“The Office,“ season 6, episode 7, “Koi Pond“
29-Oct-2009 Written by: Rachel Kolb
On the way to a meeting, Michael falls into a koi pond, and Pam and Andy are mistaken for a married couple on their sales calls.
Episode Summary:
Michael welcomes the children of the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton branch into the haunted house which is housed in the warehouse. In a great blink-and-you-missed it moment, Michael calls Darryl a “gangster pumpkin.” After a confusing mixture of vampires, hobos, and spiders, Michael appears hanging from a rope and says, “Suicide is never the answer.” Darryl simply stares at him and asks, “What is wrong with you?”
A client insists that Michael accompany Jim on a meeting, but at the meeting, Michael ends up falling into a koi pond. The situation creates some of the show’s best one-liners from the rest of the office.
Meanwhile, Pam and Andy are on a cold call together. Pam and Andy are mistaken for a couple, and Pam laughs out loud, hurting Andy’s pride. The second time they are mistaken for a couple, Andy laughs out loud and makes the situation extremely awkward by saying Pam is the surrogate for him and his supermodel girlfriend’s baby.
Michael calls a “sensitivity training” meeting and makes a “Do Not Mock” list. Dwight doesn’t want people to make fun of his small nose. Kevin doesn’t want people to make fun of his weight. Meredith doesn’t want people to make fun of her having had sex with a terrorist. Angela doesn’t want to be compared to a squirrel. During the meeting, Michael finds out that one of the koi fish died because he stepped on his head, and they are asking that Michael pay $300 to replace the fish.
Pam and Andy find out that by posing as a couple, people are more willing to do business with them, so they start going along with it when potential clients think that they are a couple. An interesting revelation that comes out of their act, though, is that Andy knows the names of prominent birthing coaches in the area.
Jim suggests that Michael should laugh at himself instead of trying to shut down the teasing. Michael’s self-teasing, however, turns sad and depressing. He tried to get one of those phone plans with the five friends calling circle, and he realized that he doesn’t even have five friends. Michael starts crying and retreats into his office.
Meredith is friends with the night janitor at the building where Michael fell into the koi pond, and the night janitor sends over the tape of Michael falling into the pond. After watching the tape, though, the office discovers that Jim could have prevented Michael from falling into the pond. Jim apologizes to Michael, and the office now has a new target for ridicule: Jim.
Final Thoughts:
This season is just getting progressively better and better. Between Michael’s “Do Not Mock” list and the office’s awesome fish-related one-liners, “Koi Pond” was one of the best episodes this season. Also, the writers are really starting to utilize Andy’s character this season, which is a relief to Ed Helm fans everywhere. I am awarding “Koi Pond” with the distinction of being season 2-level of quality, much like last week’s episode, “The Lover.” My thanks go out to the writers on “The Office” who just keep on finding new ways to make me laugh.
