October 21, 2010

The Office Recap: The Sting

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The episode begins with an ecstatic Oscar in his cycling gear who is so excited about his Lance Armstrong bike that he, “ Can’t wait to wake up every morning.”Kelly,however, seems a wee bit uncomfortable since she supports Sheryl Crowe. On the topic of bikes, Michael finds that it is the appropriate time to actually learn how to ride a bike.  He feels that the spinning classes that he takes three times a week are enough to supplement his biking skills. He still rides bikes with training wheels and decides that he can actually ride a two-wheel bike. Although he starts off strong, he fails miserably and runs into a car.

Michael’s failure foreshadows the failure that many of the characters face this episode. Dwight and Jim are assigned the task to make a sale to a big time buyer and everything seems fine until ‘jock hipster” Jim and Dwight see Danny, the best salesman there is and both of them are threatened by this man who seems to get all the best sales.

Back in the office, Andy is conveniently reading a Cornell Alumni Magazine (GO BIG RED, and on the note of spirit please attempt to look like you want to beat Brown this weekend). In any case, Andy realizes that there is someone better than him in singing. After all, he had four solo’s in Here Comes Treble. His jealousy turns into a journey that involves him starting a band.

At the same time, Danny the perfect salesman is going around, and making Jim and Dwight rather uncomfortable. Jim finds out that Pam and Danny used to date and that he dumped her. Basically he is jealous that his wife, who has a child with him, had a crush on this perfect man. Dwight has his own beef with Danny and tries to intimidate him. His intimidation tactics are actually the best.

Case in point,“So anyways that is the biggest penis I have ever seen and I said I know that’s why I bought you to the penis museum where tickets are $1000.”

After failing miserably both Dwight and Jim decide that they need Michael Scott to back them up. Yup, they have stooped to this level. When they call Michael, who is in a meeting with the rest of the office staff, they immediately get his attention. For Michael, it seems like Jim is the most important person and as usual Michael can’t pass off the opportunity to save the day.

Back to Andy, who is on his mission to find a band.  Andy goes to meet Daryl who is busy with “time sensitive work.” To this statement Andy replies, “ Not to go Sherlock Holmes on you but I can tell by the reflection on your glasses that your entering points on weightwatchers.com. Daryl’s response to this is simply, “ If you don’t enter immediately you forget”.  

After losing the deal to Danny, Michael comes back distraught and at a loss. When he calls a team meeting, he picks a fight with Stanley who is just sitting there. Michael asks what they could have done to get the sale.

Stanley replies,“ You sell better”.

Michael retorts back, “ Why don’t you stay outside and take a shot of insulin and have a nap”.

Stanley answers, “Why do you assume I have diabetes”.

Michael gives the final answer and says, “ I don’t know, your frame, your build, why don’t you have a glass of apple juice and tell me your not diabetic”.

In order to find out how Danny gets his customers, Phyllis mentions that she could seduce him but Dwight has a better idea. Dwight’s room is filled with video camera’s everywhere.  They entire gang decides to videotape Danny in action and see what makes him so special. So they set up a fake company and make Meredith the head of the company, thus initiating a sting. Why was Meredith the perfect choice?

Jim explains, “ Meredith was the perfect choice to play head of the company, her lunch break lined up with appointment with Danny and that’s all we were looking for”. So there goes the smart Meredith we all know heading a fake company.

Meanwhile, Daryl and Andy are jamming in the warehouse. Andy is singing from the point of view of a little girl ( in his annoying, but lovable falsetto voice) but of course it’s weird considering he is an old grown Cornell grad. In a three way argument with a drummer, a keyboardist and a front man lead singer, it’s clear that Andy has the power in the band. So begins the inner power struggle between the three. Afterwards when Andy and his colleagues are going through his song, he gets very strong feedback, even though it’s negative. Angela considers it weird that he is singing from the wrong point of view. Andy thinks that it is perfect skating music. To this Ryan makes it clear that no one would skate to such a bad song. Ryan’s cold cold heart stands in contrast to Creed who really really likes the song. This just bums out Andy even more. Later however, Andy taps into his inner “me’s” and finds inspiration. In addition he has Daryl’s full support and the two form a bond over their love for music.

In the meantime, Meredith and Danny are having quite a conversation and getting their flirt on. Meredith is getting turned on and Danny is using it to make his sale. Michael, Dwight and Jim realize and decide to call Meredith in order to get her to stop and get her act together. Danny calls their meeting a first date but horny Meredith considers it their third date. Michael realizes that he must do something and sends in Oscar as a solar power executive. Oscar is immediately turned into Manuel, who is Meredith’s cleaning man. After this failed attempt Ryan is sent from Stark Industries. He gets turned into Esteban and immediately sits down on the floor to start cleaning it.  At this point Michael has had enough and bursts in to reveal what has been going on.

Now the situation could have been awful, but Michael goes one step further and hires Danny to join the team. The minute he walks in Kelly blurts out, “Fuck me!” Many others feel that Danny looks like Josh Duhamel, a better looking Andy, or a younger Michael Scott. The point is, that this man is hot and The Office is getting hotter. Best part, Michael realizes he does not even need Danny. Regardless a new member is in tow and The Office will definitely have more problems and conflicts. Boy do we need it!

The Office did a good but not great job. It was nice to see Meredith in a different light and the introduction of a new character was nice but not needed. To me anyone over 25 looks OLD so I did not see the big deal with the new guy, but hey, he is wreaking havoc so there must be something. I want to see more character conflict between the existing characters. The relationship between Dwight and Jim seemed too settling. The Daryl, Stanley and Creed moments were nice but again there could have been more!

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Original Author: Aishini Thiyagarajan