The Office – Recap & Review – Pool Party

photo: nbc

The Office
Pool Party

Original Air Date: Jan 19, 2012

Shannon – Associate Editor
shannon@thetwocentscorp.com

Dwight finds a meatball in his chair courtesy of Jim who is now pranking him for Stanley’s amusement. Turns out, Stanley is a huge fan of Dwight’s desk being full of meatballs. Jim even went back to the archives and baked Dwight’s stapler into a meatball. Later that evening we find that Dwight and Stanley have been cahooting against Jim and raking in the meatballs. They love that they never have to buy meatballs again. Sneaky.

Robert is selling his house and he is not happy about it. Kevin suggest they all drop by Robert’s indoor pool for a last hurrah.  Robert is down with that and invites them all over.

Jim is planning ducking out early but Robert corrals him into a tour. They check out Robert’s wine cellar and he invites them all to take a bottle each. They walk around the house drinking straight out of the bottles. At the end of the episode, Robert jumps in the pool naked and Gabe and Ryan follow suit. Jim takes that as his cue to get the hell out.

Andy is thinking of proposing to Jessica. Erin finds out that Andy followed her home after the Christmas party and thinks he isn’t over her. She awkwardly approaches him and then tries to seduce Dwight to make Andy jealous. Dwight pushes Erin in the pool fully clothed. In the melee, Andy loses the engagement ring his parents had given him and Kelly finds it by announcing “Hey did anyone lose an engagement ring?!” He awkwardly tries to get the ring back letting them all think it belonged to Mrs. California. Phyllis thinks it needs to be destroyed because that marriage failed. They put it on a paper hat and set it on fire in the pool. Erin finds it in the pool and guessed it must be Andy’s ring because it has the Bernard family seal.

In order to get Andy’s attention, Erin and Dwight team up and challenge Andy and Jessica to a game of chicken. Erin and Dwight are losing and then Dwight passes out in the pool. Dwight asks Andy how he feels about Erin. Andy says he’s over her and he’s with Jessica now. Dwight tells him he’s an idiot for letting her go. Erin asks Andy if he’s going to marry Jessica but he’s confused now.

Pretty standard episode. No big laughs but I did like the desk full of meatballs. Reminds me of a better time back when this show was really funny. Spader was really Spadery this week with his dry, acerbic wit. Leave a comment with your two cents!