recap: the office- "beach games"

first of all, let me say god bless jeff zucker for creating the concept of supersized episodes. with that said, last night's office episode was hilarious!

*spoiler alert! if you haven't watched the office "beach games" episode from 5.10.07 (shame on you), don't continue reading.*

the episode starts off hilariously with dwight in michael's office, trying to figure out what's "medically wrong" with michael. dwight asks him when he started feeling sick. michael replies "about 10 minutes ago." dwight replies back, "you mean when i brought in the paperwork?"

pam: About 40 times a year, Michael gets really sick, but has no symptoms. Dwight is always gravely concerned.

dwight tells him to point at the part where it hurts so he can help diagnose him.

dwight: you have to point to a specific part of the body.
michael: right there.
dwight: “abdomen. menses.”
michael: maybe.
dwight: “the uterus contracts after your egg passes through it.”
michael: not it. I don’t have eggs.

pam comes in and tells michael that he has a call from the CFO of dunder-mifflin. david (the CFO) tells michael that he's calling because michael is being considered for a job at corporate. after embarassing himself for a few moments (spilling the details about "breaking jan's heart"), david tells him to drive to ny the following week with his figures along with a recommendation for his replacement in scranton.

the next day, the staff is dressed and ready for "a day at the beach". of course michael is wearing his sandals t-shirt under his hawaiian shirt. after telling poor toby that he can't go (because "someone has to stay at the office"), the rest of the crew boards the party bus. michael tells them that they'll all be participating in "fun activities. fun-tivities" (my favorite line of the night). everyone but pam is allowed to participate. michael tells her she has to take notes for him on everyone's performance so he can evaluate them later.
they arrive at the lake and michael picks team captains (dwight, jim, stanley, and andy). they each pick team names.

dwight: we will be called gryffindor.

jim: really? not slytherin?

dwight: Slytherin are the bad guys, jim.

jim: i know. okay, we will be voldemort.

dwight: he who must not be named? I wouldn’t do that.

jim: vol-de-mort, vol-de-mort …

stanley picks "blue team" and andy picks "team usa". michael reluctantly tells the staff that they're all competing to be his replacement because he's being considered for a job at corporate. later we see jim and karen talking to david the CFO on the phone saying they want to be considered for the corporate job. they take part in various activities (carrying an egg on a spoon blindfolded, hot dog eating contest, sumo wrestling, and walking across fire).no one wants to walk across the fire until michael does it, so he attempts to, but chickens out. dwight shows michael his dedication and walks across the coals (and burns himself).
later we see michael talking to the staff telling them that they're going to have "tribal council" and vote. he asks jim to reveal why he would be a good replacement. jim tells michael he doesn't want to be considered for the regional manager job because he's going to meet with david in ny about the corporate job.

meanwhile, pam is by the coals and works up the courage to walk across them. she then approaches the staff and says she's been trying to be more honest lately. she asks everyone (rhetorically) why they didn't go to her art show. she says she feels invisible at the office. but the biggest revelation, she tells jim she called off her wedding for him! along with other crap. it was fantastic!

pam: hey, i want to say something. i’ve been trying to be more honest lately and i just need to say a few things. i did the coal walk! just, i did it. michael, you couldn’t even do that. maybe i should be your boss. wow, i feel really good right now. why didn’t any of you come to my art show? i invited all of you. that really sucked. it’s like sometimes, some of you act like i don’t even exist. jim, i called off my wedding because of you. and now we’re not even friends. and things are just like weird between us, and that sucks. and i miss you. you were my best friend before you went to stamford. and i really miss you. i shouldn’t have been with roy, and there were a lot of reasons to call off my wedding. but the truth is, i didn’t care about any of those reasons until i met you. and now you’re with someone else, and that’s fine. it’s … whatever. that’s not what i’m … i’m not … okay my feet really hurt. the thing that i’m just trying to say to you, jim, and to everyone else in the circle i guess, is that i miss having fun with you. just you, not everyone in the circle. okay, i am gonna go walk in the water now. yeah, it’s a good day.

michael: pam, that was amazing. but i am still looking for someone with a sales background.

if you missed last night's episode, nbc released a promo for next week's finale. the promo doesn't have any new scenes, but it does make for a good recap of last night. and there's stuff that i didn't include in the recap. but you should watch the 40 minutes of goodness for yourself. if you can't, watch the promo here: