The Office Season Two

Home , Angela Martin, Casino Night, Email Surveillance, Holly Flax, Jim Halpert, The Dundies

The Dundies Kicks off Season Two By Taylor Perez

he Dundies episode is the very first episode in the second season of The Office. The TDundies are a tradition for the Dunder Miff- lin office in Scranton, however, the tradition ends when Michael leaves the office and moves to Colorado with his fiancee Holly Flax later on in the series. The Dundies are held in the local Chili’s restaurant, and Michael hosts with Dwight being the co-host. Aside from all of the awards given, this episode is the first time we see Jim and Pam kiss. Pam was incredi- bly intoxicated, and later towards the end of the episode, an employee of the restaurant says she is not welcome back to any of the Chili’s Pam shows off her Dundie to the camera. restaurants ever again. During this time, Pam is still engaged to Roy, but she kisses Jim after accepting her Dundie for “Whitest Sneakers.” At this point, it is obvious that she is severely drunk, and she keeps sneaking drinks off of other customers tables. Even though the two characters kiss, Jim ends up asking another coworker to give Pam a ride home. This episode is where viewers can no longer deny the connection between Pam and Jim, and we see more of this in the Casino Night episode, the finale of season 2. Michael Scott is Always Watching By Tyler Dunn

he Email Surveillance episode has Dunder Mifflin’s tech support employee, Sadiq, arrives at the Scranton branch to set up a system that allows Michael Scott to monitor This employees’ emails. When everyone in the office finds out, Jim Halpert worries that Mi- chael will discover the party he is throwing that night, to which Michael is not invit- ed. Inevitably, Michael notices and tries to get Jim to admit that he’s having a party, while Jim acts nonchalantly as if nothing is happening. A classic popular kid versus dorky kid vibe has been added by doing this. In order to keep Dwight Schrute from exposing the party, Jim tells him that it is a surprise party for Michael. Pam Beesly notices some things that lead her to sus- pect that Dwight and Angela Martin are dating. However, she discreetly abandons her suspicions when she asks Phyllis Lapin if she noticed any office romances and Phyllis guesses that Pam meant Michael brings his fire, ready, aim attitude to her and Jim. Jim and Pam bond when she sees Jim’s improv. room for the first time and looks through his high school yearbook. The experience brings us to expect what Jim feels later at Casino Night. Page One The Office Season Two Fight Breaks Out in The Office By Chloe Jones

he opening scene of each episode is unique and hi- larious, but this one really takes the cake. Dwight Twalks in to find that his desk is missing, and when he goes looking for it, he finds that it has been relo- cated to the bathroom. He then answers a phone call from Jim- who pulled the prank on him- from inside the bathroom. The episode then continues onto it’s main theme within the first half, which is that Dwight believes that he is superior to everyone in the office and could beat up anyone there. He then asks Jim to punch him to show how strong he is, but when Jim Dwight and Michael duke it out to find doesn’t want to, he asks Dwight, and gets punched in out who is most dominant in the office. the gut twice. As a secondary running theme, Michael is supposed to sign timecards, purchase orders, and expense reports. To avoid all of this, Michael decides that there will be a fight between him and Dwight to see who would win.

They then travel to Dwight’s dojo where his Sensei judges the competition. Right from the start, Dwight is quick to land a clean kick in Michael’s side. Michael re- sponds to this by using childish tactics to try to distract Dwight and get a hit on him. He also tries taunting Dwight but in the end Michael pins Dwight and tries to spit into his mouth, causing him to lose. We then come back to the office and Michael continues to put off signing the paperwork. At the end of the day, Pam, Angela, Stan- ley and Toby sign the paperwork while Michael makes amends with Dwight by “promoting” him from Assistant to the Regional Manager to Assistant Regional Manager. The episode then ends with one of The Office’s most famous quotes; “Would I rather be feared or loved? Um, easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.” Dwight Wins Salesman of The Year By Chloe Jones

n this episode, midway through season 2, Dwight wins salesman of the year and finds out that he will be honored and asked to give a speech at a convention. Michael Imakes the speech seem like a big deal to Dwight, so he gets nervous and Michael tries throughout the episode to set an example for what a good speech is. He even tells him that he must be entertaining. As a second running theme- as these episodes usually have- Oscar and Angela disagree on what temperature the thermostat should be set at.

Michael tries, badly, to set an example for what good public speaking looks like by telling everyone in the office that they will all be getting $1000 bonuses. He then sends Dwight out to “tell them anything.” Dwight follows Michaels lead and makes up something that didn’t happen, saying that there had been an accident and Brad Pitt was injured. He continues to add to the bad news more and more until Michael stops him and brings everyone into the conference room. He then decides that everyone should learn how to be a public speaker. After a few employees speak, Michael invites Dwight to speak and he decides that he isn’t nervous in front of the other employees because they are his “subordinates.” Contuned on next page Page Two The Office Season Two Dwight Wins Salesman of The Year (Continued) Dwight continues to stress over the speech and Jim decides to give him some advice that is sure to em- barrass him. He also gives him speech inspiration from dictators throughout history. Dwight and Michael head to the convention and Dwight is more stressed than ever. After his name is announced he panics, and Michael goes on stage for him. Back at the office, the fight over the temperature in the office continues.

After a while of Michael’s shenanigans, Dwight runs onstage and begins to take Jim’s advice by bang- ing his fists and yelling. He gains an applause Dwight gives a rousing speech after win- from the audience for this, which picks up more as ning salesman of the year. the speech goes on. He gets many handshakes after the speech and Michael is upset that Dwight did well so in the end he tries his best to one-up him by saying that he captivated Dwight, who captivated 1,000 guys.

The Office Worries, Celebrates a Birthday By Chloe Jones

his fun episode begins with a laugh when Jim proves to Michael that he is wrong, and he in fact was promoting a pyramid scheme. (When one person recruits a few people to sell Tsomething, who then recruit more people, etc.) Then, we jump right into Michael promoting that it’s his birthday and trying to get everyone excited about it. We then find out that Kevin is waiting to hear if he has skin cancer. People argue over the severity of Kevin’s possible skin cancer when a delivery woman walks in with a package for Michael, and he believes that she is a stripper. Completely bewildered, the delivery woman looks to Pam for any idea of what is going on. Pam signs the paper for the package and the episode moves on to Michael eating in his office while complaining that nobody cares it’s his birthday. At 11:23, Dwight enlists the help of other employees to lift Michael in a chair to celebrate his exact moment of birth. Jim and Pam sneak out to get Kevin something to make him feel better. After they leave, Michael gets bologna, ketchup, and tomato subs for everyone in the office, and when they tell him that they don’t like those toppings, he gets upset and goes to his office. We then go to Jim and Pam who are at the store buying Kevin some things. Dwight brings out the cake for Michael right when Kevin gets the phone call from some- one asking if he had his results yet. Michael gets jealous that the rest of the office is more focused on Kevin than they are on him. Michael is upset that he got no attention from anyone in the office and takes it upon himself to tell Kevin that even if he gets skin cancer, he will live, and everyone should still have fun anyway. Michael then takes everyone to an ice-skating rink and claims that it’s to cheer Kevin up. When Kevin gets a phone call, Michael races over to him. Kevin tells everyone that the results are negative and Michael mistakes this to mean that he Dunder Mifflin employees gather around has cancer. Michael opens his gifts and Kevin opens a Kevin to wait to hear his test results. card that the office got for him. The episode ends on a memorable note, with pam saying “It was a good day.” Page Three The Office Season Two Packer Ruins Office Morale Secret Santa Takes a Sour Turn By Taylor Perez

he Christmas episode is centered around the gift exchange between the staff of TDunder Mifflin. Michael bought a present for Ryan the temp, which ends up being a $400 iPod. The office had originally agreed on a $20 spending limit, but of course, Mi- chael decided to go above and beyond for one of his favorite employees. During the exchange, Michael receives his gift from Jim showing off his “office romance” for the cameras. Phyllis, which turns out to be a hand-made oven mitt. Once he takes the gift, he then By Tyler Dunn complains to the camera and says Phyllis’ gift means, “I only care about you a hand- he Sexual Harassment episode is centered made oven mitt’s worth.” This is where the around Michael Scott’s “best friend episode turns sour, because Michael decides Tforever” Todd Packer offends the staff with to change the game to “Yankee Swap,” which crude gossip about an upper management is basically “White Elephant.” The rules scandal. Toby Flenderson informs Michael of the game are simple, you can steal a that he will conduct a review of the com- gift from somebody who already has one, or pany’s sexual harassment policies because you can pick a new gift, and gifts that the CFO resigned after allegations made by have been stolen can only be stolen one his secretary. Michael’s indignation that time per round. Jim put a lot of thought this will put a damper on his easygoing into a gift for Pam, which ends up in the office environment rises to outrage when hands of Dwight. However, after realizing he learns that the corporate headquarters how much work Jim put into the gift, she is sending down a lawyer to talk to him. traded Dwight for the iPod. Once Jim real- Michael and the warehouse staff mock the izes that Pam has the gift he got for her, sexual harassment video, but the crude re- he instructs her to open the gift, where she marks come to a screeching halt when Jan finds even more presents. The camera catches Levinson and the lawyer arrive from Cor- Jim pulling out a note that he had written porate. This episode gave a dynamic side for Pam, which makes a reappearance later of Michael’s character, he switched from on in the series. Michael suckered Mere- his usual comments to try and compensate dith into the oven mitt, and Michael ended for his demeanor. The episode was layers up with a paintball session with Dwight. of crude homer layered on top of Pam an- The episode wraps up with the staff sing- ticipating her mother’s arrival. Once she ing karaoke and mingling with one another. arrives she immediately asks which mem- ber of the crew is Jim. Adding a layer of drama for Pam and foreshadowing what is to come in Casino Night. Episodes like this add layers of relatability to the mix, between Michael and his intensity or the embarrassment Pam has when her mother asked about Jim. It gives us moments to say “I feel that” and relate to it. Jim, Pam and Dwight give Michael a questioning look.

Page Four The Office Season Two Casino Night Stirs up Office Romances By Taylor Perez

he Casino Night episode is the final episode in season two, and Tthere are two love stories that take place in this episode. The first being Michael, Jan and Carol, and the second being Jim and Pam. While Jim and Pam have actual chemistry throughout the episode, Michael seems to imag- ine that he is in a love triangle with Jan and Carol. Dwight of course agrees to be his wingman, however, he does a terrible job right from the jump. These love stories are not the only focus of the episode, and the casino night is meant to benefit the Michael runs into trouble when Jan and Carol see each other at Boy Scouts of America. Michael tells casino night. Toby to invite a few Boy Scouts to attend the event towards the end of the night, and collect their check. However, Toby re- fuses to invite minors to the event, considering there will be alcohol and gambling. Since Michael already hates Toby, this small detail - even though Toby is completely correct in not inviting the scouts - makes Michael upset. In the background of many shots, you can see Creed stealing chips from tables, and they camera crew eventually catches him on film. At the end of the night, Creed wins the mini-fridge courtesy of Vance Refrigeration. Also towards the end of the episode, Jim finally confesses his feelings to Pam. He apol- ogizes to Pam for “misinterpret- ing” their friendship, and later on walks into the office where Pam is having a conversation over the phone with her mother. She hangs up the phone, and Jim kisses Pam. When he tries to go in for another kiss, she stops him, and Jim asks, “You’re really going to marry him, aren’t you?” Pam nods and Jim walks out of the office. While this may put a damper on their relationship, fans can look forward to episodes later in the series where their relationship sparks up once again.

Jim and Pam share a kiss outside of the office during the event.

Editorial Staff: Chloe Jones, Taylor Perez, Tyler Dunn A Note From The Editors: We want to thank our readers for their support! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, you can contact us at [email protected].

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