Storytime: The Office 0407: Survivor Man

Although you probably wouldn’t know it from my entries, I think that being concise is a trait to be valued. Whilst other shows (Heroes, I’m looking at you) can take entire episodes (or even seasons!) to convey emotions or themes, the Office needs a minute, or even less, to succinctly convey sweet, sweet emotion. I’m not sure if I’m viewing the Office thought some kind of mind altering device (or substance for that matter), or it’s the perfect convergence of every creative aspect involved in the show, but this damn show makes my heart three times too big. In keeping with the theme of convergence, this was another episode written by Steve Carrell, proving he’s not just a pretty face (to some people)
Survivor man was the perfect example of how well the Office does whatever the hell it does. It held some similarities to last week, at least to the extent that it was Michael out of the Office on another zany premise, but this time the ‘in-Office’ story was far more poignant. To this effect, it felt like a sister-sode (made up word!) to Business School in season three (although not as good), although this time Pam was not the focus.
Jim’s difficulty in keeping everybody happy perfectly summed up the way that we, perhaps inevitably, slide into being what we despise, a point that was perfectly encapsulated in the closing credits exchange between Michael and Jim.
Well, that and the ‘conference room’ moment. Although it was visible a mile away, it was still great (like a morbidly obese person with you favorite type of pizza, just waiting for you to eat it.)
The whole birthday in the office was good (and a move from the more business related tone of this the last few episodes), but I felt that Dwight really thrived for the first time this season. Perhaps it him being introduced into the wilderness, his natural environment, but it was the first time that he really stole the show (anything involving weapons was gold). Perhaps this was related to his new found confidence regarding the Angela situation (was it just me, or did she look like a fox tonight? The good kind, not the Roald Dahl kind) but it was good to see him back to his old self.
In more seasonal developments, I think this episode in particular demonstrated that Jim, as well as Michael are going to be involved in some big paradigm (to quote Ryan the exec) shifting this season. Perhaps it’s just my seething jealousy at taking Pam away (I have still not been shown concrete proof that the Office is not a documentary, and therefore both Pam and the office itself must exist) but I’m starting to turn on Jim. What’s more, it’s feels like the writers want me to turn against him. I mean, I just keep finding myself thinking ‘what a douche bag thing to do’. That being said, it was kind of hard not to feel bad for at the end
Similarly, it feels like there’s more empathy based storylines being given to Michael. With each passing episode he becomes more an idiot and less an asshole (which is the opposite of what I like to call ‘the Michael Bay effect’).

Closing thoughts? This was a great episode (maybe my favorite so far this season), and yes, yet again, I have to mention: Angela was a fox.