Mrs. California

Had quite a few number of laughs after watching this episode of the office. Dwight Shrute's extremely funny gym ideas and Daryll's equally funny remarks had me rolling on the floor laughing my head off. However i could not connect with Robert California's sudden predicament. Could'nt the man who manipulated the very boss of the company into giving him her job manage to convince his wife into not joining the Scranton branch? Although it was funny, the very idea of seeing a helpless bob was very inconsistent with his image that we all have come to like and fear to the same extent :-) Here's hoping that the episodes that follow will have the same if not more humor quotient in them.

... Because the main story was awful. It was as if the writers were trying to apologize for how far they overplayed their pet character Robert California with a barely credible story about how much he fears confronting his perfectly pleasant wife. Andy played along admirably for a few awkward laughs but honestly this was one of several late-run low points for the show's writing.

It's sad that the B story (Dwight's Amish gym) is such a highlight. It would normally have made for a silly little window into Dwight's odd worldview, as seasons past had embraced with loving pity, but here it carries far too much of the burden for keeping the Office alive as we once knew it. Rather than silly, it was honestly a bit sad.

This episode is by far the best of what was turning out to be a very disappointing season of The Office. It's obviously next to impossible to continue producing episodes at such a high quality without Steve Carrell, but up until the previous episode "Gettysburg", the writing has been - off, to say the least. "Mrs. California" was a strong writing performance by Greg Daniels, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Jim was Jim again, with his dry wit and sheepishness. The opening was refreshing, to see Dwight in another of his obscure fixations- this time with the benefits of standing over sitting and thus becoming the victim of a decent Jim prank. Maura Tierney? Can anyone say "guest star of the year"? Not even for her performance, just because I've missed her on the sitcom swing since NewsRadio. She played the wife of CEO Robert California (James Spader) hopeful for employment at Dunder-Mifflin. Spader was hilarious, sending extremely mixed messages on whether or not Andy should hire his wife. Dwight's opening of a gym was also a nice touch, my favorite line of the episode coming after Dwight tells Darryl he plans to make him look like LeBron James "it's LeJon Brames." "That's what I said...". Craig Robinson is a great actor, and I'm not sure if Darryl wants to leave Dunder-Mifflin or if the actor wants to leave the show. Convincing performance or convenient coincidence? This episode was top-notch, and was by leaps and bounds the season's best.

He is usually tolerable but in this episode he is insanely infuriating. I can barely watch this episode. Only good thing is Dwight. But Robert sucks. He makes no sense and is an idiot.

The whole Dwight and Darryl's interaction/dynamic has gotten more interesting after the ending, Jim running around was funny/hilarious and Creed being creed was classic office for me. I truly hated Robert this episode, usually he's optimistic but this episode he was completely insufferable. This would've been one of the best episodes of the season if not for him.