What I’m Watching: The Office

The Office: Season 7, Episode 13 “Ultimatum” (B+)

This episode works for a number of reasons. The first is that Michael continues to be a childish guy who can’t contain himself in public, but somehow he’s managed to tone it down a bit and not be as glaringly and unapologetically offensive in all that he does. Forcing Kevin to eat broccoli made Holly leave the room, but he wasn’t explicitly and outwardly directing his anger and scathing comments toward her, and he left her alone when she said that she couldn’t talk to him. Clearly, he also had an impact, as Holly called AJ to (it appears) break up with him. The subplot with Darryl, Dwight, and Andy could have been seriously stupid, but it works quite well as entertainment thanks mostly to the sublime performance from Craig Robinson as Darryl. Dwight and Andy may be jokers who have no idea how silly they seem, but Darryl just wants to read. His comment about working at a paper company and only being able to fit ten books on the eReader was hilarious, and I enjoyed the frequent shots of him sneaking a few pages in while Dwight and Andy spewed ridiculousness. It was fun to see Pam take charge at the office and actually try to do something with her made-up position. It was great to see how everyone reacted, including Angela surprisingly being on Pam’s side in wanting to fulfill her resolution, and it’s not likely that you’ll get any argument about anyone about eliciting a non-cartwheel out of Creed.