TV Review: The Office 5.8 – Business Trip

Posted by Adam Sweeney (adam@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 14, 2008

The Office, NBC, Airs Thursdays 9/8c

Synopsis: Michael (Steve Carell) and a few members of the Scranton branch are sent to Winnipeg on a business trip and Jim (Jonathan Krasinski) notices the intrusive behavior of his fellow employees leading up to Pam’s (Jenna Fischer) return.

Review: In Japan you must always commit suicide to avoid embarrassment. If that was the custom in the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin there would be no one left standing. Of course, we also are now aware that you may not want to touch Michael’s hands after he goes to the bathroom.  Seriously though, we are starting to see more glimpses of Michael’s ability to effective;y handle the responsibilities of his position. Who would have known it’d come through his ability to communicate with international co-workers? And I’m not talking about when he hooked up with concierge.

Michael’s lack of cultural knowledge … and knowledge in general brought some color to the white walls of Dunder Mifflin, now we know that he has a way with the women of Canada as well. I’ll give this to Michael, he may be an idiot when it comes to handling relationships but the guy knows how to generate a conversation where he makes a girl feel important. It’s the classic Vince Vaughn from Swingers trick. Listen and make the conversation about them. (Of course, in real relationships we call this being attentive but why split hairs?) The only difference is that Michael actually does care about what the woman is saying, I think.

“Business Trip” flexed the writers’ muscles in terms of writing to build the characters. Sure, we know that the writers of The Office can crank out jokes, but they did a lot of little things in this one that added a layer to certain figures. For example, we now know that Andy is gay-friendly and is one funny ass drunk. Who hasn’t pulled the old “I have needs and I want to see you naked” drunk dial? And hell, if the phone accidentally ends up calling a male friend, well, that’s even funnier the next day, right? Cough … I also personally felt his little explanation of his affection for Angela was charming in a way. We always hear about Michael and Jim’s love life, it’s refreshing to dig deeper and find out what makes the other couples tick. You can only make them a slapstick piece for so long.

Turns out there’s something to the idea of absence making the heart grow fonder, huh? While I didn’t really believe for a second that Jim and Pam were going to end up going their separate ways, I thought the acting, as always, between them in a dramatic scene was on point. I have seen too many shows and films where actors have botched up something as simple as a difficult phone call. Props to Jon Krasinski and Jenna Fischer for having the acting ability to handle subtle moments. Krasinski has a theater background. It’d be great to see him and Fischer team up in a Broadway play. At this point I think The Office may be growing a bit too cramped for them. And no, I don’t hold Leatherheads against Krasinski.

I will say this. Bringing Pam home without exploring the distance thing more might not be a good thing. I really felt like the previous episode set us up for a potential cliffhanger at the end of the season. Now what? It’s great to have Pam back but it might ultimately affect the show in terms of where it can go.

I can’t wait to see Ryan’s (B.J. Novak) desperate attempt to hook up with Kelly (Mindy Kaling) (push-ups, really?) blow up in his face. I don’t really care too much for their relationship, but if we can get it back to the level of love/hate they were at in season 2 I will be back on board.

As we move forward we can look to see what the repercussions of Michael’s rant to his boss are going to be. I don’t care who you are, you can’t throw a tantrum at your employer … even if it is a well justified tantrum. “Business Trip” didn’t make big with the humor, usually a bad idea on The Office. This time it worked out well for them.

Up Next Week: A mysterious person in the office has made a huge mess in the microwave and will not clean it up.

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Did you catch the latest episode of The Office? What did you think?

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