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Before we get into the main plot, the cold open involves another Jim prank…and it’s an awesome one. He tricks Dwight into thinking a fax is coming from his future self (maybe Dwight teams up with Hiro from Heroes in the future). Future Dwight tells Present Dwight that the coffee is poisoned. Guess what happens? Look at the above picture. I love the look on Stanley’s face…the “I’d smack you if I wasn’t just about to start my crossword puzzle” look.

As stated above, Jan tells Michael that the Scranton branch will be shutting down. The news spreads quickly throughout the Stamford branch as well. The Stamford-ites seem to take it quite well, with the exception of Jim. And, of course, Andy takes extreme pride in the Scranton-ites’ misfortune. “In your face. Suckaaaas!”

“I have a plan, and I am going to save our jobs.” Michael goes to New York try to convince the CFO to keep the Scranton branch. It’s too bad that it wouldn’t have worked if the CFO was there.

Michael and Dwight’s waiting activities include practicing what to say (“AH!”), sharing a one liter bottle of Gatorade, looking through the trash, reclining in a car filled with Funyons, and just walking/sitting around doing nothing.

And then…the twist! It turns out Josh, regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Stamford, has accepted a senior management position at Staples! Jan goes into overdrive and suddenly Stamford is to be absorbed by Scranton instead of the other way around. IN YOUR FACE, ANDY. Hopefully Andy and Karen will bring Call of Duty with them. I think Creed would be good at FPS’s. Jan offers Jim the second highest position at the new Dunder Mifflin Northeast. But I thought Dwight had that spot. I guess Dwight will be pushed to number three. I’d like to see his reaction to that!

Let’s take a look at character reactions to the news of the branch closing and then “re-opening”:

• Kevin, Angela, Phyllis, Roy, Michael, Dwight: Worried. Joy.
• Pam: Acceptance. Acceptance.
• Ryan: Pleased. WHY?!
• Stanley: HAPPY! Ugh.
• Jim: Wow. Wow.
• Andy: HAPPY! ARGHHHHHHH!!!!
• Karen: Ok. Ok.
• Josh: Staples! Too bad, suckas!

One of the funniest parts of the episode is the ending with Michael and Dwight hearing of the good news. They think that they were the reason why Scranton was saved. Take a look at their celebration in front of the CFO’s empty house in the picture above. “Yeah, baby! We did it! How did we do it?” “I don’t know.”

“Nice dress Ryan.” Kelly has invited the entire branch to her Indian community Diwali (aka “Hindu Halloween) celebration. Just like all the other episodes dealing with ethnicity, Michael goes over-the-top in his need to recognize racial differences, calling Kelly one of his “most ethnic” employees. It’s pretty funny that Michael goes out of his way to create special occasions out of very ordinary situations (remember when he mentions “05-05-05″ party that happens every billion years?).

The first part of the episode is very reminiscent of “Diversity Day.” We hear a few black jokes directed at Stanley:

Michael: You know what, Stanley? Come Kwanzaa time, I have got you covered, baby.
Stanley: I don’t celebrate Kwanzaa.
Michael: Wha-really? You should. It’s fun.

I’d like to know where Michael got all of his Indian posters for his “Indian Culture Seminar.” Maybe he got Dwight to go to a ethnic supermarket or something. And I loved Michael’s slide show of famous Indians: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Apu, M. Night Shyamalan, and Michael kissing Carol (wait, that doesn’t sound very Indian). So what do we learn from Michael’s seminar? Three things: There are billions of people just like Kelly, there are at least three famous Indians, and Diwali is just like the Lord of the Rings.

Is it just me or does Andy look like he’s doing a move in the Thriller music video? That’s all I have to say about the Stamford drunkards.

I found Kelly’s sisters really funny for some reason. There’s something hilarious about little kids making fun of a full grown man who has no control over anything in his life (both at Dunder Mifflin and with Kelly). I do like how he is saving his money to travel and to buy an Xbox. It’d better be an Xbox 360 or he would have to save up that much. Michael spitting up all the Indian food all the time and pretending that it was spicy was funny too.

Plot via IMDb: Years ago, a powerful Irish mafia figure placed a small selection of his youngest, brightest men into the Massachusetts Police Academy as cadets. Their purpose is to eventually rise within the prestigious ranks of the city’s police department to serve as the eyes and ears of their boss. While somewhere else, a young cadet was assigned with an equally dangerous task: infiltrate the Irish syndicate headed by the man sending in his own to the Boston Police. Now, one cadet is an up and coming police official with a torn allegiance to his job and to the criminal mastermind that put him there. While the other cadet is the trusted number two of that man, only finding his professional duties are becoming blurred with his current state. But new clues have lead to unfortunate discoveries, when both sides realize they’re being watched by the enemy. It’s now all just a matter of time before the men, assigned to find out who’s the infiltrator, could come to a bloody end when someone’s identity may be revealed.

My Thoughts: Pretty good movie despite the fact that I’d already experienced the story. The original story was good and so was this one. No major plot changes. Just different ways of presenting the same core story. The first thing you will notice while watching the movie is everyone’s fake “Bah-stin” accents. No offense to some of you out there but the Boston is accent is one of the worst accents in America–surpassed only by the Southern accent. But I digress. Another thing that annoyed me was the excessive swearing (IMDb mentions the f-word is mentioned 200+ times…yikes!). Yes, the movie is rated R, but so was The Matrix, which barely had any foul language. Combined with the splatters of blood after every gunshot, this isn’t really the movie to bring the kiddies to. I did, however, see more than a few mini kids at the theater for some reason. There were also a few instances of sudden sounds (gunshots) that were completely unnecessary. Look out for this at the end. The crowd literally gasped.

Grade: B+

Assorted Links

• Official Site
• Theatrical Trailer (YouTube / Apple QuickTime)
• Wikipedia
• IMDb