They really dropped the ball on the gifts from corporate... they were already selling Dunder Mifflin shot glasses at Shop.NBC!

I completely agree. They are the weakest characters (and it doesn't help that I cannot stand Meredith). The funniest parts imo were Dwight's story and one-liners. That's about it.

Shame we have to leave the 2008 with that. Kind of a sour note.

loved it

Where have you been? This whole season has been great.

Exactly.

LMAO @ it poking her in the head.

---

Best Parts:

-Dwight's entire story line about the Unicorn Princess
-Dwight's reaction to Phyllis telling everyone about the affair
-Jim's Prank in the beginning
-Michael throwing the pen at Toby's head (one of the most unexpected and hilarious things Michael has ever done, in my opinion)
-Toby begging Darrel ("You'll let me owe you...oh thank you man...thank you so much...")
-Toby's reaction to the Doll being Black and Darrel saying, "Is there anything wrong with it?"
-Dwight's "Five-Finger Schrute" Method

can't say I agree...

But many others do agree.

This was a great addition to a near perfect season

My PVR cut off the end of the show. Did "Sitar" Andy find out that Angela's been cheating on him?

I can not believe how much unconditional love this show gets every week.. You would think that the good lord himself wrote and acted in every episode.

Come on guys - this last episode was a dud! a few laughs, but wayyy out on left field. Michael was way over the top (yet again) - and a dick to Toby. Definitely a swing and a miss.

Loved Toby's reaction to the doll.

no. he played a song to everyone, and everyone was terrified, then he just left and went home with angela, who had tears in her eyes.

I think it's been the worst season of The Office since the first season, but maybe the fact that I watched most of the episodes immediately before or after It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has made them look worse by comparison.

You're entitled to your opinion, but apart from some lulls in this episode and "Framing Toby," this has been so far and away the strongest season, even above the second. I think the third and fourth are underrated, but this blows them right out of the water. It'll depend on how the show does when it comes back, but providing it doesn't hit more than one or two more snags, it'll be at least the second best.

haha, I think that's what has made the Office look better, or possibly made Sunny look worse. I've loved The Office this season but damn near hated Sunny.

This was the absolute highlight of the episode for me. I just lost it.

I'm glad they toned down Michael's hatred for Toby without totally eliminating it. It had been over the top since Toby's return, but the pen throwing was perfect. Maybe Michael was in the Christmas spirit.

"Have you ever, under the influence of alcohol, questioned the teachings of the Mormon church?"

Thanks Trailblazers for preempting the Office for one of your games. Fuckers.

and you act like that's a bad thing...

While I think this season has been by-and-large somewhat of a return to form after the mediocre third season and dreadful fourth season, but no way has it equaled or surpassed the second season. There have been too many changes to the characters and in the tone of the show in the intervening period to ever really get back to the brilliance of S2. I'm just happy the show has (mostly) dumped the over-the-top schtick that ruined S4.

Well, you have to remember where you are posting. These weekly show threads define the very essence of fanboy/girl-ism. You're not exactly going to find meaningful critical appraisal from folks who take the time to post lines of dialogue from an episode that every other person posting in the same thread has just heard/watched.

I do agree that this was a flat episode, probably the weakest of the season so far. Just not very many laughs, and the whole Meredith intervention thing came out of left field and didn't really go anywhere, other than producing some forced attempts at physical comedy.

Did anyone like that Meredith plotline that took up a full half of the episode? At least the Phyllis plot had a good payout at the end.

Is there any reason to be so demeaning and insulting to the rest of the posters?

I love Meredith, but the intervention was definitely disappointing.

I actually thought the ep was ok. Some of the stuff with Meredith was funny ("You only said to tell a story about how Meredith's drinking *affected* us...") but at the end it was kind of depressing. She has a serious problem and Michael was legitimately trying to help, but going about it the completely wrong way. I don't know, maybe because I've had to deal with alcoholism and interventions for other family members in the past I'm sensitive to the issue -- I didn't take offense to the episode, but I didn't find that aspect of it particularly hilarious, either.

The rest of it was plot dev

And I agree with whoever said this has been The Office strongest season. It's also been 30 Rock's weakest. I have this theory that whenever The Office is "on" 30 Rock is "off" (Office's Season 3 was weaker, 30 Rock was some of the sharpest comedy TV around). Since they have completely different staff members it must be a coincidence, but odd nonetheless.