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Recap / The Office USS 2 E 8 Performance Review

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It's Performance Review time company-wide. Michael asks everyone for advice about his relationship with Jan. It's Thursday, but Dwight thinks it's Friday, and Jim further tricks him into believing it.

Air date : November 15, 2005

Tropes

  • Beauty Contest: Angela was a pageant contestant when she was younger.
    Angela: I enjoy being judged.
  • Blatant Lies: Michael claims he goes through the suggestion box every week. The very first suggestion he reads is about the Y2K scare, which was five years prior. The second is a request for depression outreach from an employee who killed himself a year prior.
  • Brick Joke: Dwight points out he's never late or absent. At the end of the episode, after Jim and Pam convinced him it was Friday instead of Thursday, he's late to work the next day because he originally thought it was Saturday.
    Michael: Never missed a day, my ass.
  • Comically Missing the Point: After being on the receiving end of Jan's The Reason You Suck Speech (see below), Michael's primary takeaway is that his looks weren't a problem for her.
  • Did They or Didn't They?: What happened between Michael and Jan in "The Client" is still a big topic of office discussion. Kevin flat out says they had sex, and the awkward way Michael and Jan interact when she shows up pushes him even more toward that conclusion.
  • Driven to Suicide: Tom, a former accountant. Apparently, also the impetus for the whole documentary (see Trivia tab).
  • Foreshadowing: In the opener, Dwight boasts that his exercise ball improves sex and Jim glibly replies "You're not having sex, Dwight." Dwight gives an Aside Glance at the camera, implying Jim is dead wrong on that front. Later in the episode, when Angela hears gossip concerning Michael and Jan, she coldly states that office romances are none of anyone's business, implying she took personal offense. The next episode reveals that the two of them are having a secret affair.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: Dwight plays air guitar to "Wild Side" by Mötley Crüe in the stairwell to psych himself up for his review.
  • Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Rather than simply back off and give Jan some time to think things over, Michael goes full-tilt into pursuing a relationship with her. He even explicitly uses romance novel terminology to describe the situation.
    Michael: We just sort of got caught up in the moment. The vulnerable divorcée gives herself to the understanding, with rugged good looks, office manager.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Michael has spent the whole episode trying to get Jan to talk about the night they spent together. She loses it and tells him how awful he is.
  • Superficial Suggestion Box: Michael insists on reviewing the suggestion box while his boss, Jan, is in the office conducting his performance review. Despite Michael's insistence that they read from the box weekly, the first suggestion he pulls out regards Y2K, five years prior to when the episode aired. Another is just a piece of gum thrown away in a sheet of paper. Finally, he pulls out a request for depression outreach, which Michael mocks, from an employee who killed himself a year prior.
  • Token Black Friend: For once, Stanley plays along with Michael treating him this way, telling Michael about life in "the ghetto", since he figures it'll lead Michael to give him a generous raise.

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