Spoilers

Last night’s Office episode was utterly cringe worthy at the Job Fair. Michael is certainly not my favorite character and I just can’t take watching him sometimes but man he is incredibly inappropriate because he has no social skills whatsoever.

The episode starts with Pam, Oscar, Darryl and Michael going to a job fair. Oscar is in a suit, Darryl has a shirt and tie and Pam is dressed appropriately. Michael is in a polo shirt and a members only jacket (I guess that Jason Alexander in Shallow Hal was not the last member). Michael is always taking shots at Darryl for working in the loading dock. I loved it when Michael then gives everyone their assignments. Pam is eye candy and because it is her alma mater, Oscar will talk about accounting and Darryl will hire kids for the warehouse and not to worry about interns because they ‘definitely ain’t going to college.” Darryl shot back, “what college did you go to Michael?” I love Darryl. He can certainly get the goat of Michael so easily. The Gang tickle fight was a riot in the last episode too.

While those guys went to the job fair Jim was doing something he had not done at the Office. He was going to Try. Jim has big plans for he and Pam and being out of a job because of Ryan, you remember Ryan, he used to be a temp here. Jim was a bit put out over last week’s reprimand and warning. So Jim is off to try and land a big client by taking him golfing. I know it was for the comedy of the show but why in the world would Jim take Andy with him to the golf course? Andy is like a more abrasive Michael.

The rest of the group stayed at the office.

I’m gonna do this one Lost Style –

Team Michael – At the High School Job Fair Michael brings 1 sheet of paper and four people, nothing else. I have to laugh at this because I have been to a conference/fair like that in a both where all we handed out were papers with company information. All around us booths have much more interesting stuff and so many give aways. We usually ended up standing around bored out of our minds and talking to people who accidentally wandered into the booth. It was sad. Well, Michael figured that a blank sheet of paper would be something that the students could use to fill in their hopes and dreams.

They get one student who is interested, his name is Justin. Justin is a dorky kid, Michael does not want a dorky kid who is in his opinion unattractive. Michael wants acceptance and he wants to be accepted by the pretty people. Justin writes his name on the piece of paper and Michael flips out. He orders Pam to find another sheet of white paper. She goes to the art room, memories are being brought back of her time in the school. She find a sheet of paper and brings it back to Michael. He is not satisfied, he wants Dunder Mifflin paper and orders Pam back to the Office to get 1 sheet of paper. Pam goes back to the office takes one sheet out of the copier and goes back to the High School.

Oscar and Darryl leave the booth and go play at a basketball hoop. Michael pulls everyone back in and now he is desperate he grabs Justin and practically offers sex with Pam as an incentive to come work at the Office. Then a woman makes an announcement on the microphone. I can already see what is coming and am cringing. Michael slips up to the Microphone and starts a ranting diatribe about how all the other companies suck and he really has no point and is shut down eventually.

Team Jim – So Jim is going to try and land a big customer. He takes the guy out on the golf course. He also brings Andy and Kevin. Kevin kills me because he has all these awesome hidden talents that only shine in small doses. For instance he is a great poker player, a drummer and he is a good golfer. Kevin also borrowed some petty cash that he is going to turn into next month’s rent. I love watching Kevin because he gets that devious and excited look in his eyes when he is doing something that he is giddy about. The subject of wagering per hole comes up and Kevin spouts all these terms to the guy. Andy out and out insults the guy and plays it off as a joke. Andy also hit over 1200 balls the night before to prepare and he had terrible blisters all over his hands. The golf game goes fairly well, Andy crashes a cart and Jim tried repeatedly to get the guys business. In the end Kevin won next month’s rent. Andy couldn’t hold his beer so Jim got him a straw. The guy was still not sold on Dunder Mifflin but Jim determined not to give up till he got the sale blocked the guy from leaving and wore him down. Jim made the huge sale.

Team Dwight – While the rest of the office was out Phylis, Meredith and Creed wondered why they needed to stay at work. Creed apparently had all of his work done a month ago. Once can only imagine what he does with his time at work. He probably blogs. But since Michael, Jim and Andy were gone that put Dwight in charge. He forbid anyone to leave and Stanley packed up his things and walked right out, smiling all the way. You gotta love Stanley. Eventually everyone except for Angela leaves. It is funny that they are the only two left in the office and they don’t even speak to each other. However Dwight sneezes and Angela says bless you, and Dwight says thank you. I was really hoping to find Dwight and Angela making up in the break room or something when everyone got back, but no, that did not happen.

In the end Jim and Kevin and Andy are celebrating with a beer at the office when Pam, Michael, Oscar and Darryl return. Pam is excited that Jim got the deal and Jim kisses her, then they realize where they are and he says screw it and kisses her again. Michael comes up and gets way too close and whispers, “Kiss her, kiss her good” Oh the cringes. That was just so wrong. The final part of the show we see Pam making a life decision. She is back at the job fair (probably did this while looking for a sheet of paper) and talking with a guy, who vaguely reminded me of Jim for some reason, about being a graphic artist. He tells her the qualifications and encourages her to look toward art schools in New York and Philly. I’m sure she could find a place in Scranton to learn those basic skills. The rest she could learn on the job. I see a set up for some possible tension in next week’s season finale. 1 hour episode.

What did TV Squad Say?

Spoiler alert. This is a recap and so major plot points will be pointed out

First off, thanks writer’s strike for totally screwing up this show. However they can’t take all the blame as the show has slowly been declining in quality all season. And tonight’s episode which was supposed to be some sort of homage to The Princess Bride was anything but. It was terrible. The whole episode was so terrible that it doesn’t even warrant a full on review. This could not have been the intended season finale and what a way to leave the NBC on a dying sputtering whimper of banal pathetic dreck.

Let’s forget the fact that last episode Dr. Cox or rather Chief Dr. Cox was now the Chief of staff and Dr. Kelso was out. So why was Dr. Kelso in this episode as the Chief of staff. There was no explanation for that other than that this should not have been the season finale.

Basically the story is told by Dr. Cox who is telling a bedtime story to Jack about a very bad day in the hospital. But rather than tell a hospital story he makes it a story about a princess and an idiot. Dr. Cox is of course the best and brightest character in the whole story and I loved that. Him as s shining white knight with the amazing mustache and goatee.

All the other characters were made into ogres, fairies, trolls, a two headed witch. And basically the story comes down to J.D. and Elliot trying to save a patient that they have been unable to diagnose. They finally do and in the story she lives. I think my favorite part of this story was when Dr. Cox leaves Jack’s room and Jordan asks if she really lived and Dr. Cox sits down with her and says, “That’s how I’m telling it.” I like it when you see that Dr. Cox has a heart under that armor.

Other than that bit that I liked I was wholly disappointed in the entire episode. It was nothing like the princess bride except that everyone looked like rejects from a Ren Faire.

I used to feel this way about Zach Braff back when Garden State came out. But now… Oh well.

You can watch the episode for yourself on hulu. For some reason Scrubs is too good for allowing embedding.

So what did TV Squad Say?