overnights

The Office: the Cat Lady, Redefined

The Office

Lecture Circuit (Part II)
Season 5 Episode 15

As suspected, no Holly Flax this episode. Michael’s impromptu visit to Dunder Mifflin’s Nashua branch comes while Holly is out of town, because Amy Ryan isn’t signed for any more episodes until the end of the season. But now we’re sure she’s coming back.

As it turns out, phantom Holly has a boyfriend in the office (where else would people meet on this show?): A.J., a smug salesman played by the hilarious Human Giant alum (and Inconsiderate Cell Phone Man) Rob Huebel. (They haven’t given him anything to do yet, but he’s too funny not to bounce off of Michael at some point.) Because Michael’s Michael, he breaks down while addressing the Nashua troops and inevitably ends up at Holly’s empty desk, where he creepily cuts a sleeve from her sweater and steals a “Dear Michael†Word file off her desktop. (She has a picture of Ed Grimley as her wallpaper.)

Michael doesn’t actually read the document, but Pam does, and, in a legitimately sweet moment (these are the show’s two sweetest characters, for better or worse), reveals to him that There’s Still Something There, without being specific. Maybe Holly and Michael will end up together but, once they’re married, she’ll take on the vanishing Norm’s Wife role so Amy Ryan can still make her movies. We’ll make that trade. The appearance of A.J. also gives Pam an opportunity to voice her pain from back when Jim was dating Karen; we haven’t seen that before.

But let’s not get carried away with the lovey-dovey mush: The highlight of the episode is some full-on web-cam cat sex. Meanwhile, we’re not sure what’s happened to Angela. She’s always been a little loopy, but in the wake of the Andy-Dwight imbroglio, she appears to have officially gone batshit insane. Watching your cats all day via web-cam is one thing. Licking them clean on camera is something else all together. Come back to earth, Angela … but leave the cats, please.

The Office: the Cat Lady, Redefined