Just Another Day At The Office Retro 05.30.08: Diversity Day Review
Posted by Seth Roy on 05.30.2008
Michael gets diversity training, and manages to offend everyone. Dwight undercuts Jim. Kelly gets angry.
Hello, and welcome back to Just Another Day At The Office, Retro edition. I’m taking a look at the superb “Diversity Day” episode this week, but I’m going to switch things up a little bit. Rather than completely recapping the episode, I’m going to cover it based on the different storylines. Hopefully the article will flow a bit better, and I won’t be saying “and then” every paragraph. Any way, tell me what you think. If you hate it, I’ll go back to my old ways.
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
Amy Ryan (for now?) ... Holly Flax
Collared People...(Or: Michael needs diversity training)
Michael says he’s been pushing for Diversity Training for a long time, although he never said anything to corporate about it. “They kind of beat me to the punch.”
Michael goes out of his way to talk to Oscar in front of the diversity trainer. Because Oscar is Mexican. Get it?
The trainer (A black guy named Mr. Brown) gathers everyone in the conference room to talk about diversity. Michael immediately says Dunder-Mifflin is a color-free zone, then points out Stanley: “I don’t look at you as another race.”
Michael keeps trying to run the session, until Mr. Brown asks his permission to run it instead. (Funny moment here, when Michael asks people what race they are sexually attracted to, and Dwight says “White and Indian,” with Kelly sitting next to him).
The reason why Mr. Brown was there in the first place was because Michael performed a Chris Rock routine about being black. Michael thinks he was wrongly accused because he’s white. Kevin, in his first speaking lines, delivers the Rock routine. Michael doesn’t appreciate Kevin’s delivery.
There’s a funny superhero line from Dwight here.
We find out that Michael was the only reason Mr. Brown was called to the office. The only reason why Brown made copies of the signing form for everyone was so Michael wouldn’t be embarrassed. (Of course, Michael signed his name: Daffy Duck).
Of course, Michael thinks of his own special diversity training exercise. (Here, we find out that Michael hates Toby for the first time…)
Michael made a video about diversity. In the video, which Michael had just made, he says, “Abraham Lincoln once said, if you’re a racist, I will attack you with the north. And those are the principles that I carry with me in the workplace.” End of video.
Michael gets everyone to go around the room, starting with himself, to talk about their heritage. He says he is 2/15 Native American…He calls on Oscar next. Michael asks him if he prefers a word other than “Mexican” because it is offensive.
Next, Michael brings out the race cards, and asks everyone to treat each other like the race on their foreheads, and the employees have to guess what race they are. (Pam gets Jewish…Stanley gets black.) Michael is Martin Luther King Jr.
In the first match-up, Pam is against Stanley, and they are talking civilly, but Michael wants them to push buttons. “Come on, slavery vs. the holocaust.” This is when Stanley figures out that he’s been labeled “Black.” Good stuff.
Dwight is Asian. Pam, at the request of Michael and based on stereotypes she doesn’t agree with, tells Dwight he is a bad driver. Dwight: “Oh man, am I a woman!?”
Michael talking head: “If you notice, I didn’t have anyone be an Arab. I thought it would be too explosive.”
At the end of the “training,” Kelly walks back in, and Michael wants to showcase how people should be talking to each other. (Kelly doesn’t have a card. She’s just Indian.) Michael talks in his best Indian accent, and says he works in a convenience store. Kelly loses her smile and slaps Michael, who says, “Now she knows what it’s like to be a minority.”
After this, Michael is talking about diversity training, and says they should have gotten food, like Colored Greens. Stanley corrects him with “Collared Greens.” Michael: “That doesn’t make sense because you don’t call them collared people. That’s offensive.”
Jim vs. Dwight: "Tit for Tit"
Jim is trying to make a sale when Dwight decides it is a good time to shred paper. Jim shuts off the paper shredder, so Dwight hangs up Jim’s phone, leading to the first great Dwight quote, “Retaliation: Tit for tit.”
It’s Jim’s biggest sale every year, we find out, and he has even bought Champaign for the occasion. (Jim’s phone rings, of course, during the diversity training). After the training, Mr. Deckert (the boss of the place he’s selling paper to) is at lunch. Jim is discouraged.
Jim calls Deckert at the end of the day, and finds out that Dwight stole the sale. He gives Dwight the Champaign (puts it on his desk.)
PB&J
More flirting, as Jim eats candy at Pam’s desk while she’s playing Free Cell.
Later on, during Michael’s special diversity training, Ryan is watching Chapelle’s Show on Pam’s computer as Jim walks over for candy. Ryan: “She’s cute, huh?” and Jim bumbles a bit. Ryan was talking about the girl on Chapelle’s Show, not Pam.
At the end of the training, Pam has fallen asleep on Jim’s shoulder. Jim looks around in his Jim way and smiles, before waking up Pam.
Talking head Jim: “Uh…Not a bad day.”
Thoughts
First, about the format. I still don’t know if I did what I wanted to do yet, but I think I’m going to keep on separating the storylines.
Onto the episode, first breaking down the main story of Diversity training:
The whole setup is great, and Michael’s constant interruptions of Mr. Brown are funny, as is his deliberate recognition of other races. Dwight, also, is golden during the whole episode.
Michaels’ separate diversity training is hilarious, and still one of my favorite segments of the show’s history. The race cards, with Stanley being labeled “Black” and Dwight’s reaction to Pam’s comment is hilarious.
We also get the first real introduction to Kelly, and you have to wonder what happened to her after this episode. Here, she is pretty reserved, and justifiably offended. But later on in the show, she turns into a sex-crazed, nutty, attached girlfriend-type.
The actual storyline doesn’t have a whole lot of weight on the rest of the show, except to advance that Michael is insensitive and, maybe worse, is clueless about it. In these episodes, he is the most like his British counterpart. The story also sets up that everyone in the office knows that Michael is a dolt, but puts up with him for some reason (that we eventually find out in later episodes.)
Dwight vs. Jim notes: Great interactions here, as the show continues to build up their dislike for each other, and shows how Dwight is a pretty big jerk. This is before Dwight became semi-humanized by his relationship, and break-up, with Angela.
PB&J notes: The fact that Jim can have a really bad workday, and be happy just because the girl of his dreams falls asleep in a meeting and rests her head on his shoulder? After just two episodes, and viewer is clamoring for Jim and Pam to start dating already. And it doesn’t even happen until Season 4! Long wait.
Here’s the deal with this episode: It’s great, and I still like it even after plenty of other great episodes. “Diversity Day” pretty easily ranks in my top 10 Office episodes, and, if you haven’t seen it. See it.
The 411: Very good episode. It is easily the best of season 1, and one of my favorite episodes in Office history. The notecards are hilarious, and the great secondary characters get fleshed out a little bit. Also, Jim and Pam's relationship takes another step forward. (Just a baby-step, of course.)
