Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The Office Review: Episode 9.12, "Customer Loyalty"

What exactly constitutes an "explosive mind-bender", anyway? No, really. I know it's 2013, and by this point in time any and all strong adjectives have been weakened to the point of triviality. So, when Greg Daniels says that an upcoming episode contains an "explosive mind-bender" about the nature of the documentary, what he obviously means is, "This is a good episode that does something a little bit unexpected." And thus, a surprising chunk of fans across the internet proceeded to seal their cruel fate of crushing disappointment, by taking this phrase literally, and expecting "Customer Loyalty" to actually bend their minds, with explosives.

"Steve Carell is coming back", a few of them convinced themselves, "because Michael Scott is secretly the one behind the whole documentary!" Never mind the fact that it's already been confirmed by countless sources that, no, Steve Carell isn't coming back, at all. "Or surely the documentarians have some sort of DARK CONNECTION to Jim's/Pam's DARK PAST and also they're RELATED." Because, clearly, the way for the writers to preserve everyone's fond memories of the past eight seasons - okay, nobody has fond memories of season eight, but you know what I mean - is to recast everything in a creepy, possibly rapisty light. Long story short, fans are weird, and when they're given even the slightest reason to start with the theorizing, it's enough to make a sane man want to put a bullet through his head.

So, you really have to feel bad for "Customer Loyalty". Its biggest flaw isn't even its own fault. Here it is, being a perfectly lovely episode of television, efficiently plodding away at its day job in construction, helping to build the foundation of a solid final story arc, and gently minding its own business at the end of the day after the whistle blows....and then the producers run their mouths, and the insane fans pour out of the woodwork, yelling and screaming and projectile vomiting about how "Customer Loyalty" was not nearly as explosive or mind-bending as the twist ending they had thought of themselves, involving evil twins and secret passages and, hey, remember this one character who was in, like, one scene in season two, yeah, HIM, maybe he's involved too.

Jesus Christ, people. Sometimes I'm so, so glad that I just don't think big.

But, let's be obnoxious, and try putting off talking about the elephant in the room for as long as possible. Because there was other stuff going on here, right? How about Dwight and Darryl, huh? Aren't they a wacky pairing? Yeah, that was probably the weakest part of the episode, but it's not too bad. It makes perfect sense that what Dwight really values here is loyalty, customer or otherwise. ("If there were somewhere else that valued my loyalty more highly, I'm going wherever they value loyalty the most.") I totally understand where he's coming from. His little world is unraveling, after all. Everything progresses along pretty entertainingly, in fact, until Dwight sets up a "fun" paper delivery, involving "fun" things, like Christmas lights, milkshake assaults, and "fun." (At first I rolled my eyes because that's not at all a plausibly Dwighty music choice, but then I comforted myself with the thought that it's probably the result of a desperate Google search to find out just what, exactly, constitutes "fun". That's just pathetic enough to amuse me!) Ultimately, the plot doesn't even really get resolved; Dwight just gets left behind, and fired-in-the-hole, and apparently that's the end of their debate on this subject? Yeah, the final stretch of this is just lame. Didn't put any fire in my hole, at all. :(

Fortunately, it has some actual merit before that point. Namely, Dwight's attempt to guilt-trip him with a conference room presentation about, yes, customer loyalty. Who among us can't sympathize with the silent plight of Not-So-Disgruntled Customer Dude, forced to sit through this nonsense against his will? I'm always thrilled when the show still manages to make a play for awkwardness, and actually succeed. Even still, the Dwight/Darryl plot is only really responsible for kickstarting this little fiasco; the focus quickly shifts away from them to Erin and Pete, and non-customer types of loyalty. Frankly, I'm genuinely surprised that I didn't roll my eyes at this change in focus, too. Paul Lieberstein's tenure as showrunner featured the discussion of characters' private lives in such contrived and, frankly, occasionally disgusting ways - I'm Angela-scowling at you, "Angry Andy" - that I'd almost forgotten the way the show used to do this, reined in and deliciously uncomfortable. Like this. Granted, it's not exactly subtle here, but it's still believable and I still thought it worked pretty well. And surely Dwight and Darryl deserve credit for at least kicking it off? :)

Even the Erin/Pete saga in general isn't bothering me as much as I thought it would. It's not perfect, and it still doesn't feel like it's carrying much weight even in this episode, but....what can I say? They're actually cute together, and they actually have chemistry! Can't have romance without that, and I'd know, because they tried that with her for, like, four seasons. And their little story tonight also involves Nellie, who also used to be absolutely insufferable last season, and who also has suddenly emerged as being confusingly likable in season nine. Oh, Greg Daniels, you crafty wizard, showing off your Rod of Redemption! Sure, all Nellie really does here is rather clumsily meddle in [insert clever couple name for Erin and Pete]'s personal lives, but for some reason it's not nearly as annoying as you'd think. Perhaps it's because it's so obviously coming from a simple, destructive desire to remain liked. Indeed, after being humiliated and temporarily split up, Erin and Pete end the episode in more or less the same place they started it; it's Nellie who enters new territory, realizing that there are more noble uses for her Staff of Meddlin' than trying to maintain a tiny sliver of favor with unpredictable, undependable Andy.

Oh, and also, there's her "relationship" with Toby. If an episode like "Dwight Christmas" had popped up last season, you just know that would've been a quick one-off, never brought up again so we could stay focused on, I dunno, conference room discussions on sexual inadequacy or whatever. (Seriously, screw you, "Angry Andy".) But here, it's allowed to linger a bit longer, and it's delightfully cringetastic. We've seen the version of Lusty Toby who's too hopelessly ineffectual to even ask anyone out in the past, but I think this is the first time we've seen him (thinking he's) in an actual relationship, and it's every bit as creepy as you'd hope. It gets such a small amount of screentime, but it's the funniest part of the episode. "Lady, you never stop surprising me," he says, pulling her hair back, stroking her neck, and presumably just channeling the gross sexy bits of his many unpublished cheap Chad Flenderson novels. If anyone has ever been wondering why he just can't get a little happiness once in awhile.......now you have your answer. This is why he shouldn't. Ew. :)

But, okay, enough sidestepping the important stuff. The real meat of this episode is, of course, the rather serious Jim and Pam story. Everything starts out innocently enough, as they anticipate Cece's ballet recital. (Really, this is something that people make their two-year-olds do now? Are you serious? Sigh...) Jim looks forward to seeing her show off their patented Cece Spin-and-Kiss, which he demonstrates for us; the only thing missing to make it even more authentic and adorable is an adult Jim-sized ladybug costume. And Pam looks forward to....well, time with her husband, I guess, since he'll actually be coming in from Philly for this. Or will he? Any sane person would get an idea of where this is going from the outset, seeing as how Athlead is a very businessy business that involves all sorts of vague but time-consuming businessthings. Tellingly, Jim only tells his coworkers that he has "that thing in Scranton" later, which more or less cements our suspicions about the upcoming trainwreck. And, as Jim and Pam later trade lighthearted banter about rectangles and the pointing thereof, the only real question seems to be of who will end up lashing out first. It's a very familiar plot, yes, but that's an area where the show used to thrive: finding said plot's original basis in reality, and firmly, painfully playing that moment straight, even as silliness ensues all around it.

Even still, I was not at all braced for The Fight. Of course I was prepared for a fight; I've seen sitcoms before. Partly as a result of growing up with an ostensible parental figure with an unbridled enthusiasm for awful sitcommery, I've seen puh-lenty of actors pretending to have petty arguments. I'm pretty sure every single episode of According To Jim revolved around some form of argument, as though marrying a fat lazy slob isn't as glamorous as one might've thought. And, well, aside from the obvious fact that marital discord played for laughs on such a regular basis is kinda gross, why don't 99% of sitcom fights have even a smidgen of resonance, of any sort? Because they're always situations that could've been resolved if someone had just cleared things up days ago before they had completely dug their own grave, or hell, if someone had just sidestepped doing the Obvious Wrong Thing in the first place. I guess some people might find it relatable, remembering arguments where they were "obviously" right, but no, it's not actually that black-and-white, you arrogant fools. But then, here comes The Office, reminding us on behalf of comedies everywhere just what an emotionally zero-sum game the argument truly is.

No, really, it's pretty much impossible to make any sort of complaint about the fight. Well, aside from the fact that it still manages to feel like such a sucker punch, but that's kind of the point. The performances on this show are always nice, but it's been so long since I've seen John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer actually act like this. And they both make valid points; there's not a typical sitcom straw spouse (okay, a straw husband nine times out of ten) in sight. Did Jim really need to lash out as hard as he did? No, but Pam didn't need to be so dismissive of his work stress, either. Doesn't her home stress count for anything, though? Just what constitutes an "agreement", anyway? Pam's reaction, in particular, is heartbreaking. Having one's excitement deflated like that is almost more painful than never being excited about anything at all. When exasperated fatigue meets excitable optimism, you've got a surefire recipe for disappointment. It's not the first time they've had to make sacrifices for each other - their entire relationship was pretty much founded on Jim sacrificing a better job for her, and then later there was that Lieberstein-era thing about Pam quitting art school far less convincingly - but it's the first time they've really resented each other for it. And it's acted so well that it hurts.

But then, there's the big love-it-or-hate-it reveal: With Pam crying openly, weak and vulnerable, Brian the Supposedly Hunky Documentary Boom Mic Dude steps in to console her, asking his Unseen and Presumably Less Hunky Cohorts to shut off the cameras to spare her further embarrassment, I guess. And this is where the fan reactions fork violently. Is that really an "explosive mind-bender" in and of itself, like Old Man Greggy Daniels said? No, not really, we don't even know the guy yet. Will it be after we get to know him? Well, that really depends on whether the things we may or may not learn about him end up having any retroactive relevance to this little moment! He rubs her leg comfortingly, but that could mean all sorts of things, so even that neither mind-bendy or explosive as of yet. I can easily understand how the people who took his proclamation at its hyperbolic face value were disappointed. But, is this reveal at least "something a little bit unexpected"? That much it is. After years of the documentary aspect of the series being marginalized to the point of just feeling like a weird, disconnected stylistic element, they've been playing it up more and more this season, growing to the point that it's finally time to shatter that fourth wall altogether. As we don't yet know what to make of it, it's big, but in a really small way. An Office way. It really was an interesting little bit, as long as you didn't ruin it for yourself ahead of time.

On the whole, this episode reads very much like a turning point. By the end of the half hour, exactly half of the season remains, and it seems almost as though it's trying to draw a line in the sand. "The first half of the season", it seems to say, "was just bridging the gap between the prior several seasons of virtual nothingness, and the final six hours of genuine somethingness." Whether that'll turn out to be the case or not, at this moment in time, it feels very much like the case. Erin finally has a non-psychopath in her life, so Andy will finally have to put up or shut up. Dwight, presumably, has finally conceded himself to the fact that the world will move on and he can't do much of anything about it. In the background, Angela seems to be teetering on the edge of a major breakdown (and Angela Kinsey confirms as much in a recent interview). And, in those final moments with Jim and Pam, the creaking gears of Greg Daniels' Magical Drama Machine clang and bang their way back to life, reanimated by his Rod of Redemption, signaling the potential for one final blaze of glory....if you'll just chill out and avoid doing it in with specific expectations at first. C'mon, guys, seriously. I did it with this episode, and it lead me to believe it was worth an 8.5 out of 10. It can work for you, too!

Trivial Observations and Discarded Folderol:
  • This week in juicy Athlead details: It involves "investors", which is a very businessy businessword indeed. Y'know, for business.
  • All this yammering on and I didn't even mention the cold open! We're inching a bit towards the less plausible end of the Jim Prank Spectrum, but it was cute! Plus, I like the symbolic value of this intricate piece of Young Jim emerging now, when he feels like almost a completely different person. "I expected more from Young Halpert", he says; if Young Halpert were watching this very episode, he could very well express the same sentiment about Stuffy Current Halpert. (By the way, awesome job nailing the look of the second season flashback, with the lighting and the hair and everything!)
  • Clark's only in one scene this week, but it's a good one, as we learn that the computers in the annex are still stuck with Windows 95 and dot matrix printers. Weirdly enough, just a couple days before this episode, I randomly brought up dot matrix printers as a hilariously old-fashioned piece of technology during a late-night conversation with my girlfriend. I guess, for some reason, last week was just the week for randomly remembering that they're a thing that existed.
  • The best part of having Toby meddlin' in Nellie's meddlin'? Paul Lieberstein himself is forced to vocalize, on national television, precisely why the Erin/Andy plot he pushed for four years is unraveling. Intentional, or do I just like imagining that comedy writers are far crueler than they really are?
  • Dwight clearly learned everything he knows about commanding the conference room from Michael. "Customer loyalty. What is it? Can you hold it in your hand? Can you nudge it with your finger? Can you dump it on a woman?" (Kevin: "It's when you get a free sandwich after you've already eaten ten sandwiches.")
  • Pam, on her chances of getting the Irish Cultural Center mural: "Let's be realistic, there are a ton of great artists in Scranton with way more experience. I mean, who are they gonna go with? Some nobody like me, or a big name like Tracy Fleeb?" (Look at me, being all high and mighty about my sophisticated sense of humor, only to turn right around and laugh at a silly name!)
  • Phyllis weighs in on the Andy/Pete debate: "Well, Andy's cute, but he's too vanilla. Whereas Pete, he's just one sick dude. I mean, you know this guy likes to get weird."
  • This week's review brought to you by Windows 95! Join the wave of the future! Microsoft Antivirus for Windows doesn't much care for it, but you might!

1 comment:

  1. so much for that "genuine somethingness", eh? ;D

    ReplyDelete