The Office: The Incentive

Last week I noticed that The Office seemed to be more ensemble-driven, rather than focused on any character in particular. Since the past seven years had been more based around Michael, and no one could ever really fill those shoes, the only way the show could survive is by making more use of their other great characters. So last week worked lovely. This weeks episode is much more Andy-centric as he tries to figure out why he was chosen to be manager and how he's supposed to double the sales of the branch, but I suspect other episodes will revolve around other employees at Dunder Mifflin-Sabre. In any case, this episode, while not as good as The List was still quite enjoyable and still has me optimistic about the eighth season of The Office.

Once again the plot of the episode is simple. Robert California challenges Andy to double the sales of the branch from last quarter (go from 4% growth to 8% growth). Andy introduces an incentive point system, but gets more than he bargained for when he tells the office that if they get 5000 points (and they can pool their points), he'll let them tattoo anything they want on his butt. Needless to say, this inspires everyone to work harder than they've ever worked before and they amass the necessary points in a single day.

Now Andy is somewhat similar to Michael, which is probably part of why he was chosen to be manager. They're both earnest, but clueless. The difference though is Michael believed himself to be the world's greatest manager and Andy is full of doubt. And while Michael had to be liked, Andy has to succeed. Would Michael have gone through with getting a tattoo? Probably not. But when Jim tells Andy that no one expects him to go through with this, but Jim thinks Andy is doing a great job and he can't wait for Andy's next idea, Andy knows he has to go through with it. So now Andy has an adorable tattoo of a dog wearing a sweater that says Nard. A Nard Dog if you will. As Andy puts it "My heart belongs to music, but my ass belongs to these people". As he gets the tattoo, we hear Robert confide to the camera that he chose Andy because he is uncomplicated. Everything he is is on the surface and that causes people to rally behind him, because he's the underdog. And "There's something about an underdog that really inspires the unexceptional".

There's also a subplot involving Darryl having recently reconnected with his ex-wife Justine. But when Justine comes into the office and talks to him... well we don't really hear what they talk about. The story will probably continue next week, but Darryl doesn't look happy for the rest of the episode so it probably wasn't good. I was actually a bit bummed out that there wasn't more resolution. I thought I had missed something, but when I rewatched the episode, it turned out I had caught everything. And Pam and Angela have a small thing where they try to be pregnancy buddies, but it ultimately doesn't work out. Of course.

This is a fine episode, that ultimately gets elevated because of it's ending. If I was having doubts about Andy (and I wasn't), they would've vanished with this one. Meanwhile, there was still lots of laughs to be found (the opening with Kevin went on a little long, but I did like when Andy talked about having a word code), especially once everyone was inspired to sell harder than ever (Stanley enthusiastically saying "You've got to unleash the power of the Pyramid (the new tablet computer Sabre is selling)" was one of the funniest parts of the episode. Whenever Stanley is excited or angry, it's funny). And while this wasn't the best episode, it certainly wasn't the worst. So hopefully the laughs continue and The Office continues to prove they can do the show fine without Steve Carell as season 8 rocks on.

Grade: Awesome! (Good)

Memorable Moments

-Dwight: "Without the battery pack and the optional memory booster, it's (The Pyramid) barely 3 pounds." Ryan: "How much memory does it have without the booster?" Dwight: "50 L". Ryan: "I'm sorry, L?" Jim: "How many L to a K?" Dwight: "You're really gonna want the booster.
-Andy tries to call Oscar C-Span or Cocker Spaniel. It doesn't fly.
-Dwight to Oscar: "Your friend Neil Patrick Harris really made me laugh the other night".
-Erin asks if Robert wants a cold beverage. Robert says coffee. So Erin gets him some old, freezing coffee.
-"I'm afraid you've lost my interest". Robert after hearing about the Andy/Erin situation.
-Robert: "If the office superstores was supposed to put us little suppliers out of business, why are we still here?" Kevin: "This is where we go." Robert: "You'd go someplace else. That's not it. That's not the answer" Kevin: "It's A answer". Robert: "It's the wrong answer". Kevin: "There are no wrong answers!"
-Andy's incentive prizes are mostly kid's stuff and a vibrator. Plus a sari and a maternity dress.
-Andy trying to explain why he wants to demotivate his employees: "I guess you could say I'm in one of those classic ass tattoo incentive situations".