Whether or not you play the lottery on the regular basis, you have to admit, it’s fun to fantasize about what you’d do with your life if money weren’t an issue. The lotto was the big topic of discussion for the Dunder Mifflin staff tonight, and rightfully so, given what we learned at the start of the episode.
It’s fun to go in on a staff lotto pool. Regardless of whether or not pooling money together for more tickets makes that much of a difference odds-wise, by participating, you’re at least ruling out the possibility that all or even some of your co-workers will be quitting en masse should they win. Imagine that the hat gets passed and you decide it’s not worth a dollar or two, then the next day you learn that they all won and while they’re off mentally spending their fortunes on things like a strip-club-on-a-boat, you’re stuck at work, realizing how much your life isn’t changing. That’s exactly what happened to Darryl tonight.
The warehouse guys (and Madge) won the lotto, the jackpot being somewhere in the vicinity of $900k. Assuming that’s after taxes, split six ways that’s $150k. That’s not exactly a fortune, but I suppose if they live simply, it’d be enough to get by for a little while without working. For Darryl, who no longer participated in the pool, the lotto win was just one more slap in the face, after having been passed over for the manager promotion that Andy inevitably got.
Not being a part of the winner’s group put Darryl in a sort of zombie-mode as he sat in his office evaluating his life. The Office has touched on this subject before, mainly with Jim. A job that was once a starting-out point has turned into a long-term commitment for Darryl.
Once again, Andy was the one to snap Darryl out of his funk. This came after Darryl basically refused to participate in the process of hiring new warehouse employees, leaving Andy to tackle an area he has virtually no experience in, while Jim, Kevin, Dwight and Erin were greasing up the warehouse floor in an effort to get the heavy boxes on the truck. When Darryl finally snapped and told Andy he deserved his job and wanted him to make him manager, Andy snapped back and made some valid points about why Darryl didn’t get the job. He hired his under-qualified friend to take over his old position when Jo moved him up to the office, and then he stopped trying so hard.
So, Darryl’s holding himself back and Andy may have helped him enormously by pointing it out to him. Darryl’s reaction to Andy’s rant/pep-talk was, “My future isn’t going to be determined by seven little white lotto balls. It’s going to be determined by two big black balls. I control my destiny. I do.” Hopefully this means we’ll be seeing a more motivated Darryl going forward.
While this was going on, Pam was doing what so many of us probably do when we play the lotto. She was imagining the life she would have if she won. Of course, at the end of the day, the odds of Pam winning aren’t great. Fortunately, she’s in a great marriage, has a great daughter and a possibly-14-pound (if Angela’s right) baby on the way.
Other notable moments
The cold open had Oscar smashing a car window (and a tail-light) in an effort to free a helpless and possibly-eventually suffocating dog, only to cover the window with cardboard when he decided he didn’t want to be responsible for the dog.
Dwight is apparently a dog-whisperer (or dog German commander) as he managed to stop the dog from barking with a few clipped orders.
Erin telling Kevin to “Drop it” when he started to suggest putting grease on the warehouse floor. She can be a little scary sometimes.
“We’re looking at at least one suicide and one weird sex thing.” - Meredith, theorizing about what will happen to the warehouse people now that they’re loaded with money..
Senor Loadenstein... Porque es muy rapido.
Finally, what was the muscle-guy’s t-shirt supposed to say? “My ____ have biceps... and my biceps have _____.”
