The Office: Garden Party

Last night's Office delivered a lot of things I liked about the show. It provided insight into one of the characters (In this case, Andy's desire for approval from his parents is finally shown, after a couple years of it being implied.). It had a trip to Schrute Farms (and even some Moze! Who we can't see as much these days because Greg Schur is busy over at Parks and Recreation). It had an elaborate prank on Dwight (With Dwight never catching on). It had some spotlight on the supporting characters (Kevin's Toupee is back. And Gabe had some of the the best material he's had in a long time.) And there was a nice emotional beat at the end. Of all the season 8 episodes so far, this is probably my favorite, so far.

After a really funny cold open, involving the vandalism of the new Dunder Mifflin billboards, made easy by Andy (and Dwight in the only billboard we actually see in the vandalized state)'s questionable-in-hindsight poses, we jump into the action. Andy is throwing a Garden Party at Schrute Farms and wants everyone on their best behaviour. We see that his father has recently thrown his younger brother (Josh Groban in a good guest role) a flashy garden party, complete with a viral impromptu, father-son duet. And though it seems that Andy is mainly throwing this party to impress Robert California, we soon realize that he's a lot more concerned with impressing his parents.

This leads to a scene where Andy toasts Robert in an effort to get Robert to toast him, only to have a bunch of other people toast Robert and other things, and Robert toasting everyone. His effort to force a father-son duet also fails, and soon Walter Sr. has gotten Walter Jr. to join them, even though the carefree, innocent, Walter Jr. just wants to get to know Andy's friends (He calls Jim Tuna constantly, and mistakens Meredith and Phyllis for Pam). When his father tells Andy that he won't say he's impressed that Andy's the regional manager of a small paper company in Scranton, and Andy has to stop craving his approval, which the employees accidentally overhear through the baby monitor, we now fully know why Andy is the way he is (Oscar calls it Andy's "Rosebud moment". Daryll disagrees with what Rosebud represented in a funny interview. I'm in Daryll's camp, by the by.). And the scene with the employees accepting him is expected, but still sweet.

Meanwhile, we see a bunch of little stories and comedic bits to round everything out. Jim has somehow printed up a professional book on throwing a garden party under the alias James Trickington and has sold it to Dwight, who takes it very seriously. This leads to scenes like Dwight announcing the names of the guests in loud fashion (The funniest of these parts: "James, Pamela, and Pee Pee Halpert!"), or Dwight dancing with one of the hired helps, or a Tableau or the closing ceremonies. Gabe is upset that other people are stealing his tricks for sucking up to the boss. Pam and Angela have picked the same name for their baby boys and clash about this. Moze takes all the cars to a cornfield and almost jumps over them on a motorcycle, before decided to just run over them. All in all, this episode is my favorite of season 8 (as I've already mentioned.) and is one of the funnier "The Office leaves Dunder Mifflin episodes", though not as classic as Niagara or Booze Cruise. I'm very happy after last night's Office. Very happy indeed.

Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)

Memorable Moments

-Jim: “If there’s an opportunity for the graffiti artist to work in a phallic shape interacting with the artwork, it’ll happen.”
-We also got a great Stanley laugh out of the cold open.
-Also the streetside view of Schrute Farms was a great sight gag. "They don't warn you when the cameras are driving by", Dwight says after we see him and Moze caught Seesawing.
-Jim: "Announcing guests as they enter is the height of decorum. The more volume displayed, the more honor is bestowed upon everyone at present."
-NBC has posted Jim's book (or parts of it, here, by the way.) They mix a couple things up, but it's still solid.
-Jim: “One of the host's most important duties is as dancemaster.”
-Ryan: “I’d like to make a toast to the troops. All the troops, both sides.”
-Dwight tells Robert California he can get him exotic meats, before confiding it'll all be goat.