Review: Last Night's The Office "The Delivery":

Or How I Learned to Start Watching Dwight and Love the Schrute

Hereby will be referred to as Morpheus.

Dwight Schrute stole last night's episode of The Office. From tip to tail. Last night was a special night in the The Office paradigm because of the occasion of Pam and Jim's baby. Special thing indeed. Season 6 of the show has given us many great moments in the Pam and Jim personal blend, which makes for great Michael Scott moments to catapult off of. Blah blah blah. They're in love, Michael doesn't know how to handle his emotions, while all along we have Dwight being a comic bulldozer taking down any emotions we have in place and replacing them with comedy on a comedic sitcom. Fuckin' A.


Now, this is a review from one night of watching TV stoned, so, basically, nothing new. It does always seem like I'm never critical and always shining light on certain aspects of a certain thing, but- again- this is a dumb review (like all reviews are). Be that as what have that may- Dwight Schrute has forever been the lynchpin to the success of The Office. For me anyways. While the other main Office cast gets sappier- Pam and Jim, or learns lessons- Michael Scarn- Dwight ultimately gets darker. The more we see of Dwight, the more exposed we are to his creepy world. That dark, dark life of aggression and 1890s farming technique.


Let's go through Dwight's adventures last night. Cold opening saw his contempt at the adorable Jim and Pam for using their baby and their life to help make sales. Dwight then tries using his own life experiences for a sale, which gave us a line about fungal goat disease. Dwight then decides he wants a baby for business reasons- pause- (love Rainn Wilson's timing) he remembers that he has a gaping hole in his life. The caricature of Dwight at that moment is Dwight at his creepiest. Fast forward some- we see Dwight proposition his former fling Angela for a business agreement on having a baby. This leads to a very precise contract, full of feeding specifications, gender specification, and the hilarious fact that Dwight uses a typewriter. The specific contract is a comedy staple, and very much within Dwight's repertoire that the scene felt all too natural when panned out. Which is the M.O. of Dwight. All his detail makes him seem all too real. I'm losing track. OK. Here is some insight into the world of Dwight- the entire escort scene to the hospital. Dwight would love to escort people in his loved car - allowing him a display of his strength (he also would not know what an escort service was). When doing so for Pam and Jim, he still allows himself to get his priorities straight and show Michael where he saw a deer. Then, as classic as Dwight as ever, we get to see him over step his delusional power, which leads to him being pulled over- which has become a routine to him that includes jettisoning all his weaponry as the cop becomes annoyed that he yet again has to deal with Dwight. "Pull the car over, Dwight." I love every time Dwight deals with the cops. He gets to show off his vast knowledge of the law while still showing his respect and reverence for them, which the local Scranton authorities don't give a shit about. Where did Dwight go from here? Pam and Jim's house, where he slept naked in their bed (framed pictures down), took a sledge hammer to their kitchen (friends and metal music in tact), and brought endless joy upon himself in extracting some revenge on the Halpert's. We also got to see Dwight be the alpha male on Pam's sister and on Angela, both in separate ways, but both left wanting more from Dwight. OK, there is a baby being born and Pam and Jim are having fun with that. And Michael, who loves a good baby, is taking reins as the person with the most invested in all this. All good and fun. But man, did Dwight bring this episode home. He gave us tension while Pam and Jim were baby-ing and a new story arc involving 2 women with Dwight was hatched. Not to mention the little things Dwight can do for an episode, like using his own personal tape measure to see how dilated Pam is.


We were hyped into this as a classic episode in the legend of the Jim and Pam pantheon, which it was, which always leads to the assumption of how Michael can hone in on that to make it his own. Dwight is always the wild card, and last night he stole the whole damn show. Honorable mentions go to Kevin for saying "Chicken Tandoori from Born into Brothels" and for jumping out from behind a door, Erin for naming the winners of the Kentucky Derby, Creed for crying, Stanley for making them hold the elevator, and a great sarcastic line from Oscar ("the hospital will provide Dictionaries, bring a Thesaurus"). But leave it to the brilliance of Rainn Wilson, one of the finest actors in comedy today (see him pull out the impossible task of making The Rocker tolerable or his light shining on Tim and Eric). Dwight is if not one if the most absurdly over the top characters in TV history (along with Lutka, Kramer, Tracy Jordan), and he perpetually grows his character without alienating the core of who Dwight is. He is a bold character based on farm raised, cold heartedness- something a PC audience to laugh at begrudgingly, but Rainn has us laughing with him because, really, who is the joke ultimately on? Dwight still is Dwight will always be, sadly, Dwight. The Office can trudge through worn sitcom fare- weddings, babies- but thank god we have Dwight to break the tediousness of it all. Rainn Wilson, you are the Susan Lucci of sitcoms.

Review: The Truth

The truth is that I didn't want to write about the truth. The truth there is that, while it did feel good to get that off my chest, I don't feel set free. Larger truths set you free. Like if you keep a secret to yourself for more than 4 years. That'll set you free. So the truth about truths are that they are truer after being hidden. Well, the truth is, I made this up and am no expert on truth. I simply know what it is, and that is a universal truth. Telling the truth lies in the telling which then lies on the person- so that is a personal truth. So I am a person, making this a personal truth that I am telling is universal truth. As you read this and this is shared on the internet, this is becoming a social truth. Because I am telling the truth. I wouldn't lie in a post about truth. I would- so that is a lie. So the whole system is undermined. The truth is that no one person has the truth figured out. They have some of it figured out, but not the whole truth. So help the god.

Review: "Hertz Donut"

The Hertz Donut joke has been around since late 18th Gregorian Iceland, when the world was narrow-er and fog was a daily chore. It came about after the the discovery that word Donut, when said slower, sounded like don't it. The legacy of the joke has been used by larger school children, brothers, the cool girls in class who were good at dodgeball, and your baseball coaches son since then. The joke makes them feel smarter for using wordplay, but still allows their primal urge to punch. The pattern of usage is so watered down, that for the last 200 year the joke has only been used on children. This is because that children only seem to fall for it. Now this fact can be attributed to either the rising of the Hertz rental car company, or the two factors concerning donuts. The high road donut factor would be the unhealthiness of donuts as donuts are high in fat and caloric content, and health is a key issue for everyone except children. The lower road factor concerns the variety of donuts, and they never heard of a Hertz donut. Does it have sprinkles? Does it have a larger hole? Why is this donut a secret? So, children are the only ones to except all kinds of donuts based on them simply being donuts, while adults stay away from Sugar Donuts. Now, the real key to the Hertz Donut joke after the agreement of yes has been reached is the punch. Historically, this punch has been in the upper arm area, but some bullies are doing really artistic punches these days, so that is open to interpretation. The punch, when landed, has to hurt. This is so the line, "hurts, don't it?" can make sense. If the punch doesn't hurt, the fooled in this case can easily quip, "No it doesn't". Now in most cases of playground etiquette, those are fighting words, and a ruckus would ensue. So, when hit by someone, it is best to answer the way you think they want. Another life lesson brought to us by violence.

Review: TAEAS,GJ! Season 5 Premiere

Here's one straight from my mother's house: Tim and Eric premiered last Sunday. Now, it has been dually noted of my bias, and so I don't expect to do this for every 10 episodes this season. But I do like to take note. Tim and Eric are great and can do no wrong, and they revel in the art of comedy. Art, guys. So reviewing this is like reviewing a Picasso or a Pizzicato 5 album. Meaning, its just talking about it. And that's what I do anyway so- talk about: Tim and Eric have created a brand of their own humor. They themselves are aware of it, especially if you have seen them live and poke fun of that image to their fans, still while maintaining the high level of that brand which allows them to do just that. Was that hard to follow? OK- Tim and Eric have created their own world where Tim and Eric can't do no wrong, they are aware of the aspects of their humor and of their show that a majority of fans claim as their favorite. On the season premiere- they have successfully honed in on a parody of themselves, more favorably and to a point than anyone else could've. Not only of themselves, which was a finer point, but of comedy in general and Saturday Night Live specifically. The diarrhephragm sketch hit all the T&E notes, which I love those notes, but under the guile of a streamlined version of T&E- it seemed even funnier. I don't want to ruin the episode as it is still a day old- but the throw to the sketches from comedy personality Tim and Eric were priceless and will be studied. Throw in Corbin Bernson of all people, and voila! Another classic episode. This is all a set up for the season. They poked fun at comedy, themselves, introduced a dark bit called Morning Meditations, and showed most of the clips they showed during their numerous live appearances recently. For a season premiere, they stormed the castle, and now all we have left is the battle. Good on that.

Review: Catherine Keener in Hamlet 2

Well, for starters, did you know she was in the movie? Now, as I recall, this movie flopped some coming off of its hype at Sundance. And certainly anything Steve Coogan takes part in has vast expectations to meet. And much of the publicity upon its theatrical release was based on the movie being called Hamlet 2 and that there was a song called Rock Me Sexy Jesus. Now this marketing made the movie seem more of a broad comedy, which some aspects are at first glance, but that is simply wool over ones eyes, and a much more deeper, darker comedy lies beneath (that's kudos to the brilliance of Pam Brady). Of course pulling the wool over the eyes is all part of the fun here. And I think that is where Catherine Keener succeeds. She is not known for her comedic chops, though she is in one of the funniest movies of all time in The 40 Year Old Virgin, but more for her aptness at portraying women who want much more out of their life and their struggling with themselves to get over themselves. Her role in H-2 is wife and, without spoilers, added pressure. Keener adeptly takes harsh dialogue that can seem over the top and silly, and makes it real and hurtful, which it is, but by putting the effort into those lines she transforms them into an ultimately rewarding confusion. And that's just fine acting. Yes, Steve Coogan has some goofiness to bounce off Keener's serious acting, but she more than holds her own- giving him, and the audience, glimpses of hope even up until her final departing scene. Her whole performance and storyline, I must admit, made me feel dumb at first. Which is why I wanted to write about it. Her deleted scene reveals some secrets to her character and would've been her best scene in the movie, but this wasn't her movie. This was just veteran actress providing a recognizable and credible face to an ambitious product. Keener takes chances. Hamlet 2 does reach, but Catherine Keener provides it a little bit more extension cord to get there.