(Season 5, Episode 11 – “The Duel”)
Well, that was a departure from the norm. The Office has successfully straddled comedy and drama in a way that half-hour shows have never truly mastered. This week things were far more serious, dealing with the fallout of the office finding out about Dwight and Angela’s affair. Ultimately, I was very satisfied with the way things turned out. Unlike most episodes, the B-story was almost inconsequential, taking up virtually no time during the show. And yet the time seemed to just fly by and suddenly it was time for 30 Rock.
Ever since we found out about Angela cheating on Andy with Dwight, I’ve wanted this to come into the light, and for Andy’s sake I was hopeful that it would do so before their wedding day. That it became known by the entire office before Andy, I didn’t anticipate. Going into tonight’s episode, that burden has apparently been weighing on everyone for seventeen days, and especially Dwight who leapt to his feet constantly expecting the inevitable confrontation.
It’s strangely satisfying to see Angela so reduced by tonight’s outcome. There were a lot of elements that I really enjoyed throughout the episode. Even though Michael told Andy about the affair mere seconds before he drove away completely leaving Jim and everyone else to deal with the aftermath, it’s still a credit to him as a man with moral fortitude that he told him. He’s just a coward too.
The ultimate “battle” between Dwight and Andy in the parking lot was pretty funny. Andy, realizing that he couldn’t best Dwight in a physical confrontation, instead pinned him to the bushes with the front of his Prius. Then Jim asking if Dwight’s legs are broken and him responding that one is falling asleep. That’s classic Office right there. Humor in the smallest things.
The episode was sprinkled with these little bits of humor. Like the moment when Andy sarcastically thanked the office for lying to him about the affair and Creed sincerely said “Your welcome.” I guess the anger management sessions worked pretty well for Andy as he handled himself very, very well under the circumstances.
Angela and Dwight, however, are both pretty deplorable people. It was satisfying that Dwight cut her off completely upon finding out that she’d been lying to him as well; she denied having slept with Andy when it turns out they’d done so exactly twice. So now the wedding’s off and she’s lost her boy on the side. Serves her right. But what’s Dwight’s punishment?
As for Michael, inexplicably the Scranton branch is growing in sales while the rest of the offices are suffering, so David Wallace called him to corporate to find out what his secret is. Apparently the secret has something to do with commenting on Kevin’s sweaters and … well really Michael can’t explain what he’s doing right. I wonder if Wallace will put a mole in the office to find out, because that could be fun. Especially if they try to force other managers to do even a fraction of what Michael does on a daily basis.
But even those scenes were short and more odd than funny. Yes, this was a very serious episode of The Office dealing with a very serious issue. But you know what? I don’t care. I like this show for the characters, no the people that make up this office. So I don’t care if I’m laughing every time I get to spend time with them. I loved this episode. Can you handle your Office when things get more serious?
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Jan 16, 2009 @ 15:30 EST5EDT
