The Office: Business School
OK, it's official:
Joss Whedon + Vampire References = Television GOLD

But we Buffy fans knew that already.

This week's Office was so full of zingers we had to keep backing up the PVR to catch the lines we were missing from laughing so hard. In the main Michael plot, Ryan asks Michael to come speak at his business school because it'll bump his grade up by a full letter. What Michael doesn't know is he's been called in to be grilled by a bunch of business majors who think they know better than the small business owner standing before them. In the office plot, a bat gets loose in the office, and Jim convinces Dwight he was bitten by it and is feeling like he's turning into a vampire. And in the personal plot, Pam has her first art show. ALL plots were awesome, and managed to come together well. The end where Michael comes in to Pam's art show and tells her how proud he is of her was sweet and wonderful. I love when we see Michael as something other than the cringeworthy boob he usually is. Roy was his usual season 1 & 2 self, and here's hoping Pam gets out quick before she's stuck in this one too long. (It must have been interesting for Joss to direct those scenes, as David Denman, who plays Roy, was Skip on Angel, and I believe Joss directed an episode he was in.) Jim was HILARIOUS, but watch how he let Karen in on his ruse and didn't involve Pam at all. And while Ryan usually has some of the best lines on the show, they're always "I'm so much better than this and these stupid little people" lines, and it's nice to see him being taken down a peg or two. His fate in the fifth circle of Hell (a.k.a. the same cubicle as Kelly) was perfect.

Fave moments:
Michael interrupting the frisbee game and flinging it far away.

The bat getting free and everyone hitting the floor.

Michael playing entrance music when he walks into the business class; then ripping the pages out of the textbook.

Jim being burned by the garlic bread.

Dwight approaching Creed and Creed being completely compliant.

Michael taking Ryan down a peg by pointing out to his entire class that he's never made a sale.

Jim standing really close to Dwight near the water cooler, eyeing his neck; pulling the collar of his trenchcoat up and glaring over the edge of it.

Dwight trapping the bat in a bag with Meredith's head.

Least fave moment:
Oscar and Gil talking about Pam's paintings in such an awful way, and Oscar saying courage and honesty aren't Pam's strong points. :( I suddenly don't like Oscar as much.

Fave lines:
Michael Scott: "A boss is like a teacher, and I'm like the cool teacher, like Mr. Handell. Mr. Handell would hang out with us and he would tell awesome jokes, and he actually hooked up with one of the students, and then like twelve other kids came forward, it was in all the papers. It really ruined eighth grade for us."

Dwight: "Whenever I'm about to do something, I think, 'Would an idiot do that?' And if they would, then I do NOT do that thing."

Michael, with Ryan at the college: "Campus. Brings back so many memories, that I... would have made."

Toby, re: the bat in the office: "The simple solution would be to open a window... if we had... windows that could open."

Angela: "Poop is raining from the ceilings. Poop."

Jim: "This is so weird... The bat, I mean, I know I felt it bite me, but look, there's no mark. I feel so... tingly. So... strangely powerful. Oh well!"

Michael: "There are four kinds of business: tourism, food service, railroads, and sales. And hospitals, slash manufacturing. And air travel."

Dwight: "If a vampire bat WAS in the U.S., it would make sense for it to come to a 'sylvania.' Pennsylvania. Now that doesn't mean that Jim is going to become a vampire, only that he carries the vampiric germ."

Dwight: "I don't have a lot of experience with vampires, but I have hunted werewolves. I shot one once, but by the time I got to it, it had turned back into my neighbour's dog."

Student: "How far has your Herfindahl index declined since the merger?"
Michael: "Nice try, how's your pollocks's wonnundex?"
Student: "What?"
Michael: "Thanks, Kowalski."

Michael: "Yeah, sure, you know business, sitting up here in your ivory tower [sees African-American professor]... and your ebony tower...."

Michael, after students tell him Dunder-Mifflin is facing five Goliaths: "Yeah, you know what else is facing five Goliaths? AMERICA! Al Qaeda, global warming, sex predators...mercury poisoning...."

Dwight, looking at Jim walking across the parking lot with his coat up over his head: "Jim is on a path now, an eternal journey. And I wish him well, but I have a destiny in this realm. Specifically: in the kitchen." [puts on a mask and holds up a bat]

Michael, looking at Pam's painting: "That is our building. And we sell paper. I'm really proud of you." [Pam hugs him]
Pam: "Thank you."
Michael: "What?"
Pam: "Do you have something in your pocket?"
Michael: "Twinkie. [Pam breaks the embrace] Do you want half?"

Michael, hanging the painting: "Without paper, it could not have happened. Unless... you had a camera."