Review: The Office - Double Date
by Joel Keller, posted Nov 6th 2009 9:01AM
(S06E09) There was so much comedic potential in this week's episode, that I ended up coming away from this one unsatisfied. It played out as essentially two mini-episodes, and while the second one was better than the first, neither was particularly funny.
Michael Scott is always funnier when he produces cringe-worthy moments via his cluelessness. Cruelty just doesn't suit him well, and the only time it really works for him is when he's dressing down Dwight. What I was expecting to see during his and Helaine's double date with Pam and Jim was some blissful obliviousness on Michael's part and seething anger on Pam's part. What we got was a Michael that was about as cruel as he's been to anyone in quite some time.
What did Michael expect when he started dating Helaine? It's one thing to have a tryst with an attractive older woman that somehow reminds you of that employee you have a crush on. It's another thing to enter into a relationship with her. Michael still has some immaturely-drawn visions of what his life is supposed to be like, and it's amazing to me that he never realized that being in a relationship with a 58-year-old might limit that. Maybe with his poor adding skills he thought Helaine was only in her forties. Not sure.
But the way he dumped Helaine, sitting at her birthday lunch with Pam and Jim, was especially cruel. Though I will admit being interrupted by a waiter right in the middle of his talk on fertility was funny, mainly because he just had to finish his thought no matter how embarrassing it was.
I never understood why, when Pam took so much trouble to avoid going on the birthday lunch, that she actually brightened up during the meal. Was she putting on a brave face? Being super-nice in order to mock Michael? Or was she truly touched that Michael's awkward teenage charms -- that scrapbook sounds like it was written and put together by someone in middle school -- was making her mother happy? There was so much more potential for anger and hurt feelings and discomfort to be broadcast across the table from Pam to Michael, but it never materialized.
As for the other mini-episode -- Pam hitting Michael in exchange for a raise and for retribution -- it was just silly. It seemed tacked on a bit. The humor of the story was definitely more lively than what I saw during the double date; Toby showing Pam how to put her weight behind her punch, Kelly talking about Pam's "crazy pregnancy strength," Meredith checking the men's room toilet to see if the seat was still warm. It was more of an integrated Office story, which is why it worked. The payoff wasn't so great, and I felt as unsatisfied as Pam did after she hauled off and slapped Michael for saying Helaine came on to him.
More fun stuff:
- There isn't much to say about the Andy-Dwight polite-off. Nothing much in the way of funny there, and the fact that this was done just as a way to get people to lobby for Jim's dismissal made it even more unfunny.
- It feels like Kelly and Ryan have become the comic relief couple now, with Ryan's "exposure in the workplace" photos and the "Subtle Sexuality" side project keeping them together. It was funny to see the camera around Ryan's neck when he and Kelly came into Michael's office. What were they doing right before that?
- "Something's up. That paper was never supposed to arrive." Creed never has more than one or two lines per episode, but they're usually the funniest.
- Interesting that the cheese Dwight got with the bagels wasn't cream cheese. So he goes all the way to New York to get bagels at H&H but just has a bag of what looks like cheddar cheese. Maybe it was made on his farm.
- Nice job by Linda Purl as the about-to-be-dumped Helaine. And thanks again to her for being on our podcast this week.
[You can see clips and free episodes from our friends at SlashControl.]