The Office: Employee Transfer

So I’ve heard a lot of controversy on this episode. Some people loved it, some people hated it. I honestly have to say that I was pretty much right in the middle. The more I think about it, the more I liked it, but my first reaction was a little bit of disappointment. It wasn’t as side-splittingly funny as the past few episodes, but it did have a lot of deep plots and meaningful story lines. Overall though, I would have to say it is definitely the weakest episode of the season so far.
The opening was great though! It was Halloween in the office and everyone was dressed up!

Stanley: rubber mask from Creature from the Black Lagoon so he can sleep at his desk
Phyllis: Raggedy Ann
Kelly: Carrie from Sex and the City
Ryan: Gordon Gecko
Oscar: Uncle Sam
Meredith: Cheerleader
Angela: her usual cat outfit
Andy: a “kitten”, dressed in a costume from the musical Cats
Jim: wears a nametag revealing the name “Dave”
Creed: A very creepy and realistic Joker
Kevin: A funny and poorly put together Joker outfit
Dwight: Another creepy Joker costume, except for he kept his glasses on
Pam: Only person to dress up at corporate. She dresses as Charlie Chaplin and can’t take her hat off because then she becomes Hitler

The running joke about everyone dressing up as the Joker this Halloween was really funny and I loved Jim’s non-creative costume and Kelly trying to walk around in her stilettos as Carrie Bradshaw. It was also great how Pam is just so used to dressing up and that she ended up being the only one in the corporate office. But that was all we got…a minute and a half of Halloween costumes and we didn’t even get to see Michael dressed up! I was so looking forward to see Michael and Holly dressed up together as something really cute and corky but I was disappointed.

We then see Michael and Holly getting ready to move all of her stuff to Nashua, New Hampshire because she has been transferred after David Wallace saw them kiss and found out that they were in a relationship. Michael has made a goody bag for the long 7 hour car ride, which includes puzzles, string for Cat’s Cradle, a mix CD, and puppets. Only Michael could put together such a terrific goody bag. I was wondering why Holly didn’t stay in Scranton and find another job, and then she talks to the camera about what happened. Apparently the two of them had a conversation about it and he asked her to stay and she asked him to move to Nashua and then he said “I asked you first,” and she said “first” at the same time as he did and then called Jinx and they haven’t talked about it since then. Sounds about right for a conversation with Michael about something so serious.

Darryl drives them to Nashua in the company’s truck and helps move all of Holly’s stuff. This episode made me really appreciate Darryl because he never does nice things for Michael! But he was really sweet throughout this whole episode! The first song we hear from Michael’s mix CD is “Life is a Highway” and they all start smiling and singing along. It is very cute. When they are halfway to Nashua, Michael asks Darryl to pull over so they can find a place to stay for when he and Holly will meet in the middle. There is absolutely nothing there. They get back into the car and “Life is a Highway” comes on for the fourth time and Holly starts crying. Michael asks if it’s because Darryl touched her….hilarious moment! She says she just doesn’t see how they could stay together while living so far apart. Michael starts to freak out and starts screaming about how they can’t break up because then he’ll go back to Jan and he hates Jan.

After Holly is all moved in, Michael decides not to stay with her and ride back with Darryl. It was so sad to see him leave her, but he still won’t admit to Darryl that they are broken up. He thinks they are still together which could cause some more pain for him in the coming episodes when he has to realize that it’s really over. I was so sad to see Holly go; I guess she was just too good to be true.

Dwight comes into work that morning wearing a Cornell sweatshirt, solely to piss off Andy. And it works. Right away Andy yells at Dwight for wearing the sweatshirt and we find out that Dwight is applying to Cornell. Throughout the day, Dwight keeps pulling out more Cornell stuff such as a mug, Big Red bear bobblehead, a Cornell banner, etc. Andy calls the Cornell admissions office and gets to run Dwight’s interview. He asks all sorts of random questions and as he is critiquing Dwight, Dwight starts to critique Andy’s interview skills to send in to Cornell. It was great to see how much Dwight really wanted to get under Andy’s skin. He will do anything to piss him off and I don’t know what that’s going to do to help him get Angela back, but maybe he has a plan.

Andy comes into work the next day dressed in overalls and carrying around a huge basket of beets. He states that he now has his own beet farm and tries to bite into a raw one. It reminded me of when Jim came into the office dressed as Dwight and then Dwight came in the next day dressed as Jim. These are both priceless moments.

We finally get to hear more about Jim and Pam’s engagement! Jim’s two brothers come to New York City to take Pam and Jim out to lunch to celebrate. Pam invites them to meet her early so they can pull a prank on Jim. She wants to tell Jim that she lost her ring during an art class but the brothers think it would be funnier if they just joked about Pam being an artist and not making any money. They think it will be funny but of course it only pisses off Jim and I loved seeing how Jim stood up for Pam and got angry at his brothers for their comments. As they keep making comments about Pam’s horrible decision about being an artist, Jim gets more and more angry until they start laughing and saying how it was a prank and all Pam’s idea. She just willingly follows along and says that it was her idea. At first I wasn’t sure if Jim was going to be mad at her or not, but then we see them walking out of the restaurant and she had explained everything to him and they were just laughing about it. It was great to see them together again!

Favorite Moments:

• Seeing all the great Halloween costumes. I honestly think Phyllis as Rageddy Ann was my favorite. She didn't get enough attention from the cameras! But Creed's was definitely the best....man is he creepy!
• Michael's goody bag for Holly, so sweet!
• Darryl singing the blues with Michael
• Michael admitting that he hates Jan
• Michael having a nightmare in the car
• Dwight pulling out a Big Red bear bobblehead!
• Andy wearing a straw hat and overalls with no shirt underneath

What to look for in the next episode:

• More tension between Dwight and Andy? Is Dwight ever going to let it go and move on?
• Is Holly really gone forever? It was supposedly Amy Ryan's last episode, but maybe they'll surprise us. I just hope he doesn't go back to Jan.
• David Wallace didn't say anything about Ryan working there, I'm still waiting for that moment to come!
• Also still waiting for Pam to come back!! She better hurry!