"You took me by the hand, made me a man, that one night, you made everything alright..."

At last! The first of 6 remaining new episodes of The Office aired last Thursday! I am a bit delayed in writing anything about it, I know, but better late than never, right?

"Dinner Party" focused on the office relationships, including Jim/Pam, Andy/Angela/Dwight, Michael/Dwight, and, most excruciatingly, Jan/Michael. Oh, and Pam/Michael. Hahaha, how amazing was it that Michael not only told Jan that he and Pam had any kind of relationship, and that Jan believed him? It was so ridiculous, and added so much more tension to the party. Many episodes of The Office have been extremely awkward, but they often provided some sort of relief in the form of a parallel storyline. "Dinner Party" held us captive in Michael's condo.

I loved all of the little details, like Pam's reaction when Dwight showed up ("Awesome!"), Jan's attempt to dance with Jim (was it maybe to make Pam jealous since Jan "knew" about Michael and Pam?), Jim's apartment being flooded, the St. Paul's girl beer light, the liberal use of "babe"... yeesh.

Some people I talked to felt that this was not the episode they had been waiting for after all this time, with the strike and all. That the episode should have been filled with outright hilarious moments, with alllll of The Office gang, rather than a select few. But it was the episode they had been planning to film right before the strike began, so why should they have changed the course of the show? I think it showed the genius of the whole cast and crew, to be able to pull off the awkwardness and still make it funny.

I wonder where Jan and Michael will go from here. We knew Michael was miserable, and Jan had gone crazy, but not quite this far. I hope something happens soon, because I can't imagine living in a condo filled with the smell of Serenity by Jan. Remember how excited Michael was, in "Office Olympics," to be a homeowner? How sad is it that he is now relegated to a bench at the foot of the bed, surrounded by eggshell colored walls and photos of Jan with other men?

PS: I read online that there may be a spin-off, also created by Greg Daniels, coming in 2009. This worries me, because spin-offs are generally... not so good. I wonder who and what the spin-off would be about, and where it would take place. I don't want to think about anyone leaving the show for a spin-off, because then the show would not be the same. What would make it a good new show? I don't know.
PPS: According to the writers of this episode, the song by Hunter, Jan's former assistant, is about Jan. Ew? (Office Tally q&a)