Episode 24 - The Cover-Up
9 May 2010
Review
Synopsis: Michael is loved up and happy with Donna until his co-workers suggest she might be cheating on him. He engages Dwight to follow her and see if she is cheating on him. Dwight follows her to the gym and tries to seduce her. Donna confronts Michael but Pam continues to dig and finds more evidence of her infidelity. Donna confesses that she is married. Meanwhile Darryl decides to take revenge on Andy when a Sabre printer malfunctions. Unfortunately the printer malfunction may turn out to be more serious than anyone suspected.
The Good: The Michael story worked out pretty nicely. It played on one of the shows reliable staples: Michael's paranoia and impulsiveness while in a relationship. The plotting worked out sensibly throughout. Michael of course had to bring his romantic life to work and ask for suggestions from his employees about where to take Donna. Kelly and Ryan in different ways were the ideal people to raise and enflame Michael's suspicions. He then turned to Dwight who of course managed to make a bad situation worse. Finally it was Pam who found real evidence and once more came to Michael's rescue. The cliff-hanger of what Michael does now that he is the "mistress" is a good one. The Office is often at its best when Michael is forced to give in to his conscience and do the right thing and I would imagine that this is where the Donna story is headed.
Along the way the jokes were solid with Ryan listing off suspicious behaviour in a cheating lover and Kelly listing off every jewellery and department store you could reasonably think of. I liked how each fit the character well. Kelly in an obvious way and Ryan in that he always brags about his knowledge on various subjects and this seemed a suitably sleazy one to gain his interest. Similarly Dwight's win-at-all-costs mentality fit just fine into his decision to seduce Donna thus proving she was cheating on Michael (see Comic Highlight). Pam's comments about heart shaped jewellery fit perfectly into the story and inadvertently offended Jim's gift to her which was a very nice believable gag. Michael also came out with some choice lines along the way including the statement "I live in a fantasy world" to which Jim delightedly says "You do?" And to Errin's suggestion that he go lie down and moan in his office Michael retorts "No I like the attention."
I also enjoyed seeing another good Creed line as Darryl pays him three dollars to give the throat-cut sign to Andy. Creed's lines are always best when the feed the imagination about what he might possibly be up to outside of the office. "Darnell offers me three bucks, all I gotta do is walk by Andy and go like this (does the sign). Darnell's a chump. I would have done it for anything. I've done a lot more for a lot less."
Donna's infidelity might also explain her reluctance to kiss Michael in the previous episode. If they tie that together as part of the story then that is actually very clever. Dwight's spin class takeover was a fun closing gag and entirely in character.
The Bad: The Darryl and Andy plot never quite reached a punch line. The fact that Darryl admitted he was making it up was perhaps more realistic but it meant for a long time there seemed little to get interested in. When the punch line came and Darryl rescinded all future pranking the joke was gone because a new storyline seemed to be in place.
Apparently Sabre printers have a major design flaw and the tone of the story suggests that Sabre know about it and are covering it up. If that is the case then Darryl's reaction wasn't very funny. If the printers are faulty then Andy needs to tell Michael and they need to contact Sabre and so on and so on. Darryl, one of the shows more sensible characters ought to be right on top of that. Presumably he doesn't want to lose his new found respect and office job which kind of turns him into everyone else in the office who bite their tongue rather than speak up.
But ignoring the Darryl-Andy part of this, are we really about to see a Sabre scandal? After Dunder Mifflin fell apart are the writers just plunging us straight into another story about a corrupt and badly run organisation falling down around the Scranton branch? We shall have to wait and see but it feels like too familiar a tale.
Gabe not saying anything while Michael wastes company time on his dating life seems odd. Donna looking guiltily at the camera was an interesting moment. Of course a woman cheating on her husband wouldn't want cameras filming her planning a holiday with Michael. But by having her acknowledge the camera it rather raises the awkward question of how she reacted when those cameras came into her business and filmed people in the first place. Not to mention that those cameras have been around filming her adultery for a while already.
Dwght's decision to seduce Donna just about walked a line. We have already seen Dwight do real detective work before (602 was the most recent example) so it was a slightly silly idea for him to jump straight to seduction but I will let it go.
Comic Highlight: Dwight's various failed seduction attempts varied in humour. But you can't beat a shot of Donna working on her torso while Dwight groans away off camera. The camera pans to him on the machine next to her, hands behind his head working on his thighs as seductively as he can.
That's what I said: A fun and enjoyable episode. There were a lot of good elements here which hinted at the show reclaiming its best form. The use of the ensemble was very strong as it often is when Michael's co-workers rally around him.
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