The Office: Season 5, Episode 6: "Customer Survey"

The Office – Season 5, Episode 6: “Customer Survey”
Grade: B

This episode as all episodes of “The Office” definitely had its moments. I’ll just get into it.

I really respect that the writers kept Michael more in the background for the episode. He was definitely present but he was a large part in the Customer Survey story as opposed to having his own story. Giving Michael his own story would have been unrealistic and disrespectful to the character since him and Holly had just broken up. Steve Carell played it perfectly giving one of his best subdues performances on the show. Michael was clearly depressed but it did not intrude on the episode.

The idea of Kelly throwing an “America’s Got Talent” finale party is really amusing as is the fact that nearly everyone actually showed up to it. In Season 3 Michael was the only one to show up at Pam’s art show. And yet they all go to an “America’s Got Talent” party. So sad. I love that Ryan was sure that Jim was there even though he wasn’t. He’s such a prick. Jim working with Dwight was a treat and I loved that Dwight was actually right for once about an interoffice conspiracy.

The Jim and Pam story took an interesting turn this week. Now I need to share a little bit of background about my relationship with Jim and Pam before I go into this week’s episode. I’m not really big on them. I like them much better now that they are together because when they weren’t, I was so annoyed that it detracted my enjoyment from the show quite a lot. I mean I like them enough but they are not the story I am the most interested in (that would be Michael in a heartbeat). Plus I still find them to be a bit annoying. I love Jim (love him) but much more so when he is doing stuff that has nothing to do with Pam. There are always great moments I can pick out between the two of them throughout the course of the series but overall…not by any means the reason I watch it. I find that the writers try too hard to make Jim and Pam the coolest cats in town. I find Pam to be frankly annoying at times, tolerable at others and genuinely likable at other times. Her “Ooh that’s what she said! That’s what she said” moment was easily the annoying moment of the episode.

Anyways, this week actually did something I liked at the end with Jim and Pam. The Bluetooth stuff was funny at times, annoying at others and last week’s Jim and Pam story was incredibly lame. This was the writers fault, not the characters. In another show, Pam’s friend would have professed his love for her and it would have been awkward, prompting Jim to become paranoid and have to deal with wanting Pam to come back but trying not to be selfish. It went another, smarter route though, with Pam’s friend (although I’m sure he has a crush on her anyways) telling her to stay in New York if she wants to take a chance and make a career out of her dream, all the while with Jim listening to the conversation with his Bluetooth. What’s cool about what the friend said to her is that he is right. And Jim knows he is right which accounts for his reaction at the end of the episode. He knows that Pam needs to be in New York. So where does that put him? At some point now, Jim has to re-evaluate his own life and decide where he wants to go. I sincerely hope they go into this. Because if Pam goes for her dream then Jim (and Pam) has to decide where he fits into her dream and whether or not he has one of his own. They don’t go into this issue very much of Jim not going anywhere with his life. They do but it’s too far and few in between. In the U.K Office, Tim had quit his job by the 3rd episode. Yes, he never left and yes it was his feelings towards Dawn that caused him to want to leave, which transferred to the American Office when Jim transfers to Stamford. But I feel that the original Office went into Tim and where he was (not) going in his life more in the short time it was on, then they have in the American Office in its whole run. I know we are way beyond the point where we should be comparing the two but occasionally I have to. I think the reason that they don’t go into this is because the writers of the American Office are too hesitant to make Jim seem like a potential loser and to not admit that he has any faults. Tim had many more unlucky potentially loseresque qualities about him while still retaining the really cool guy you want to know factor. This willingness and readiness to portray Tim as a man with faults and the relentless effort to make Jim the perfect guy ends up making Tim much more relatable and in the end a better character. So this is why I hope that this episode of The Office spawns a little bit more depth into the issue of what is Jim going to do with his life and with Pam as a couple? Anyone who thinks Jim and Pam’s relationship will ever be in serious jeopardy to the point where they do not know if they are going to be together is wasting their worries. They will be together when this show ends. Even if at some point they break up, they will be together. Between this fact and not being overly emotionally invested in Jim and Pam as a couple, I’m not stressing over any of this. However I am really interested to see how they work through this issue as a couple because this development makes me more interested in them than I have been in a while.

As for Dwight and Andy and Angela I was disappointed where this episode took them. I see where this development is leading and I’m not that interested. Didn’t she just choose Andy? It felt really forced and very unnatural even within the world of “The Office”. This wouldn’t bug me so much if I knew it wouldn’t affect many episodes to come but it will. It set up the way things are going to be for a while with this storyline and I’m already sort of uninterested. I have a feeling that Angela and Andy’s wedding will be the finale of the season which means so much more of this. On the other hand their wedding could take place in the middle of the season which I would prefer. Or Jim and Pam’s wedding could be the end of the season. Either way I feel that a wedding will end the season. But yeah, I was not really happy with that development as it felt forced and sort of lazy.

Favorite Moments:
-The mugs that Kelly handed out at the party
-Michael and Kelly’s moment in the office
-Pam’s friends speech at the end and their reactions
-“Smudge”
-Jim telling Dwight he was right