'The Office's' post-Super Bowl episode: 'Stress Relief'

'The Office's' post-Super Bowl episode: 'Stress Relief'

The post below discusses "Stress Relief," the very funny hourlong episode of "The Office" that followed Sunday's Super Bowl.

Once in a while, "The Office" comes up with an episode that leaves you giggling for days. You may get strange looks, and people may wonder why you're muttering to yourself and then cackling maniacally. But you won't care, because you're still entranced by the hilarity that you witnessed.

For the love of Dwight, please only read what's below if you have seen "Stress Relief," the post-Super Bowl episode of "The Office." If you haven't watched it yet, by all means do so, then we can all cackle together.

If NBC only broadcast the first five or six minutes of the show, which depicted the chaotic emergency drill that Dwight cooked up, that would have been enough. One insanely funny incident came on top of another, to the point that I could barely catch my breath. In the annals of "Office," history, if there is anything funnier than Angela's cat toss, I can't recall it. That was one of the most dementedly hilarious things I've ever seen in my life.

(Having said this, I could complain about the fact that NBC put the cat toss as well as one of Michael's funniest lines in their pre-show promos, but like Stanley, I'm trying to keep my blood pressure down.)

Then there's Oscar's attempt to escape via the ceiling tiles. It's a staple of TV and film writing that there are always ducts and vents that allow people to crawl around and get from here to there. But of course, at Dunder Mifflin, the end result of such a gambit is that Oscar falls through the ceiling.

And how about Kevin using the chaos of the emergency drill to line his pockets with snacks from the vending machine? Each character's true colors came out during that drill, and we learned, as if we didn't already know it, that all Kevin really cares about is free food.

The brilliantly edited "fire" scene, which was a veritable symphony of insanity and hilarity, wasn't the only great extended sequence of the episode. There have been many hourlong episodes of "The Office" that just haven't had enough meat to sustain them and that ended up revolving around a tiresome, ridiculous plot involving Michael.

This episode, however, had several larger plots that worked really well, most notably the fire drill and the roast of Michael Scott, as well as Michael's closing "revenge roast" of his employees.

How great was it that years of animosity and pent-up anger at Michael came out in such an impressive variety of insults? And how ironic was it that Oscar was the first to later apologize for his remarks -- even though he'd said them in Spanish at the roast, so the chances of Michael having understood Oscar's speech were nil.

The parade of insults was not only highly enjoyable, it was enjoyable to see Michael squirm on the podium. Steve Carell brilliantly showed us the conflicting emotions wending their way through Michael even as he tried to keep a brave face.

I understand why NBC recruited guest stars to appear in the fake movie that Jim, Pam and Andy were watching -- the network wanted stars it could promote for the post-Super Bowl episode. But Jack Black, Jessica Alba and Cloris Leachman weren't even close to being the funniest thing in the episode. That's not because they were bad -- they weren't -- it's because so much of the other stuff was so much better. All in all, the sub-plot about the movie they starred in was the weakest part of the episode, but so many other things were strong that it doesn't matter.

There was even pathos and emotion in the episode. Despite the fact that Michael can be insufferable, inept and mind-blowingly stupid, it was hard not to feel sorry for him as his face got increasingly troubled during the roast. And when he walked away, with his shoulders slumped, you had to feel bad for the poor guy.

We even had a wonderfully romantic in one Jim-Pam scene, in which she finally understood why her father left her mother. Jenna Fischer was so good in that scene, and it made me so happy -- again -- that this couple finally got together, and the writers stopped finding reasons to keep them apart.

Here are just a few of my favorite lines and moments from the episode. Please feel free to add yours below.

The cat toss. "Save Bandit!"Oscar on the upcoming roast: "I consider myself a good person. But I'm going to try to make him cry."Michael to Stanley: "Barack is president!"Stanley on his attempts to remain calm at work and avoid future heart attacks: "I'm going to die."Creed checked to see if the CPR dummy had a wallet. Of course. Dwight wearing the face from the mummy and doing his Hannibal Lecter impression. Pam on her need to get her father a robe. Kelly's list of people she would make out with before Michael -- it included both "a candle" and "Lord Voldemort." Jim on Michael's word mangling, i.e. "spiderface."Michael on the stupidity that others perceive in him: "Dozens of online tests might prove you wrong!" But perhaps the best moment (aside from the cat toss) came when Michael insulted Stanley at the end, and Stanley just started laughing uncontrollably. And then of course, there's this: "Boom! Roasted!

Super Bowl ad blitz substitutes the ordinary for the glitz
Yeah, yeah, the football game was pretty good this year, great even — but how far will that get anyone at the water cooler this morning? And, sure, we'll all have Bruce and his bluejeans to dissect.

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