Just Another Day At The Office 04.18.08: Chair Model Review

Posted by Seth Roy on 04.18.2008

Michael falls in love, Jim is IN love, Dwight is Dwight and Kevin finds joy in small victories.

Welcome back to Just Another Day At The Office, the best place on the Web for a recap/review/opinion on the latest Office episodes!

Okay. Did I sell it well enough? You listening now? I guess you're here to find out whether you should catch the episode, if you haven't seen it yet, or, if you have, if you should've liked it. Also! I'm going to be a big more sequential. I know that should excite you.

Cast!
Steve Carell ... Michael Scott
Rainn Wilson ... Dwight Schrute
John Krasinski ... Jim Halpert
Jenna Fischer ... Pam Beesly
B.J. Novak ... Ryan Howard
Brian Baumgartner ... Kevin Malone
Angela Kinsey ... Angela Martin
Phyllis Smith ... Phyllis Vance
Leslie David Baker ... Stanley Hudson
Kate Flannery ... Meredith Palmer
Paul Lieberstein ... Toby Flenderson
Mindy Kaling ... Kelly Kapoor
Creed Bratton ... Creed
Oscar Nuñez ... Oscar Martinez
Ed Helms ... Andy Bernard

Okay. Quick feedback to previous article comments on Hunter's song: Good call, Stanley.

Onto Chair Model!

"An all new Office begins right here on NBC."

The episode opens with Andy pulling into the parking lot, and Oscar turning around to drive out because the spaces are taken. We find out from Jim and Pam that W.B. Jones is being renovated, and construction crews are taking up the spaces. Now, most Dunder-Mifflin employees have to park in the satellite lot, about a 10-minute walk from work. This morning, Jim and Pam walked by a dog feasting on chicken. Pam: "Nature." Andy and Oscar are irate. And so is Kevin: "I will quit. As God is my witness, I will quit if this is not fixed!" I love Kevin.

Cue intro.

Michael has been in the process of looking for a new office chair for three weeks. Pam wants him to decide so she can get Michael's more comfortable chair to replace hers. Following the chain, Creed would get Pam's old chair. (Creed: "Then I'll have two chairs. Only one to go.") Ah, but Mr. Scott is distracted! He's fallen for the chair model. Here, we find out that Michael swore off Jan, and now he is desperate to find a mate. Michael goes into the office to announce his re-entry into dating, and tells the employees to use the woman on page 85 as a template to set him up with.

Back to the real world: Andy has forgotten his cell phone in his car.

Michael is now confiding in Kevin about getting set up. Kevin: "If I had someone to set you up with, Michael, then I'd take her for myself." Sadly, Kevin's fiance (two e's?) broke up with him. Michael, only interested in himself, walks away. Funny line here, as Michaels says, "You don't deserve her..." Next, Michael appeals to Oscar, because all gay men have hot, liberal women friends just looking to hook up with 40+ year-old dimwitted men. Phyllis tries to set Michael up with her friend, Sandy. Michael just wants to find out if Sandy is fat. What a jerk. Dwight's facial expression is pretty good here. Michael's daily assignment for the office: Every employee has to give him at least one name to set him up with, or they are fired. Imagine your boss at work telling you he wants to play ball with his yet-to-be-imagined kids, but before that he needs to get laid and fall in love. I can't imagine that. (And my boss' name is Michael!)

COMMERCIAL: Forgetting Sarah Marshall preview. I'm a big fan of Mila Kunis. I MIGHT just go see this movie.

Back to the show!

Kevin and Andy take their grievances about the parking situation to Michael, who doesn't care because it doesn't affect him. He sends them off to figure the situation out themselves.

In the break room: Stanley: "There's nobody I hate enough to write their name on this card." Phyllis: "Well, I'm setting him up with my fat friend anyway, he can just deal with it." Also...Jim writes Pam's mom's name on the card.

Back in Michael's office, he's calling the first card: "Wendy. Hot and juicy red head." Someone else answers. There is no Wendy at the establishment. (nyuk, nyuk. This is very funny). Dwight comes in to save the day, and vows to find Michael's chair model. Creepy Dwight Quote of the Episode: "I will bring her to you. And as God is my witness, she shall bear your fruit." Dwight first head's to Wendy's.

Talking head Dwight: We find out the model is dead, after a car accident. Michael is heartbroken. Jim: "You didn't even know her." Michael: "Try not to be so hurtful, Jim. Please, not in a time like this." Jim looks to Pam for back-up. She just shakes her head, disappointed in him. Heh. Then Pam sets Michael up with her landlady Margaret, who is "really nice, and sweet."

Cut to Michael brushing his teeth preparing for his date. Kevin and Andy lurk behind him, and ask to assemble the "five families." The five companies of Scranton Business Park, which includes Dunder, Bob Vance, W.B. Jones, Cool-guy Paul and Bill Cress, who is "Super old and really mean." Andy and Kevin decide to take matters into their own hands.

Now we're in the coffee place where Michael is meeting Margaret. He is looking for a person with brown hair, blue jeans and a black top. He sees a "hot woman" with blond hair, white shirt and black skirt, and decides that must be her. It isn't. In walks the landlady, who seems nice enough, and reasonably attractive for someone who's 20 years older than me. Michael should be happy. Instead, he denies that he's Michael Scott, until the coffee guy comes over with his order. How embarrassing! (This is one of the things The Office does better than anything else out there: Create awkward situations.)

Commercial break: Macy's One Day Sale, brought to you by. Macy's! Good place.

Back to the show!

Michael and Margaret are actually having a conversation. He wants to know what her process of collecting rent is. Then they talk about how it's SO hard to meet people. Just when you think Michael is making headway with the woman, and will come to the realization that everything he SAYS he wants is sitting in front of him, he shows her a picture of Jan and talks about her boob job. Blind/first date tip number 1: Don't brag about your ex-girlfriend's boob job. Margaret then goes to leave, Michael compares talking to her to talking with an old lady on a bus. And the mood is ruined...

Next: The meeting of the five families, with Kevin and Andy standing in for Michael Scott. The other four bosses want to get it over with as quickly as possible. Andy puts the stops on that: "Andrew Bernard...is the name...of me." They tell the bosses about the parking spaces that W.B. Jones is taking up. They get the spaces back, and all is right. Kevin talking head: "After Stacy left, things did not go well for a while. And its just hard to see..." bows head, looks up and smiles, "it's just nice to win one." Example two for why I love Kevin.

Michael gets back to the office and confronts Pam about her choice in dates. And here comes the best part of this episode. Seriously, if you haven't seen it yet, stop reading, go to hulu.com, and watch the episode from this point forward.

Jim walks over to Pam's desk to give her a tough time: "You just got yourself kicked out of your apartment." Jokingly, Pam suggests that she could move in with her boyfriend, who happens to be a slob just like her...Jim says "okay." Pam says, seriously now: "I'm not going to move in with anyone unless I'm engaged." And HERE is where things get awkward, right? Right? Jim: "Have I not proposed to you yet? Well...that's comin'." But not quite yet. Pam thinks he is joking, but Jim tells her he's serious and it will catch her off guard. Pam wonders if he's really planning to propose to her.

Talking head Jim: "I am not kidding." Makes sure the coast is clear. Pulls out a ring and shows it. I can't decide if what he says next is the best line of the episode or not. But it says a lot about what Jim's thought of Pam since, at least, Episode 1, Season 1. "Got it a week after we started dating."

Back in Michael's office. He's still feeling bad about himself. Dwight suggests that he needs to get over a former love. They leave to say good-bye to her.

Kevin and Andy come back with the good news. The office rejoices. Cut to parking lot, and Andy dancing a victory dance.

Dwight and Michael are saying good-bye to Michael's long-lost love: The chair model, in a cemetery. Michael realizes that his perfect person is dead. Michael: "What do you do?" Dwight: "You wait 'til next year's chair catalog comes out, and you find someone who's still alive."

Now, Jim and Pam are walking to their car: Jim: "Where do you want to go to dinner." Pam: "I don't know, I kind of hate all our regular places right now." Jim drops to one knee, and Pam is speechless. This is the moment! Jim: "Hey Pam. Will you wait for me one second while I tie my shoe." They laugh at their joke and walk away holding hands.

Side note totally unrelated to The Office, sort of: I recently proposed in a rather similar fashion, in the church parking lot. Except I didn't tie my shoe. I proposed. Yes. She said yes.

Final blurb: Michael and Dwight sing an hours-long, modified version of "American Pie" to the Chair Model.

Thoughts: I liked this episode infinitely better than the previous one. No, I didn't really have many laugh-out-loud moments. Kevin at the beginning was great. Creed's weirdness is still priceless. The Wendy's setup had me laughing. Michael, as much as you can like him sometimes, is a complete jerk this episode, but is SOMEHOW still likable.

The second storyline of the episode, the parking space part, wasn't really that exciting, except that it helped feature Kevin prominently in the episode, and set up Pam and Jim's walk to their cars.

But this episode will, and should, be remembered for the revelation that Jim is going to propose to Pam. I haven't read any spoilers for future episodes, and I have no desire to. I am hoping the proposal isn't the cliffhanger between this season and next, but I maybe expect him to propose in the last episode. Also, Pam had BETTER say yes. Anyway. Any further speculation is merely fodder for some sort of Office-related column that I am currently not writing. Hmmmmm....

Thanks for reading! Leave your thoughts and constructive criticism below!

The 411: A much better episode than Dinner Party, made better almost exactly because of the supporting cast. We can see Jim and Pam's relationship growing more every week, and Michael's separation from Jan seems to be going...well. (I do want to see where he is living, in case he's still staying with Dwight. Wouldn't surprise me.) Also, Kevin became a bit more human with his small victory.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]