The Office Season 5 Episode 16 Open Thread

(On the one hand, it would seem very sitcomy to mention these things for no reason, but on the other hand, the overall storylines seem to get dropped. Maybe the device is trying to recreate the way you only half-know things about your co-workers, I dunno…)

I kind of like the backburner approach and relaxed pace of developing certain storylines. Taking Jan as an example, her character works best when she is not heard from for awhile and then there is a sudden reveal — the kiss, Sandals Jamaica, the love contract, the firing, the deposition, the dinner party, the pregnancy, the baby shower. The backlash against Jim and Pam is due in large part to the tedium of the show being compelled to give that story line some air time virtually every week. As another example, Toby’s pass at Pam was especially effective because it kind of came out of nowhere and had not been constantly featured in the weeks leading up to that episode.

With Angela-Dwight-Andy story, I like the tension that builds from the show not directly highlighting it (other than brief nuggets like Jim’s “nobody cares” line a couple weeks ago), so when they finally address the fallout (I’m guessing it will come when Angela gains a new love interest — please let it be Roy), it will be genuinely surprising.

The Michael-in-love storyline was believable and worked (unlike the “chair model” episode), Pam and Jim got their NBC-mandated screen time but it was mostly their reactions to Phyllis and Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration, and picking up Kevin’s dropped story line about his love life was a nice touch.

The best bits were Kelly’s Valentine card, Andy’s honeymoons, and the poor lady who was turned away from the party, and while the random Fonzie reference should not have worked, it did because of the execution.