TV Verdict

The Office turns in another solid holiday-themed episode as Michael and the gang try to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day despite the awkward Southern gaze of Kathy Bates.

I really dug this week’s episode, “St. Patrick’s Day.” Not necessarily because it was yet another holiday themed episode (there seems to be a lot of those this season), but because the show went back to actual office humor. The episode touched on the classic white collar dilemma of leaving before your boss.

Jo (Kathy Bates) is spending one more day in the office before returning to Sabre HQ down in Florida. I didn’t even realize she was still in Scranton, what with all the baby-drama last week, but it’s always fun having Bates around. Before leaving, Jo made the grave mistake of offering Michael a place to stay if he were to ever venture down to Florida. In classic Michael style, he took that as a specific invitation rather than just a friendly gesture. By the time Jo was holding an impromptu town hall meeting with the entire DunderMifflin workforce, Michael had already booked a flight for 4th of July weekend. The two of them get into an argument, and as some form of indirect punishment, Jo decides to work extra late… forcing everyone else to spend their St. Patty’s Day in the office as well.

One new development, aside from a reignited awkwardness between Michael and Jo, is that Darryl now has Jim’s old office. It all happened because of a shipping suggestion Darryl made during Jo’s meeting, and suddenly he gets promoted. Kind of. I’m not really sure what he’s supposed to be doing upstairs, but apparently neither does he. Michael has a hilarious exchange with Darryl later in the episode where we get to see more of the boss’s subtle, condescending racism (usually reserved for Stanley). Michael doesn’t see anything wrong with implying that Jo’s family may have owned Darryl’s in a past life, and Darryl clearly sees Michael as too moronic to even know what he’s saying. Great stuff.

Jim returned to the office without Pam. He’s got plenty to deal with while Pam’s out on maternity leave: Dwight has commandeered both Jim and Pam’s desk to form “Mega Desk,” allowing him to work, surveil, and play some early ’90s first-person shooter all at the same time. He’s become addicted to Mega Desk; after Jim takes his stuff back, Dwight spends the rest of the episode trying to guilt Halpert into going home to be with his newborn.

Of course, all these great little moments and plotlines fade into the background as we anticipate Andy and Erin’s first date. I can safely say it went about as awkwardly as their courtship. Erin comes down with some sort of cold and is sent home early. Andy, decked out in a kilt, feigns sickness to go home early as well. He surprises Erin at her house (in her “jammy jams”), and the two spend the evening watching TV. It was a little weird seeing Erin’s low-rent house, but things took a turn for the downright bizarre when her foster brother enters the scene. Andy does a great turn from surprised to sickened after her bro takes his seat on the couch and then proceeds to kinda snuggle with Erin… very strange. But thankfully things end well for the two of them; Erin gives Andy a peck on the cheek, to which he replies, “Great, now I’m going to get sick!”

I really enjoyed tonight’s episode. It had a solid dose of real-life office humor and also progressed some of the show’s current storylines. The Office really has these holiday-themed episodes down to a science. It’s going to be weird seeing an episode that isn’t based on a holiday or a special Jim and Pam event.

Stray thoughts:
- A nice, but really sad, character-building moment from that Gabe dude.
- “St. Patrick’s Day is the closest the Irish will get to Christmas”
- Did Jim’s kitchen get fixed? What of Dwight’s contract with Angela? I need closure!