The Office S5.E13 Stress Relief: 
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The Super Bowl is the lead in that every shows dreams about. Since the Super Bowl is annually the highest rated event of the television season, whichever shows gets the post Super Bowl spot can usually receive a huge influx of new viewers. So this year The Office was the lucky winner of the post Super Bowl spot. With guest stars like Jack Black, Jessica Alba, and Cloris Leachman, you could tell that The Office was taking the spot seriously. With all the positive buzz that this episode received, I was anticipating the episode. The episode started out great but faded quickly.
When Dwight fakes a fire (which almost really turned into a fire) the whole office goes crazy. Everyone panics and tries to find anyway out that they can find. Oscar climbs through the vents. Jim and Andy try to break down a door with the copier. Eventually Dwight tells everyone that it was just a drill. This was easily the highlight of the night. I laughed like crazy throughout the whole scene. Too bad everything went down hill from there.
When Michael and Dwight are scolded by Corporate for what happened (I don’t know how Dwight wasn’t fired for it), Michael decides to stress safety at the office since Stanley had a heart attack during the scare. Michael gives the employees CPR training which turns into a disaster when Dwight ends up attacking the dummy with his knife and cutting the dummy’s head off. Once again Michael and Dwight are scolded by Corporate (I still want to know why Dwight still has a job).
While trying to get his worker’s to relax, Michael discovers that he is responsible for stressing them all out. He decides to let all the employees roast him in order to lighten the mood. When they all take the opportunity to take as many shots at Michael as possible, Michael’s feelings are hurt. He ends up taking most of the next day off while he mopes around the park. He eventually returns to the office and insults the rest of the office which makes everyone start laughing.
Maybe it was just me but after the first hilarious scene, the show really didn’t keep up the pace. With the hype that the episode got, this was disappointing in my opinion. There were some laughs dispersed throughout the rest of the episode but with such a promising opener, I expected more from the rest of the episode. The episode just didn’t deliver in my opinion.
The biggest dud in my opinion was bootleg video featuring Jack Black, Jessica Alba, and Cloris Leachman. One word to describe the whole thing is CREEPY. Maybe if it wasn’t so creepy I could have found some humor in it but I just couldn’t find any humor. The video tried to hard to get laughs and as a result I don’t think I laughed even once during any of the scenes. While stunt casting works for some shows (How I Met Your Mother), it just doesn’t work for the Office.
Well with all the viewers that the Office got last night, you would assume that it would receive a pretty big bump in ratings at least for a while. While we will have to see if that truly happens, I am left wondering if NBC made a mistake. The Office is a pretty good show but I just don’t really like the decision of giving The Office the post Super Bowl spot. The Office has a unique brand of humor that really doesn’t work for everyone. I think this alone could have turned some people away from tuning into the episode. I think Chuck would have been a much better choice. Chuck is a more wide reaching show that a larger audience can enjoy. Chuck also has more break out potential in my opinion. I guess it really doesn’t matter though since NBC made their decision and they will have to live with it.
Quotes:
Dwight: “Powerpoint is boring.”
Michael: “We’re trapped. Everyone for themselves.”
Andy: “The fire is shooting at us.”
Dwight: “Make it clear that I didn’t kill anyone.”
Stanley: “I feel like I’m working in my casket.”
Your Take: What was your thoughts on the episode? Did The Office do a good job or were you let down like I was?
Photo Credit: © 2009 NBC Universal, Inc.
