TV Verdict

What better way to celebrate the sort-of halfway point of this fifth Office season than with an awkward holiday gathering? For Phyllis’s first Christmas as head of the party planning committee, she’s going with the theme “A Night in Morocco”—a non-traditional choice, to be sure. I mean, when was the last time you saw a wise man playing a sitar? Certainly not tonight (more on that later). Even less traditional than a “Moroccan Christmas” is a combination office party and intervention, but such is life at Dunder Mifflin thanks to a drunk Meredith accidentally setting her hair on fire and Michael’s inability to mind his own business. That reminds me, what do you get for the boss who cares too much?

Let’s face it: Christmas morning is a crap shoot. For every G.I. Joe action playset or NES cartridge under the tree, there’s a package of tube socks waiting to turn unbridled excitement into one more reason to resent Santa (what exactly does an elf have to do to pull tube sock duty?). “Moroccan Christmas” is like that carefully wrapped tree-skirted minefield, with gifts both delightful and boring, plus one or two surprises hidden behind the couch.

Let’s start with the disappointing: Michael’s one-man intervention. I know he’s always cared about his employees in a way that pushes moral and legal limits, but this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Meredith out of control on company time—it’s just the first time she’s set herself on fire. Heck, earlier this season, Michael was willing to ignore her trading sexual favors for supply discounts, so why the intervention urgency? Whatever Michael’s reasons for wanting to help—bartender’s guilt, recent conversion to Mormonism, the writers not having anything else for him to do this week—we lost out on seeing him have fun at the party. I’m with Kelly on this one. What a downer. Meredith needs help, but it could have waited until after Groundhog Day.

Thankfully, the Michael-Meredith storyline didn’t completely consume the episode the way I thought it would. It may be near-impossible to restart a party after an impromptu intervention (believe me), but the hummus-fueled revelers at Dunder Mifflin deserve credit for trying.

Best of the party moments? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe a little something called “Princess Unicorn”?! Fresh off of tricking his engaged mistress to secretly marry him in German, the ever-shrewd Dwight moved on to his next big scheme. Through careful observation and calculation, he determined which toy would be in biggest demand this holiday season—this year, a glamorous pink princess doll with a big ‘ol unicorn horn in the middle of her forehead—and bought out the stock of all the local toy stores so he could resell them at a huge profit to desperate parents like Toby. Brilliant. Despicable. And as hilarious as the improbable toy phenom’s “My horn can pierce the sky” catchphrase (also a jingle; ask Michael). By the way, did anyone else catch the irony in Dwight selling a toy with a horn on its head, not unlike the “horn” said to be worn by the cuckolded husband (or husband-to-be) in classic literature? Eh? Get it? Pretty clever, Office writers. Which one of you felt like showing off your liberal arts degree? I mean, besides me.

Which brings us to Andy “Puke”/”Ace”/”Buzz” Bernard. Poor delusional Andy. So like another famous sitar player who had his woman stolen by someone he thought was his friend. Ever since Phyllis caught Dwight and Angela in flagrante last season and decided to use the situation to her advantage, a showdown has been brewing, and this week it finally happened. Angela, pushed to the breaking point like an overdone pita chip, snapped and told Phyllis where exactly she could stick her Christmas tree—betting her adversary wouldn’t risk losing her newfound party-planning power by playing her only bargaining chip. And it looked for a second like Angela’s gamble was going to pay off… until Phyllis turned around and dropped the illicit love bomb on a stunned office crowd. Yet somehow, the one person who actually needed to hear the news was too busy putting the finishing touches on the “roo too too”-diest sitar rendition of “Deck the Halls” I’ve ever heard (and believe me, I’ve heard plenty). What ramifications will tonight’s shocking reveal have when The Office returns in January? Probably none if Andy doesn’t start paying attention. How many cow pies does one ivy league graduate have to step in to get the picture? Oh, well. At least Dwight enjoyed the party.

In all, this was a mixed bag of an episode. As guilty as the writers probably feel for having kept Meredith in the background for so long, her increased role this season hasn’t been successful. Maybe she’s just not that compelling a character. They learned their lesson and brought Pam back from New York. It’s time to let Meredith go back to… whatever it is she does. It would take a Christmas miracle to give this plotline its wings. Now if you’ll excuse me, three very insistent ghosts are knocking at my door.