The Office: Special Project

What Happened, Yo!:

-Pam returns from Maternity Leave, but is quickly overshadowed by Angela who is skipping out on Maternity Leave, has lost most of her pregnancy weight, and has brought everyone in the office treats. Pam tries to hand out cash, but Jim stops her.

-Dwight has been promoted and put in charge of a special team, which will be going to Florida for three weeks to work on launching the Sabre version of the Apple Store, because Sabre wants to get into the retail market. Dwight is tasked with assembling his team and picks Angela, Daryl, Oscar, Phyllis and Toby to go with him. Andy tells him he has too many essential people on the team and will only let him take Phyllis and Daryll, plus Kathy, Kelly, and Kevin. Dwight is angry about this, so he reveals the Florida plan to the whole office in order to rile them up. Dwight gets Andy to agree to let everyone who wants to go prepare a pitch on why they should go.

-Jim gets a text from Robert California telling him they should hit the golf course when Jim goes to Florida. Jim tries to get out of going, but Robert sees his refusal to go as a joke and Pam tells him he should go. Dwight and Andy don't want Jim to go (Dwight doesn't like Jim and Andy sees Jim as essential) but the text from Robert makes them have to put Jim on the team.

-The final team is Dwight, Jim, Stanley, Ryan, Erin, and Kathy. Dwight is angry about this and has an orientation emphasizing all the bad parts of Florida, in an effort to make them all quit. No one quits though, and when Dwight leads their initial planning/expectations meeting, he is surprised to see that the members of the team are actually pretty capable and have some good ideas. Dwight decides that in the hands of a good manager, this could be a great team.

-Meanwhile, Val gives Daryl a Beanie for Valentine's Day. Daryl gets her an overtly romantic gift to test how she feels about him, but when he realizes she made a beanie for everyone in the warehouse, he pretends the gift (Cashmere Gloves) were for Nate, who is excited to get them. Daryl later gets a call from Val's Boyfriend who was trying to get the address for shipping so he could send her flowers. Daryl is depressed, but when Val claims the flowers were from our mom, even when Daryl reveals he got a call from a deep-voiced fellow named Brandon, Daryl realizes that his beanie is a love beanie.

-On Valentine's Day, Erin is disappointed that Andy is still dating Jessica and gets to thinking they'll never get back together. So she lobbies hard to get on the Florida trip, saying she needs to clear her head, and confides to the camera that she's not planning on returning.

-As the group prepares to leave, Kathy is seen telling a person on the phone that Jim's marriage isn't working and implying she's going to make an advance of some sort on him.


I Like This: Special Projects was a great episode and probably my favorite of the season so far. This season has been good, but kind of directionless so a multi-episode arc with Dwight, Jim, Stanley, Erin, Ryan, and Kathy in Florida could be to this season what the Michael Scott Paper Company arc was for season 5 (which was also directionless for much of it). Dwight was on fire this week. It's good to know the return of his managerial ambitions this season (particularly in Trivia) have actually been building up to this arc and I'm excited to see how Dwight and company do in Florida. And although Kathy has been a pointless, semi-mute character so far (To the point that the show pointed this out multiple times this episode), her plans to seduce Jim should make for some cringe-worthy awesomeness. Also good this week was Daryl's storyline of trying to figure out how Val feels about him. I'm a big fan of the ongoing Daryl/Val romantic plot and the reveal of Val's boyfriend, followed by Val lying about where the flowers came from add a nice twist to the proceedings. Nate was also on fire this week, and is well on the way to becoming a Creed-level figure of hilarity. Finally, Erin's plans to never return from Florida are intriguing and hopefully this development finally gets the Andy/Erin romance back on track.

But...: No real issues this week, which is a good sign in my eyes.


The Bottom Line: Special Project is a smashing start to what promises to be a great story arc for The Office.

Grade: 87% (Great)

Memorable Moments

-Dwight: "What are you doing here? You just had our baby! Our... collective Dunder Mifflin family baby.

-Pam: "Oh, Angela. Those brownies have walnuts in them and I think Kevin's allergic to walnuts. You're allergic to walnuts, right Kevin?" Kevin: "Extremely, but I'm gonna fight through it".

-Dwight: "Kevin? Kelly? Kathy? Andy just gave me a chain with three weak links. Have you ever tried to use a chain with three weak links? I have and now I no longer own an artic wolf."

-Val's Boyfriend: "So could I get that address?" Daryl: "yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. I'm just looking for a pen". V.B: "WWhy do you need a pen?" Daryl: "Back off! I have my reasons."

-Meredith: "Wait, Kathy gets to go? Why does she even still work here? Pam is back!" My thoughts exactly, Meredith.

-Dwight: "Hey, be proud of your enormous monster baby. I was once an enormous monster baby".

-Stanley: "If anybody's going to Florida, it should be me. Every shirt that I have that isn't a work shirt is a Tommy Bahama. I'm the only one in the office who watches Burn Notice!"

-Dwight: "What's that? It's not up to me? I only have influence? Well that's all Baltzer Gladfield had. And now nobody eats owls for Thanksgiving."

-Dwight: "Powerpoints are the peacocks of the business world. All show, No meat."

-Dwight: "Wow, Seasonal Affective Disorder, AKA S.A.D. That sounds like a very real thing, Toby." Rainn Wilson's delivery of this line killed me.

-Stanley: "Florida Stanley smiles. Florida Stanley is happy to go to work. Florida Stanley is who you want on your Florida team." Also, Florida Stanley's outfit is ridiculous.

-Jim to Dwight: "Hey, quick question. Do you shower at night or do you shower in the morning. Because I want to shower when you're showering to save some water".

-Dwight: "Have any of you ever seen the documentary, Deliverance?"

-Nate: "They're Nate Coupons. Or Napons. And they're all different. Cash that one in and I will bring you a stick of gum. Anytime, anyplace... I'll find you.

-Daryl: "Your mom's name is Brandon?" Val: "Yeah, Daryl. My mom's name is Brandon."

-Kelly: "I don't know how I'm gonna live here without you." Ryan: "Me neither. Hey, will you put this coat on my chair. I just realized I'm not gonna need it down there." Kelly: "Yes, I will take your coat, and I will keep it with me, and I will sleep with it because it smells like you." Ryan: "No, no no, just put it in my chair."