The Office"The Deposition"
Original Air Date: November 15, 2007
Lauren - Guest TwoCents Reviewer from Flonkerton.com
Even if you’ve only been casually keeping up with Office news, you know that because of the WGA strike, Thursday’s episode was the last new episode we’ll get to see for a while. I constantly remembered that fact as I watched “The Deposition” and found myself wondering if this episode will be enough to tie me over for the weeks and possibly months that will pass before a new “Office.” But as the episode unfolded with lawsuits, trash talk, revealed secrets, men defending the honor of their girlfriends, and Michael being forced to chose between the two great loves of his life, this Office fan determined that if we’re not meant to see anymore Office in 2007, this was a good episode to go out on.
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The Office
ReplyDelete"The Deposition"
Original Air Date: November 15, 2007
Lauren - Guest TwoCents Reviewer from Flonkerton.com
Even if you’ve only been casually keeping up with Office news, you know that because of the WGA strike, Thursday’s episode was the last new episode we’ll get to see for a while. I constantly remembered that fact as I watched “The Deposition” and found myself wondering if this episode will be enough to tie me over for the weeks and possibly months that will pass before a new “Office.” But as the episode unfolded with lawsuits, trash talk, revealed secrets, men defending the honor of their girlfriends, and Michael being forced to chose between the two great loves of his life, this Office fan determined that if we’re not meant to see anymore Office in 2007, this was a good episode to go out on.
The episode opens with Michael in a meeting with the accountants. Pam walks in with a message, but Michael tells her he’ll call them back. Could it be that Michael is actually so busy that he has to turn away calls? Of course not, Michael simply has Pam walk in every ten minutes with made up messages (or smiley faces) to make him look important. If backfires, though, when Ryan makes him “talk to the customer” and Michael resorts to faking that someone is on the phone line.
Jan and Michael are on their way to New York so Michael can give a deposition in Jan’s wrongful termination lawsuit against Dunder Mifflin. Since “the truth is very complicated”, Jan and Michael have been discussing answers to possibly questions (re: Jan’s coached Michael) and Michael comes up with interesting pneumonic devices to remember key words (“My friend Disray got new specs” = disrespect).
Back in Scranton, the warehouse has a new ping-pong table, and Darryl is constantly beating Jim. Jim doesn’t seem to mind, but Pam does as she has to endure smack (different from trash-talk, mind you) from Kelly for Jim’s poor ping pong skills. Pam’s solution is for Jim to practice on a make-shift ping pong table in the conference room so he can beat Darryl.
Despite protesting Toby’s presence, Michael starts his deposition. When asked to describe Jan’s firing, Michael answers very well, and in a talking head, Jan gushes about how people can underestimate Michael. Of course, when asked “How long have you known the plaintiff”, Michael thinks the lawyer is asking about John Grisham novel-based movie. Michael digs himself a deeper hole when he pulls out a “That’s what she said” when Jan’s lawyer asked if Michael worked “directly beneath Jan the whole time” she was with Dunder Mifflin.
When asked about the timing of Jan and Michael’s relationship, Michael insists he and Jan started dating after they disclosed their relationship to HR, and he has the (framed) document to prove it. The Dunder Mifflin lawyer throws a curveball, though, and reveals the infamous “Jamaican Jan Sun Princess photo”. Michael makes things worse as he mentions the couple times he and Jan kissed long before their relationship “officially” began.
Jim is continuing his ping pong practice in the conference room when Dwight storms in and asks what’s going on. Jim makes up a story about having to play against one of their biggest clients, and Dwight, who is actually a big ping pong nerd, agrees to help Jim practice.
After a lot questioning, Michael firmly says that he and Jan had an “on and off” relationship before they officially started dating. The deposition is about to move on when Jan’s lawyer pulls out Michael’s personal diary. He reads an entry to establish that Jan made it clear they weren’t a couple after the Jamaican trip. The mediator orders Jan’s lawyer to make a copy of the diary for everyone, and has them break for lunch.
In the food court, Michael sees everyone scrutinizing his diary, and is forced to sit by Toby. Toby tries to offer his sympathy for Michael by talking about how when his parents got divorced, each one as Toby to testify against the other. Michael, however, responds by pushing Toby’s lunch tray off the table.
Back in the deposition, Michael firmly says that Jan made it clear to him they weren’t in a relationship after the Jamaican trip, so she wasn’t in the wrong. The Dunder Mifflin lawyer throws another curveball as she reveals that Jan wrote a scathing performance review of Michael a month after they disclosed their relationship. Michael is speechless when the Dunder Mifflin lawyer asks if Michael agrees that Jan has seriously flawed judgment.
Pam checks in on Dwight and Jim’s ping pong practice, as is eager to schedule a rematch between Darryl and Jim. Dwight is shocked that Darryl is “the client,” and reminds Jim that Darryl works there before throwing down his paddle and leaving.
Michael is angry at Jan for the review and says that Dunder Mifflin has always respected him and was going to give him Jan’s job. Jan’s lawyer reads a passage from the CFOs deposition that reveals that Michael wasn't a serious candidate for Jan’s job. Jan’s lawyer follows up by asking if Michael thinks Dunder Mifflin has a pattern of disrespecting its employees. Michael answers, “Absolutely not.”
Jim is doing better in his rematch with Darryl, and Pam attempts to do a little trash talk of her own. Kelly brushes it off, and rubs it in Pam’s face when Darryl eventually wins. Pam shouts that she’s tired of this, and challenges Kelly to a match. They both talk big, but as it turns out, they’re both terrible at ping pong, and Jim and Darryl leave to go play on the table upstairs.
The deposition is over, and the CFO apologizes to Michael for getting him caught up in the lawsuit. Michael says it’s no big deal, and tells the CFO he’s “a nice guy, too”. In a talking head, Michael say that Jan said she revealed the diary because of the photo, but Michael notices the hole in Jan’s story since she clearly brought the diary with her with the intention of revealing it. “You expect to get screwed by your company, but you never expect to get screwed by your girlfriend,” he says, and in the next scene, he and Jan are deciding on a cheap dinner.
In the very last scene, Dwight reveals his ping pong skills as he engages in an intense match with his cousin Mose.
If nothing else, this episode will be remembered for answering the question of who is Michael’s greatest love. We always suspected, but know we know it is Dunder Mifflin that holds Michael’s heart, and no $4 million dollar settlement or breast augmentation will change that. This episode also showcased some of Michael’s more endearing qualities. For all the poor managerial skills he displays, and all the insensitive remarks he’s made, he is at the end of the day an honest guy, and he just wants everyone to be happy (well, except Toby).
I’m a bit conflicted about “Ping Pong” side of the episode. It was like a break from the seriousness of the “Deposition”, which on the same hand also made it feel a little underdeveloped and, well, silly. It still had its good moments, though. As much as I love “Fancy New Beesly,” a part of me still misses shy, cardigan Pam a bit, and I kinda enjoyed seeing that Pam being intimidated by Kelly’s trash talk and enlisting Jim to “defend her honor”. Of course, I was equally happy when she put her foot down and challenged Kelly to a match (even if it was a bit anticlimactic that they both sucked at ping pong).
Overall, if this has to be the last episode for a while, I’m satisfied with it.
Favorite Moment: The scenes with the recorder reading back what Michael said.
Favorite Quote: Kelly: I don’t talk trash, I talk smack - they’re totally different. Trash talk is all hypothetical, like ‘your momma’s so fat she could eat the internet.’ But smack talk is happening like right now. Like, ‘you’re ugly and I know it for a fact cuz I got the evidence right there.’
Episode Grade: A-