The Best 5 Minutes and 15 Seconds of The Office

Women’s Appreciation.

This is the title of Season 3, Episode 21 of millions of television viewers favorite TV Show, “The Office”. Now over the years I have been seeing “Dinner Party” widely heralded as ‘Hands Down The Greatest Episode of The Office’- and that may be true. But there is no funnier 5 Minutes and 15 Seconds throughout all 9 seasons as the beginning of “Women’s Appreciation”.

This is the unsung hero of comedic gold in the series. An episode opener so funny and so out-of-pocket that I will go back a rewatch every few weeks just to belly-laugh to myself. Every single character at Dunder Mifflin is on their A-Game, making for a rollercoaster of hilarity.

Most know this episode as the one where Phyllis Lapin (Vance) is flashed in the parking lot. Chaos soon ensues in so many forms.

We open the episode with Dwight Schrute laying down the (fake) law on Jim Halpert, giving him a demerit for his tardiness. Jim quickly see’s an opportunity to once again make Dwight chase his tail and makes him realize that Dwight needs to send a formal written complaint about Jim to his immediate superior, which is… Jim.

This usual lighthearted Dwight/Jim intro is exactly what was needed going into the opening scene. A somber Phyllis comes walking into the office, darkening the mood of the previous hilarious exchange. This is in part why I love this episode (and show) so much. The writers do an incredible job of juggling the fragility of Phyllis’s situation and the crude/kiddish humor of characters like Michael Scott and Creed Bratton seen just moments later.

When Phyllis notifies the employees of what had happened, everyone springs into action with concern; showing their support for her. Jim calls the police. Andy Bernard wants to help and doesn’t know how so he says he’ll “search the web…” And then there is Dwight, of course, as volunteer sheriffs deputy, runs out of the building in search of the perp. The rest of the episode shows Dwight’s main purpose in life…protect the employees of Dunder Mifflin Scranton. These small examples by the writers strongly shosw the nature of each character for a few seconds, though they are not the main subjects of the episode.

As Phyllis describes the situation, the episode starts to really unfold. Making nearly every sentence the next few minutes to be absolutely ridiculous. Angela Martin, the office’s ‘grain of rice’, immediately judges Phyllis, scolding her as “a married woman”, she shouldn’t be looking at another man. Next up is Creed (my favorite character in the series). Creed has the art of being so unpredictable, so dark one moment and so innocent the next that he always keeps the viewer on it’s toes.

“The guy was just hangin’ brain. What’s all the fuss?” - this may seem like an insensitive line but it’s coming out of Creed’s mouth. He literally doesn’t understand why this is a big deal. It’s perfect. Punctuated by “If that’s flashing then lock me up.”

Soon we see Michael walking into the office. Confused as to why everyone is chatting and seemingly upset. Pam Beasley lets him know what has happened… Michael is immediately conflicted. You can see his brain spinning. He wants to be upset for Phyllis and be a good boss, but he also can’t keep his sense of humor down. The cracks in his voice and soon his overwhelming laughter is Michael to a Tee. The scene really starts rolling now. Michael can’t get out of his own way.

Through his laughter, you begin to laugh; which makes every one-liner funnier and funnier over the next two minutes. This is what makes Steve Carrell one of the all-time greats. His improv, his controlled ability to increase his laughter as an actor, bit by bit. We see this time and time again. You start by chuckling with him, a minute later you are in full blown laughter watching his character in also in full blown laughter. For Office viewers, we know Michael as what we’d call “politically incorrect”. He has no filter, he has no off-switch. This is what makes him one of the funniest characters in TV history, and what makes “The Office” what it is.

Michael cannot figure out why the “flasher” would flash Phyllis, asking if he saw Pam or Karen.

Death-stares ensue. But he keeps going. Pam checks him, telling him to cut it out. Of course Michael retorts that she isn’t “a master of comedy” and soon does the unthinkable.

I mean c’mon. Just writing this I stop to go back and watch for a laugh.

Michael’s arch-nemesis and Head of HR, Toby Flenderson walks in. After all, it is Toby’s job to take care of situations as delicate as this, so this obviously is important to him but Michael can’t let that happen, can he?

Of course not! This disheartening situation for Phyllis turns into a Michael verses Toby standoff where there will be no winner, of course. These situations are critical to every episode of The Office; where we cringe in awkwardness as to how far Michael Scott takes things.

Soon he jokingly states that maybe Toby is the pervert. Toby see’s where this is going and calmly (per usual) asks him to stop. Things reach a comedic boiling point and is capped off with Michael shouting “Prove it. Let’s see your penis!”

The awkward silence is perfect. The facial expressions around the office are perfect. And Michael finally comes to the realization of what he said and that he lost track of it all.

“You know. As that was coming out of my mouth….I knew that it was wrong.” End scene.

We come back to Michael in his office, distraught. He is now in full “protector” mode in an attempt to right his wrongs of a few minutes earlier. In usual form, a monologue with no direction ensues. He rambles (correctly) about how women cannot be comfortable or have fun if they do not feel “safe”; which is true and he should have stopped there. But he’s Michael Scott, we know there is another level to get to.

The word “safe” above was in quotes because this is an “Office” theme I’ve noticed. Michael will say a word like “safe” and his brain will immediately go to another thought that has the same word in it. He pivots 180º and takes an avenue to where he tells that him and his girlfriend, Jan, have a “safe word, in case things go too far. . . Foliage”.

As we know, Jan is the alpha in her and Michael’s relationship; so we immediately know that Michael created this safe word for his personal use. Giving us even more comedic entertainment knowing their back story and to why he is telling the cameras what he is going through at home. Also, you gotta admit that ‘Foliage’ as his word of choice is sneaky-hilarious. By this point, Michael isn’t even thinking of Phyllis’s situation, but his. In almost a “cry for help”, he reflects on the last time he used the word, claiming that Jan couldn’t hear him.

He stares meekly into the camera in silence. Complete. 135 Seconds of comedy. It sets the rest of the episode up perfectly.

How did we end up here? How did this situation with Phyllis go off-the-rails so much? Well that’s The Office. Every episode is full of hilarious twists and turns to finally get to the solution. There is no direct A to B route, and “Women’s Appreciation” hits that perfectly in a matter of only 5 Minutes and 15 Seconds.

In my mind, these little nuances of comedy and awkwardness are the reasons everyone loves the show so much. It’s rewatch-ability is unique, one of a kind, and is not going anywhere any time soon.

Hope you enjoyed this breakdown! Let me know what you think.

Sam.