I was getting some major déjà vu during this episode of The Office: Dwight and Jim forgot Kelly again? Andy's singing to a woman in a sexy, high falsetto? Michael's throwing candy bars at lecture listeners? Is it possible that the Office writers are getting lazy with their diverse cast of fascinating characters?

Okay, I'm kidding. I actually loved this episode, especially the dynamic between Jim and Dwight as they show off their horrific party planning skills. (I'm for sure going to use “IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY.” on a greeting card in the very near future.)

But we did get some blatant (and quality) throwbacks to previous Office plots in this episode, “Lecture Circuit, Part 1,” including a continuation of a plot that I currently find inexplicable: Scranton is doing the best out of all the Dunder-Mifflin branches… and it's because of Michael (Steve Carell)?

It started during “The Duel,” when David Wallace called Michael into corporate to pick his brain about how and why the Scranton branch was the only one in the black during a crippling recession. All Wallace got in return was Michael's signature rambling (remember that “Don't ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone…” speech?) and other useless quips. Then, in “Prince Family Paper” Wallace rewarded Michael's business prowess with the assignment of investigating a competitor. Try as he might to royally screw up that mission, Michael actually piles his mistakes into a huge win, fumbling his way into getting Prince Paper's full client list.

And now, even after Scranton almost burnt down their office and cost Dunder-Mifflin $3,500 for a mutilated CPR dummy (Okay, really that was all Dwight), Wallace asks Michael to go on a lecturing tour to the various D-M branches to share his excellent sales technique (or his “eleven business herbs and spices”) with each staff. Which makes me want to ask David Wallace: “Have you even MET Michael Scott?!” Michael may be heading a successful branch, but he has repeatedly shown that he's neither a sales whiz, nor a good public speaker.

Of course, Michael spends his lectures offending his audience, throwing things at them, and generally wasting everyone's time. But what did Wallace expect would happen—that Michael will miraculously mature on the road between Scranton and Utica? Or that his lecture listeners will obtain salient sales lessons through some sort of magical brain osmosis? Because one thing's for sure: whatever his secret of success is, Michael isn't giving it away.

The road trip does give us some great scenes, especially with the hilariously wry Rashida Jones, whom I've missed since Karen became head of the Utica branch. Her face says it all: she's just as flabbergasted as me that Michael has the task of advising others on smart business practices. And he proves her right with his ridiculous “mnemonic” name-memorizing technique that is a mix of insult, stereotype, and loose word association. What I really love about the Lecture Circuit storyline is the creepy, co-dependant relationship between the boss and Pam, who's on the road as his assistant (or “hot roadie”) and loving her one-and-a-half-time pay. Pam seems less annoyed and more amused with Michael than usual, and her auxiliary task as his chauffeur casts her even deeper into the role of his babysitter, which I love, because he surely needs one.

But Pam also provides the extra push all of us Michael-Holly fans have been waiting for: inspired by Pam's closure with the pregnant, blissfully married Karen, Michael wants the same with Holly, and Pam convinces him to make the trip to Nashua to tie up the loose ends with his dorky soul mate.

Now that's a business trip I can get behind.


My questions for you, Office watchers, are two-fold:

-    Where do you think this Successful Michael storyline is going? Do you buy it?
-    What do you want to happen between Michael and Holly in Nashua?

Best Quotes:
Don’t say ‘bucks,’ that’s not ladylike. – Michael

I think sometimes people are really mean to the hot, popular girl. - Kelly

I hate the idea that someone out there hates me. I even hate thinking that Al-Qaeda hates me. I think if they got to know me, they wouldn't hate me. But Karen knows me and she still hates me. – Pam

Wow. Is that Jim’s? Okay, wow, oh man… my head just exploded. Whoo… thank God, for everybody, right? Wow, you’re HUGE! That’s incredible! My head is… Sorry, I’m trying to figure out the last time that you and Jim had sex…. Ten months? – Michael

What is that? ‘It is your birthday.’ Period. – Jim
Statement of fact. - Dwight
Not even an exclamation point? –Jim
This is more professional. It’s not like she discovered a cure for cancer! – Dwight

I have an amazing mnemonic device by which I have now memorized all of your names. (pointing) Shirty. Mole. Lazy Eye. Mexico. Baldy. Sugar Boobs. Black woman. I have taken a unique part of who you are and I am have used that to memorize your name. Baldy - your head is bald. It is hairless. It is shiny. It is reflective, like a mirror - M, your name is Mark. – Michael

So… is there a guy, or a person, or a sperm machine that did this to you? – Michael

-Meghan Carlson, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Image courtesy of NBC