Episode 11 - Night Out
4 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Dunder Mifflin Infinity, the company website is struggling. Sales people aren’t using it and the social network feature was used by sexual predators. Ryan wants the Scranton branch to come to work on a Saturday in order to enter their sales into the website to help legitimise it. Michael and Dwight head to New York to go clubbing with Ryan. Meanwhile Jim gets the office to stay late to get the work done so that they don’t have to come to work the next day. Unfortunately he doesn’t tell the security guard who locks up for the night. While waiting Toby embarrasses himself by showing his feelings for Pam and runs away. In New York Ryan and his friend Troy take Michael and Dwight to clubs to meet women. Ryan is on drugs and becomes increasingly agitated. Michael struggles to pick up women while Dwight picks one up but doesn’t want her. Ryan gets thrown out and so they take him back to his apartment.
The Good: This is one of the most creative episodes of The Office. They blend two clever and interesting plots together with loads of decent jokes to enjoy.
At the office we see another Jim idea back fire (as his birthday one did in 407). In a plausible sit com situation the staff get locked into the Scranton business park because Jim didn’t tell security that they were working late.
This leads to several good jokes, such as Dwight keeping the keys, Jim trying to remember the security guards name and the cleaning crew only speaking Spanish. Much of this flows from very real office situations and doesn’t seem forced at all. The sight of the entire office receiving Michael’s text message with a picture of Dwight kissing a woman is a nice touch.
Even the start of the episode with Ryan acting like an ass hole and Kelly and Creed’s contributions to the staff meeting is funny and adds to the story.
Meanwhile Ryan’s drug abuse is a very interesting direction for the show. It’s a shock to see such a serious subject get addressed. Michael and Dwight’s obliviousness allow it to escalate nicely and it will be fascinating to see whether it gets dealt with in a serious or silly manner in future episodes. The joke at the end where Ryan asks what to do about Troy’s drug problem is another great moment. Michael’s answer starts so poignantly that when he reveals he has been watching The Wire the impact of the joke is much stronger. Dwight and Michael’s interaction with women at the clubs leads to some nice laughs as well.
The Bad: The problem here is largely with the behaviour of certain characters.
Toby has been one of the standout characters of the show during its entire run. With achingly subtle acting he has been responsible for some of the most poignant moments which the show has produced (see 309 and 408). But here he uncharacteristically gropes Pam’s leg in front of the whole office. To cover for his moment of madness he tells them all he is leaving for Costa Rica and runs away. This entire embarrassing incident feels out of place and if it is the end for Toby it is a pretty sad way for him to go.
Dwight thinking that Hank might be a hobbit is too stupid to work. Dwight works best when he follows rigid lines of thought (see Comic Highlight) and not when he is made to look like an idiot. It is his misplaced intelligence which is more plausible and funny. Thinking a fictional creature is real doesn’t make sense for a character who is so grounded in how nature operates.
It is worth asking why Hank the security guard didn’t think it odd that a bunch of cars were still parked in the lot when he went home.
We were given the impression from the episode Launch Party (403) that the website was doing well and that other businesses seemed more interested in the website than a traditional sales technique (402). So to learn that it has not been working feels like an odd turn of events. Just as Ryan’s behaviour which raises some questions. The implication is that his drug abuse has led to his more arrogant attitude around the office which is on full display here. The change in him again feels quite sudden and recalls how Jan’s character seemed to change over night. She went from seeming like a pretty normal professional woman to suddenly being a kinky controlling girlfriend and drunken, inappropriate employee. These swift changes can be explained of course by our lack of knowledge of these characters beyond their interaction with Scranton personnel. However Ryan was a regular character for three seasons and we never really got to know him beyond his surface behaviour. So his change of attitude here seems out of place and could have been portrayed better.
Comic Highlight: Having got a girls basketball team into the club, they send Dwight a drink. He raises it toward them in thanks and then pours it out behind the bar. “What are you doing man?” asks Troy. “It’s not safe; anything could have been in there. NICE TRY!” he shouts to them. A classic bit of writing. Taking Dwight’s well established obedience to safety rules and applying that to a situation which takes perfect comedic advantage of it.
That’s what I said: This is a really good episode, despite the amount of “Bad” I had to write about. The reality is that most viewers of The Office won’t care about character consistency; they will just enjoy the jokes. I won’t change my stance that consistency leads to better jokes but I will admit that this is one of the funniest episodes which the show has produced. Two stories which are clever, plausible and funny.
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