The Office“The Duel”
Original Air Date: January 15, 2009
PG Ignacio – Sr. Staff Writer
pg@thetwocentscorp.com
Best episode of The Office in a long time. I normally save my comments about the episode until the end of the Recap & Review, but I couldn’t help myself today. I have been kind of disappointed in the quality of humor being displayed this season and last season. There have been funny moments, don’t get me wrong, but the funny hasn’t been as consistent like the first few seasons.
Tonight we find humor in the form of a good old fashion duel. Mano-a-mano. Dwight vs. Andy. The prize? The love of Angela. Anyone else want to get in on this? Anyone other than Meredith?
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I do have to get the opening out of the way. Angela complained about the speed cars were traveling on the street outside of the office, so a radar displaying the speed of cars driving by was outside the building. Useful right? Useful to track the speed of how fast Michael Scott can run on foot past the radar. Michael got up to 12 mph. Dwight surpassed it by going 13 mph. In attempt to defeat it, Michael runs again just as a car is going by and the radar reads 31 mph. Hilarious.
ReplyDeleteSo, this episode follows the Christmas episode where the entire office finds out that Dwight and Angela have been having an affair despite her engagement to Andy. Andy is the only one that has no idea. Michael decides it is time for Andy to know and if Dwight and Angela refuse to let him know, than Michael will be the man and take care of things. Just like the man Michael is, he takes Andy outside to break the news to him. The little man that Michael is, he rambles incoherently with Andy to the car and doesn’t tell him until he’s backing the car out and driving out of the parking lot. Poor Andy was left in the parking lot and the entire office witnessed the entire thing.
When Andy returned to the office, he confronted Angela in the conference room. Angela convinced Andy that she wants to marry him, no matter how long she’s been having an affair with Dwight. Andy confronts Dwight in front of everyone, proclaiming their affair to be over. They begin to argue and come to the conclusion that they must have a face-off in the parking lot and the winner will get Angela.
Fight time in the parking lot. Dwight is waiting for Andy, calling him out. The office watches from the conference room windows above. When Dwight notices a letter left by Andy in front of an empty parking space, Andy creeps up on Dwight in his quiet Toyota Prius, pinning him to the wall. As they yell back and forth about nonsense such as the last time bears have been sighted in Scranton and Dwight’s acceptance of being called a Sasquatch, they both come to a realization. Dwight reminds Andy that he’s been sleeping Angela, but Andy reveals that he has slept with Angela twice. Dwight was under the impression that Andy wasn’t getting any. They have both been getting played.
There are no winners at the end of this battle. Just one loser – Angela. Andy cancels the wedding cake and Dwight throws his bobble head in the trash. This will be an interesting story as the season continues on.
The subplot in this episode is Michael’s trip to corporate at the request of David Wallace. Michael thinks he’s in trouble, but it turns out David wants to find out what it is Michael is doing different than all of the other branches. Scranton is the only branch of Dunder Mifflin that has managed to stay profitable during the rough economic environment. David quickly finds out that Michael doesn’t really have any kind of unique plan or approach. Not anything that he can explain intelligently anyway.
There are so many funny moments, I’ll just name a few. Jim saying that Andy won’t find out about Dwight and Angela’s affair until the kids grow up with giant heads and beet stained teeth. Jim collecting all of Dwight’s various weapons hidden around the office. Jim’s facial expressions during Dwight and Andy’s fighting as they both continued to disregard Jim’s authority. Meredith’s comment that she has dibs on the loser of the fight, after Angela proclaims her heart to the winner. When Andy goes to Angela to speak to her in private, but Angela tells him they can talk in front of everyone, Kevin, holding a phone to his ear, says to Andy, “We’re not listening.”
What did you think about this episode? What will happen with Angela? Will Dwight and Andy suddenly strike up a friendship with their new commonality? Leave your TwoCents and predictions here.
I think they will eventually find out it is something Jim is doing that is making the Scranton branch successful. As to what happens from that, I don't know.
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