The Office: Golden Ticket
By fred | March 13, 2009
(S05E17) It has been said in the past, that The Office is never as good as when it’s stays right on topic, when it deals with internal office stuff and things you have to go through and put up with in your daily boring office life. And it’s true, they don’t need to go anywhere to be hilarious, and when everything stays within the office, when it feels real and you can relate to what you see (minus some craziness courtesy of Michael Scott, Dwight Schrute and the likes of course), that’s when the show is at his best.
This week, that is exactly what we got, so it’s no wonder that this might have been one of the best episodes of the season, hilarious right from the cold opening and all the way to the end. That doesn’t mean the episode was perfect, but it was one awesome half-hour of comedy gold, no question there.
The one thing that you could say made this whole episode a little less awesome, was its predictability. So Michael had this idea about Golden Tickets, and despite his outfit and the way he executed it – which is without thinking much about it - it was a pretty good idea. But of course, because he cared more about getting actual golden tickets and a Willy Wonka suit than thinking it through, it backfired.
And it was cold. Maw, it was cold. It’s exactly what you’d expect from Michael I guess, but when he just said yes, yes it was Dwight’s idea, and then tried to convince him to take the fall and get fired for a mistake he didn’t do, for something Michael did, well in the past Michael might have been annoying, really irritating, because he is the way he is, but he never was a bad guy, he always meant well, even when hurting people.
This time however, not so much. This time however, you could really dislike him, for being who he is and not having a good heart. Yet, what is more Michael Scott than what he told Wallace himself, “I will be honest with you, I do want the credit without any of the blame.”
Problem is, you could see it coming. You knew that Michael would first try to put the blame on someone else, and I loved his trip down to the warehouse, where I felt we haven’t been for years (not counting them going down for a roast or anything like that of course), you knew later on the idea would turn out to be good (though I thought also because it would be “adjusted” and extended to all other branches, and seen as one of those ideas that explains why the Scranton branch is doing better than any other…) and Michael would then want the credit back. Which in the end made the whole last part of the episode a little less fun, because you knew all along where this was going to go.
But at least it was pretty awesome to see Dwight accept credit, once the idea had been validated as good, and because they were all pissed at Michael for what he tried to do, they all supported Dwight. They all applauded him, congratulated him, even Jim apologizing for making fun of Dwight dressing up as Willy Wonka, which got the expected and hilarious answer from Dwight: “Apology rejected!”
That was good, but I do wish Wallace would have not just asked Pam not to get the notes, and left. For starter, him congratulating whoever got that idea was maybe a bit odd, because if it turned out to be good it was more out of luck than anything else — though it’s true it’s usually how it goes down, get lucky you’re a hero, if not you’re fired you piece of garbage.
But to have Michael behave like he did, try to put the blame on one of his employee – one of the best salesmen they have or not – like that, can’t be accepted! Dwight could sue them, because his boss pressured him, because his boss tried to have him fired for no good reason at all, shouldn’t there be some kind of reprimand for Michael?? I guess they all accept this is how this branch works, and since it does well so far, why change anything…
Speaking of which, loved Jim getting pissed at Michael, and the later blaming him for buying a house to impress Pam. But now that Blue Cross, one of Jim’s client and (one of) their biggest client, decided to order exclusively from DM, is Jim going to get some kind of big commission out of this? In then end, isn’t that a great thing worthy or celebration for him? Seems that Michael finally had a truly great idea, and it will benefit everyone – from Dwight and his moment of glory, including a perfect “that’s what she said” joke, to Jim and his upcoming increase of salary, everyone but Michael.
In other news, I loved the B-plot with Kevin, how Jim & Pam weren’t really on the same page (Jim loves to take his time, doesn’t he?) and how Andi was still hurting, associating woman with Hell, explaining how every compliment should be backhanded, and how he eventually just yelled at Jim & Pam for being a hot couple in a perfect relationship!
Yeah, lots & lots of awesome lines on this one, and here are a few of my favorite ones :
Pam: It really makes us look unprofessional.
Michael: They would never know it was me doing it.
I won’t quote it, but the entire cold opening and the KGB joke was just hilarious. And that should include the tag with Jim making fun of Dwight, awesome.
Kevin: I don’t like getting advice from more than one person at a time. I’m a textbook over-thinker.
Michael: Hey! Hey! Hey! You Idiot!
Darryl: Start over.
Michael: Sir; I placed several Golden Tickets into different boxes, and somehow they all ended up at Blue Cross. How does this happen?
Darryl: Where the boxes near each other?
Michael: Irrelevant.
Darryl: I put three pallets on the truck to Blue Cross once a week. They use a lot of paper.
Michael: Okay, I’m going to ask you something, and I want you to be honest: What is a pallet?
Michael: Why do you keep a diary?
Dwight: To keep secrets from my computer.
Creed: Good work, kid.
Dwight: Thanks, old man!
Dwight: It’s Michael’s idea, that he forced on me, with threat of death.
Michael: Thank you!!
Kevin: Boobs!
What did everybody else think?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: The Office
