Stanley is a beautiful, sassy, powerful black man.

The Office – Did I Stutter?
Office friction results when Stanley barks at Michael during a meeting, and Michael then works to adjust Stanley’s attitude. Meanwhile, Dwight revs up to buy Andy’s car and Pam encounters an unforeseen problem after spending the night at Jim’s.

Finally, an episode that takes place entirely in the confines of the office, and brings nearly every character into the story arcs. As we open, Michael rushes into the office asking for ideas. There is wet cement outside and he wants to leave his mark. Eventually he decides to cover his face with plastic wrap and press it into the wet cement, leave a deep groove that will surely cause people to trip. Way to go, Michael!

The main story here revolves around Michael and Stanley. During a meeting, Stanley won’t participate (as usual). He keeps saying no, and when Michael pros him Stanley yells, “Did I stutter?” Ouch! Naturally, Michael’s feelings are hurt. Toby wants Michael to take disciplinary action, but Michael has convinced himself that Stanley was just kidding around. He decides to “fake fire” Stanley, who counters by threatening to sue. Michael clears the office so that he and Stanley can have a heart-to-heart. Stanley admits he doesn’t respect Michael, and Michael accepts that but says that Stanley must stop being rude to him. Michael is his boss, and that’s that. Stanley agrees.

I recently read an article that wondered if Michael has become the weakest link in the show. Using last week’s gum-and-peanut-butter event as an example, the writer suggested that Michael’s character has become preposterous. I always like the moments when you realize that Michael can be good at parts of his job, and his resolution with Stanley was a nice example of that.

In other news, strife between Jim and Ryan develops when a visiting Ryan calls Jim into a meeting with Toby and then gives him a verbal warning for hanging out at the reception desk and goofing around too much. In reality Toby is jealous of Jim because he loves Pam, and Ryan is angry because Jim criticized his website.

Jim continues his fake proposals, apparently trying to throw Pam off when the real one comes around. Pam has to wear ugly glasses when she can’t wear her contacts. Dwight fools Andy into selling him his car, and then flips it for a much higher price.