Recap of The Office: "The Return"

After a couple of really hilarious episodes, this one was a bit of a market correction. I felt like the production team took a step back and decided they needed to advance the plot a little bit, as opposed to focusing on a truly funny episode. But that's okay. You gotta do that sometimes.

The main development is that Dwight is back with Dunder Mifflin after a short stint working at Staples. There was one scene where he accosts some poor old woman to see what she needs, she responds "just looking, thanks," and he says "I'll be literally standing right here. If you need anything. At all." And he spreads his feet apart, crosses his arms, and fixes her with his beady little glare. But at the same time, there are indications he's a good salesman. How does that work? Not only would I not buy anything from him, I'd report him to the manager. It's mystifying.

Anyway, Andy (the guy who helped push Dwight out) is getting on everyone's nerves, and is stalking Michael all over the office and beyond. Michael is getting increasingly irritated, and I can sympathize. Andy is the one character I can actually compare to someone I worked with. I shared an office with this guy who just would never stop talking. Just a constant diarrhea of dirty jokes, yakking about sports, talking (and asking) about really personal stuff, etc. You asked him what time it was, you got a five-minute answer. When he ran out of things to say to you, he started talking or singing to himself, or -- and I am not making this up -- making noises with his mouth. And he was like 36 years old! It was a constant stream. Sometimes, I would tell him, point blank, to please stop talking, and that I was very busy. But he couldn't do it. He'd be like "yeah, dude, I can stop talking, I can totally do that for you, man, I got you covered, I'm all over it, you can count on me, zip the lips, zippin em up, here we go with the zipping, zzzzzzzzzz, can you hear it?, zzzzzzzzzz" and so on. We actually became pretty close -- he wasn't evil like Andy -- but still. I can relate.

Anyway, so yes, Dwight returns (hence the episode name, I guess), Michael getting fed up with Andy, and Karen finally confronted Jim about Pam, with Jim admitting he still has feelings for Pam. And Oscar's back! Another return. All of these things needed to happen, so whatever. Not a side-splitting episode, but par for the course.

Hyperlink:
- The Office [NBC]

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