a Michael meeting. The sureness of her response makes me think that whatever hesitation we might have seen from her in the past, she seems to have gotten over it. Still not a huge fan of them getting engaged so soon, but I do feel better that when he pops the question, she is going to say yes because she wants to (instead of because she can't crush him again). I'm interested to see how Jim's trips to reception in the next couple of episodes are affected by his formal warning. And like I said on the Jim/Pam thread, I totally get why he didn't immediately go up to Pam and explain what happened in the conference room. I hate that we have to assume they had a long conversation about their future, his future at DM and where they are going from here when they got home, but that's the way this show seems to roll these days.

All in all, there was a lot of set up, foreshadowing and prep for the next two episodes. It got me excited for the things to come and I'm really interested to see where our characters are going to go from here.