TV-Reviewed

“Mafia” was one of the funnier standalone episodes of this season, I can’t remember laughing out loud as many times as in this episode this season and it’s cool that going into its sixth season that the zany adventures of Michael Scott and friends still make me laugh.

I’m not sure, but is this the first episode that Pam and Jim are physically not seen? I didn’t think much had changed with the two out of the office, but Oscar was right — the only thing that has changed is that there isn’t a voice of reason in the office anymore to guide Michael Scott somewhere on that straight path. After all, let’s face it, Michael will never actually walk straight down the path. With Pam out of the office, it allowed for the writers to come up with one of the craziest storylines yet and it actually felt somewhat believable.

This week Michael Scott comes into work and finds John Grotti sitting in his office wanting to sell him insurance. Dwight and Andy come to the assumption that this man is a mobster. This was one of those times where Dwight and Andy didn’t sound too far off base, sure it’s kind of racist to pick and Italian American as call him a mobster, but this insurance salesmen sure gave off signs that he was possibly, but I have to agree with Oscar that John Grotti is a horrible name.

Once Michael started to agree that John was a mobster, it ended up scaring him. One of the better scenes had Michael meeting John for dinner and bringing Dwight and Andy with him as his goons. John really exhibited the stereotypes of someone working for the mob, but it was even funnier watching Steve Carell mimic him.

He ends up signing the insurance policy, but canceling it after Dwight and Andy lead him to believing that he really wasn’t a mobster and it was a cool moment watching as Michael tells the guy off like he should have done in the first place, then freaking out about it and ultimately spinning the story and making himself look like a hero. I thought this was played out perfectly. It was so silly, but it worked.

Everything else in between was funny as well, especially having Pam and Jim get called on their honeymoon. I nearly died laughing when Michael called Jim and Jim pretended like he was losing reception. It was also funny having Jim snap at Oscar when Oscar usually doesn’t do things annoying.

I enjoyed this episode a lot; it was funny and really had me laughing out loud. I thought this was a good episode and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when Pam and Jim come back from their vacation.

Rating: 8.0