"The Search": Good, Bad, Ugly

The day was finally upon us, folks! What day, you ask? The day the episode that I got to watch them film when I visited the set of "The Office" airs! I have to admit, I had a hard time focusing on the ins and outs of "The Search" because, in my head, I was going through all of the things that changed and were cut out from what we saw them filming. But after a second viewing this morning, I'm fully prepared to give you the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. So, it is on like Genghis Khan wearing Sean John in Bhutan*!

The Good:

• Michael. I'm still in denial that Steve is leaving the show. When an episode is Michael-centric, it can't go wrong, and I don't know how they're going to do it without him. From his rant in Jim's "precious" car to his moral inability to dine-and-dash, every moment of Michael's trek gave me something new to laugh about. I especially loved his Dr. Doolittle routine at the pet shop. It's possible he relates to animals so well because, according to Dwight, his face type is "marsupial," but it would be great to see Michael settle down some day with a wife and a dog and a family. Or maybe he could build an ark and collect pairs of animals in preparation for a great flood. Nah...we all know how that turned out.

• Amy Ryan. Her ears may only be a seven and a four, but I think Amy Ryan's acting is a perfect 40. I get frustrated sometimes with Holly being portrayed as a bit too spacey (more later), but I think Amy Ryan manages whatever she is given just superbly. The way she had tears in her eyes and sucked in her cheek a little bit when she reunited with Michael on the rooftop could have fooled me into thinking she was meeting Tom Hanks on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Amy Ryan really deserves a role on a hit HBO series or something.

• The caption contest. Unlike the uncomfortable resolutions scenes from a few weeks ago, it's nice to see all of the paper pushers united behind a common cause. A strange caption from Creed was notably absent, but almost everyone else was given a chance to shine when Gabe read through the list of increasingly disparaging remarks. Each character's caption was so fitting to their personality, and their pride at what they had created was adorable. I also loved when Phyllis got caught red-handed when she couldn't close her instant-message screen. Scenarios like this may be the key to the show"s success after Michael's departure.

• Gabe. I think it's great that Zach and the writers are able to develop a character who is increasingly annoying to the other characters on the show yet increasingly endearing to the viewers. You can't help but feel a little sorry for Gabe being the brunt of his coworkers' jokes. After all, he probably can't help being so anal retentive. A man who oozes excitement over shaped post-it notes and goes gaga for powdered seahorse was probably just born that way. If he can manage to stay likable to us while providing a scapegoat for the office's tension, I'm all for it. Gabe is to the rest of the Dunder Mifflinites what Toby was to Michael, no?

The Bad:

• Pam's jokes. An "Ask Pam Beesley" -- sigh...
• Princess Nincompoop. I stated above that I appreciate Amy Ryan's acting, and I do, but what I don't like is when Holly is portrayed as a dunce. Yes, the woman is in love with Michael Scott. Yes, she does a lot of bad character impersonations. But I just can't believe that Holly Flax, a successful HR rep for a large company, would sign up for a cellphone contract under a bogus name (Fanny Smellmore, no less) just to get a free stress ball. Holly's goofiness has always been tempered by a dose of rationality, and being completely absorbed in an egg roll advertisement on a city bench does not smack of rationalism.

The Ugly:

• John Krasinski has perfected the "act-and-dash" since we've come back from Christmas break, but this week's was especially painful. Not only was the "leave Michael at the rest-stop bathroom" situation completely absurd (he really couldn't have waited one more minute for Michael to come out?), but John's bumbling, nervous parent act was cringe-worthy. Whatever he's filming in Alaska, let's hope it ends soon because it doesn't get much worse than being an Ugly for two weeks in a row.

Miscellaneous Tidbits:
Ah, so much to say about this one since we were there for Day 6 of 9 on the shooting schedule. We watched them film the cold open with Kelly and Ryan. We also watched Erin do a few talking heads (most of which did not make the episode), Michael & Holly arriving back at the office (which also did not make the episode), and Holly, Dwight and Erin going out on the search party. There was another part we watched them rehearse with Kevin telling Pam that her doodle was on the fridge -- essentially the same thing you saw Jim do in the episode that aired. I'm not sure if they decided to change it from Kevin to Jim initiating the caption contest or what, but I was surprised to see Jim doling out the clues for where to find the doodle.

• Dwight's line, "You drive. My car is full of fox meat," was different when we watched them rehearse (and in the script we had for the day). When we saw it, he said, "You drive. My car is full of scarecrow heads," which I actually think is funnier than fox meat.
  
• In the script, Creed's picture was supposed to be on the "Thief" board three different times, all showing him at different ages. I don't know why they decided to nix that -- maybe it was too hard to make Creed look younger?
• The cold open actually had a lot more dialogue than they showed. It was really pared down from what we saw them do (which is probably the case with pretty much every scene, I'm guessing). There was also a line from Kelly which was quite confusing, in my opinion. I pointed it out to the people in the green room, and I also heard Rainn on set saying that it didn't make sense. I was happy to see on the episode that they cut it out. Here's how it was written in the script:

Pam: Back it up. What's the story here?
Kelly: Look, this wasn't one of those "we got drunk, let's get married on a whim" things. We were having a beautiful weekend in the Poconos...
It contradicted what she says two lines later when Andy asks when they got married and she says, "Like a week ago, we got hammered and it just felt right." So I was glad to see that my opinion was spot on, as usual. :)

• *Funny enough, Rainn was not yet wardrobed-up when we had our picture taken with him, and he was wearing a shirt that said, "I heart Tehran." It went perfectly with Andy's rhyme scheme for the day.
  

If you haven't seen the pictures from my trip, you can view them by clicking here.

Quotable Quotes:

• "Instead of throwing them all away later, why don't you just throw one away now, into my mouth?"
• "You have no money, but you dined. And you dined so much!"
• "Why does the sun rise in the morning? Why do magnets stick together? Because everybody says so -- everybody."
• Michael, to the snake at the pet store: "You are disgusting. You will never find love."
• Pam, to Jim, on the phone: "Did the phone cut out?"