(Se05, Ep 11) “The Duel”

Last night “The Office” returned to NBC after the holiday break in full force. The show was slightly uneven this week, but it was a good installment, and a welcome episode that moved the plot of the Angela/Dwight/Andy love triangle forward in an interesting way.

Michael Scott didn’t have much to do this week. To keep him busy, the writers sent him to David Wallace’s office at corporate. Michael assumed he was going to get in trouble for doing something wrong, but instead he was praised for the fact that his branch was out-performing all the other branches.

Of course, this went straight to his head, and he became a demanding child that offered no input as to why his branch was successful.

This subplot for the episode served to keep Michael out of the picture while other things transpired at the actual office itself, but it also explains to us why he doesn’t get fired. Michael is a bit of a child at times, and very, very hard to tolerate in some instances, but he’s also incredibly loyal to the company, and one of the best salespersons they’ve ever had.

Still, there wasn’t much for Steve Carell to do in this episode, but luckily, there was plenty happening back at the office.

Moments before Michael left, he told Andy that Angela and Dwight had been sleeping together. Andy was floored, but handled it very well (considering his rage issues in the past). He eventually challenged Dwight to a duel, and ultimately attempted run him over with his Prius, but other than that – it was completely civil.

Ultimately Dwight discovers that Angela has actually slept with Andy twice…a fact that he was completely unaware of. This lead to the end of the duel, where Andy and Dwight both returned to the office. Andy called to cancel his wedding cake, and Dwight threw his bobble-head in the trash. Both direct indications to Angela that she’s lost both of the men she’s been seeing.

Where will it go from here?

Who knows.

One thing that I found particularly interesting in this episode was that we really got a chance to see the office with Jim in charge. He attempted to keep Andy and Dwight under control – and it didn’t work out so well.

What it clearly showed us was that if Steve Carell ever decides to leave the show, “The Office” could continue, and still be an interesting series with Jim in the manger’s office.