A Halloween episode is a delicate thing. It’s easy to get gimmicky and lose sight of any character development when goofy costumes are involved. (We’re looking at you, “Rocky Horror Glee Show.”)
What’s made The Office’s Halloween episodes great is the fact that they give us the costumes and candy and then go about their business; the holiday never dominates the whole plot, and “Costume Contest” doesn’t disappoint.
Pam organizes an office costume contest, with the winner taking home a coupon book worth $15,000 in savings (although no one besides Oscar seems to realize that to save that much, you’d need to spend way more than 15 grand), but the main storylines this week had nothing to do with pumpkins, ghosts or fun-sized candy bars. Much of the episode centered around a conflict between Michael and Darryl.
After corporate puts one of Darryl’s ideas into effect, Michael apologizes to him for taking credit and decides to set things straight, only to discover Darryl went over his head and pitched the idea to Gabe. The resulting power struggle is funny to watch, especially when we see Gabe trying to act as peacemaker while dressed as Lady Gaga. We get a true sense of Darryl’s ambition in this episode, as he opts to skip the Halloween festivities and work late. With Steve Carell bowing out of The Office at the end of this season, could we see Darryl take over as regional manager next year?
Confrontation was the name of the game this week, as in addition to Michael and Darryl’s squabble, we see Jim ask Danny about never calling Pam back. Danny tries to be polite and claims that she was obviously in love with Jim at the time, but it finally comes out that he found her to be a little dorky. Hopefully Danny sticks around a while; he’s added some much-needed tension to the Jim and Pam dynamic.
Ultimately, “Costume Contest” brought us plenty of Halloween-inspired laughs, but it did so without sacrificing any of the workplace awkwardness that Office fans know and love.
Stray observations:
-Having the sweet-as-pie Erin wearing a gruesome, bloody mask as her costume was a nice touch.
-Angela, on why she needs to win the costume contest: “I spend most of my Sunday afternoons gluing my loose coupons into a book. This would free up so much of my time!”
-Stanley, on Andy’s True Blood costume: “How many freakin’ vampires am I supposed to care about?”
-Andy’s column in his college paper called “Bernard’s Regards”
-Kevin crying after Michael snaps at him
-Michael, on the spirit of the holiday, “Halloween should be a day in which we honor monsters and not be mad at each other.”
-Oscar dressed as “a rational consumer” and ended up winning the coupon book he was criticizing earlier.
-The cold open, with the all of the office trying to figure out if there is in fact no limit to what Stanley won’t notice, was one of the best in a long time.