User Reviews

I love this episode because it shows how clever Michael can be! He decides to spread a bunch of false rumors and that's the kind of thinking we didn't see in earlier seasons! Plus the episode before this he decided to wait to share his feelings with Holly and before that he got Pam and Ryan back their jobs at Dunder Mifflin. We even saw his great negotiating skills during the little war between his company and DM. I really love the character development :)

Michael tells that Stanley has an affair and spreads a lot of rumors to cover it.

A great first episode of the season that makes one laugh through it. All those rumors were great. I loved how Andy started questioning his sexuality. And Michael was even smart enough to make the one about Dwight be about manure knowing that Dwight is a farmer. Obviously he said that Toby whom he hates is a virgin. Anyways it was a fun way to reveal Pam's pregnancy to the office. Ad their reactions were as one would expect.

Classic Michael Scott - he can never keep a secret. This is one of my favorite episodes .

So much gossip goes around. Michael feels left out and tries to get in the know. He learns from the interns that Stanley was at a club making out with a woman. Michael spreads the rumour that Stanley is having an affair and was at a young people's club because he is having a mid-life crisis. The employees say Stanley already passed his mid-life.

Michael stops Stanley from driving away and tells Stanley what the intern said. Stanley tells him it is true and that the girl he was kissing was named Cynthia and his wife Teri is having some problems. His partner wanted to go to that club.

Michael then decides to spread rumours about everyone in the office, some of them perhaps partially true. Some individuals even question themselves if it is true such as Andy and whether he is gay or not.

Michael has spread the following: Kelly has anorexia, Toby is a virgin (in response he says he has a daughter so how can that be?), Pam is pregnant, etc. Angela tells Pam that a baby made out of wedlock is not good even if you will get married later.

Jim confesses that they are pregnant and show the ultrasound photo.

Paul Lieberstein always has Michael descend into the lowest depths of madness, running around whispering about Stanley like some malevolent imp, it's so painful. And then the rumors! When Andy asked Michael if he was gay I lost it.

Moral of the story

Gossip must not be used to one's own advantage, people can get hurt.

Michael could have avoided all the drama had he just said the gossip was a moral lesson for the interns before they left, but that would have been too easy to get by, especially when it came to Michael.

So we have this episode starting off with the only two guys capable of following after Michael's clownish ways by prancing about the office like madmen. Are Dwight and Andy a similar version of Michael or do they have their own hidden agendas for acting so silly. How did Michael get by running this office.

I now understand why interns were hardly brought on 'The Office'. Who ever thought that when they grew up they always wanted to work in 'The Office', maybe the show. Seriously though the thought wouldn't really cross your mind as a big career choice, so what were those interns thinking? Not to mention the basis of this episode 'Gossip', where the interns caught Stanley and Cynthia(a.k.a. not the wife) together on a non work afternoon. It wasn't only the juiciest Gossip of all, it also sent all those crazy flags and twisted antennas up on Michael's radar. He would have been the hero of gossip if he distributed that juicy detail, despite the repercussions. I didn't know what was more amusing; the fact that Michael spread the piece of compromising gossip about as though he was sharing candy to hungry children, or that he enjoyed giving away the news simply because he had the upper hand, both amusing, but the end result sure would have been nasty.

Topping it off with a cherry; when Stanley warned Michael not to tell everyone his big secret, which he already did, he began spreading other gossip he believed to be false which ironically turned out to be true.

What a perfect opportunity to reveal Jim and Pam's pregnancy, Andy's not so straight side and Kelly's eating disorder, some of the few lies Michael twisted and he nailed the draw dropper about Jim and Pam. So does this mean some gossip is based on an element of truth. I mean look how easily Michael guessed it. When Andy began talking about Brad Pitt, I really wondered. (Brad Pitt has been used so many times, so many ways, I wonder what goes through his mind when he hears his name being called over and over, it must be tiring or he probably couldn't care less)... and Kelly did have that break down in 'Weight Loss' Season 5 Episode 1.

What was Michael thinking? If he spread more lies, the truth would eventually pail in comparison and become the lie itself (Sounds Michael enough). It made sense only if he stuck to it. What was Stanley thinking, asking Michael to keep his secret? He was actually believable denying it when Michael first asked him if he was having an affair (Makes you wonder). Micheal was ready to out him when his butt was on the line and last season's cliff hanger about Jim and Pam's pregnancy was revealed to the entire office with the sonogram as proof. Did that slap Michael in the face as well? It all turned out in vein, revealing the pregnancy, Michael still outed Stanley in the end... poor car.

Maybe Jim and Pam should have just let Michael tell them.

So last season wasn't the big hit we enjoyed as 'The Office' took a different turn and I would admit I laughed a bit more than usual in this half hour and I really felt sorry for those interns... I hardly doubt we'd be seeing their faces again, probably in the world of show biz as Jet Lee, Julia Stiles and Alan Thicke, maybe the Jet Lee was more believable.

Lexa Reviews

http://lexabuti.blogspot.com/

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Four out of Five Stars

Grade C+

...and a thumbs up, I'm really liking this season opener.

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