Resolved: Erin would not make the best newscaster.
Warning: Article contains spoilers.
There were three Rs that played major roles in The Office this week: Roy, Romance, and Revenge.
In “Roy’s Wedding,” we’re confronted with the return of Roy, former warehouse employee and Pam’s ex-fiance. Other than brief cameos in seasons five and seven, he hasn’t made an appearance on the show since he attacked Jim after finding out about Jim and Pam’s kiss on casino night. His wedding causes unexpected tensions to rise amongst the seemingly unbreakable Jim and Pam.
We also get a further look into the new guys – Clark (Dwight Jr.) and Pete (Plop) – and it isn’t pretty. Clark uses some skeevy tactics to try and woo Erin by tricking her into an audition as a newscaster that may have accidentally led to some other unexpected romance.
And where does revenge come in? It only makes an appearance after Nelly makes Dwight sign a Taliban pledge and then steals his pen and forces him to cut off her hand. But we’ll get to that later.
But first, Pam gets maternal on the office and attempts to introduce a chore wheel after the custodian goes on vacation and Dunder Mifflin begins to resemble a house from an episode of Hoarders. Despite Pam’s good intentions, the employees become discontented due to the mundane nature of the wheel (Andy goes as far as complaining that “all she ever talks about is chores”, which probably isn’t true).
But Pam will not settle for this! So, after many revisions, she devises a wheel that looks like it belongs on a game show – and doesn’t boast any actual chores. Instead they can win prizes such as manager for an hour or penalties such as give Stanley your lunch. There is an option of winning a spin on a tiny wheel, which is the only place where actual chores can be found. But it’s “so cute” it sends Meredith gleefully running to clean the toilets.
At the core of this episode is the relationship between Jim and Pam. Over the past seasons of The Office, we’ve seen them go from flirting office buddies to their wedding day at Niagra Falls to the birth of their children. They’re the couple you’ll always root for, but there plot lines have felt stale in the last few seasons. Where could they go after happily ever after?
Their boredom is further illuminated at Roy’s wedding. What Pam believes will be a cheap affair that only serves hot dogs is instead a refined ceremony at Roy’s enormous home (including mimosas!). Since Roy’s been gone, he started his own gravel company that unexpectedly took off. Instead of the schlubby Roy we once knew, he now lives in a beautiful home, owns a sports car, and serenades his new bride with love songs. This led Pam and Jim to question if they had any surprises left in the life they built together (it doesn’t seem like they do, after they play an office game of “Oldieweds”).
The expected catalyst to restore some excitement in the Halperts’ lives is Jim’s decision to start a sports marketing company with his college buddy in Philadelphia. This could be a huge opportunity for Jim, except he still has yet to tell Pam, who knows something’s up after Jim keeps receiving unexplained phone calls. Jim and Pam could use some spicing up, even if it’s at the cost of some marital troubles, so it should be intriguing to see where this goes in the next few weeks.
Another office romance might also be in jeopardy: Erin and Andy. Newbie Clark takes advantage of Erin’s space cadet qualities by convincing her that his friend Duncan needs a well-informed, good-looking woman for a newscast (only half of that applies to Erin, but okay). Pete tries to play the good guy by getting in the way of Clark’s creepy advances towards Erin after Andy is oblivious to Clark’s plan to seduce her. The episode ends with Pete and Erin out to dinner after he brings Andy to the fake audition. Will they bond over their adorable stupidity and leave the forgettable Erin and Andy pairing in the dust?
The most superfluous plot line of episode two was Nelly’s attempt to assert some dominance over Andy by launching a charity campaign called “Give Back” where each member submits a charity (Andy teaches nautical knots to homeless children and Creed wants to make gnomes with Jimmy Carter). Dwight resents her attempts at “power grabs” so submits the Global Relief Foundation as his charity….aka a front for the Taliban.
Nelly doesn’t take Dwight’s resistance lightly, and then comes in the Taliban pledge and the whole cutting-off-the-hand deal. The episode is sprinkled with scenes of Dwight attempting to cut off Nelly’s hand and at one point Darryl even gives them 127 Hours to watch for inspiration. Although it wasn’t a necessary situation for moving the plot along, the banter between Nelly and Dwight is pretty priceless.
Tidbits:
-Best Jim Face: When the office is discussing Erin’s confidence level for her “news audition”, Meredith expresses her sexual desire for Walter Cronkite’s mustache. This prompts Jim to immediately frown into the camera, a hilarious look that is easy to miss.
-Best Dwight Lines: “I feared Nelly had some sort of a plan, but she used a ridiculous font. You don’t have a plan!” (Delivered in an exaggerated British accent.)
“The Taliban in Af-i-ghanistan!”
-Throwback: Remember in Season 2 in the season finale for “Casino Night” and Jim and Pam are reviewing band tapes for Pam and Roy’s wedding and discover a Police cover band featuring none other than their own Kevin Malone? Roy later promises the gig to Kevin, but the only time we get to see him play is at Phyllis and Bob Vance’s wedding in Season 3.
diversions@umdbk.com
