Quick Take: The Office, “Ultimatum”
“I'm really excited for Michael either way, because if Holly chooses to be with him, he will be so, so happy. And if not, he'll be avoiding the biggest mistake of his life.” - Erin
Review: The Office, “Ultimatum”
(S0712) It has been way too long since “Classy Christmas” aired, when Holly presented AJ with an ultimatum to either get engaged by New Year’s or break up. The answer to that question was answered tonight and who knows what is going to happen now.
Everyone returns to work after New Year’s and Michael waits for Holly to come back to see if she is engaged to AJ. As the office members are making their way into work, Michael is setting up a sad box and a happy box in his office with Erin, for whatever the outcome turns out to be. The sad box includes two bottles of whisky, a ukulele as something to break, and gummy bears (“bears sad, worms happy... come on, Erin.”). In the happy box are gummy worms, confetti, champagne, party hats and whistles. Michael has also made some videos to either cheer him up if sad or as a celebration if he is happy.
When Holly walks into the office, she is wearing gloves and Michael tries to feel them for a ring. Kelly, Pam, and Kevin follow her back to her desk and she lets them know that she is not engaged. I laughed so hard when she showed them her index fingers and then Kevin, thinking they were her middle fingers, flipped her off and said “right back at you bitch.” Michael heads back to his office and goes crazy thinking Holly and AJ broke up. He puts on his party hat and sprays Erin with champagne. When Michael actually goes back to talk to Holly, he realizes that she and AJ are still together. I love Steve Carell and Amy Ryan’s chemistry and their characters. If it were anybody else talking like extra terrestrials to each other, it might not be as funny. Equally funny was Kelly, behind her cubicle, telling them to stop.
Pam decides she wants to motivate everyone more as the office coordinator and makes a New Year’s resolution board with everybody’s name on it. She gets everybody to put a resolution on an index card and they are going to try to work on them together. There are some good resolutions such as Michael’s (to floss) and Kevin’s (to eat more vegetables). Angela wants to be more romantic and Creed wants to do a cartwheel.
Dwight decides his resolution is to meet a loose woman and Andy changes his to the same. Darryl gives Andy and Dwight advice to pick up women at a book store, but really he just wants to go there to get a book because his resolution is to read more and he wants a ride so he can eat his sandwich. The trio ends up at the book store, and then the roller rink, with Dwight making a side trip to a strip club. Alas, not one loose woman was found by the end of their trip.
At Pam’s resolution meeting, Michael flips out and forces Kevin to eat broccoli and makes fun of Creed for not being able to do a cart wheel. He yells at everybody for not coming through on their resolutions, but is obviously aiming his rant towards Holly. She leaves the room and when he goes to talk to her, she doesn’t want to. Michael then brings Creed and Kevin to apologize with Holly there, telling her he wants an HR rep in the room. He tells Creed and Kevin that he cares about them very much and he is sorry. Once again he is aiming this towards Holly. She goes back to her desk to call AJ and tells him that she wants to cool things down until she comes home to Nashua.
This was a good first episode of 2011 and I don’t think I laughed out loud at an episode so much in a while. The stories balanced each other out and I have to hand it to Pam for always trying to bring something good to the office. The Andy / Dwight / Darryl story was entertaining and the three make a good trio. My only complaint was: where was Jim in all of this?
With the news of Steve Carell’s early departure, it will be interesting to see where this is going to go. Either Holly will go back to Nashua with Michael in tow or she will head off alone. I am a romantic though and would like to see them together. In other Office news this week, the announcement of Ricky Gervais coming to Scranton was made and he will appear as none other than David Brent. If you have not seen the British version of the Office, I highly recommend doing so at once.
Other quality moments:
Video: The Office, “Ultimatum”
Check out the episode in full from Hulu, while available:
