Michael & Jan’s Big Dinner Party, Babe

And now a post I’m very excited about…the return of “The Office”! Post-writers’ strike! Awesome as ever! If there was one thing I was really pissed about regarding the writers’ strike, you all know it’s the loss of 3 episodes of “Lost” this season, which is absolutely tragic. A second reason why I was pissed about the writers’ strike has been because of this major hiatus it caused for “The Office,” which has been in its prime this season. Last night’s episode was a triumph.

Michael and Jan invite Jim, Pam, Andy, and Angela over for a couples’ dinner party, a major event because as some may remember, Michael has been trying to make this happen since the beginning of the season. He finally cornered them by claiming corporate was making them work late, ensuring this is all Jim and Pam would be doing for the evening, but then he claims that he told corporate “No way,” so now Jim and Pam were officially free. Even Jim gave him kudos for this.

Now, the dinner party was awesome. I’m not old enough or well-liked enough to be invited to any couples’ dinner parties, but I could tell that this episode perfectly captured the awkwardness of a dinner party. Inevitably, jokes are made at one spouse’s expense, there is tension. I’m worldly enough that I’ve seen this happen, and in retrospect, no matter how awkward the moment was, it is hysterical.

Amidst it all though, I think the one point of the episode where I looked at my housemate and said, “This is so perfect,” is when the men and women divide, the men head out to the garage while the women are in the kitchen. It’s just, wow, perfect.

It’s dumb to just go through everything I found funny about this episode, “The Office” needs no explanation, it simply is, and what it is, is funny. I’ll note one other awesome part of the episode…the excessive use of “Babe” as a term of endearment. People do this a lot. Also beware of namedropping such as “My fiance,” “My husband,” and “My wife.”

Honestly, if you saw the episode, ’nuff said. Basically, all I can really say about it is that “The Office” has not lost its steam from the beginning of this season, and I’m ecstatic about it. Good stuff. No doubt. I’m out.