The Office - Season 4 - Episode 1 - Fun Run

OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe this show is back!! It has only been a few months but I really missed The Office. And I was just DYING to know what was going to happen with Jim and Pam. And we will get to that shortly...

But First, let's get an update from the other employees of Dunder Mifflin.

What's going on with Michael? Seems like he is up to his same old hijinx.

Michael: I did not get the job in New York. But I got the real prize — domestic bliss.

Him and Jan have moved in together. And she isn't looking too good...

But Michael is in a really good spirit. Things couldn't be better...until

Ouch, that is gonna leave a mark. And that brings us to Meredith, who started this season off on the windshield of Michael's car.

Michael hits Meredith in the parking lot of the office, and when he gets into the office he breaks the news to the other workers.

Michael: The doctors tried to save her life. They did the best that they could. And she is going to be okay.

He tries to play it off like he had nothing to do with it but the truth must come out.

Michael: I was able to be on the scene so quickly because I was in the car that hit her.

The entire office turns against Michael (except Dwight, of course) and they start planning a visit to see Meredith.

Meanwhile, Kevin and Oscar are like two gossiping girls, speculating about Jim and Pam. They are starting to sound like the viewers!

Kevin: Are you kidding me? Pam and Jim are totally hooking up. All they do is smile.

Oscar: There is no evidence of intimacy.

And what happened to Karen? Jim broke up with her after the interview in NYC. She came back to the office the next day and told him that she wouldn't give up everything because of this (I guess that meant her job in Scranton), but then the next day her desk was cleared. And at this point of the episode Jim is playing it like he is single and looking and Pam says she just talked him through his break up.

Meanwhile, the other member of the accounting department has her own stress with her little kitty Sprinkles. Apparently Sprinkles is having multiple types of ailments and Angela has been having to watch the kitty very carefully lately. She almost skips on seeing Meredith in the hospital so she can check on Sprinkles, but Pam convinces her to go to the hospital and Angela sends Dwight off to check on Sprinkles instead.

What is Angela and Dwight's take on the Meredith incident? (Quote from a later part of the episode)

Angela: I have to visit the alkie.
Dwight: Check to see if she’s faking. If a car hit me, it wouldn’t crack my pelvis. You know what. I bet she cracked it at home. Jumped in front of the car to get some worker’s comp.
Angela: I wouldn’t put it past her.

All the insanity over in the office makes Michael want to do something for the staff to make them think he isn't all that bad. He calls corporate (Jan's old position), who is now Ryan (the former temp/Kelly's ex) to see what corporate can do for him.

Ryan: Did it happen on company property?
Michael: Yes. It was on company property, with company property. So, double jeopardy. We are fine.
Ryan: I don’t think you understand how jeopardy works.
Michael: Oh, right. I’m sorry….What is “we are fine”?

Ryan seems like his head has gotten a little inflated over at corporate.

Ryan: People keep calling me a “wunderkind.” I don’t even know what that means. I mean, I know what it means. It means, very successful for your age. So I guess it makes sense, but, it’s a weird word.

Michael interrupts a staff gathering (where they are trying to figure out when to visit Meredith) and insists that everyone go at the same time together to see Meredith. This has trouble written all over it.

So they all get to the hospital and it seems like Michael had a reason to get everyone there at the same time.

Michael: You know what I was thinking might be sort of fun? Is if you forgave me in front of everybody.

Michael: You know what they say in the bible about forgiveness? Forgiveness … is next to godliness.

Meredith is not in the mood for forgiveness. Michael screws up her IV and practically crushes Meredith by forcing a hug on her while she is still lying in bed.

When they return from the hospital Dwight informs Angela of some bad news.

Angela: Any problems?
Dwight: Well you left the TV on. And your cat is dead.

He put her in the freezer to stop the odor.

Michael now thinks the office is cursed because of all the bad things that happened that day.

Michael: It is up to me to get rid of the curse that hit Meredith with my car. I’m not superstitious, but, I’m a little stitious.

He gathers the staff so they can talk about religion to see if anyone brought this curse upon them. And this meeting introduces us to the new IT Tech Guy. He remains nameless in this episode but he was seen already earlier getting celebrity porn off Pam's computer. So far in the episode he had more lines than Andy (who up to this point was visible but completely silent in every scene). But as a little trivia, he was in an episode early on from Season 2, and his name is Sadiq.

IT Tech Guy: If you’re going to reduce my identity to my religion, then I’m Sikh. But I also like hip-hop and NPR, and I’m restoring a 1967 Corvette in my spare time.

Michael suggests ways to break the curse on the office.

Michael: Maybe there’s some sort of animal that we could make a sacrifice to. Like … a giant buffalo. Or some sort of monster, like something with the body of a walrus with the head of a sea lion. Something with a body of an egret, with the head of a meerkat. Or just the head of a monkey, with the antlers of a reindeer. With the body of a … porcupine.

Can you imagine what that would look like?



After the meeting Michael sends Dwight off to go visit Meredith in the hospital. At the hospital Dwight learns that Meredith actually needs a rabies shot because she was bitten by a bat (because of Dwight last season) a raccoon and a rat.

Michael takes this as a good sign and finds a reason why Meredith needed to be hit by a car.

Meanwhile, Kevin can't stop talking about Pam and Jim.

Kevin: Oh well. If they aren’t together now, then they probably never will be. I thought they’d be good together. Like PB & J. Pam Beesly and Jim. What a waste. What. A. Waste.

And this brings us to the most important scene of this episode. The camera follows Pam leaving the office in her car. She drives about a half a block, pulls over, and picks up Jim. He gets in and then we see the moment we have all been waiting for!!!!

YES!!!

Michael then decides to organize a run to raise money for a cure for rabies. (Something that already has a cure) He calls it Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run For The Cure. You can start buying merchandise for MSDMSMPMCRAPFRFTC (the fun run) at NBC.com.

Michael has the entire office working on getting pledges and making quilts.

Kevin doesn't want to run because he doesn't have the right type of clothes to run that day and Andy is really afraid of "nipple chaffing". And this is actually the first thing we hear from Andy all episode.

Andy: I’m petrified of nipple chafing. Once it starts, it is a vicious circle.

We get a little more information on Angela's relationship with Sprinkles.

Angela: This is Halloween last year. Just a couple of kittens, out on the town.

She is really torn up. She has a suspicion that Dwight killed her cat.

Angela: When I got home, Sprinkles’ body was in the freezer, where Dwight said he left her, but all my bags of frozen french fries had been clawed to shreds!

And in a very meta moment, Jim and Pam are talking about their strategies for the race and the camera comes up very close to them. The camera seems to be suspicious of their relationship. Then they cut to the conference room and they are watching a video of themselves from the earlier scene when Pam picks up Jim a block away from the office in her car and they kiss. And Pam spills the beans and admits they are dating.

Pam: Yeah, I gave him a ride home because … we’re dating.
Jim: Wow. There it is.
Pam: Yeah. We haven’t told anybody, but it’s going really great. Right?
Jim: It is going really great.

Jim did not expect that but they are both so damn cute and happy!!

After another confrontation about the cat between Angela and Dwight, a conference is called between Michael, Pam, Jim and Dwight to talk about the charity money and the 5k run.

Michael: I always imagined it with a giant check.
Jim: Yeah, I mean personally, I am definitely on board with the giant check.
Pam: Giant check it is.
Dwight: I don’t know. On the other hand, it does leave less money for bat birth control.

Michael really wants to hand off a giant check to a rabies doctor. Two problems - 1) They only raised about $500 (which is almost entirely Michael's money) and a giant check costs $200 and 2) there are no rabies doctors. Jim suggests a nurse by the hour.

Before the race, Pam is working on the last minute details and she sees a problem with the 5K sign (it is 5 kilometers, not 5,000 miles). She knocks on Michael's door to ask him a question and she thought she heard "come in" so she opens the door and gets an unexpected surprise.

Pam: So I closed the door, but the image of his …
Jim: Baguette.
Pam: … dangling participle …
Jim: Ooh.
Pam: … still burned in my eyes.

Michael tries to play it off but the truth is Michael was naked in his office. Jim makes fun of Michael by taking off his shirt during a side interview.

Then the race begins. Michael talks a little about rabies and the need for a cure (that already exists).

Michael: Myth: Three Americans every year die from rabies. Fact: Four Americans every year die from rabies.

Michael: It is truly the silent killer. No, it is the foaming barking killer.

They ended up hiring the stripper Elizabeth (from the Benjamin Franklin episode) to dress like a nurse and accept a giant check for $340. The check was made out to "science."

Michael loads up on carbs (fettuccine alfredo) so he can be ready for the race. Dwight puts Imodium in Toby's drink to make him go to the bathroom and slow him down, but turns out he was supposed to put ex-lax and the Imodium actually helped Toby not have to go to the bathroom during the race.

The race begins and Stanley, Oscar and Creed jump in a cab, get a drink and are driven to the finish line. Andy's nipples bleed the entire time. Michael gets terrible cramps because of the fettuccine alfredo, Kevin runs in a suit, Phylis ran with her husband, Bob Vance, and Jim and Pam went shopping at a garage sale and got a great lamp!

Dwight and Angela again talk about Sprinkles and Dwight admits he killed the cat. Dwight did it because he saw an animal in pain and that is what he does as a farmer to animals who are suffering.

Angela: Cat heaven is a beautiful place. But you don’t get there if you’re euthanized!

Oh, and Toby won!

Toby: And the winner is Toby Flenderson!
Kelly: Have a seat. I’ll write it down.
Toby: Where are we?
Kelly: I don’t know. Like five kilometers from the office.
Toby: He couldn’t have made it a circle?

In last place, Jim and Pam stroll hand in hand and see Michael sitting down. The food really got to him.

Michael: I ate more fettuccini alfredo and drank less water than I have in my entire life.

Jim and Pam motivate Michael to finish the race, which he does. Then he has to go to the hospital for dehydration. In the hospital he sees Meredith and she forgives him because of all he did for her with the fun run.

Michael: While I eventually puked my guts out, I never puked my heart out. And I’m very, very proud of that.

***

So what are your thoughts on Jim and Pam??? I am so happy they are together and I hope this season doesn't end up splitting them up for a stupid reason. It should be interested to see their relationship actually flourish. And what about Dwight and Angela? Looks like Angela needs some kitty counseling. Will she be able to forgive him?

(Pictures from Office-Caps, Quotes from The Office Tally)