The Office: Out of Sync

On this week’s episode of The Office, lovebirds Jim and Pam found themselves a thousand miles apart and out of sync as they struggled throughout the day to just have one conversation.  But at Dunder Mifflin there are many distractions, and this week’s big distraction was the lovely/bat-crazy Jan Levinson.

Like with PB&J, there was a failure of communication between Michael and Jan.  As the Scranton office prepared for Jan’s baby shower, Michael prepared for the birth of Jan’s child (with a sperm donor) by birthing a watermelon with Dwight.  (See Jim’s flow chart on the relationship between Michael and Jan’s child: “delusion”.)  However, Jan showed up for the party with a newborn already in tow.  Apparently, the birthing instructor didn’t think it would be a good idea for Michael to be present at the birth of little Astrid.

But the party went on – even though all the games were ruined.  So instead the office gave Jan a stroller (which she already had), and Jan proceeded to describe how she gave birth in a tub and then sang “Son of a Preacher Man” to her baby and everyone else.  Because that’s normal.

Dwight, during the gift-giving discovered that Jan’s stroller cost $1200 and decided if it cost that much it should be indestructible.  So because he’s Dwight, and ridiculous when it comes to inspecting things (remember David Wallace’s house?), he spent the rest of the episode trying to destroy the carriage – including throwing it into barbed wire and dragging it behind his car.  But don’t worry, he put the watermelon test baby in its seat belt first.  And we never found out what Jan did after she discovered what remained of her stroller, which Dwight kindly put in her trunk for her.  I guess I’ll have to watch out for the deleted scenes.

After the incredibly awkward baby shower, Jan finally let Michael hold Astrid so she could get some rest.  But uh-oh.  Michael – who “tries to hold a baby every day” and even suggested that one should be president (but maybe only in a screenplay) – held “his” daughter and felt “short-changed.”  Troubled by the disconnect between he and his baby, Michael went to Darryl to ask about how he felt as a “baby daddy.”  Darryl told Michael he’s not a baby daddy.  Michael asked if it was because he’s “white.”  And Darryl told him, no, it’s because he’s not the baby’s father.

Meanwhile Michael spent the whole of the episode treating Holly like, well, Toby in order to protect Jan’s bloated feelings.  But he told her first that he’d be treating her this way because her hotness is threatening – oh, and he’d be treating Ryan the same way too.  Holly took the insults like a champ, but Jan’s no fool (though certainly crazy).  Jan caught on to their compatibility and asked Michael if he could do one thing for her: not date Holly.  Michael stammered but agreed – though I was hoping he’d finish one of those sentences and ask her how she could ask that of him.  What a witch with a capital B!

So after a troubling day Michael went back inside to find Holly and – in maybe Michael’s sweetest scene since he told Pam he was proud of her at her art show – said not a word and just slowly hugged her.  I think I actually whooped I was so proud.  And Holly’s smile was so big I couldn’t help smiling too.  Then Michael awkwardly asked her if she’d like to go out, and of course, she said yes.  According to Michael, he didn’t feel much when he held Astrid, but he sure felt something when he held Holly.  Aww!

Back in Jim and Pam land, the two called each other simultaneously at the end of the day and caught each other’s voicemails.  The perfect pair then continued to leave practically identical messages on each other’s phones, complete with crazy laundry mat guy stories and shopping for a washer/dryer.  They each ended by saying they missed each other – and I miss seeing them happy and together.  But you know they’ll each be smiling when they listen to that message.

Sometimes you’ve just got to get a hold of each other.

Season 5, Episode 3: Baby Shower (originally aired October 16, 2008)

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