The Office, season 6, episode 6, "The Lover"

Episode Summary:

Jim and Pam are back from their honeymoon. Michael tries out his new character that he made up at improv class, a blind guy whose blindness gets him into trouble. He tells the camera, "All the women in my improv class hate him!"

Dwight gives Jim a wooden duck as a gift to celebrate Jim's promotion. Dwight, of course, has ulterior motives. He has dug out the inside of the duck and puts in an audio recorder so that he can spy on Jim.

Michael tells Jim that he is involved with Pam's mom. Jim insists that Michael has to break it off immediately and never tell Pam. Of course, Michael cannot keep his mouth shut, and Pam runs out of his office screaming.

Jim decides to mess with Dwight after he found the recording device in the duck. He calls Andy into his office and plays loud opera music to cover up their conversation. Jim tells Andy that he's playing the music to commemorate Dwight's birthday, and Andy says that Jim knows nothing about Dwight if he thinks Dwight would like loud opera music. Andy leaves Jim's office, and when Dwight asks Andy what the meeting was about, Andy replies that he won't tell Dwight. It would only make him mad.

Michael runs a contest to get the office more in touch with their community, but Pam cannot get over the fact that Michael is sleeping with her mother. The whole office finds out that Michael is sleeping with Pam's mom, and for the most part, they are disgusted. Michael speaks up for himself, though, and asks what is so wrong about him finding happiness, even if it is with Pam's mother. Pam refuses to back down, and the meeting turns into a full out war of words. Pam lets loose all the things she has always wanted to say to Michael, which is both vindicating and slightly frightening. At this point, Michael could probably fire Pam for her behavior.

Jim gives Kelly the duck from Dwight, which means he has to listen to Kelly's inane conversation about fedoras. The workplace is terribly tense after the fight between Pam and Michael, so Michael goes to Toby, hoping to diffuse the situation. Toby tries to talk to Pam, and instead of making things better, Michael and Pam start yelling at each other again. Pam tells Michael that she doesn't care about his happiness. All she wants is for him to stop dating her mother. Michael refuses and says that he is going to date Pam's mother "even harder."

In the last bit of the episode, Dwight reveals that he didn't put the recorder in the duck. He put it in a pen which he left in Jim's office. The duck was a decoy!



Final Thoughts:

Tonight's episode felt like a season 2 episode. Michael was a buffoon, but when he pleaded to the office that he just wanted to be happy, I couldn't help but feel for the guy. Jim and Pam were adorable and drama-free, Dwight pulled off a pretty smart sabotage of Jim, and Stanley had some of the best reactions all season. Also, Pam showed once again why she is fancy new Beesly. She stands up for herself, even at the expense of Michael's feelings. Also, this episode might go into my top three favorite of the season just because of one little moment. When Michael tells Pam she is just like her mother because she is stubborn and "won't do things," Stanley giggles like a little kid. Outstanding, Stanley, outstanding.