The Office – Did Jim really forget his phone?

Not too shabby of a just-back-from-hiatus episode of The Office. You’re never guaranteed anything on the show when it comes to the distribution of material from week to week, but last night’s episode served up a more-than solid dose of supporting cast, something that always makes the show better.

The cold open was a solid “B” for me. Jim walking in on Dwight’s meeting of the Knights of the Night — “We are Unarmed” is a great, if somewhat counterproductive, motto — was funny, and I do wonder if he actually left his cell phone behind. But Dwight’s defensive preemptiveness kind of popped the bubble on some of the promise that the moment held. Though I did like flashlight tag!

Freshly back from the three day weekend that was New Years, the members of the office undertook a new and exciting endeavor: resolutions. At some point during the holiday crush Pam met Sue, the office administrator at Vance Refrigeration, who gave Pam ideas for making the office a friendlier, more interactive environment (is that even possible?). Her first stab at it was a resolution board … I was shocked that anyone filled out those index cards.

Andy resolved to “Learn to cook for one.” He’s gotten to be a bit of a sad character, but I enjoy how well he balances that out with zany fun. I do think, though, that he has the perfect personality for a psychotic break — don’t think that one trip to anger management will be all the therapy he needs in life.

Angela resolved to “Make more time for romance (with the Senator).” Great line by Oscar about his being a “state” senator, though I wonder why we didn’t get a talking head from him about how Senator Robert’s (Jack Coleman) gay.

Creed resolved to do one cartwheel … awesome! I loved how he freaked out at Erin for her pathetic cartwheel, and then how Michael tried to help him achieve his goal. Methinks Creed needs to try again.

Kevin’s resolution to eat more vegetables seemed boring … until Michael stuffed a stalk of broccoli in his face. His eating it stem first, because  “This is a new food for me; how else should I eat it?” was awesome. I think I may have ducked when he started spitting it out.

Darryl’s resolution to “Read more” dovetailed nicely with Dwight’s resolution — which became Andy’s as well — to “Meet a loose woman.” I think e-Readers are a terrible invention, but it didn’t occur to me how much of an anathema it would be to people in the office. Darryl better hide that thing good.

I was disappointed in Dwight for heading to Temptations after finding the skating rink wanting, but a) He roller skated across the street, which was awesome, and b) I loved Darryl’s opinion of the dayshift at a strip club. “You can’t un-see that.”

I suppose the dual talking-down videos and party boxes were classic Michael Scott, but that’s about the only part of that plot that was of interest. This episode rightfully belonged to the supporting cast!

“I’ll talk to her, Michael.” – Phyllis, about Holly
“Do you think she’d talk to you?” – Michael
“Why wouldn’t she?” – Phyllis
“That’s true, she’s really nice. She’d talk to anybody.” – Michael

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jan 21, 2011 @ 15:23 EST5EDT