"The Office" Season 5, Episode 18: "New Boss

The Office

Season 5, Episode 18:
“New Boss”

Grade: 8.7

I have still not seen “Golden Ticket” which was the episode before this one. By all accounts I hear Michael does some really douchy things but I do not know what. Which sucks because I always want to stick up for Michael but it sounds like I won’t be able to this time. This episode was awkward as hell. British Office awkward. I’m not sure how to even really judge the actions in this episode. I agree with Michael’s complaint. For someone who has been working as Branch Manager for so long, he deserves the respect for it. When he stated this complaint he came off as genuine and in the right. Everything else he explains comes off as increasingly childish. At the same time I can understand completely where David Wallace is coming from. Michael, if he was a real person is not someone Wallace should even have to deal with and I think the fact that Michael has kept him on for this long displays the amount of respect that he does have for Michael in the first place. The way Michael handled the situation with Chalres was abysmal, embarrassing and as childish as one could get. This power struggle was hard and embarrassing to watch. Cringe worthy at times hitting its high point when Michael descends into flat out repeating everything that Charles says. Pam got it right when she said “The more childish it is (his comedy routine) the more upset he is.” And “this is bad”. I do not think Michael has ever really had to deal with someone who won’t deal with his antics before. Jan and Ryan understood that he needs to be treated like a child essentially but Charles actually is doing his job. See that’s the cool thing about the episode; Charles is not a bad guy, he’s not evil. He is just doing his job right. And he has no tolerance for wasting time in the workplace. Once he sees that Dunder Mifflin has some managing issues he stays to see what else is going wrong. Michael in increasingly desperate efforts to engage in this power struggle very quickly descends worse and worse into his own insecurities culminating in him freaking out, shouting that once he is done talking to David Wallace that Charles will be fired and drives off to New York to speak with him. I thought David handled the situation well enough. Yeah he should have taken his calls but with the stuff that Michael usually calls about why would he at this point? David thinks he knows how to handle Michael and tells him that he will keep the 15th anniversary party and that they will move money around so that they can have it and that he will come. David figures solving the party problem will fix everything because it will make Michael happy. Wrong. David says nothing about fixing the Charles problem, nothing about giving him respect, no apology for that, nothing about creating a new middle man so he does not have to deal with Michael and no denial of it even. So Michael quits Dunder Mifflin. Wow. I knew he was quitting but I figured it would be in a couple of episodes and that it would be that David suggests he quit because he is going to get fired so this way he could walk away with dignity. No go. Michael flat out quits. It’s a fantastic moment in the series. This is an episode that should win Steve Carell an Emmy. Seriously; he is remarkable in this episode, heightening the awkwardness, the childishness and the false pride but also the seriousness of the respect issue and delivering those concerns with the utmost sincerity with no immaturity in sight.

In other plots, I love what they did with Jim this week. We got to see one of his pranks backfire on Dwight as he has to be at work all day in a tuxedo when the new boss arrives. Jim makes himself look like an ass in every scene with Charles as his attempts to prove he is not an idiot or a slacker backfire miserably. I really liked Pam in this episode. I don’t really know why. Angela and Kelly running in the rain were hilarious. Next week should prove to be great hopefully and continue the momentum built up in this really fantastic episode.

Even though I have yet to watch “The Wire” which I plan on soon rectifying, its really cool that both Amy Ryan and Idris Elba from that show appear on this one.

I thought Dwight’s phone call to David was too much. Did not like it.

Other favorite moments:

- The opening. How to be Classy. Mr. Peanut. Chocolate covered strawberries and Michael looking at Jim for a reaction to have about whether or not something is classy.
- “Jan was my lover and Ryan was my best friend.”
- Michael introducing Accounting.
- The bagels all shaped like C for Charles.
- The 2 way petting zoo idea.