Ellie Kemper has been such a great addition to The Office as Erin -- Dunder Mifflin's sweet, adorable, and completely bizarre receptionist -- that an episode that's pretty much all about her seems like a no-brainer.
And "Secretary's Day" was a mostly likable episode, although the first 10 minutes or so left me with a question:
When did Michael start treating Erin like poison?
We've seen them getting along in the past, and Erin's weird mental flights of fancy ("Which decade would you want to be a teenager in?") seem like the type of thing Michael would actually sit and think about.
So it seemed out of character for him to call her a rube and not want to be seen with her.
Other than that, this was the episode that proved Kemper's apparent fear of being fired by the show is unfounded, as she got to be weird and goofy ("In the foster home, my hair was my room"), but also show actual emotion. (I really liked the scene between her and Pam at the end, and liked even better that she didn't immediately forgive Andy.)
Meanwhile, the Kevin subplot felt like it would be a chore at first, until his co-workers started doing their own Kevin-as-Cookie Monster impressions. (Thinking about Darryl doing the "nom-nom-nom" noise as Kevin actually eats a cookie is making me laugh as I write this.) Plus I liked the way it gave the staff something to bond over/rebel against as Sabre representative Gabe tried to assert his pathetic authority. (His phone call to corporate: "So I can reprimand them, but I can't suspend them...Oh, I can't do either...")
Other thoughts:
- I could've watched a whole episode that was just Erin babbling away at Michael: "I used to work at a Taco Bell express, then it got changed to a regular Taco Bell, and I couldn't keep up."
- Dwight thinks of Sesame Street as that show "where the puppets live in the barrio." He also loves it.
- Michael, on Andy: "I don't think he's the best dresser. Reminds me of Easter."
- So does Michael think the book that Precious was based on is a novelization of the movie, or did he actually manage to find a watered-down novelization? I can't decide which I find funnier.
- At the same time, it's also an example of classic Michael Scott obnoxiousness: not only is he listening to an audiobook with someone else in the car, it's one about horrifying child abuse. Bonus points for his passenger being Erin, who may not have lived through anything as bad as what's described in Precious, but certainly seems to have had an unhappy childhood.
- Andy: "If it wasn't for secretaries, I wouldn't have a step-mom."
Tom Coombe
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