You Can Be Gay With Matt, But Be Straight With Me

As much as I can't stand Jim and Pam's smugness - exacerbated by this season's wedding and baby - the Office still occasionally wows me. Last week's happy hour episode was incredible. The premise was on par with Sideways-level realism. The reason Sideways was one of, if not the, best movie of the past decade was the "realism" factor. That movie spoke to me - directly. I felt in watching that film, the way life has felt for me in the more interesting and dramatic moments. It is nearly impossible to capture that essence in a movie. I love all sorts of movies for their craft and their story, but very few, I love for their realism or relatability. And the Office captured it last week. The Office and Parks and Rec both are able to sometimes tap into it. A credit to Greg Daniels...

The premise was excellent. Oscar has a crush on a warehouse dude. He tries to organize a great big office happy hour to get Matt to come. (not unlike Gatsby doing for Daisy). And that's the whole premise of the show. A few extra characters show up to the happy hour and Michael, in perfect quixotic form, tries to turn into "Date Mike," using his encyclopedic knowledge of reality tv dating shows to try and impress a nice girl. The irony, of course, is Mike being himself is quite charming with the girl and it is only when he realizes he is on a date, does he turn into a total d-bag (kangol hat - perfect detail) and instead ends up wooing the cougar bar manager. Brilliant and tragic.