The Office: Job Fair

Posted by: Ariana  •  May 10, 2008 @ 12:15am

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

Michael is going to a job fair – at a high school – to find some interns. They let high school students intern now? Oscar, Pam and Darryl are coming with, and Darryl's put on a tie for the occasion (Kelly: "Oh. My. God. Everybody, I'm dating Barack Obama!", so that's still going on), while Michael has put on jeans and sneakers. Michael gets all snobby about the warehouse interns not going to college, so Darryl puts him in place in short order: "What college did you go to, Mike?" (I love when he calls him Mike; I just really think of Michael as a Michael, so hearing him called Mike puts a whole new spin on things.)

Man, the credits are old school. Ryan had even worse hair back then.

Jim tells us in an interview that he's taking a potential client golfing because of the whole probation thing, and that he's boldly going where he has never gone before in this job: the Land of Trying. Kevin and Andy (in stupid hats) are along, presumably for no other reason than to make the potential client (Bill) feel awkward. Whose big idea was that, anyway? Andy, by the by, has mad blisters on his hands from practicing so hard the night before. AT GOLF, you perv.

Over at the job fair, Dunder Mifflin has set up a booth centered around... one sheet of paper. Michael's justification is that a blank sheet of paper represents a world of possibilities. The students do not seem impressed. A little later on, Pam talks up a nice-seeming, pimply-faced kid, but Michael doesn't think he's good enough for Dunder Mifflin, so he scares the poor kid off. Meanwhile, at the office, Dwight is trying to maintain some semblance of order in Michael's, Jim's and Andy's absences. It's not going well, because everyone wants to leave early. Which they do, except for Angela. Hrrmmmm... Dwight calls Michael to tattle, but Michael doesn't care.

Jim's not having much more success with the potential client, who just wants to play golf and enjoy his day outside the office. Too bad for Bill, he's a terrible golfer. Then, as Andy is setting up a shot, Jim's cell phone rings. It's Pam, bemoaning the fact that Michael just made her drive 20 miles round trip back to the office for a single sheet of white paper (a new one, since the pimply kid wrote on the other one), and in a moment of utter cute, Jim just goes, "Oh, I like you," before saying a quick goodbye. I don't know about you, but I just died from the adorable.

And then, OH MY GOSH, Andy and Kevin go racing to the next hole (winner gets ten bucks!) and Andy crashes his golf cart, positively launching himself into a sandtrap. It's AMAZING. I know how easily those things tip, dude – although, he didn't so much tip it as... like, jam it into an embankment or something. I don't know, I've watched it about ten times, and I still can't tell exactly what happened because there's a little rise in the way. But oh man, it never stops being funny. "Shortcut, shortcut!" *crash* "Hu-whoa!"

Luckily (?), Andy's fine, and thusly, Jim is annoyed. This ridiculousness is not helping his case with Bill.

Michael's desperate, so he goes hunting down the pimply kid (Justin), makes a lot of lame jokes about his name ("Just...in case! Just...in time!"), and then tells us about how Justin is like the ugly girl in the movie who takes off her glasses and turns out to be hot and really she was hot all along, but you were the one who was blind. You know, like Rachael Leigh Cook. Michael creeps Justin right out as he begs him, unsuccessfully, to take the internship. There is a point in the exchange where Michael pisses Pam right off, and as she storms away from the table, Michael tells Justin that even though he'd never say this to her face, Pam's a wonderful person and a gifted artist. Oscar asks what we all want to know: "Why wouldn't you say that to her face?" Indeed.

Post-golf, Andy can't drink his beer properly because of his blistered hands, so he ends up with a straw. Kevin's adding up all the bets from the game, and I learn that Bill is actually Phil. My bad. Jim finally coerces Phil into giving Dunder Mifflin his business, using some fancy car-blocking technique I wouldn't know anything about. Also, Jim shot a 102 game, so he's happy with himself. I wonder how easy the course was.

Dwight and Angela, alone at the office, keep having Moments, while Michael is making a fool of himself at the job fair. Honestly, sometimes when I watch him, it's like I'm experiencing one of those nightmares where I'm on stage and I don't know what we're doing and I don't have my costume and OH DEAR GOD I'M IN THE FRONT ROW how has this happened??? Only he isn't mortified by himself.

The job fair crew heads back to the office, where they come upon the golf crew beering it up, so Pam knows Jim closed the deal. She hugs him and they share what is not an awkward kiss, until they suddenly become camera-conscious and go in for the handshake instead. Jim looks over at the camera and he's like, "Eff it," and they pretty much full-on make out. Kevin and Andy hum porny music. Jim looks really cute in his baseball cap. Michael admires that Jim could do anything and yet chooses to work at Dunder Mifflin, selling paper, just like Michael. He walks right up to Jim and Pam, still kissing, and he's all up in their grill, like, "Yeah, kiss her. Kiss her good," and I get that stage fright nightmare feeling again.

In the tag, we're back at the job fair, and Pam's talking to a graphic design guy about a job. He mentions a bunch of software she should know, and when she says she doesn't know any of it, he suggests she check out adult education in the area, but if she's really serious, she should look into some schools in New York or Philadelphia. Hrrmmmmm.

Tags: The Office, Jim Halpert

Related Posts

• Five Things You Need To Know Before You Become A Critic
• Top Fives: The First Five Times The Office Jumped the Shark
• The Office: Goodbye, Michael
• The Office: Michael's Last Dundies
• The Office: Training Day

Original Comments Posted (1)

sarahm says...

I pretty much love Kevin. I realize he's just a bit character but he's my favorite part of the show.

May 14, 2008 4:22pm

Comments Posted ()