Rachel, Gareth, and Tim are standing by the snack table still. "Ssnackss," says Gareth, because he can't think of anything else to say. If it's gonna be just casual observations, maybe he should shut up. "So when did you come up?" asks Tim, who has better social skills. "Saturday," replies Rachel. "Ssaturdayy," says Gareth in a way that tries to be cool. It's the lamest possible way of keeping himself in a conversation without actually coming up something to say. It's like a child who will answer everything you say with something about themselves. Where a child would say: "I already lived here," Gareth just says "Ssaturdayy." Sad. Tim tries to find out if she has a boyfriend by asking if it was her Mom or her boyfriend - spoken with the tone of "listing possible contacts" - that drove her there. Rachel says it was her brother. Tim asks if she has "a lot of ties in Swindon". It's pretty obvious what he's trying to do. Rachel says she'll go home on the weekends. Gareth, who has been listening intently, blurts out: "So have you got a boyfriend or not?" She looks away for a moment and laughs a bit at the awkwardness of the moment. "Um, no I haven't," she says. Tim also looks away in annoyance. Gareth just doesn't get it. He just stares at her with his big eyes. Rachel makes an excuse to leave, claiming she left her glass elsewhere.
When she's left, Gareth tells Tim: "I know you don't mean to, but you're sorta cramping my style a bit." Tim can't believe he just said that. He just says, "What?" "I'm kinda planning to get off with her," Gareth says. Wow, Mr Subtle himself. "Gareth, what if I liked her?" asks Tim incredulously. "I saw her first, mate," says Gareth. "And how does that work?" Tim says slowly, like he's trying to figure out what Gareth is even talking about. Gareth shows puts two fingers on his eyes as shows a "looking across the room" gesture. "So you've won the argument doing that? Yeah, of course. That's won the argument," says Tim. He seems a bit mad at Gareth, and I suppose it is frustrating, dealing with someone that stupid who actually thinks dating is a big game of finders keepers, not a mutual agreement between two people. He just doesn't even think of the option that Rachel might want to choose who she dates - or not date any of them at all?
Photocopier upclose, spewing out paper. I love the copier shots, because they act as a kind of "turning the page" scenes between two events. The employees get back to their desks. Sheila, Keith, and Emma sit down, still chatting happily. Well, except for Keith, who's still just chewing his gum. Tim walks by Dawn's desk and she tries desperately to make small talk: "They came for their package. No problem." As he walks away, she calls him back by saying: "I'm so bored. Do you want to wind up Gareth?" Tim isn't into the old game anymore; he's important now with a new position: "I don't think we should, he is kinda busy." "So what?" says Dawn, stretching her arms on the desk and giving him a flirtatious little grin. She's really cute. "So am I, and so should you be," replies Tim and walks away. Wow. He's really giving her the cold shoulder now. Dawn looks after him with her arms still outstretched.
Rachel is setting up at the number bods' table. She's leaning on her chair with one leg, playfully. Her pink shirt is kinda tight and short and she's wearing a tight skirt. It annoys me that everything she does looks so flirtatious, but maybe it's just because I see her as a part of the triangle drama of Tim/Dawn/Rachel, which I find annoying. Some people at the TWOP forums were debating about who is prettier, Dawn or Rachel, and I will say that while I think Rachel is prettier, Dawn is cuter and definitely more my type. I don't think there's any point in putting down either one of them; they simply represent different body types and facial features, Dawn being more chubby-cute and Rachel more skinny-cute. To each his own. Interestingly, Tim seems to find both attractive, which is cool. He doesn't just abandon Dawn because Rachel is prettier; their relationship is strained as it is and he just wants to move on. It's respectful to women who look like Dawn, and I really like that. It's also realistic.
People at their computers. Everyone looks so bored. One guy is stretching his arms as if he's just trying to keep himself awake. David is leaning back in his chair, looking sad. The camera is looking at him through the window and he's not noticing it, and I feel like this is his true face: sad, aging, insecure and generally clueless. He's had a rough day, no one laughed at his jokes and he got scolded twice. He brought it upon himself, but I still feel sorry for him.
Dawn stares sadly at Tim, who's working at his computer. He feels her stare and looks at her, but she looks away. Finally Tim gets up and shows Dawn his calendar: "There's a 20-minute window here for 'wind up Gareth with Dawn'. Should we do that?" Dawn smiles cutely, Tim finally noticed her. She looks happy and relieved, and it's very natural-looking. These two actors have a great chemistry together. Off-screen, we hear Gareth shout out: "Oh no, not now, please, I'm working!" And it's a bit mean, but he deserves it for having Tim listen to "Oggy oink oink!" and "Stop! Move away from the cookie jar!" Tim asks him: "Did you see that film last night, Gaylords Say No?" Gareth says flatly, "No," which makes Dawn giggle like a little girl. Hee! That joke was in the unaired pilot, but it was made a bit longer. I think it works better here; in the pilot Tim tells Gareth: "That means you're a gaylord", which frankly is not necessary for understanding the joke. I'm glad they made it more subtle.
David is still in his office, looking sad. We return briefly to Tim and Dawn, who are openly flirting at Tim's desk. That's when David decides to get out of his office and do something about the negative vibes. People gather round as he asks to talk to everyone, though "I'm mainly talking to the Swindon lot here." Way to single them out and make them feel welcome. "Some of you seem to have got off on the wrong foot with me. Yeah?" Fair enough for a start, but then he shows he doesn't take any of the blame: "You got to chill out, yeah? Trust me. This is what I do. Alright?" Offend people with prejudiced jokes? Actually, that is what he does, so right on. "You'll never work in a place like this again. This is brilliant. FACT. Yeah? And you'll never have a boss like me who is basically a chilled-out entertainer." Hee! "Fact." How can he tell where they will work and what kind of bosses they will have in the future? Maybe he's right, though - could there really be another boss as self-centered and ignorant as David Brent? "Some of you maybe didn't understand the jokes and misinterpreted one and went to Jennifer." I think they understood completely and that's exactly why they complained. And if he wants to make up with them, so to speak, shouldn't he be hearing them out and accepting some of the responsibility? If I were them, I'd be pretty annoyed that he comes out accusing me of misunderstanding him and not being chilled out enough. Obviously he doesn't want to change, so that's not a good sign for future complaints.
"A little bit annoyed that you thought you could go to Jennifer and not me," he continues, clearly personally offended by the complaints. "Who was it that complained? And this is not a witch hunt," he quickly adds. Noo, not at all. Feel free to tell him who it was, bonus points to rats. Brenda and Trudy raise their hands. David decides to ask the one who's not in a wheelchair - what a shock - why she went to Jennifer. Trudy replies, "Cos I don't know you and I don't like the kind of jokes you're telling. And I don't think somebody in your position should be laughing at black people." Good answer. David is offended, though. "It's funny that ... only the two of you... thought that...out of everyone, but you know..." He's basically trying to make them look like tight-asses who don't have a sense of humor. And I've noticed that men often use this tactic when women complain about a joke they told or an attitude they have. It's a subtle kind of sexism at play here.
A male employee interjects, "I didn't like it either." David immediately turns this against all of the Swindon employees: "Right, proves my point. Swindon. You're new, you don't know me." Way to make them feel welcome. And his point was that it was only two of them. Suddenly I'm reminded of a fight I had with someone at the fan forums I frequent. Basically there was an inside joke gone too far between her and another poster, and some of us politely asked that they stop telling it in every single thread, because it's not funny to others. Her initial reaction was an offended "I'm not hurting anyone", and as six other people said it does annoy them, she turned it into "It's funny that you are the only two people that are bothered by this, you just have something personally against me, leave me alone." It's funny how similar that was to this. But I digress.
Dark-Haired Employee chimes in: "I'm not new and I found it quite offensive." David takes Oliver as his witness again: "But he didn't, so..." Oliver doesn't look too happy about it. Trudy asks what he has to do with all this. "Well, if he doesn't mind us laughing at him, what harm's been done?" asks David and points at an increasingly uncomfortable-looking Oliver. And he basically just admitted that the joke pokes fun at black people. "But why is it that only black people should be offended by racism?" asks Trudy. That's a really good point. Men can be offended by sexism, straight people can be offended by homophobia, and white people can be offended by racism. In fact, I think that this is part of being prejudiced - the idea that as long as a person who represents the minority or other oppressed group finds it funny, it's not offensive and everyone who wants to complain is wrong. I also wonder about Oliver. Is he simply playing along because he's the only black guy in a white environment? Does he feel like he has to laugh at the racist joke or he can't fit in? Does he pick his battles and only fight back when it's truly hateful?
David realizes that Trudy is right, but can't think of anything to defend his own comment, so he just says, "Good point. First sensible thing you've said all day. Because... I say, come one, come all, we are all the same... Let's..." Trudy isn't having it: "Is that why you've only got one black guy in the whole organization?" David quickly exclaims: "Wrong!" It's not the first time today that he's used that particular defense. He goes on to say that there's an Indian guy at the warehouse and another one who used to work in the office - would that be the one we saw in the first episode? - "lovely chap, he left, didn't like it. Up to him!" He talks really fast and defensively. Then he points at Oliver again and says, "If I had my way, the place would be full of them." That just sounds like he's talking about bugs or something. It's really degrading, even if he's using it to show he's tolerant. "Wouldn't it, Gareth?" he asks his only ally in the office. "Yeah, or half and half," says Gareth diplomatically. He's probably worrying about discrimination against white people in that situation. "Yeah," says David as if that was the same thing he said. "You're half and half, aren't you?" he asks Oliver. That's not the same thing Gareth said, and it's none of his business! "I'm mixed race, yes," says Oliver. "My favorite," says David. That's such a misguided way of showing your tolerance. You're not supposed to have a favorite ethnicity - and if half and half is your favorite, that could imply you like it because it's half white. Oliver looks incredulous at David's ignorance. David, of course, doesn't notice it, because he only thinks of himself and his own feelings. "The melting pot...please!" he says and puts his fingers together. "So there's your racist!" He looks at the employees for a moment, smiling like he won the argument with that. Everyone just stares back at him. He nods and leaves.
As David walks past Dawn, her face has the perfect look of disgust and disbelief. She has her eyes closed and her mouth open and just looks like she can't believe even David would say things like that. The employees slowly get back to work, and you can hear people talking to each other in lowered voices. Oliver just looks after David. I wonder how many jobs like this he's had where the boss used him as a way of showing tolerance. Tim and Dawn are laughing. "He said melting pot," says Tim. "He didn't actually do the fingers," says Dawn, laughing. He did do the fingers though, didn't he? "Come on, let's get on, please," says Tim. "Let's just.. let's love each other!" He starts singing the song about the great big melting pot and grabs Dawn to dance with him just as Lee enters the office. He walks right up to Dawn and Tim and grabs Tim, shoving him against the wall. Then he just walks away. That's one of the most powerful unspoken confrontations on the show, I think. Dawn looks flustered and scared, and she glances quickly at the camera before running after Lee. "Dawn..." says Tim, but she's already gone. He looks around and remembers the cameras. "Alright," he says and laughs a bit. He settles in his chair and seems to need a moment to calm down. "Whew," he sighs in an exaggerated way and laughs at the camera. And credits.
The last mini-scene after the credits shows Dawn picking up the trash after the meet and greet. She picks up a round thing with foil around it and some sticks with food sticking out. She acts like it's toxic, touching it very carefully. You know, I'm sure it's still edible and not some foul garbage, Dawn. A bit prissy there. I think this scene is just meant to show us how Dawn gets to do all the 'dirty' work and boring stuff around the office while others party. But she did get her share of the drinks and snacks.
Great episode. I notice I had a lot to say regarding discrimination. I just like how the writers made this episode show that discrimination is subtle and not simply a matter of "evil racist vs. good tolerant people". Everybody wants to be tolerant, but often we aren't, and it's usually hard to tell until we actually meet a person who is "different". I love recapping this show, because the reactions of the characters are so realistic. It's like recapping a well-made reality show, because these type of people and attitudes really exist, so I can just basically comment on real life while I recap.
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