Episode 4 - Money
4 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Jan is spending so much of Michael’s money that he has taken a second job just to get by. There he is struggling to succeed as a salesman because he wastes time using his famed “personal skills.” Dwight is offering a bed and breakfast service on his beet farm and so Pam and Jim decide to spend the night. Ryan comes to the office to instruct everyone how to use power point and has to witness Kelly playing games with Darryl. Michael asks Oscar for help with his money troubles. Angela agrees to go out with Andy much to Dwight’s heart break. Jan comes to Michael and says he stood by her and so she will stand by him.
The Good: Jim and Pam are still the cutest new couple on the block. They play off each other well and they make a few nice jokes such as Pam refusing to set up Andy with Angela. As she says “I couldn’t do that to Dwight. Or Angela. Or Andy.” It’s also nice to see them being kind to Dwight. Jim’s speech about what he went through with Pam is a sweet moment, though all he does is relate to Dwight. He doesn’t actually comfort him so when Dwight is left hugging air, I think Jim is the idiot for walking off.
With so much Michael to “enjoy” there are bound to be some funny lines. “Yes I forgot about Ryan’s presentation and yes it would have been nice to do well with the first presentation he had given me. But you know what else would have been nice, winning the lottery.” Soon followed by clicking on updates for his computer which say estimated time left twelve minutes. “So this should take about five or ten minutes.”
The subsequent grammatical discussion is decent comedy too. Kelly and Darryl at least offer a different dynamic to the other couples in the office.
The Bad: Michael’s combination of ignorance and selfishness is the core of the show. When the balance is struck so that he is not implausibly one or the other, the show succeeds. But when he goes too far in one direction the show can become tiresome. With Jan behaving in a deeply selfish manner it is difficult to sympathise with either of them. It makes their story a tough one to really care about or laugh at.
Michael’s second job is a passable story but doesn’t go anywhere very interesting. There is some obvious irony in him mocking his boss at their meetings. However the irony ends there because Michael is still the one causing the disruptions when he is the boss.
Most of the jokes at Dwight’s farm are based on Mose being weird or the farm being antiquated. Neither of which are very funny.
Comic Highlight: Michael is enjoying some of Vikram dinner.
V: “I was a surgeon back home.”
M: “Really? I wonder what I would have been back home.”
V: “Well this is your home.”
M: “I know, it’s just so competitive here. What’s a dollar worth in your land? Medical school must have cost like forty bucks or a donkey or something.”
V: “Uh know.”
M: “I would have been chief of surgery….or a cowboy.”
The amusing last line aside this is actually a very clever piece of writing. Through the lens of Michael’s eyes Vikram is beneath him in America. So he unthinkingly assumes that that would be true in India too. It’s a wonderful glimpse of ignorant cultural superiority, but the final line saves Michael. We know Vikram won’t hold it against him because his ignorance is much greater than his arrogance.
That’s what I said: Both the Michael and Dwight stories are fine. They just aren’t particularly funny or memorable.
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