The Office "Grief Counseling" (2006)

With this episode we are starting to see Jim and Pam become more acclimatized to their new environments. On the Scranton front, Pam is becoming more and more the heart and soul of the office. Not to say that she didn't have her moments before, but now that Jim is gone and they lost that tag-team repertoire, she is growing into her own person and I think that makes them being apart a lot more palatable. First we get to see her own brand of mischievousness and her taking the place of Jim as the office prankster. Her making Michael get the coffee from the "warehouse" because she knows he'll do it to keep up his act is a sly move and then she makes him go back for cream and sugar. I think the whole office was pleased with this little maneuver and even Angela seemed to crack a smile at the humorous situation. She also sets the tone with the "Movie Death That Most Affected Me" game which I'll discuss a bit more in a bit. But when push comes to shove she is a caring and selfless individual who goes out of her way to comfort Michael when he obviously hurting and no one else can really be bothered. She takes it on without prodding or cajoling and I think it's really sweet that she starts to take a protector like role with Michael (yes we have seen evidence in the past).

Moving onto Michael briefly before I jump over to Stamford, this episode really highlights the essence of Michael's self-esteem. I have continued to be impressed with Steve Carrell's portrayal as the regional manager and with him in this season in particular. Already we have seen how hurt he can be when he thinks he's losing one of his closer office associates and how quickly he forgave Dwight for what could have been a friendship-ending betrayal. Now we see how truly alone the character is and how this plays into his need to get people to like him. Looking back on the opening scene, it could be misinterpreted as Michael's usual brand of awkward and stupid humor, but the fact that he keeps up the act when obviously Pam is leading him on shows how far he is willing to go to keep his employees entertained even at his own expense. He honestly believes that if they think he's funny that means they will like him even more. Taking into account how much he saw people disliked Ed Truck as a person, even if they thought he was a good boss, he can't get the image out of his mind about how people will simply not care if he is dead. Even though he is with Carol, there is a continuing gnawing need of his to be closer with other people and when he takes a look at his life he can't seem to find anyone that actually cares about him. Except for Jan, who even though we just heard her voice, appeared to show genuine concern for how Michael was taking Ed's death. Even though she can't stand him sometimes, she does have some sort of feelings for him and maybe he needs to explore that since he doesn't seem to put much faith in his relationship with Carol if he thinks he is so alone.

At Stamford we got some more Karen/Jim playfulness that we could easily grow to resent because we are so desperate for PB & J to get together. This is a tricky character to play, but Rashida Jones plays it with such warmth and humor, we don't mind that she is growing closer to Jim and we're happy to see him enjoy himself a bit more in his new home. Their mission to get Karen's chips could have been a silly premise but both characters are believable in spending the day on this assignment because it gives them a chance to spend more time with each other. I also liked that even though Andy is being set up as the Stamford Dwight, Jim's insults do not go over his head as much as it did with Dwight and his comment of "Did you check your butt?" with regards to the location of Karen's chips was a nice moment where we realize that Jim may poke fun at him but he's wise to the game.

Favorite moment: The Grief Game complete with ball (thanks Phyllis). Pam's description of her Million Dollar Baby aunt's untimely demise kicks off a roundabout group session of who can sell their movie death the best. Again showing Pam as Jim's capable replacement in the office pranks department, her co-workers immediately catch on and follow suit. Ryan even asks for the ball and plays along talking about how his cousin Mufasa was killed in a wildebeest stampede while on African safari. Ryan has always shunned being too involved with his co-workers so it's interesting to see here him playing along and following someone else's lead. Of course Kevin gives the show away with his Weekend at Bernie's tale and Michael realizes what's going on but it was a fun little scene and anytime people talk movies in television shows, you get the best of both worlds.