The Office Recap: Murder

Ok, so I know I’ve been flip-flopping all over the place on my opinions of The Office this season but in my own defense, I’m just calling it like I see it. “Koi Pond” and “Mafia” were, in this humble writer’s opinion, weak episodes. Last week’s “Double Date” episode brought in a lot more laughs and tonight’s “Murder” succeeded in bringing the show back to familiar ground, while also incorporating some new stuff.

Kudos to writer Danny Chun (The Simpsons) and series creator Greg Daniels for his direction on the episode. What wasn’t to love about “Murder”? There was mystery, suspense, humor and some good, old-fashioned, job security paranoia! Hey, plenty of us have been there right? Word gets around that the company’s not doing so hot and everyone starts to get that nervous feeling in their stomachs as they wonder whether or not updating their resume would jinx the situation.

Tonight’s episode was a great demonstration of how differently Jim and Michael think as it pertains to their work. Michael’s tendency to panic in the face of uncertainty clicked on immediately after the staff found out that the company might be filing for bankruptcy. After reading the article in the Wall Street Journal (as opposed to Michael’s “Feelings Journal,” which is stored safely away in the time capsule), Michael holed himself up in his office listening to music as Jim attempted to re-establish some sense of normalcy around the place.

Jim’s approach to push the staff back to work and create a business-as-usual atmosphere seemed like a reasonable plan and for all we know, it might have worked. But Michael intervened, drawing the staff into a whodunit murder mystery. And the distraction proved to be as successful as waving a string in front of a cat. While the staff batted their paws at the dangling string (and Creed took off after showing up late in the game and instantly believing he was an actual murder suspect), they forgot all about their jobs. Then Oscar delivered an update on the situation that brought them all back to reality.

In the end, Jim’s attempt to get things back on track backfired on him and him alone. Michael refused to be drawn back to reality, insisting on maintaining his fake southern accent and refusing the returned call from David Wallace. So Jim took the call and Wallace confirmed that it seemed the company would be out of money by the end of the year. Jim desperately tried to maintain his own level of normalcy by talking about a big account idea he had but Wallace had to go… because if the company’s on the verge of bankruptcy, the CFO’s probably going to be busier than usual. It seemed Jim’s effort to keep things chugging along was not only fruitless, but now he’s going to be more worried and stressed than everyone else.

Jim could’ve shared the stressful news to the rest of the staff. He could have unloaded that weight on everyone else and let the office return to an uproar of nervousness and paranoia, but he didn’t. Instead, he diverted to Michael’s approach, lied to the staff by saying there were no updates and started up a new murder game.

It’s always strange when Michael turns out to be right. As I said earlier, Jim’s approach to the situation seemed like a good one but in the end, do the DM staffers really need the minute-to-minute updates on the situation? Is knowing just how bad the company’s doing at this point going to do them any good? Sure, if it seems truly inevitable that the company’s going under, they should know but in the meantime, maybe a little distraction isn’t such a bad thing.

In other news, Andy made the mistake of using the game as a way to ask Erin out. He made the request while he and she were both still in character and later continued the cute flirtation. And then, thinking she wasn’t really serious, he backed off and it turned out, Erin did think he was really asking her out. I am loving their story arc. Andy’s inability to drop the act and just tell Erin how he feels and Erin’s obvious shyness toward the situation is building up some adorably fun momentum. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that their flirtiness is reminiscent of Jim/Pam: The Early Years as Andy casually leans up against the reception desk.