The Office: Gossip

Posted by: Lawrence Lee  •  September 18, 2009 @ 7:28am

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

The 6th season premiere of The Office starts off by showing just how delusional Michael Scott is. He's running around the workplace with his two lackeys (Dwight and Andy), attempting what he believes is parkour. Instead of believing that parkour is about finding the most efficient way of traversing environment, Michael interprets it as being creative (and stupid) with obstacles. It is in this delusion, that he doesn't realize the impact that his game of parkour has on the office environment, including the disruption of work, and the potential for injury.

Michael's delusions and gross unprofessionalism continues, as a result of his desire of wanting to belong. After having a lonely childhood, he is still overcompensating by making too strong of an effort to be social so that he can fit in. It is in this process, that Michael completely neglects the duties of his position, as in his search for gossip, he displays his lack of understanding of social and organizational psychology.

This is where the real pain begins. Michael finds out from the interns, who don't take him seriously, that Stanley was having an affair. To make matters worse, Michael is reveling in the attention that he received, and spreads the rumour around, until Stanley admits that his vulnerability led to the affair. In typical Michael Scott fashion, his solution only creates more problems, as he attempts to damage control by deliberately spreading false rumours. It is with this asinine logic, that Michael believes that the proliferation of lies can dilute one true rumour. Like most times, Michael's plan backfires, and turns the entire office against him. It is at this time, however, that both Jim and Pam decide to confirm the one (other) true rumour -- that Pam is indeed pregnant -- to prevent everyone from believing that Stanley indeed had an affair.

Unlike three season premiers ago, when Michael spread a rumour that got out of hand, this episode's victim is taking it much less passively than Oscar did. Instead, Stanley continues the running joke of a vehicle in the parking lot getting vandalized. It is truly surreal to see an employee relentlessly smash his manager's car with a tire iron, only to know that he won't be fired the next day at work.

Tags: The Office, Gossip, Michael Scott, Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, mini-recap, season 6, premiere, sitcom

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