It was the moment on The Office that we’ve all been waiting for. The big day that the season’s been building toward slowly, but one that we all knew had to finally arrive.
Pam and Jim’s baby? Nope. Erin and Andy getting together? No sir. Instead, it was the reunion of Angela and Dwight. That’s right … they’re baaack.
At least in one form or another. Granted it took an agreement to have a baby for Dwight’s business purposes, and a contract that endured multiple drafts and required two forms of identification before signing. But Angela and Dwight reunited? I think so.
Unless Dwight flirting with Pam’s bridesmaid Isabelle, and feeling sick after signing the contract, ends up standing in their way. But if not today … well, it’ll happen some other day. You can count on it.
There was also a baby, one that came after 19 hours of labor and a whole lot of pain for the viewing audience. After watching the wedding episode, and now this, I think I’ve arrived at the problem I had with both: I understand that privacy-interrupted is what this show is all about, but if we’re meant to care about Pam and Jim, part of what comes with that is a desire for them to experience some of these special moments without rude interruptions. Or aisle dancing. Or their boss knocking on the door of their delivery room while Pam’s pushing to ask for an ETA.
That’s The Office, and I appreciate that, but in the same way that I was glad that the two had their actual wedding ceremony in private at Niagara Falls (although I wish we’d gotten to share it with them), I also wish they’d had their moment here too. I have a son, and I know how special his birth was for me and my wife. It was just us. I’m sorry Jim and Pam won’t have a privately shared moment to look back on when they think about the birth of their daughter.
I totally didn’t understand what was worth an hour here. This was absolutely a two-parter. They wouldn’t have even needed to write “To be Continued.” This was more about NBC trying to make the episode a destination event, but for the reasons I listed above, it totally wasn’t for me. By minute 38, when they came back from commercials right before Cecelia Marie needed to eat, I was wondering why the episode was still on.
But there were definitely moments. For instance:
In the end, while I enjoyed the episode itself, as one of those special moments in the life of the series I once again found myself very disappointed. How about you?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 04, 2010 @ 22:55 EST5EDT
The episode was fantastic. Jim cracking wise for the camera is all part of the show. There doesn’t need to be a special moment for this show since the whole show is about the intrusions of some of the office staff and the total lack of caring by others (Stanley, Creed). This show is quickly turning into the Michael, Jim, and Dwight show. I like the ancillary characters, but they have to be developed more. And please, get rid of Kevin – send him to the warehouse where he originally applied. I agree about nursing the wrong baby, that seemed creepy and a bit disturbing. The nurse that was assisting them was a bit under appreciated and I thought her deliveries were great. I liked when she looked at the camera and said “oh, good, you know everything” when Pam was worried about nipple confusion. If The Office writers are smart they shouldn’t mention the baby for awhile and definitely do not focus any episodes on their baby, or life adjusting to baby, etc. no one wants to see that.
*POST AUTHOR*
I knew there’d be plenty of people who this worked for, but I’ll compare how this fell short for me to how it’s been done successfully on another show. Take Friends for example. There was plenty of nonsense leading up to the ceremony’s themselves, but both Monica and Chandler’s and Phoebe and Mike’s weddings had just enough moments of sincerity. So too with Rachel giving birth Chandler and Monica proposing to one another, etc. The show stayed true to itself for 99.99% of those episodes, but there were also the moments that we needed to appreciate the momentous occasion. We’d spent too long with Monica and Chandler not to get some “awes” at their wedding. The Office shouldn’t be incapable of giving that to us as well, and I think it’s consistently failed to do that save for Jim proposing to Pam.
Which, by the way, isn’t to say that the show has to give us that. But I feel like I need those moments from it for these characters to continue to mean anything to me.
I think this episode did it for me — I’m done watching The Office. It was pretty awful. The only part I laughed out loud at was Pam taking the wrong baby. The stuff with Dwight smashing Jim’s kitchen apart and his bizarre baby contract wasn’t just uncomfortable, it was just stupid.
*POST AUTHOR*
I could never imagine abandoning ship on The Office, but I definitely understand needing to do it after this season.
Yeah, I didn’t even make it all the way through the episode. I gave up with 10-15 minutes left. With The Office being on between two other shows that I watch, I’ll probably stick with it for the time being. There have been some good episodes this season and I’m hoping Jim’s return to the sales ranks will inject some more humor into the show.
The male lactation consultant and nursing the wrong baby had me in hysterics, but the rest of the episode was so awful that I too believe I am done. Seriously, nothing funny about Dwight destroying Jim and Pam’s kitchen.
That’s about when I changed the channel for good. It was the moment I realized that I wasn’t even paying attention.
I loved the episode! But I couldn’t care less for Dwight and Angela. Seriously I never really like them, but I gotta admit that I don’t like many TV couples. Seriously “Oh I need a baby to have more sales”. WHAT?
I loved many little moments like Jim finding out his baby is gonna be a girl, Andy spying in plants, Micheal shooting people with “cupid’s arrows” the little moment were Jim and Pam were laying down watching Cecelia (cutest scene ever)and Micheal texting while he was driving.
WHOA what a sec: I love the CHARACTERS of Dwight and Angela, I just don’t care if they are a couple or not!
The episode worked for me because of just how relatable Jim was throughout the episode. Because honestly I’d be reacting similarly. Though I’d least try to lure Pam into a rolling chair and attempt to wheel her to the elevator as fast as possible before she can escape.
Everyone else however (except Oscar and Phyllis for some reason) annoyed the crap out of me though. Though I did forgive Pam for her idiocy when she broke down and admitted her fears of having the baby.
*POST AUTHOR*
Was it just me, or did Creed look like he was about to cry when Pam, Jim, and Michael left for the hospital?
I didn’t care for the wedding episode, nor did I this one. I had given up hope that The Office would be as funny as it used to be until the last couple of episodes, so I was really let down by the baby episode. I wonder if some of the original writers have left the show….I did like Kevin & Pam eating together, that was cute. I just want to enjoy The Office like I used to…oh! and one more thing, I couldn’t care less about the whole Andy and Erin thing, in fact, I think it’s a stupid plot line. It’s a copycat of Jim and Pam, very lame. I don’t even like Erin.
*POST AUTHOR*
Thank you! I’ve been saying the same about Erin and Andy as a couple, and about Erin herself for weeks now! Good to have a buddy. :)
I big part of my problem with this show now is how people like Dwight have simply gone too far in the believability department. In the past, I could actually picture these people in a real office. I swear almost anyone who’s worked in corporate American (or the corporate world, for that matter) could say “I know a guy/girl like that!” But Dwight now? It’s just too much, and it’s so much now that it’s not funny anymore.
*POST AUTHOR*
Um, not I. You know a Dwight circa seasons 1-4? Now that’s a story that needs telling!
Pam rejecting the sound advice to go to the hospital made little sense to me, then I recalled my own experiences prior to each child birth. I remember very clearly looking out the hospital room window thinking, maybe I can bust it out, scamper down, crack a valet over the head, steal a car, they’ll never catch me (ha, ha!), I won’t do it, it’ll hurt, hey, I may not even be pregnant anyways! So I guess I can quite relate to Pam being a bit unhinged!
Laughed out loud with the thesaurus line.
A surprising amount of viewer fatigue in the room. Personally, I’ve loved nearly everything this season including the delivery/excepting the clip show, but then Chuck and 30 Rock do little for me this season and I’ve dumped HIMYM, so obviously I live in Opposite World.
Were both Dwight and Angela notaries? He had the stamp but she directed his signatures, so I wasn’t sure. Loved the “all that’s left is dotting the ‘i’s, ‘j’s and umlauts” line.
Aryeh, if it makes you feel any better, nobody was responding to Michael’s questions from the delivery room door. It’s possible that Pam and Jim were too distracted to even notice him and hence had some measure of privacy.
My impressions of the full hour episodes (as opposed to Zucker’s “super-sized” installments) is that they have always been designed like this, as they’ll be split apart in syndication anyway. It makes sense to air them for the first time together rather than making us wait a week for the conclusion.
My first thought was that Pam and Jim were staying at work if they could to avoid burning one of their maternity/paternity days needlessly. I’m sure they would have gone home at 5:00 to wait for midnight.
When the Sabre transition rep was keeping the staff distracted in the conference room, Nick was the Sabre IT guy who snuck in unannounced and adjusted their computer systems to block both objectionable and time-wasting sites like Michael’s beloved YouTube.
The supply closet has evidently caused Ryan to believe he’s Clark Kent. Not a good look on him either.
About the thesaurus, Michael had made a typical clueless remark, and Oscar was just egging him on for his own amusement again.
I was touched that the courtship fax was both sweetly romantic and typical of how dumb they both can be: Andy not realizing dialing your own number would get a busy signal and Erin not recognizing the office’s fax number. I was howling when it backfired so horribly that he made her cry.
I know someone a lot like Dwight who even shares some of the same attitudes and hobbies (although he carries his broadsword and compound bow in the trunk of his car rather than the front seat and is not delusional). I think it’s more the accumulation of all of Dwight’s quirks, lawbreaking, and mental aberrations that puts it over the top. I can imagine a stupid person in real life doing any one of the things Dwight does once in their lifetime, but not all of them.
That being said, people realize that Dwight didn’t trash the Halperts’ kitchen and leave, right? He removed the mold and was in the process of building them new cupboards and countertops, knowing him probably babyproofed. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made a new window glass himself to replace the one he broke. Of all of Dwight’s transgressions against other people and their property, this one didn’t even register. Heck, he’ll probably end up saving them money in the long run so long as he gets the permit squared away with the County.
And “We don’t,” followed by the tape measure labeled “DKS?” :D
Creed was definitely about to burst into tears. Did he even have a line this episode (not that he needed one).
Don’t forget Meredith comparing herself to that other public drunk, George Clooney!
*POST AUTHOR*
I think Angela being a notary too sounds familiar from the past.
I guess you could say Pam and Jim got their moment on the other side of the door. Maybe I just want the voyeuristic sharing of their private moment, something that got burst every time someone else stuck their nose in. Maybe that was my thing with the wedding as well – we can share it as silent viewers, but no one else should intrude.
Thanks for the reminder on Nick. It was insignificant, but for a second my wife and I thought we’d missed a character introduction.
I got the thesaurus line; I was just saying “what” as in “how random.”
Yeah, I think it’s just that you like Erin and Andy so things they do make more sense to you. I just am not into the coupling, so I can’t see past my sticking points to the sweetness.
I also liked Dwight in Jim and Pam’s kitchen. I thought it was totally him, totally funny, and would totally result in a five-star kitchen. Not sure why people were turned off by it.
I do have an unreasonable fondness for good-natured, but dim, people. They remind me of puppies and other cute, clumsy animals. Two of them in awkward love is adorable.
I think viewers are far too used to Dwight breaking or throwing away other people’s property and forget that he has constructive skills as well. It makes sense that they’d totally focus on the inconvenience to Jim and Pam that week and not realize how much nicer the kitchen would be once Dwight was finished.