John Krasinski - Did I Stutter? (4.16) Episode Discussion

girl in a cardigan · 04-26-2008, 08:12 AM

Photos courtesy of Time-Enough.net

Did I Stutter?

Episode Summary:
When Stanley snaps at Michael during a meeting, Michael tries to give Stanley an attitude adjustment. Dwight decides to buy Andy’s car. Meanwhile, Pam deals with an unexpected inconvenience after spending the night at Jim’s.

girl in a cardigan · 04-26-2008, 08:13 AM

Another really early episode discussion thread, but since Mel mentioned there's already a new promo up discussion/mentioning/hinting at the "quirk"/"inconvenience," I thought I'd put this up now, so we can discuss it here

***Enigma*** · 04-26-2008, 07:34 PM

So as we can see in the promo Pam is wearing glasses. I don't know if that's what the quirk is, but I'm assuming so. Of course I don't know what that has to do with spending the night at Jim's place. Maybe she loses a contact and since she spent the night over there she doesn't have a spare set and has to wear her glasses to work. That's my assumption.

ETA: Office Tally has it up Here

girl in a cardigan · 04-26-2008, 08:47 PM

Ah, okay. Well Jenna said we'd find out something about Pam we never knew before. So I guess we never knew she wore glasses/contacts, so that would be it, right?

**blue sky blues** · 04-26-2008, 08:59 PM

Oh geez, she is wearing glasses. Humph, I guess that would be the something that we've never found out about her before.

**-wait for it-** · 04-27-2008, 07:40 AM

wow...those guys at twop called this so long ago

girl in a cardigan · 04-27-2008, 11:46 AM

Yeah, I don't frequent that site, so I was still in the dark. It makes sense though.

***Enigma*** · 04-27-2008, 09:52 PM

Much tamer than I was expecting. I couldn't really guess what it was though.

**blue sky blues** · 04-27-2008, 10:36 PM

I know what you mean Mel. I had expected something much bigger than that. Oh well, it should be interesting nonetheless.

girl in a cardigan · 04-29-2008, 10:34 AM

Well, guys, enjoy the episode! I'll be catching it on hulu.com next week

keep no score · 05-01-2008, 08:04 PM

Poor Jim.

I felt so, so bad for him after Ryan gave him that warning. Even though Jim does goof off from time to time, I've honestly thought he was always a good salesman. He would always get the work done and I've been under the impression that Dunder Mifflin thinks rather highly of him. It was really disappointing to see Ryan treat him in such a way. Jim just seemed so shocked and unsure of what was being said to him. And for Toby to undermine him for that? It really rubbed me the wrong way. I hope Jim works through it okay because I'd hate to see him change in the office atmosphere.

On a happier note, his fake-out proposal to Pam was adorable. hee. Aw, and he held her hand while walking out of the office. Too, too sweet.

***Enigma*** · 05-01-2008, 08:21 PM

Only Michael would do something like stick his face in cement.

Andy/Angela: Loved them doing Mad Libs. They were so cute in that scene. And OMG, I used to love Mad Libs.

Poor Dwight though.

Michael's reaction to Pam's glasses........so mean.

Stanley's "Did I Stutter?"

Toby approaching Michael about the insubordination was great.

Michael about Stanley: Beautiful sassy powerful black man

Michael to Toby: "You're so white."

Dwight/Andy:

Watching Dwight work his magic was pretty funny.

Dwight's chart

The pink lines representing menustral cycles

OMG Dwight.

Dwight didn't have the same success working his magic over Michael like he did with Andy.

Kevin talking to Pam about glasses was funny. Oh Kev.

Creed's talking head.

Darryl

Fluffy fingers

I love how Darryl was totally messing with Michael and Michael was totally buying it.

Yay, Ryan is in the episode.

Ryan/Jim

Wow! So wasn't expecting that! And OMG, Toby playing right into it about all his hanging out with Pam.

Jim lied to Pam. I mean, yeah, I understand not wanting to go into there, but I still didn't like it. He could have at least said, I'll talk to you about it later or something instead of outright lieing.

Dwight flipping Andy's car.

His Mad Lib talking head!

Michael's fake firing of Stanley and giving everyone instructions. Oh man. Stanley's reaction was even better. Man oh man.

Kevin's commentary on Michael/Stanley

I love Stanley but wow he said lots of way harsh stuff and I was actually feeling bad for Michael. But, in the end I think Stanley walked a way with a bit of respect for Michael as Michael was finally firm with him.

So, I gotta say, not my favorite episode. No follow up with the whole Toby thing or Toby/Pam thing. Jim lied to Pam.

And it looked like Pam knew it.

**blue sky blues** · 05-02-2008, 11:23 AM

All in all I thought this was an okay episode. I mean, it wasn't my favorite, but it was still pretty good.

Michael sticking his head in cement was hilarious, I was dying. And of course Andy/Angela were uber cute doing the mad libs, but I miss my Dwangela. And Ryan. I was shocked that Ryan called him in to say that. And I felt bad for poor Jim. But Jim didn't have to lie to Pam either. And personally, I actually liked Stanley in this episode, even though he was a little harsh.

***Enigma*** · 05-02-2008, 01:57 PM

Not one of my favorites either, but plot wise it was pretty heavy and foreshadowing some things which was interesting.

I brought this up on The Office board and figured I'd bring it up here too. I automatically assumed the whole performance thing came from Ryan, but I've read in several places that some people think Toby reported Jim and that's why Ryan showed up at DM.

ETA: The writers answered questions about the episode at OT Here

Puts to rest the Toby/Ryan debate........the warning came from Ryan.

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.