The obligatory Christmas episode of "The Office" was a firing-on-all-cylinders success through and through, confirming my suspicions that writers for the shows on NBC's Thursday night comic block are taking cues from one another, upping the ante on one-liners and unorthodox character deviations. Equally important is the long-awaited return of Holly, the girl who Michael Scott believes he was meant to ride off into the sunset with, an idea that carries great weight, given that his character only has a handful of episodes left before leaving Dunder Mifflin for good.
This week's one-hour episode featured one of the best scripts “The Office” has had in years, a relentless laugh-fest that had the relentless comic timing of a "30 Rock" episode. The cold open takes place outside with a failed office Christmas photo, in which everybody's supposed to leap in the air at once, but badly miss the cues and eventually give up. This gives way Michael discovering that Christmastime in the office is otherwise coming off without a hitch, and proudly reflecting on the fact that his "children" are "growing up". We get just a teasing moment of faraway reflection, imagining what greater horizons Michael has ahead, before we see the true discontent behind his assessment that a drama-free Christmas is underway. After all, this is a man who thrives on drama like none other.
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Toby is serving as a juror on the Scranton Strangler trial, and Michael's beloved Holly has been temporarily transferred back to the office as a replacement HR representative in his absence. Upon learning the news, Michael freaks out with excitement, scraps the cheap holiday party that's all but underway and pays for a new, “classy” one out of his own pocket. Sadly, things don’t work out the way romantic comedies have led him to believe they should, with her arriving single and ready to resume their romance. She's in a very serious live-in relationship with AJ from Nashua, and expects him to propose by the end of the year, to the point where she lays out an ultimatum that if he doesn't, she has to move on. And THAT, dear reader, is exactly the loophole that will come into play over the next few episodes.
In the meantime, Dwight wages an unrelenting campaign of terror against Jim due to a snowball fight that, truth be told, Jim started. But Dwight's competitive nature and tendency to go faaaar overboard results in several surprise snowball attacks, leaving Halpert bloodied, helpless and horrified in a way we'd never imagine seeing. His attacks continue throughout the party, causing Jim to make a lacrosse-stick assisted retaliation attempt that results in a broken window, earning he and Dwight quite the parental lecture from Michael. He and Holly sternly telling the two of them “What you did was very dangerous. You could have hurt someone” and pleading for them to get along was a unifying moment, however subtle, and a cute one at that.
A gut-punch subplot involving Daryl trying to keep his daughter entertained after learning that she doesn’t want to spend Christmas at his house unfolds as well. It ties up nicely with the two finding a common bond (junk food), but the custody/visitation drama was a bit heavy-handed on the drama in an episode that would've otherwise been sheer fun through and through. We're all for Daryl's character deepening, but does it have to be at the expense of a good momentum to one of the best episodes of the year? Bah humbug.
Leave it to Erin to be the one person who doesn't like Holly. She has no prior exposure to the girl who broke Michael's heart, and the strange little father/daughter relationship we saw cemented a few episodes back comes to light in an overt act of defense on Erin's part. When Michael leaves the office, defeated and deflated that A.J. had arrived to surprise a very happy Holly, Erin physically blocks Holly from following him.
Thanks to the help of Pam, however, Michael realizes that a future with Holly is still a slight possibility - he just needs to be patient. This reinvigorates the big kid, and he puts in the effort to put the Santa suit back on, and make the day of Darryl's daughter. It was also no mistake that we witness Holly looking on in approval, noting Michael's maturity in returning to play an important role at the party - perhaps the most important.
Dwight actually hiding inside of a snowman in order to ambush Jim was brilliant, but the closing scene with Jim and Pam walking through the parking lot full of creepy-looking snowmen was an absolute classic. Jim is beside himself with fear, while Dwight looks on in silence from the rooftop of the building, like some Christmas vigilante. The episode ends with a clip of him commenting: “Sometimes, the strongest snowball isn’t a snowball at all. It’s fear. Merry Christmas, everybody!”
Merry Christmas, indeed. Good play, Dunder Mifflin.
