Michael Scott made a promise to a bunch of 3^rd graders that he would pay for their college tuition when it was time. It’s now been 10 years and Michael is not a millionaire and is unable to pay for anybody’s tuition. Michael had been dreading going down to the school and rightfully so; it was another cring-worthy moment to watch the school do all these different things in Michael’s honor and to see that there’s a library named after him. Then when Michael gets on stage and has to tell them, it was sort of sad. Michael’s the master at the uncomfortable moment and I was literally holding my breath as he went up to the podium to explain. I thought it was cute though that he remembered their names and had been keeping tabs on the kids. I also agree with Erin that had Michael not made that promise that those kids would never have even graduated or wanted to go to college.

Erin made some strides in this episode in integrating herself into Michael’s life a little because they really haven’t had much playful interaction and we got to see a little of that between the two. Sure they don’t have the chemistry that him and Pam do, but it’s something.

Back at the office we had Dwight try to get Jim fired. This was fun to watch as Dwight managed to silently implement an employee of the month program and make it so Jim ended up awarding himself the award along with the money. I thought it was a great plan that ended up unfolding perfectly.  It was a bit disappointing though to see how it ended up backfiring in Dwight’s face. It wasn’t that Jim got away with it, but David Wallace eventually just looked it over. I find it odd that he would totally overlook the whole office complaining about Jim taking their money. It was interesting to know that Jim and David are a lot closer than we thought with Jim and David agreeing to have dinner. I liked the ending that saw Ryan and Dwight form a partnership to oust Jim from his job. I look forward to see what comes from this team. I’m actually hoping that Dwight succeeds in taking Jim out; I think Jim has become fairly unlikable since becoming co-manager.

I thought this was a good episode and I like when The Office doesn’t try to fit a lot into an episode, this episode might have suffered a bit from splitting Michael and Erin from the rest of the Office. While this episode was pleasant, there’s nothing totally memorable about it. I liked this episode, but we’ll have to see what The Office plans on throwing at us next.

Rating: 7.5

I’m having trouble figuring out if I like this storyline very much. Sure it’s realistic and very relevant to what’s going on today, but when have you ever heard someone say that they like The Office for its realistic storylines?

This week’s episode had Michael thinking that he was being honored at a Dunder-Mifflin shareholder meeting. Of course things don’t end up being as Michael envisioned and it turns out that he’s going to a meeting where the heads of company are confronted by people on their financial situation.  This led to Michael making some very awkward and quite uncomfortable decisions. One had him telling the media that Dunder-Mifflin would solve their financial problem in forty-five days when Dunder-Mifflin doesn’t even have a plan.

There was also one big awkward move where Michael calls one of the owners a moron. I think these moments were supposed to be played off as comedic, but it really just came off as awkward and it was quite uncomfortable to watch him almost talk himself out of his job, even though you would think that after he went off and started his company that there would be a “do not fire” clause in his contract.

Back at the office, Jim’s position is being challenged when Ryan leads everyone to believe that Jim doesn’t have the power to really fire anyone and that Michael is still over him when it comes to management. This was one of those Jim pranks or whatever you want to call it that didn’t come off very well. It needed more time possibly, but the ending just wasn’t satisfying enough which had Ryan in a small closet space with no Internet doing work. In fact, the ending of the prank left me feeling bad for Ryan because I started to think that maybe he’s claustrophobic.

I am interested to see where this storyline leads, because The Office really isn’t The Office if there isn’t an office setting to go off of. So I have to assume that this is going to be resolved somehow; I just hope that the road to resolve is a more comedic one.

Rating: 6.0

I’m definitely glad that everything is back to normal in the office. Pam seems like she’s back to her old self after a couple of bad episodes for her.  The office is alerted of Dunder-Mifflin facing hard economic times, which could mean that everybody might be losing their jobs. Michael doesn’t want to scare the employees so he tries to distract them by having them all participate in a murder mystery game. This gave us some funny moments, which included Creed having one of the funniest scenes of the whole episode. We also got to hear some fake southern accents as everyone pretended to be the characters they were given.

This actually seemed to work as everyone really did start to take their mind off of losing their jobs. Jim didn’t think it was a good idea and thought it was a waste when they could be doing work. Jim has become slightly unlikable since taking this co-managing job and while getting back to work is actually a really good idea, it’s starting to make him look like he doesn’t care.

It was funny watching Dwight go around and interrogate people like he was in an episode of CSI. We even had a nice romantic storyline involving Andy and Erin who have been edging closer together gradually since she started working together. Andy asked her out, but did it in character, and he thought Erin thought he was just asking, because it was part of the game. This all played out in a rather sad tone as we find out that Erin thought it was a real date, but Andy backed out at the last minute when he was asked. While not as fun as watching Jim and Pam, this is a rather cute storyline to watch and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with it. I’m also wondering if this might make Angela a bit angry when she sees Andy pursuing Erin.

The interesting part came at the end when we discover that Dunder-Mifflin really is in trouble and that by the end of the year they could be bankrupt. There are a couple of shows that have already put a “bad economy” storyline. The Office doesn’t do too much different; in fact, I don’t think it rolls as well as other shows. I don’t get how they’re just now finding out that they’re running out of money. I also wonder how long corporate has known this, especially considering how they came close to buying out Michael for a large sum for his company or having the big family business party. Then again that is realistic with corporate tycoons spending money they don’t have.  This could still turn out to be good. I look forward to seeing how the characters react to this and seeing how this plays out for the company this season.

Rating: 7.5

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

“Koi Pond” had Jim expecting to go off on his own on a business meeting, but finding out that the clients feel more comfortable if Michael comes. It was interesting to see Jim actually be jealous that the clients wanted Michael. Apparently this has been happening since Jim has become co-manager, so it was nice to know that Michael has been looking over his shoulder for a while now.

When they get back, Michael comes in wet and we find out that he fell into a koi pond. This caused the whole office to make fun of Michael. This all seemed like a harmless joke, but Michael was taking it pretty seriously, so seriously in fact that he tried to call a sensitivity meeting to ban certain things that can’t be made from of. The only thing that the meeting did though was out certain things that we didn’t even know about certain people. The idea that someone would make fun of Meredith for having sex with a terrorist was dumb, or Angela eating like a squirrel, even though it probably should have been on the board, because she really does eat like a squirrel.

Jim gives Michael the advice that if he makes fun of himself that it would take the fun out of everyone else making fun of him. It was a good plan until Michael mentioned almost every embarrassing thing he’s done. It just made him feel worse. It was quite sad and this seemed like the point where Michael realized that he’s been the butt of jokes all his life. I liked the little swerve at the end where we watch the security footage and find out that Jim let Michael fall into the pond and didn’t try to help at all. Jim’s new position has made him look like a jerk a couple of times and it’s nice to see him looked at like that now.

Pam and Andy’s outing which had them doing cold calls was hilarious. Andy got mad because Pam laughed when it was suggested that the two were a couple and then when they play it off like they are a couple, Andy takes it a bit too far by kissing Pam’s belly. This felt like a really odd moment, but it wasn’t treated as awkward as maybe it should have been. Pam actually seemed to sympathize with Andy and his yearning for children and a wife, which is probably something he wouldn’t have gotten with Angela anyway.  Pam trying to get things going with Andy was cool and I’m looking forward to seeing something develop between the two in the next couple of episodes.

I liked this episode; the comedy was there, but it didn’t feel over the top like The Office comedy usually is. There were nice quotes through with the most memorable one being Dwight’s enemy of my enemy speech at the end, which makes for two great quotes in a row for Dwight. This was a good episode, the plot was a bit of a throw away and it was a bit disappointing to have Pam and Michael not together after their falling out last episode. It was a decent episode, but great it was not.

Rating: 7.3

I think we all knew that Pam wouldn’t have a good reaction, but it really surprised me that she was so upset about it. This episode actually made Pam look like the bad guy, she truly looked like a little brat the way she was treating Michael. At the same time, this episode made us feel sorry for Michael, and I have to say the scene where the two are arguing during the middle of the meeting was very tense. It was great seeing Michael stand up for himself.  This whole story is interesting. I think it’ll divide fans – I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a team Pam and a team Michael shirt being made, so I kind of hope that they keep this going for a couple of episodes.

Aside from that storyline, everything else wasn’t that funny. Actually some of the jokes weren’t very funny or they just totally went over my head, like when Erin asked Michael to display Pam’s Puerto Rican candy. Pam seemed to be disturbed by it, so I didn’t get it. Dwight putting the Mallard in Jim’s office seemed like a good idea, but Jim didn’t take it far enough.  Jim putting it in Kelly’s office would have been funny, but Kelly didn’t talk long enough for it to be funny. I also didn’t necessarily get the comedy of talking to Andy in with the music loud. It just seemed like an off day for Jim.

So the comedy was flat this episode, but I really thought Michael and Pam’s story carried the episode enough for it to be a generally good episode and it was, because of Steve Carell’s and Jenna Fischer’s great interaction. I think it’s going to very interesting to see how this turns out; this could be the end of Pam and Michael’s “friendship” as we know it.

Rating: 7.5

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

It’s finally time for Pam and Jim’s big wedding day and it’s great that the writers didn’t keep dragging us along and try to hold off on doing this until somewhere around the season finale, which is what I thought they were going to do. These types of episodes where Dunder-Mifflin employees get to venture outside of the office are special because we get to see them outside of the office atmosphere and get to see how they act amongst a wider variety of people.

The big thing at the beginning of the episode was that they didn’t want to tell Pam’s Grandma about the baby because she’s old-fashioned. It was ironic to have Jim be the first one to let the cat slip out of the bag and then we had Michael really lay it on when he goes off on a tangent about unprotected sex that really made for one of those Michael Scott uncomfortable moments. Poor Michael actually had a lot of odd moments and there was something weird about how happy he was to see Pam and Jim get married — at certain points you would have thought that he was getting married himself.

Even though this episode was supposed to be centered on Jim and Pam, I found that the rest of the cast out-shined them. Dwight in particular had funny moments when he’s picking up women and actually gets a very hot one only to not want her after he sleeps with her. This was a good little story for Dwight because at first we were really cheering him on and happy that he was able to get someone, but then once he totally ignored her it really made Dwight look like the jerk that we know he is.

There were also some insinuations this episode about Oscar and Kevin being a couple and while I’ve never seen the two this way since the beginning of the show, it felt like the writers had the two play into the part by the way they were always together, they even ended up dancing down the wedding aisle together. I’m interested to see if this is a concept the writers will continue to use, by having the two together all the time.

While the first half of the episode had me laughing, the second half didn’t live up to my expectations. Sure we got the sweet scene of Jim and Pam rushing off to get married by themselves, which I thought was somewhat mean, but everyone dancing to forever at the end was a bit much and inappropriate considering the Chris Brown controversy; plus the song is annoying, but that’s just my personal take. When I saw this scene I immediately thought that this was an idea by Steve Carell because it was very reminiscent of the end of Evan Almighty. Also, the fact that they paired Dwight up with Pam’s best friend that he treated like trash was annoying. I know it was supposed to be all fun, but it all seemed too goofy; it was funny though when Dwight kicked her in the face.

To tell you the truth I was a little disappointed in this episode. I think I wanted that sweet wedding scene that we get in all other TV shows. I would have liked to see Jim and Pam on the boat, instead of seeing the snippet without any sound. I know The Office is a comedy, but the writer’s didn’t get the balance of seriousness and comedy right in this episode, it was just a little too much comedy for me.

If you’re looking for some laughs this episode is somewhat memorable, but I don’t think I’ll remember it for Jim and Pam’s wedding for some reason, hopefully the writers do a better job when the baby actually comes.

Rating: 7.5

Fortunately for the most part nothing has changed, and the opening showed us that as Jim continued to play tricks on Dwight which involved Jim having to put in a complaint about him from Dwight.  One of the things that changed is that now Jim is getting more responsibilities and he finally gets to see what it’s like from Michael Scott’s shoes. The dilemma in this episode was that due to the economy that there would have to be either no raises or raises for only certain people in the office.  Jim’s idea is to give it to the sales department, which seemed biased since Pam is on the sales department.

The whole getting a raise issue upset a lot of the office employees and Dwight used it to try to rally everyone against Jim.  It was hilarious watching him slowly plant seeds against Jim and it actually seemed like it was working because the whole staff was pretty mad at Jim throughout the episode.  It was fun to see Jim taking heat for once. Him has always been the nicest guy, so it was different but fun to see Jim’s decisions judged and to feel what it’s like for Michael to have the whole office mad at him. One of the funnier moments had Jim and Michael deciding who should get raises by putting beans on the most useful employee and the staff sees this and Pam starts getting mad that there are no beans on her face.

This was a funny episode and I thought the end with Jim and Michael bonding was a cool moment. Jim was able to appreciate Michael and see what he goes through and Michael actually likes the idea of having someone to share the burden with. I thought that maybe this was a bad idea having two managers in the office, because part of what makes people tolerate Michael is the fact that he’s the boss and with that loss of power I thought maybe things would change and so far they haven’t everything is still the same.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the next office dilemma will be settled with two managers, Jim already is cutting down on their unnecessary meeting, and I wonder what else will change.

Rating: 7.7

The problem with Jim wanting a promotion was that there are not enough branches to give Jim his own branch, so they came up with a plan where there would be two managers for the Scranton branch. This put Michael in an awkward position because it would definitely change the dynamic of the office and technically Michael wouldn’t be the main man in charge and in an otherwise uncharacteristic move, Michael actually got David to reject Jim. I thought it was awesome and really showed just hot selfish Michael can be. However, Michael’s weakness about wanting to be liked came through when he was confronted by Jim.

Michael then calls back Wallace and ends up going along with the plan. To be honest, it felt like Michael was bullied in to the whole thing because of how was he going to tell Jim that he didn’t want him to get the promotion. This definitely will change the dynamic of the office now and I’m interested to see if Jim’s level-headed management will mix with Michael’s off-the-wall management style; this should definitely set up some interesting scenarios for the season.

Dwight and Toby playing detective and trying to figure out if Darryl was really hurt was funny as well. This was one of the few times where I was actually hoping that Dwight could prove that Darryl was committing fraud and sure enough he did. Well it looks like Darryl is probably still going to get his workers comp, but Dwight did a good job of solving the case. It was priceless to watch Toby yell out the window at Darryl only to find out that it was really his sister.

I liked this episode and having Jim as the co-manager is a really big risk because it’s really going to offset the dynamic of the group. I wonder if we’ll see Jim still playing tricks on Dwight. We can also guess that Dwight isn’t going to let this go, because he seems pretty pissed that Jim got the spot and he didn’t. I share Dwight’s confusion; I would have liked to have heard what makes Jim worthy of this spot over the rest of the sales team or accounting. Storyline-wise, having Dwight as co-manager would have been awful anyway, so it works best this way for now.  Now we get to see what Dunder-Mifflin will be like with two managers and I can bet you that it probably won’t end up too well, but we’ll at least get some hilarious moments out of it.

Rating: 8.5