TV-Reviewed

There have been many times over the years where Michael Scott has given us uncomfortable moments and believe it or not this episode may eclipse any other episode that I can think of when it comes to uncomfortable moments. It’s not a bad uncomfortable moment, but just one of those “Michael Scott” type of moments where you’re worried about what’s going to happen next. There was a lot of good content packed into the thirty minutes and this is definitely one of the better episodes of the season.

The intro had me laughing hard and I do love when we get an intro that is just catches you off guard instantly. So yeah it was surprising to see Dwight walking around the office giving bagels to everyone. Now, of course, we all know Dwight never does anything good without some kind of ulterior motive, so it wasn’t surprising to learn that this is all part of his plan to get Jim fired. I’m really hoping that Dwight getting Jim fired might actually come to fruition, but what Dwight starts even more is something that not even we anticipated… a war.

I can’t tell you how funny it was watching Dwight and Andy go back and forth doing favors for each other. Andy has to always return a favor and Dwight was hell bent on being owed favors so he could use them to get Jim fired. I never thought that I’d be so scared of people being nice to each other. The two were doing things for each other left and right. The whole situation actually became hostile, where the two actually started to resort to tricking the other into letting them do a favor. My favorite nice thing that was done was where Andy tricks Dwight into helping him get something and it ends up being tickets to some game. I thought this was hilarious and honestly could have watched a whole episode of just this.

Outside the office, we had Pam and Jim double dating with Michael and Pam’s mom. This started off funny with Pam trying to pretend like she got a call, only for Jim to pretend that everything ended up fine (this also resorted in an awesome response from Creed). It was sweet when Michael surprised Pam’s mom with her own section at the restaurant. It got to a point where Pam actually seemed really happy for the two and was coming around. As their talks went on though, Michael started to realize how old Pam’s mom actually was (58) and while it wasn’t the age that necessarily started to get to him, it was the fact that Pam’s mom had been their done that and no longer desired to do anything exciting, Michael realized that it couldn’t work out. This is the point in which he decides to break it off, and it got hard to watch because first Pam’s mom opens up all these presents and they were very sweet. This ultimately all leads up to Michael breaking up with Pam’s mom due to Pam being unhappy with the relationship. This ends up not going so well, as Pam is actually okay with it. This leads into Michael breaking up with Pam’s mom a second time.

This review doesn’t even begin to articulate how nerve wrecking this scene was, just picture in your mind, your boss breaking up with your mom on her birthday in a restaurant in front of you… Yeah, it’s not a pretty sight. Things weren’t over though yet because Michael and Pam are still at odds and in an effort to try to resolve things Michael gives Pam an option of hitting him, which she too happily takes him up on. The end when Pam actually does hit him wasn’t as great as the build up, but the build-up was great.

I’m not sure if Pam’s attitude is due to pregnancy or if the writers just want to give her some backbone, but Pam is becoming an unlikable character since her wedding. I thought she really was unlikable towards the end when she wanted to hit Michael. Michael, on the other hand, hasn’t done too much wrong in my eyes; he dated and had a very good reason for breaking up with Pam’s mom. Sure, he probably shouldn’t have done it on her birthday, over dinner, in front of her daughter, but other than that I don’t think he’s made a wrong step.

While giving Pam this mean streak might add to learning more about her, it’s really sad to see her like this and I hope with this thing between her and Michael resolved that we get back to the funny and sweet Pam that we fell in love with.

Michael mentioned Holly again and I’m hoping that we’ll see her again before the end of the season. It was a great episode though and I’m waiting to see what the next big storyline is going to be for the characters of The Office.

Rating: 7.8