Jun 22 2009
The Office: Season 3, Disc 1
Good day, Nerdy Bloggers! I hope everyone’s doing well. I’d like to start doing something a little different with my blog here. Today I’ll be doing my first review of something here and I’d like to introduce you to the way I plan on rating things. For anyone that knows me in real life, you know two things that always happen whenever I’m taking a goofy picture.
Fact #1: My mouth is always open.
Fact #2: I have either one or both thumbs up.
The first fact is less relevant to our discussion here than the second. For my reviews here, at the end I’ll always give my final verdict on the Ashley scale as either one thumb up or two, if I think something is great, or one or two thumbs down if it doesn’t tickle my fancy. Now that that method is established, here is my take on the first disc of The Office: Season 3.
Let me begin by saying that I am a very big fan of The Office. However, I didn’t really get to watch much of the show until very recently. (I sing in a multicultural Gospel choir during the school year and our choir practice occurs during the same time). Thanks to the kindness of friends loaning me their copies, I’ve been able to watch the first and second seasons of the series, and am now beginning to watch the third. Season 3 thus far has been great, so here’s my 3rd season episode-by-episode review of the 1st disc.
“Gay Witch Hunt”
While Oscar’s sexuality was revealed to the audience and an ignorant Dwight in Season 2, it would seem that the rest of the office hasn’t quite figured it out yet. When Michael discovers it though, his incredible lack of tact is evident and results in quite the painful outing of Oscar. It amazes me how inept his character can be, and many times it’s really painful for me to watch his ridiculousness. The best part of this episode is Jim’s gift of “Gaydar” to Dwight. Hilarious!
“The Convention”
As it turns out, Michael does have a softer side and shows it in this episode. While trying to be the life of the party (by throwing a party) at the annual Northeastern mid-market office supply convention, Michael succumbs to fears that Jim transferred to get away from him. I didn’t enjoy this episode as much, but it’s always nice to see that Michael is in fact, a real human being rather than an inept dunderhead (pardon the semi-unintentional pun). Not as interesting as some episodes, but it’s good on some character development with Michael.
“The Coup”
While Michael institutes “Movie Monday” in the office to stimulate “morale,” Jan makes a surprise visit to Scranton, walking in on the gang watching Varsity Blues. Angela puts it to Dwight that he should be the one running the office rather than Michael, and encourages him to seek council with Jan. Dwight always adds great humor to the show and watching his antics in getting Jan to meet with him, as well as his confrontation with Michael afterwards makes this a fun episode.
“Grief Counseling”
When Jan calls Michael to inform him that his former manager, Ed Truck, has passed away, Michael feels the need to put the entire office through grief counseling (despite that it seems no one in the office knew Ed except Michael himself). Peak moments in this episode are the ball toss where everyone talks about someone close to them that died and how. Pam tells a synopsis of Million Dollar Baby, Ryan goes for The Lion King, and Kevin takes Weekend at Bernie’s. I laughed so loud when Ryan started talking about his cousin Mufasa, who got trampled by a stampede of wildebeests. Great stuff! The bird funeral with Pam’s speech and Dwight playing the recorder were great points, too.
“Initiation”
This episode is great, and probably my favorite thus far in this season. It’s time for Ryan to go on his first sales call, and Dwight, the top salesman in the company, is taking him. Ryan thinks he’s going on a sales call, little does he know that Dwight is taking him on a haze-like initiation, where Dwight takes him to his beet farm and has him learn all about beets, pretends to leave him there, puts him in the hot seat and asks him ridiculous trivia about people in the office and Dunder Mifflin, and tops it all off with an attack from Cousin Mose and attempting to get him into his grandfather’s coffin. The highlights of this episode are Ryan and Dwight egging the building after not making the sale, then going for beer together afterwards, and the great interaction we get between Jim and Pam at the end, with their extended phone call right at closing time. Jim’s still up to his old tricks, even at Stamford, complete with a squeaky chair switch on the crazy obnoxious Andy Bernard. Also, Stanley and Free Pretzel Day, FTW! Great episode!
“Diwali”
The always chatty Kelly Kapoor’s family is throwing a Diwali party (the Hindu festival of lights, or as Kelly puts it, Hindu Halloween) and Kelly invites everyone in the office. Michael, thinking of course he’s the only educated and understanding person in the office, offers a crash course in Indian and Hindu culture, complete with handouts of the Karma Sutra (yikes!). Michael proposes to Carol at the party, only to be denied. Ryan gets to meet Kelly’s family (who think he’s going no where), particularly after asking him whether or not he’s saving money to start a family, and he responds by saying he’s saving up for travel and an XBOX (one of the funniest lines in the episode). Meanwhile over in Stamford, Jim, Andy, and Karen have to work late. Andy breaks out the liquor and they all take shots on his cue while working (save for Karen who always pours hers out behind the guys’ backs). Big Tuna (or Jim) can’t bike home in his drunken state so Karen ends up driving him home. The tension between Jim and Karen is looming, so I’m interested to see how this all pans out in the next episodes in this season. Also, the Kapoors constant downing of Ryan is hilarious, and rather flamboyant. Ryan’s up and down relationship with Kelly is also very evident here and really makes me want to slap guys who act like he does. Say what you want, brother! It does make for good humor in the show though.
“Branch Closing”
Jan drops a bomb on Michael in this episode, saying that the Scranton branch will be closing. Some of the employees will be offered severance packages while others will be transferred to Stamford. This closing, however was centered on Josh, the regional manager at Stamford, heading up the new combined branches, which will not be happening because of him accepting a senior management position with Staples. In turn, Stamford is now closing, and being consolidated with Scranton. Jim is returning to Scranton, and the excitement seen in Pam is all too obvious. I love Jim and Pam and am looking forward to seeing how this season turns out.
So what’s my overall take on disc one, you ask?
One Thumb Up
Here’s why. Interesting episodes so far, but no real standouts just yet. Great jokes and several laugh out loud moments in the seven episodes I’ve seen thus far, but again, nothing really that jumps out at me just yet. I’ll keep posting my thoughts as I watch though! Gotta love The Office.
Blessings,
Nerdy Blogger
