Recap of The Office: "Product Recall"

When this episode began, I admit I had my doubts. Hey, there's Jim playing yet another prank on Dwight, with Dwight being oblivious to the point of seeming insane.

But from there, I think this episode became the funniest of the season so far. I may need to watch it again, and I don't want to lose my head here, but dare I say...classic?

The main thread is that Dunder Mifflin had to recall 500 boxes of paper because a disgruntled employee embedded a watermark in there that depicted the animalistic coupling of two beloved cartoon characters. So Donald Duck is reaming Mickey Mouse, and the clients are in an uproar, prompting Michael to announce that the Scranton branch is at Threat Level Midnight. Michael alerts the media. As a means of controlling the story. A news conference (complete with 20 different levels of access) is organized. And of course, one guy shows up -- just enough to publicly document the debacle that takes place when a client angrily refuses to accept their novelty check for free paper.

To handle the surge in customer calls, Kelly gives Angela, Kevin, and Oscar a crash course in customer service. Kelly proclaims that "This day is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S, this day is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!" Kelly then tells them that "I know the reason that you guys became accountants is ’cause you’re not good at interacting with people. But guess what? From now on, you guys are no longer losers. So gives yourselves a round of applause."

Before I go any further, I have to again give it up for Kelly, aka Mindy Kaling. She is absolutely stealing every scene she is in right now. While Pam mopes and Jim smirks and Michael and Dwight go crazy, there's Mindy Kaling in the background absolutely channeling that character. I now find myself hoping for Kelly scenes the same way I hoped for Smoking Man scenes back in my X-Files days.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Jim and Andy are dispatched to a local high school for some face-to-face damage control. Remember when I said before that Jim needed to grow a pair? Well, during this episode, he was taking Andy to task. Huzzah! First, because Andy is like Michael on Benzedrine. And secondly, because Andy recognizes one of the students as the girl he is dating. Man! That hurts. Andy is ultimately pretty upset about it, but in the end, Jim cheers him up without being too stupid about it. And there was nary a hint of Jim-Pam shenanigans this episode. Thank God.

Oh -- and Creed is now officially a dick. Before he was just crazy. But now, he's a crazy dick. He was the quality control guy, but didn't go to the mill to check the stocks. But he passes the blame to someone at the mill, and she gets fired. He then requests that the office folks put money in a card for her, and he pockets the money. Crazy dick.

"The only difference between me and a homeless man is this job," Creed explains. "So I will do whatever it takes to survive. Like I did when I was a homeless man."

So that's about it. Hilarious, fantastic episode. This post doesn't even remotely do it justice. Two thumbs way up. This one is definitely getting permanently Tivo'd this summer.

Hyperlinks:
- The Office [NBC]
- Previous recap of The Office [No One Appreciates Me]
- Recap of The Office: "The Negotiation" [No One Appreciates Me]

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