The Office - "Money" (Episode 404)

Michael just watched "The Devil Wears Prada" (he gets his Netflix rentals sent to the office, so he can watch bits and pieces of movies during his down time) and is modeling his management style on Meryl Streep's character. The next day, he apologizes because he saw the end of the movie and found out Meryl's character was the bad guy. He's now watching "Million Dollar Baby" and Pam thinks he's going to kill her.

Jan and Michael are pouring over fabric swatches in his office. Michael found one that matched the color of his eyes ("People have said I have very pretty eyes. I haven't heard the same about you.") Jan's ordered carpet and a new couch. Michael said they already had a couch, but Jan insisted that a futon was not a couch. Michael's getting a little concerned about the cost of this. Money's been a little tight lately. Ryan wants all of the salespeople to use PowerPoint. Dwight is renting out rooms in his farmhouse ("We make our own mattresses, so they don't conform to normal sizes.") He says it's "Agro-tourism", but it sounds a lot like a bed and breakfast. Pam calls to "make a reservation" and says she read about the farm on Trip Advisor ("the lifeblood of the Agro-Tourism industry.")

Jan needs to borrow the car - they used to have 2, but got rid of one, which made "good economic sense". Unfortunately, the one car they do have is a Porsche ("for Jan.") How's Michael going to get to his Improv? Dwight is giving Angela back the things she left at his house. Dwight is relieved that they broke up, he now can "sow his wild oats" (which in the Schrute family is taken quite literally.) Kevin is taking part in a band competition and asks everyone to come and support his band "Scrantonicity 2" - not "Scrantonicity". Knowing that Michael "has a thing", Jim asks him if his invitation for dinner still stood - he and Pam only had that night free. Way to weasel out of that one, Jim. Michael takes a bus to his second job - as a telemarketer for a weight loss company.

Jim and Pam head out to Dwight's farm (the "Beets Motel", as Pam calls it.) Michael says he took on the second job as a hobby, because he loves sales. Dwight tells Pam n' Jim that the farmhouse has 3 rooms with different themes - America, Irrigation and Nighttime (I think.) They opt for the Irrigation room. When Dwight asks if they have any special requests, Jim asks for a bedtime story. They go to the room, "decorated" with what looks like are old pipes and stuff. Dwight promises to get them for the tablemaking demonstration. Michael's new boss calls everyone into the conference room. Michael says the meetings are "useless." He tries to be the smarty pants, but the boss says he really can't do that until he's made a sale. Ouch. Back at the farm, Jim guesses there's a one in six chance they'll be murdered. The farm stay is actually their first night away together. Jim pictured it differently (without Dwight and without "so much" manure.) Michael continues to try to sell and calls Stanley, who was not happy that his boss called his house. Michael went off script and was chastised by his new boss. Dwight reads from "Harry Potter" to the kids. How sweet. Michael sees that his co-worker has a yummy Indian meal, poor Michael has to suffice with a Powerbar. His co-worker shares his dinner and they talk about his career back in India (he was a doctor. Michael felt if that man was a doctor, he would be chief of surgery. Or a cowboy.) There's a thumping sound outside of the farmhouse and Pam goes to investigate. She finds Dwight's brother in an outhouse with the door flopping open from the wind (hence the thumping.) Michael is leading a discussion on the "Die Hard" movies. He's quite popular with his co-workers. Now there's moaning at the farm, and it's Jim's turn to check it out. It's Dwight, crying over the loss of Angela (he's clutching her cherub figurine that he neglected to return to her.)

Michael's shift is done, and Jan picks him up. She's had a little too much wine. The next morning, everybody shows up tired. Great day for Ryan, juiced up on Red Bull, to arrive. He's there to introduce everyone to the PowerPoint presentation. He wasn't prepared at all - he hadn't even loaded PowerPoint onto the computers. Ryan finds out about Michael's second job and tells him he can't have a second job if it interferes with his work at Dunder-Miflin. Their conversation is interrupted by Kelly laughing. She's invited Darryl to the meeting (trying to ruffle Ryan's feathers, no doubt.) Ryan sends Darryl back to the warehouse - but not before he gets a kiss from Kelly. Michael asks Ryan to run the presentation, and then the whole office gets into a discussion over grammar. Ryan tells Michael that he has to quit his second job or else he will be fired.

Michael has never quit anything in his life, so we were seeing "history." He says he was never in it for the money, but "money is an absolute necessity." Andy's still trying to woo Angela. He asks Pam to set them up. She says that they might not be good together - Angela's very religious. Andy's a WASP, so he "goes back to Moses." Angela's "severe", but Andy put his fist through a wall. Pam thinks they might actually be a good couple, but she couldn't do that to Dwight. ("Or Angela. Or Andy.") Michael asks Kevin about gambling. He's thinking about starting up himself and asks Kevin for tips (rigged fights and such.) Michael asks Oscar for "another advance" on his salary. Kelly tries to make plans with Darryl, but he has his daughters that night. Kelly doesn't like to be number 2, and knocks over all of the file folders in his office. The gang are talking about Michael's money problems. Stanley thinks Jan is "spending him into the poorhouse." Michael comes into the breakroom and Oscar asks if he's having money problems. Michael denied having "monkey problems" and suggests he took a second job because he was having an affair with Suzanne Somers. Darryl says Kelly only gets excited about him when Ryan's around. Darryl says Kelly has to get over her craziness if their relationship is going to work out. Kelly says Darryl is the most complicated man she's ever met. ("Who says exactly what they're thinking?") Creed has the answer to Michael's money problems - bankruptcy (Creed says he's never declared bankruptcy, he just transferrs his debts to "William Charles Schneider" and shows "William's" passport, with his photo in it.) Creed tells Michael that bankruptcy is "nature's do-over" and gives him a clean slate (just like the witness protection program.) Michael was always interested in witness protection - he even has his new name picked out - Lord Rupert Everton, a shipping merchant who raises fancy dogs. Michael then stands in the middle of the office and shouts, "I declare bankruptcy!"

Michael goes into his office and cuts up his credit cards. Oscar pokes his head in and tells him that he has to do more than just say that he declares bankruptcy. he looks over Michael's accounts, he has a lot of credit card debt - mostly from Jan (she knows how much he makes, right?) He's been making foolish purchases as well (The Muppet Show on DVD, a home exercising machine.) Andy got a present for Angela, a cat (that he found outside of Vance Refridgeration.) He wrote in a note to her that "The cat came to find her, they were destined to be together." Angela seems happy, Pam feels bad for Dwight. Oscar creates a graph on Michael's spending - the biggest chunk of his money is going to things no one needs, like multiple magic sets and professional bass fishing equipment (my husband would dispute that one.) Michael doesn't seem to be listening, he's awestruck by the chart on the computer ("Is that PowerPoint?") Dwight plays his flute outside, alone and sad. Angela really had a hold on him. Oscar arranges for Michael to meet with a debt consolidator, and Michael refuses to go. He wants to keep Jan out of it. Jim asks Dwight how his farm business is doing and asks him if he's checked Trip Advisor. They put in some comments about their stay (including "the dawn goose walk will tug at your heartstrings", "tablemaking never seemed so possible" and "You'll never want to leave your room.") Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to cheer Dwight up. Oscar and Micheal get jan on the phone to discuss their financial situation. Jan doesn't understand how Michael could be so "irresponsible". Michael left the office running.

Michael tried to hop a train and get out of town. Angela tells Andy she may ask him out to dinner (no bars, patios, vegetables or seafood.) Dwight's devistated. Jim finds him moping in the stairwell. Jim tells Dwight about why he left Scranton. His feelings for pam was something he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy - not even Dwight. That was really sweet. Jim went back into the office and planted a big kiss on Pam. That was sweet too. Jan shows up in search of Michael and finds Michael sitting in a boxcar singing "Runaway Train." He's got no answers for Jan. Jan says he can deal with it, but Michael disagrees, he said he really messed up. Jan said she had no one when she lost her job, except Michael. He sticks with her through (mostly) thick and thin and she appreciated it. Dwight came back into the office and seemed to be back to his old salesman self. Michael and Jan look like they might work everything out. Next week, we're back to the 30-minute episodes - can I say I'm slightly happy about that?