Episode 12 - Did I Stutter?
4 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: During a meeting Michael tries to get Stanley to join in because he was as usual ignoring him. Stanley refuses to cooperate and ends up yelling “Did I stutter?” Michael is upset and only agreed to confront Stanley after being urged to by Toby. He does confront him and Stanley accepts he should not speak to his boss like that. Meanwhile Ryan swings by to warn Jim about his job performance. Jim thinks it is a retaliation because Jim is not in favour of Ryan’s website. Dwight buys a car from Andy and then sells it on for more money. He does it to spite him because he seems happy with Angela.
The Good: I have asked before that one of the characters should have the guts to stand up to Michael when he asks them to do something stupid. So I give the writers credit for allowing Stanley to stand up and tell Michael off for his terrible decisions. I also give them credit for the mature way in which they end their argument and for Toby realising that Stanley’s behaviour was unacceptable.
I suppose Michael sticking his face in cement and Dwight’s plan of the office are fun.
The Bad: This episode demonstrates the problem with having a central character who the audience can’t sympathise with. We know that deep down Michael is a nice guy. He is a deeply selfish, inconsiderate person, but once he realises someone is in distress he usually does the right thing. Viewers can just about sympathise with him on that level but as the boss of a paper company he is unredeemable. We know he is a terrible boss, so what are we meant to think when Stanley tears into him in front of the whole office?
We can’t help but agree with Stanley who reacts how many of us would in the face of such relentlessly terrible leadership. Yet when Michael points out that he shouldn’t talk to his boss like that we are forced to agree with that too. So what was the point of this episode? It is difficult to tell. We don’t learn too much about Michael. He cares more about being liked than being a good boss and remains selfish and unkind throughout (see his very rude remarks to Pam about her glasses).
As for Stanley, I’m not sure we learn that much either. By the end of the plot he seems to have come to an understanding with Michael. He has learnt to humour Michael and go back to ignoring him. But during one interview with Stanley we get a strange moment. Stanley says he won’t apologise if he doesn’t think he is wrong and that it cost him his first marriage. He then says categorically that he is willing to lose his current marriage for the sake of his stubbornness. It’s a line which has no real place in reality for the serious tone it is said in. I believe it is an attempt by the writers to get a laugh by changing Stanley’s character. He has always been portrayed as a loyal family man and so this line comes out of nowhere and makes him seem unlikeable. I believe like the changes to Ryan and Jan, the writers simply introduce these characteristics on a whim.
The rest of the episode lacks any subtlety or depth. The writers seem to surround the quite serious Michael plot with jokes which are juvenile or so obvious that they have no humour in them. Darryl’s gang talk makes Michael look moronic and Dwight’s sales technique is childish. Then we have Ryan and Toby telling Jim that his job performance is bad. Both Ryan and Toby make it so obvious that they have let personal feelings influence them that none of it seems real. Again Ryan just doesn’t act like he did when he was an intern and seemed more like a real person. Where as Toby is one of the few real feeling characters left in the show and he is dumbed down here to try and get a laugh. There is no mention of his Costa Rica plans or embarrassing disappearance either (411).
The last scene where Michael rolls through his comedy routines is odd. The message seems to be that he is trying to cover up for his embarrassment to the camera but the scene feels unnecessarily long.
Comic Highlight: Michael asks for ideas about how they can energise the office. Andy suggests they change the outgoing answering machine message to have more zing and pep. Michael likes this idea so Jim suggests they do an even newer message with even more zing and pep. It’s a very nice dry line capped off by Michael sounding impressed and Andy looking annoyed that he has been upstaged.
That’s what I said: An episode with a serious plot and very silly jokes. Neither side works and once more I am left wondering if the writers of The Office really have an idea of the tone which they would like the show to have. This is a mess and doesn’t make you laugh.
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