The Office: Mrs. California

What Happened, Yo!:

-Robert announces to Andy (and Jim who happens to be in Andy's office) that in 4 seconds, his wife will be coming in. He told her she could work there, but under no circumstances can that happen.
-Susan California enters and though Andy informs her they are all staffed up, Robert insists they make something happen and gets Andy to show her around to all the departments.
-Later on, Andy keeps trying to insist that there's nothing they can do, but Robert is so persistent that they find his wife a place here, that eventually Andy gives her a job.
-Robert is not happy about this and unsure why Andy couldn't do this one simple thing.
-Andy insists to the office that they all be as mean to Susan as possible in order to get her to quit.
-The office does make Susan feel unwanted (though they all like her) until she goes to Robert, but Robert once again gets Andy to handle the situation.
-Susan figures out Robert has a hand in this, but Robert fervantly denies it when Andy claims that Robert told him not to hire her.
-Andy pulls Jim into it, so Jim makes a run for it.
-Eventually they catch him, but Jim just offers some advice about a husband and wife working together.
-Susan and Robert have the room alone and they have an unheard argument.
-Susan and Andy later say that they hit it off and he mentions the office would've loved for her to work there (except for Robert.). Susan says something that implies she wants to go on a date with Andy after all this settles down, and Andy is confused once more.
-Meanwhile, Dwight starts a gym and tries to get Daryl to join. The "gym" is all farm equipment, so Daryl makes him get real equipment.
-Later Daryl admits he's working out so he can look good for Val (the new girl in the warehouse.). Dwight assumes he means Val Kilmer.

I Liked This: After the underwhelmingness of Gettysburg, The Office recovered from that with Mrs. California, which I enjoyed for the most part. Once again, we get a bit more insight into the life of Robert, while adding to the mysteriousness, which is a big part of the character, currently. Susan was a good character and I hope to see more of her throughout the season, especially now that she's flirting with Andy, which would make for an intriguing dynamic between Andy and Robert. Daryl and Dwight's plot meanwhile delivered the laughs, and had a higher purpose at the end, now that we know for sure that Daryl is interested in Val. And John Krasinski got to do some good physical comedy with Jim's race to get away from the situation (which led to a classic Creed moment).

But...: While Jim running through the office park was funny, it really just seemed to be there because the writers had to fill out the third act of the story before the ending. Even Jim's speech on loving that he works with his life seemed sort of filler. Also, we never really got much insight into why Robert didn't want Susan working there, which could've added to the gravity of the ending. And while the cold open with Dwight's vow to never sit was funny, it seemed like a rerun of a couple other cold opens.

The Bottom Line: The Office rebounds after a disappointing outing with a solid episode, though not a flawless one.

Grade: Awesome! (Good)

Memorable Moments

-Not much time for these this weeks but still have a couple.
-Creed on the roof with a romote-controlled helicopter was gold. As was Jim: "If anyone asks, I wasn't here". Creed: "Ok. But what about your friend?"
-Dwight: "I'm going to make you the buffest man Val Kilmer has ever seen!"