Episode 8 - Koi Pond
14 February 2010
Review
Synopsis: Michael falls into a koi pond while out on a sales call with Jim. When everyone makes fun of him he tries to stop them from making fun of one another. Andy and Pam are out doing sales calls together.
The Good: For once I thought the opening teaser sequence should have been a lot longer. The Scranton business park children get a tour through the Dunder Mifflin warehouse where the employees have all dressed up for Halloween. We only get a fleeting glimpse of all the fun outfits and various issues with each. Jim rather stole the show for me (see Comic Highlight) but Darryl too had a good line as he didn’t know who each person was supposed to be and so dismissed them with a quick “so label yourselves or take what you get.” Fittingly Michael is the only one who can actually scare the children but soon oversteps his bounds.
The Andy and Pam side plot was solid stuff as the writers wrote Andy nice and clearly. At each stage of his developing team with Pam he acts in that childish naïve way which suits him. It allows him to inappropriate without realising it but also vulnerable and thus likeable. The story develops well from a very simple concept. Pam laughs off the idea that she could be with Andy and he takes it far too personally. He of course then tries to make her feel bad and loses them a sale. He amusingly shuts down her complaints by saying “Let me tell you something, I was never going to make that sale.” Then once they play the couple his neediness and loneliness come pouring out and finally Pam is able to encourage him in Erin’s direction.
A little note on that story too was the way it was introduced. Pam and Andy were the lowest performing salesmen and hence had to work together on some calls. It was a simple line and so many TV shows could use such a simple line to help explain their plots. Naturally Pam would be in the bottom two because she is so new to sales and we know Andy has been underperforming (602). So many times a line like that can cover a multitude of plot conveniences.
So to the Michael and Jim story. Understandably their new power sharing agreement is not sitting that well with Michael and he wants to remain in charge by preventing Jim from going on a sales call without him. He then falls in a koi pond and ends up being mocked by everyone, which Dwight helpfully explains when the jokes go over Michael’s head. As usual the writers furnish Michael with good lines, in interview he says he isn’t usually the butt of the joke “I’m usually the face of the joke.”
As Michael admits the root of his discomfort is his fear that he will be made fun of the way he was at school. When Jim shows him a technique to stop people mocking you – by pointing out your own faults. And as soon as Michael gets it, you know where it’s going to end. Michael is so consistently written that the joke comes naturally. He wants the reassurance so much that he goes on mocking himself until everyone is thoroughly uncomfortable. Dwight even pops up with a nice interview joke which just cuts out while he is trying to work out if according to a certain saying, Jim is his enemy or friend.
The Bad: There is something about the Michael and Jim story which doesn’t work. The link between Michael not letting Jim go on sales calls on his own and the koi pond incident was rather lost. When the “moral” of the story came out and Jim’s resentment turned out to be the reason Michael fell something didn’t click. Perhaps that’s just because the whole koi pond incident had dominated the episode too strongly. It felt like Michael’s story and not Jims. That conclusion just fell a little flat because after a sort of generic Michael plot, the focus jumped back to Jim and didn’t seem to fit.
I also think the koi pond concept was flawed. Jim’s reaction to Michael falling was probably the same as a lot of people would have had. It just looked like he saw someone falling and stepped out of the way without thinking about it. It didn’t look like the silent resentment it was supposed to demonstrate. In general the episode made me think the writers had two ideas which they melded together rather than one cohesive plot which made its point.
There is also a word of warning in the Andy plot. Andy has essentially become a second Michael. Just like Michael he is annoying and inappropriate without realising it. He has Michael’s childlike response to things and now too his emotional neediness. The baby knowledge was very reminiscent of Michael’s behaviour when Jan had a baby (501-03). Andy and Erin may end up looking an awful lot like Michael and Holly as the lovably goofy couple. The similarities are not overwhelming but the writers need to be careful not to just replicate their own good work. Erin claiming Andy was the coolest person she had ever met made her look a bit ridiculous.
Comic Highlight: Several jokes of equal quality were present but for me it was Darryl calling Jim “book face.” Jim’s typically laid back Halloween costume was the word “Book” written across his face. When the camera zoomed in on him for a reaction to Darryl’s introduction he replied with amusing languor “Yes, I am the popular social networking site known as Bookface.” Classic stuff.
That’s what I said: I think at the heart of this episode was evidence of the writers’ overreliance on Michael. Not only did a story about Jim and Michael turn into just another Michael rant about something. But the ‘B’ plot involved a character just like Michael interacting with Pam. I have longed for the smaller characters to get more screen time and more stories and this episode could have leant less on Michael.
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