How Dunder-Mifflin Spent Their Summer

They're ENGAGED!!!! Finally, Jim and Pam are engaged! I'm sorry to just jump right in, but I spent most of the episode on pins and needles wondering what kind of curveball the show was going to throw at their relationship, given that TV in general loves "will-they/won't-they" plot lines to keep viewers engaged. I became even more nervous when Pam started talking that schlubby guy in class, and yet I almost knew they were going to do it, since the characters made little mention of it other than Jim saying that Pam didn't want to spend the first three months of their engagement apart. And then when Jim asked her to meet him at the road stop for lunch, I knew he was going to do it. And do it he did, in the rain, at a gas station, because he couldn't wait any longer. That scene combined just the right amount of realism and fiction to make it both heartwarming and true. I loved it.

In other news, the staff of the Scranton branch spent the summer participating in a weight loss contest run by corporate, which gave us plenty of hilarious moments, including: Kelly looking like death on her 3 day cleanse diet, Kelly fainting, Michael Klump, Dwight leaving Phyllis on the side of the road so she would have to walk back to the office, and the secret cheesecake party. In the end, Scranton lost to Utica (go Karen) but I think it was a moral victory for them. After all, Stanley lost 7 pounds. You've gotta love that, right?

Other things I liked:

• Ryan back as a temp. Although I was confused why he didn't go to jail. The stuff he did was way illegal.
• Angela being absolutely crazy about her demands for the wedding (A thousand year old castle in North America with a rainbow) and then repeatedly booty calling Dwight while Andy was IN THE OFFICE. Lady is cold.
• Holly putting her foot in her mouth when making a joke about being a lesbian in front of Oscar. Awkward.
• Holly yelling at Angela for yelling at Kevin, then discovering that Kevin was not indeed "slow." Double Awkward.
• Holly getting jealous of Jan and then starting to date Oscar's yoga instructor.
• Kelly ignoring Ryan. You stick with Darryl, girl.
• Phyllis blackmailing Angela into becoming head of the party planning committee. Go, Phyllis!
  

Things I did not like:

• Angela continuing to walk all over Andy. While it was funny for this episode, I hope that she will just break it off with him soon. It's cruel.
• Jan, who has now become just irritating.
  

I liked everything else and I think this was a good strong start for the show. Hopefully they'll be able to keep it up. And now time for quotes:

"She's very beautiful." "Yes she is, and clinically insane."--Holly and Oscar about Jan

"I once went 28 years without having sex, then another 7."--Michael

"If you gain weight, you will die."--Michael

"I have a nice comforter and several comfy pillows. I usually read a chapter of a book and it's lights out by 8:30. That's how I sleep at night." --Angela. Why so defensive, A?

"I swallowed a tapeworm last night. It's going to grow up to three feet inside of me and then it eats all my food so that I don't get fat. And then after three months I take some medicine and then I pass it. Creed sold it to me. It's from Mexico."--Kelly

"I wonder what people like about me? ...Probably my jugs."--Phyllis

And, because I don't think we can see it often enough: