The (Un)expected Meeting
By Just Jammy

So an age old question was finally answered in, “The Meeting,” last week’s surprising, in a very expected sort of way, episode of The Office: yes, Jim is Big Bird. See, I’ll bet you’re surprised. And yet, would we really expect anything much else from Michael, but an assertion that Jim is Big Bird? Because he is tall. And yellow. Yellow? Really, Michael? Now, I’m not sure if Michael meant to imply that Jim is cowardly (in which case, he really should have described him as a lion) or if he just has a problem with his colors. But I’m not at all shocked that Michael envisions his staff as Sesame Street characters. I am a little shocked that Michael so willingly threw Jim under the bus … but then again, I wouldn’t really expect anything else. This is Michael we’re talking about. But that is the beauty of this show; they constantly manage to throw the unexpected at us, and yet somehow, the unexpected really comes as no surprise.

Of course, the viewers weren’t the only ones getting surprised in, “The Meeting.” Michael, overwhelmed with the workload foisted on him after the closing of the Buffalo branch of Dunder Mifflin, is surprised, insulted, and worried when company bigwig, David Wallace, takes a meeting with Jim … alone. What? Something is going to happen in the office that Michael, the boss man, will not be a part of? Uh-oh, this again. Seems like we just went through this is the previous episode. And that would be the one complaint that I had with “The Meeting” … Michael’s insecurities, while fueled more by fear and paranoia in this episode rather than a desperate longing to fit in, were still the focus of much of the episode. And I, personally, found it to be a little too much, most likely because we’d just seen Michael acting like an insecure child the week before. He doesn’t like to be left out. We get it. He will go to any lengths to make sure he’s included, even if it means employing that old slapstick standard of hiding under the old cheese cart. Yeah, we get it. So maybe we didn’t need to see Michael’s self-doubt as the focus of back-to-back episodes, but then again, seeing his response is always fun. The cheese cart being a prime example. Leave it to Michael to pull a Trojan horse with a red checkered table cloth, most likely left over from an Italian-themed meeting of The Finer Things Club, and a can of squeeze cheese. Not to mention whatever other kind of cheese could be taken from everyone’s sandwich. I have to admit, that was genius. Even though Michael acting like a horse’s ass wasn’t on the top of my list of things of I was hoping to see in this episode, it did have its rewards Not the least of which was a fantastic exchange between Michael and Creed wherein Creed is, for some unknown reason, worried that Jim and Wallace are talking about him. Michael, of course, is sure they are talking about him, and tells Creed so. Thusly reassured, Creed, with an offhand “That makes more sense” simply moves on. It’s those little moments that I love so much.

But there were some big moments brewing in “The Meeting,” as well. It appears that Jim, our once reluctant paper salesman ready to throw himself in front of a train rather than move higher up the corporate ladder at a regional paper company, has had a change of heart. It seems that being an expectant daddy may have awoken the latent ambition in him. Wait, is ‘ambition’ the right word? Maybe not, but whatever name you put on it, it seems that something has lit a fire under Jim. His baby mama crackin’ the whip, right Cait? That Pam … such a gold digger. But clearly, the reality of suddenly being a family man with a very-soon-to-be wife and a baby on the way has Jim rethinking his priorities. He can’t just be that charming, smirky kid who spends his days putting Dwight’s stuff in Jell-o and dead-panning for the camera anymore. He has responsibilities now. He needs to put work, and therefore his family, first. Camera looks second. Jell-o (and various other pranks on Dwight) third. Just your typical list of priorities. So in an attempt to put this newfound work ethic into play, Jim approaches Wallace with a novel idea about restructuring the management at Dunder Mifflin. Jim will take over as the Scranton branch manager (a heretofore unrevealed objective of Jim’s, apparently) while Michael oversees regional sales. A promotion for both of them, in effect. Because Jim, unlike some people in that office, would never try to advance (or protect) himself at the expense of someone else. How very Jim. Really. It’s one of the things I love about this show … with only a very few exceptions, this show does an outstanding job of keeping the characters in character. I mean, even though I was a little surprised to hear Jim ask Michael, “How many times have I asked you to put me up for a branch manager position?” it was, again, one of those surprises that does make sense. Even though I’m not sure when Jim would have made these requests (sometime during season four is the best I can come up with) or what branch he would have wanted to manage (Utica? To further piss Karen off?), it does make sense that Jim might have had these aspirations. After all, it’s not as if he got roped into this whole marriage and family thing – it was his plan all along. You know, save the receptionist (from what would have been a disastrous marriage to Roy,) get engaged, knock her up, marry her. In that specific order, I’m sure. This way Pam can’t get away either. Nicely played, Jim. Anyway, it does make sense that along with his personal ambitions to marry Pam and make her the mother of his children, that he would have had some professional ambitions as well. And now he’s kicked them into overdrive, what with a wedding a few weeks away and a baby a few months away, even going so far as to secure a job outside of Dunder Mifflin. What? And leave the island? Leave Pam, the woman carrying his child, alone in the loony bin for good? That is pretty serious. But Wallace loves Jim, so of course he would be receptive to giving him a management position. Hell, he wanted him for the vice president job two years ago.

But that was before he talked to Michael. And Michael, in his usual completely imperceptive way, assumed that Jim would try to get ahead at his expense. And in an understandable, though misguided, attempt to preserve his own job which he felt was in jeopardy, Michael did what Michael does. He babbled incoherently, he vacillated, and finally, he resorted to making things up. Except the part about Big Bird. Jim totally is Big Bird. (Explains the whole marionette thing, doesn’t it, Cait – and the other three people who know what I’m talking about?) But Michael, in fear of losing the job that he has lately found intimidating and overwhelming, what with it requiring actual work and all, just completely maligns his ‘best friend’ Jim. All’s fair in love and war and mid-management, though, I guess. You know that Jim … completely inept. He doesn’t make the decisions. You can’t have him in charge. I mean, my God, he wouldn’t even know how to practically ruin a co-workers life by spreading an all-too-true about him around the office. What kind of boss would that be? He probably doesn’t even eat entire family-sized chicken pot pies and pass out at his desk for hours. Clearly not management material. Again, I found myself somewhat surprised that Wallace didn’t catch on to all this. He seemed to take Michael at his word. Which, I would think he should by now know, is a bad idea. But then again, what else can we really expect from Wallace? Scranton is the most successful branch, and Michael is the manager. So he must be doing something right. Right? Or maybe his employees essentially manage themselves while he carries on with his usual antics. But Wallace doesn’t know that. And Michael’s employees seem to be oddly reticent to rat him out. So I guess even though it was surprising that Wallace should take Michael’s word over Jim’s, I don’t suppose we really could expect anything else. And, of course, happily is all worked out in the end. In, yet again, a surprising but not totally unexpected way. I think we all expected that Jim was going to get some sort of promotion. But I don’t know that we were expecting it to take the form that it did. Co-managers. Jim and Michael on a supposedly even playing field, but with theoretically separate responsibilities with Jim managing the employees and the day-to-day business of the office while Michael oversees the clients and sales side — truly a perfect fit for both of them. But they have to share the reins. Well, this ought to be fun. I, for one, can’t wait to see it play out. And I love the resolution that lets Jim get the recognition that he deserves (because, let’s be honest, without Jim’s stabilizing presence it’s unlikely that branch under Michael’s supervision would be as successful as it is,) and yet keeps the status quo more or less. The same people in the same office, but it’s still gonna shake things up. Jim as Dwight’s direct superior, and not just in name only, Pam carrying the boss’s love child, and hearing about that daily from her co-workers, Angela or Kevin having to take orders from Jim, Michael having to share the spotlight … seriously, I can’t wait to see how this plays out. Already, just in making the announcement, Michael had to be center stage.

Only to have Dwight unknowingly attempt to upstage him, naturally. But, you know, Dwight did have a very important announcement to make regarding fraud in the workplace. And there’s another surprise. Dwight got one right. Sort of. I mean, we’ve heard a lot of off-the-wall, crazy theories from Dwight over the years. So naturally, this just seemed like another lark. Dwight challenging Darryl’s workman’s comp claim on some fairly arguable criteria, seemed like just your average day for someone who’s just glad he doesn’t live in Communist Sweden. That he should enlist Toby in yet another of his ‘investigations’ was more of a surprise. But then again … Toby seems kinda bored back there in his cubicle. And was probably glad to have a day away from Kelly, spent instead with a fellow train enthusiast, spying on a co-worker. And then, to make a wrong assumption and immediately jump to the wrong conclusion … well, that was completely expected. But the reason behind why you can’t always believe what you see was a bit of a surprise. Who knew that Darryl had a look-alike (from behind anyway) sister? And it turns out that Darryl’s not faking his injury after all. But in yet another surprise twist, Dwight, in a very TV detective sort of way that Toby, fan of the hard boiled detective novel, would approve of, has a sudden epiphany that Darryl’s injury may be real, but that the way that he got injured is, in fact, a lie. In a very Sherlock Holmes, or Shawn Spencer, way, Dwight noticed a newly replaced rail be the stairwell, saw some employees using a lift as an elevator, and divined that indeed that was how Darryl injured himself. And since Dwight loves a good confrontation, he was easily able to coerce a confession from Darryl. Case closed. Win one for Dwight. Except, of course, for the whole allegations of sexual harassment of Darryl’s sister. And then Toby gets to fill out all the paperwork. So lose-lose-lose? And yet somehow, I assume Dwight counts it as a victory. I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Also, I wouldn’t have expected anything less than the rudeness and inconsideration that Pam met with in attempting to nail down the guest list for the wedding. Good idea, guys, with that destination wedding. I know you wanted your families to be able to be there, but really, you probably should have gone to Hawaii. I mean, Michael’s not gonna let it go that easy. Just because you’re getting married at Niagara Falls, doesn’t mean that Michael won’t make sure that he, and as much of the office as possible, attend by offering them the choice of attending a wedding complete with a free meal or working as usual. Nice try Jim and Pam. But you got outsmarted. By Michael. How sad. Still, Pam was holding out hope that maybe some of their co-workers would actually rather spend the day sitting in the office than driving to upstate New York. No such luck, Pammy. None of them are going to decline the invitation. Too bad none of them are going to actually accept it either. Now this, this comes as no surprise. This bunch is notoriously wrapped up in themselves to the point that they would, indeed, expect the bride to text them directions on the day of her wedding or expect her to secure the attendance of their office crush before committing one way or the other. And that is why they were hoping that Niagara Falls was just far enough way to keep their co-workers at home. Poor Pam. All she wanted was a yes or no. Preferably a no. But she couldn’t even get that. Or any common courtesy. At least she got some sympathy. From, surprisingly, Angela of all people. And I absolutely loved that Pam looked so happy and relieved to have someone understand her plight, at least for the moment. I always enjoy these little moments of almost-friendship with Pam and Angela. No matter how snippy and obnoxious or downright rude that Angela can be to her, Pam always seems like she would be willing to put that aside in order to be friends. Or at least friendly. And there’s that moment where you think maybe Angela wants they same thing. And then she yells at Pam, pregnant Pam, for moving her purse off the seat. Hilarious. And exactly what I would expect from Angela.

So overall, while I would have preferred to replace some of the time spent on Michael’s continued insecurity and paranoia and the general awkwardness of his response to a perceived threat with some sort of cute congratulatory scene between Jim and Pam, or more of Dwight and Toby’s stakeout, or a short glimpse into the secret meeting between Jim and David Wallace, I found the episode to be funny and entertaining. It definitely gave us some serious plot development. And an adventure involving a couple of grown men with binoculars, hiding out in a Camaro that culminated with normally mild-mannered Toby shouting insults an innocent bystander. Nice. And I found the episode surprising, but in a way that was still somehow exactly the way I would have expected from the characters. That is, I found many of the twists to be a surprise, but the way the characters responded is just what you would expect them to do in that situation. And that is one of the things that I think really works in this show. They give you situations that are out of the ordinary, that you likely would never think up yourself, but then they make the characters so generally predictable and consistent that the audience immediately accepts this new, crazy situation and feels a sense of familiarity because, after all, the characters are responding exactly the way we knew they would. This, to me, makes it all the funnier. Of course, every once in awhile they toss out something we weren’t expecting, like Dwight and Toby teaming up on a case of fraud or Wallace almost not giving Jim the promotion … you know, just to keep us on toes. But, in the end, they usually manage to give us the right ending. Not always the happy ending, sometimes just the funny ending, but almost always the right ending. And “The Meeting” was no exception. Jim got his promotion, Michael got to keep his job, Dwight got his man, Toby got a bunch of paperwork, and Pam got absolutely nowhere. Yep, that sounds about right.