The Office: Season 3, Episode 14 – “Ben Franklin”

As I’ve noted on my Earl posting, I lost my notes to this episode of The Office, so this will be short and sweet.

Plot: The episode begins with Michael filming a video for the son he hopes to have, in case he dies before the kid gets to know him. Michael attempts to do various manly things, like fix a car and unhook a bra, but Michael is terrible on all accounts. Hilariously Michael first tries to get Pam to sit in for the bra experiment, but refusing, Dwight don the bra.

The remainder of the episode focuses on the party the office plans for Phyllis’ marriage. Michael initially says he is instituting “prima nocta” thinking the term means something other than the Braveheartian institution of a Nobles right to the bride before her marriage.

Todd Packer convinces Michael that what the party needs is strippers, and Michael delegates Dwight for the female, and Jim for the male. Dwight goes all out, but Jim instead enlists a scholastic speaker in the form of Ben Franklin.

The boys hit the warehouse where they grill “man-meat” and play poker. The stripper arrives and everyone looks very uncomfortable. Roy says he is turned off by strippers, but that Pam’s art is sexy. Michael finally agrees to a lap dance, but after a minute tells her to stop because he has a girlfriend. Dwight ultimately forces the stripper to answer the phone since they paid for three hours work.

Ben Franklin has a great deal of fun talking to the girls, who are all befuddled, thinking he is a stripper. Later, the actor playing Ben asks Pam out. She declines.

Michael gets advice from the stripper who says he should tell Jan about the lap dance. Dwight quizzes Ben Franklin on history.

In the sidelines Karen talks to Pam about her relationship to Jim and says she knows they kissed. Pam seems very distraught over the conversation and puts her foot into her mouth several times. In talking head mode, Jim admits him and Karen have been up late the last five nights talking about their relationship. At the end of the episode, Pam, obviously annoyed at Jim, tells Ryan that she is ready to be set up with his friends.

Rating: ****

Another hilarious episode. The Ben Franklin bits had me rolling onto the floor with laughter. Making the stripper answer the phone and give advice, likewise hilarious. The relationships keep getting interesting, although Karen is slicing into the awkwardness that is Jim and Pam.

Trivia:

• Oscar does not appear in this episode, despite returning in the previous episode, “The Return“. Andy also does not appear, as he is in anger management training (stated in the online producer’s cut of “The Return”).^[2] Toby also does not appear due to the fact that he was “sent home by Michael” so he wouldn’t know of the strippers. This was shown in the deleted scenes for the show.
• Ryan asks Michael if the grill at the bachelor party was the same one he cooked his foot on (which it was). He did this in the episode “The Injury“.
• The stripper compliments Angela on her baby poster that she received from Toby in the “Christmas Party“.
• The Benjamin Franklin impersonator, Gordon, was portrayed by actor Andrew Daly.