TV Review: The Office 5.9 – Frame Toby

Posted by Adam Sweeney (adam@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 21, 2008

The Office, NBC, Airs Thursdays 9/8c

Episode: “Frame Toby” (Season 5, Episode 9)

Synopsis: Toby (Paul Lieberstein) is back and not everybody is thrilled by it, especially Michael (Steve Carell).

Review: My opinion of the “Frame Toby” episode could probably best be explained through my emotions that have developed throughout the entire Office television run. My relationship (the viewer-show relationship, not a “I sit at home in my He-Man Underoos kissing my Jenna Fischer poster relationship) with the first three seasons of The Office was like a first love. I had seen the British version of The Office but never connected with it like I did the American version. I would put off any plans with friends to watch the episodes, the show was just that good. And if friends really wanted to hang I’d say, “why don’t you come over and we will watch The Office?” It was that kind of love.

My relationship with the fourth season unfortunately wasn’t as fulfilling. I began to find the show annoying and became increasingly aware of their idiosyncrasies that drove me up the wall. Basically every time I turned on an episode I was saying, “damn it, Dwight! Why do you chew with your mouth open!”

Luckily for me, and I think for many viewers, the flame is being rekindled in The Office love affair. This season has renewed my faith in the show, and the “Frame Toby” episode was like an enchanting walk in the park, not the pathetically desperate encounter between Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in Spiderman 3. No, Sam Raimi, I am not letting it go.

I haven’t ever screamed in agony before when seeing a co-worker I hated, but if I had no social filter I promise I would have. Michael Scott’s immediate reaction to Toby’s return was one of the funniest moments I have ever seen in the show. Who hasn’t wanted to get rid of one of their co-workers? The premise of this episode proves that the show is back to where it needs to be, focusing on the little things that office employees end up thinking are important. Nobody in their right mind would really care about a messy office microwave, but after you sit at the same desk in the same cubicle in the same paper company for 5 years you sure as hell do.

I’m glad to see Toby back. I felt like at times the Scranton branch has become too buddy buddy with each other. Throwing in Michael’s arch-nemesis is always a good way to mix things up. Who knows, we may get to see Toby’s unrequited love for Pam cause some friction as well.

And I am always up for the random pop culture analogies The Office throws at me. Any chance to throw in a Neve Campbell in Scream 2 reference is a golden opportunity. It’s the interest in fleeting moments like that, or the remix of Naughty by Nature’s “O.P.P.” in season 2, that make me literally laugh out loud, not type LOL when I am just staring with a blank face after a friend’s awful Hitler joke.

Film School Rejects’ Cole Abaius should have put a patent on his “21 minutes of funny and 1 serious minute” gameplan because The Office is really putting good use to it now … although I guess they technically were the ones who created the device in the first few sea … whatever the case may be, it’s a good way to tell the Scranton branch story. I loved the comedic flow of the episode, and when the minute of drama came I found myself cringing at what Pam (Jenna Fischer) would say to Jim (Jonathan Krasinski) after he showed her his parents’ house. Of course she loved it and I was left with a big smile on my face. These two couldn’t be any more amazing. Leave it to Pam to see past the flaws of the house and to Jim’s thoughtful intentions. Almost any girl I’ve dated would have beaten me over the head with that ugly ass clown painting. Thank God I have The Office.

Up Next Week: Oscar (Oscar Nunez) informs Michael that that office must spend a $4300 surplus or lose it in next year’s budget.

Did you watch the Frame Toby episode? If so, what did you think about it?