The Office: "Business Ethics" (Ep 2)

Holly Flax (Amy Ryan) is the new Pam, so move over Beesley! I'm not sure whether the writers meant for that to happen, but EVERYONE loves Amy Ryan, and for good reasons. Pam wasn't even present in the episode, only her voice on the phone in the openner. It's interesting to see the progression these characters go through, and it's exciting to have Holly being the featured woman this season.

One thing was made very, very obvious in regards to Holly. She is indeed a complete dork, but she is NOT stupid. Michael is a dork and, lets face it, is pretty dumb. Many of the viewers have compared the two of them and argued that Holly is the female Michael. I don't see that at all anymore. It was very apparent that regardless of what people thought, Holly has a commitment to morality and takes her job seriously.

On to the episode...

Jim announces that he and Pam are engaged. No one is surprised or happy other than Michael. He may be dumb, but we all love him. His view that the office is a "family" really endears him. It may be a really naive way to think of the work place, but Michael does have a genuine love for everyone in the office, in various ways (especially now that Toby is gone).

We are then treated to a more than uncomfortable rendition of Olivia Newton John's "Lets get physical" performed by Holly and Michael. They were really creative and changed "physical" to "ethical." Lol, the awkwardness alone of them dancing around with sweatbands on their heads was enough to get me laughing. The meeting, however didn't go quite as well as planned. Holly was instructed to read from the binder...which of course is really boring. When Michael intervenes to spice it up, things get out of hand. And of course, everyone has "immunity" for whatever they say. Uh, no, Michael. No.

Kelly confesses that she downloads pirated music onto her work computer, Angela admits to reporting Oscar to INS (and she's NOT sorry), and most shocking of all...Meredith. Oh Meredith. This woman is the QUEEN of everything inappropriate and awful, but we love her, right? Well, for six years, she's been exchanging sex with the office supplies dude for discounts for the office...and Outback Steakhouse gift certificates. WHAT??????????????????

Holly, of course, throws a fit. And she should, because this is a HUGE deal. No one else seems to care, though, and Michael disagrees with Holly about the gravity of the situation. This leads to the most uncomfortable moment of the episode. Holly makes a call to the Human Resources Director at corporate--Kendall. And we all know how David Wallace (DM CFO) feels about Kendall. Well, we all know why. He berates Holly for making a big deal out of nothing, and poor Holly is left to be a minority with her ideals. :( WE LOVE YOU HOLLY!

The best part of the episode was the side story involving Jim and Dwight. FINALLY--another prank! I've missed seeing these two interact in a more jovial way. Dwight states that he NEVER steals company time, which inspires Jim to carry around a stopwatch to time all of the time that Dwight wastes arguing with various people in the office. Just to tempt him, he talks with Andy about Battlestar Galactica (getting it confused with Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and every other nerd-fest sci-fi show or move). Fantastic. And Dwight is obviously pained, but won't quit working to argue. He even takes it as far as peeing in a bottle under his desk! Woah, dude, keep the bottle in a drawer or something. However, the company time argument doesn't keep him from a 20 minute tryst with Angela...who really needs to just dump Andy already. Poor Andy.

Anyways, enough summary. Let's get to the good stuff-- QUOTES! =D

Ryan: Ok, elephant in the room. Let's talk about it. Do I regret what I did? Of course I do. Even though it was an amazing ride, and I'll give you an example. Anyone see Survivor season six? Anyone know Joanna on that show? In New York City, I hooked up with a girl who looked exactly like that. Indistinguishable. So...
Michael: Ok. Well done. Good speech Ryan, you're a good guy.

Ok, Joanna is NOT that attractive. This was totally random and had me ROLLING.

Kelly: Why is ok for smokers to take breaks all the time? If I want to go outside and hang out once an hour, then I'll just take up smoking. I'll do it. I don't care.
Meredith: I'll smoke with you. I got a bag of cigars in my purse.

Michael: You need to be Robin Williams and M. Night Shyamalan. You need to be Robin Shyamalan.

Michael: You are a thief of joy. [in reference to Dwight]

Angela: I once reported Oscar to the INS. Turns out he's clean, but I'm glad I did it.

Meredith: Exchange of steak. Have you ever had sirloin steak, honey?

Meredith: There's not a lot of fruit in those looms.
Micheal: Ughh! For the love of God we're trying to help you... stupid bag.

Michael: Istn't it? Yeah, it's kind of... business/romantic. So you're from Des Moines?
Holly: Mmm.
Michael: Wow, that sounds so... warm.

Jim: Story's kinda bland. It's about this guy named Dumbledore Calrissian who needs to return the ring back to Mordor.
Andy: Really? That doesn't sound right. [About Battlestar Galactica]

*sigh* good stuff.

What are your thoughts on the episode? What do you think will happen next? The Office airs on Thursdays at 9:00pm on NBC.