Baby Shower

"Baby Shower" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the show's seventy-sixth episode overall. The episode aired in the United States on October 16, 2008 on NBC.

For other uses, see Baby Shower (disambiguation).

"Baby Shower"
The Office episode
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 4
Directed byGreg Daniels
Written byAaron Shure
Cinematography byRandall Einhorn
Editing byDean Holland
Production code504
Original air dateOctober 16, 2008
Guest appearance(s)

In this episode, Michael's ex-girlfriend Jan Levinson comes to the office for a baby shower, although she has already given birth, to her daughter Astrid. Her arrival causes Michael to be rude to his love interest Holly in order to fool Jan and causes Dwight to spend most of his day testing out Jan's expensive new stroller.

Plot

In the cold open, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) acts out the process of birth with a watermelon, as Michael Scott (Steve Carell) wants to be prepared for Jan Levinson's (Melora Hardin) baby. Dwight orders Michael to do many unusual things, such as mark the "baby" to ensure he will recognize if it is taken by baby snatchers, and insists Michael deliver the "baby" himself. Michael ends up dropping the watermelon as Dwight has coated it with butter, and Michael eats it as Dwight zips ups his pants.

The Party Planning Committee is planning Jan's baby shower, and collects money for a present, to which many employees are reluctant to donate, as it is not Michael's baby. Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) makes a "guess whose baby picture" game for the shower, and she is angered when Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) unintentionally makes fun of her picture. Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) feel awkward trying to communicate with each other throughout the day, as neither can get across the humor of their situations to the other, with Pam telling the documentary crew that the two of them were having an off day.

Jan arrives with her baby girl, Astrid, already born, much to everyone's surprise. The shower ends up taking place anyway, and Michael tries to pacify Jan by being cold to Holly Flax (Amy Ryan), which makes her uncomfortable despite being foretold by Michael that he was going to pretend to hate her. The present the office got for Jan ends up being a stroller, which is unnecessary as she already has a more expensive $1200 Orbit Baby stroller. Dwight finds this a ridiculous price to pay, stating that his bomb shelter cost that much, so he goes out to test the durability of the stroller as the shower continues. He straps a watermelon into the stroller and goes out to a dump-like area to throw the stroller into fences and off of small cliffs. He also ends up tying the stroller to the back of his car for his "bumper test." In the end, he determines the stroller is nearly indestructible, and puts it back in Jan's car (without telling her what he did to it).

Jan reluctantly lets Michael hold Astrid while she lays down to take a nap, but Michael feels no connection and no emotions towards Astrid before he hands her to Phyllis and sadly walks back into his office. He later seeks advice from another "baby-daddy," Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson). Darryl mocks him, as the baby is not even Michael's. Jan acts coldly to Holly when they have a conversation, being direct when Holly attempts humor. Jan then retrieves her daughter from Angela and Andy, who were setting up a photo of the baby amongst vegetables. She leaves soon afterward, telling Michael in the parking lot not to date Holly. Michael hugs Holly when he goes back into the building and feels a connection he did not feel with Astrid. He then asks her out on a date, which she accepts, visibly moved.

Jim and Pam call each other at exactly the same time and leave each other messages that are extremely similar, hinting that perhaps they are not as disjointed as this day has made them feel but highlighting the difficulty they are both having with being apart.

Reception

"Baby Shower" received mixed reviews. IGN gave the episode a 7.5, saying that, "Dwight's ludicrous testing of the $1200 stroller goes on too long, is predictable and only intermittently funny. It also feels like we've done this before. The same can be said of Jim and Pam's phone-tag problem," and that it was one of the more mediocre episodes in a while."[1] "Baby Shower" was voted the nineteenth highest-rated episode out of 26 from the fifth season, according to an episode poll at the fansite OfficeTally; the episode was rated 7.74 out of 10.[2]

References
  1. Fickett, Travis (October 17, 2008). "The Office: "Baby Shower" Review". IGN. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  2. Tan, Jennie (May 19, 2009). "The Office Fan Ratings, Season 5". OfficeTally. Retrieved May 21, 2009.
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