A Benihana Christmas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Office episode
"A Benihana Christmas"

Andy takes Michael and Jim out on the town for "A Benihana Christmas".
Episode No. 38
Prod. Code 309
Airdate December 14, 2006
Writer(s) Jennifer Celotta
Director Harold Ramis

The Office Season 3
September 2006 - May 2007
  1. Gay Witch Hunt
  2. The Convention
  3. The Coup
  4. Grief Counseling
  5. Initiation
  6. Diwali
  7. Branch Closing
  8. The Merger
  9. The Convict
  10. A Benihana Christmas
  11. Back from Vacation
  12. Traveling Salesmen
  13. The Return
  14. Ben Franklin
  15. Phyllis' Wedding
  16. Business School
  17. Cocktails
  18. The Negotiation
  19. Safety Training
  20. Product Recall
  21. Women's Appreciation
  22. Beach Games
  23. The Job
List of all The Office episodes...

"A Benihana Christmas" is the ninth episode filmed and tenth episode aired of the third season of the US version of The Office. The first hour-long episode of the series, it originally aired on December 14, 2006. It was written by Jennifer Celotta and directed by Harold Ramis.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Carol confronts Michael about the Christmas card he sent her, in which he superimposed his head on the body of Carol's former husband in a family photo. She breaks off the relationship, leaving Michael heartbroken and stuck with a pair of tickets to Jamaica.

For the past several months, Pam has led Dwight to believe that he is being recruited by the CIA, and her gift to Jim is that he can choose Dwight's first assignment. Jim declines the gift, claiming that as the new office "Number Two" he shouldn't be engaging in such activities.

Angela kicks Karen off the Party Planning Committee. In response, Pam reaches out to Karen, and the two plan a rival party.

Andy takes Michael to Benihana to help him forget his recent troubles; Michael drags Dwight and Jim along. Andy successfully isolates Dwight from the rest of the party and convinces Michael to ask out their waitress. Meanwhile, Jim plays pranks on Dwight and realizes that his excuse for declining Pam's gift doesn't hold water.

The rival Christmas parties begin, and the office staff members are forced to choose sides. Pam and Karen's party is a hit, while Angela's is a dreary affair. Michael and Andy each return with a waitress as their "new girlfriend", though neither is the one who waited on them at the restaurant.

Angela accepts Pam's offer to merge the parties. Michael is unable to tell the two waitresses apart. To remedy this, he surreptitiously marks his date's arm with a marker. When he offers to take her to Jamaica, she declines, and the two waitresses leave the party because it "blows".

Jim consoles Michael by explaining that he just had a "rebound" relationship. From his office, Michael makes a phone call and asks an unknown person to go to Jamaica with him. The offer is accepted.

Pam is crushed when she sees Jim and Karen exchange gifts. Jim is crushed when he sees Roy give a gift to Pam.

At the end of the day, Jim tells Pam that a helicopter will be arriving to take Dwight to a welcoming party at the CIA. Dwight waits on the roof and receives a text message: "You have been compromised. Abort mission. Destroy phone." Dwight throws his phone off the roof and walks away.

[edit] Deleted scenes

The Season Three DVD contains a number of deleted scenes. Notable cut scenes include:

  • Angela complains to Toby that "that trollop" is throwing her own party.
  • In separate talking head interviews, Creed, Kevin, and Stanley discuss which party they will choose.
  • At Benihana, Michael calls Carol to ask what he did wrong.
  • Subplot: Kelly threw away her Christmas gift for Ryan, believing he didn't get one for her.

[edit] Notes

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
For a list of songs featured in this episode, see List of songs featured on The Office.
  • As an hour-long episode (the first for the series), "A Benihana Christmas" counted as two episodes in the 25 episode third season.
  • In the opening scene, Creed responds to Phyllis' statement "...is it so crazy if we eat it?" with "Yes, that's crazy." Shortly after this, Creed is seen entering the office for the day dressed as if for the first time.
  • In a parallel with "Kill Gil: Vols. 1 & 2", the Simpsons episode that aired during the same week, the "inappropriate Photoshopped Christmas card" that Michael gives to Carol is similar to the Christmas card that Gil gives out on behalf of the Simpson family, which depicts the Simpsons on the couch and a picture of Gil Photoshopped across.
  • In "The Alliance", Angela claimed that the color green is whorish. In this episode, she now believes that orange is whorish. (In both cases, Angela's choice of color matches the color of Phyllis's outfit.)
  • When Angela discusses her estranged sister, she says, "So, yeah... I'm pretty good." This is what Kevin says when talking about his success at the World Series of Poker in the Season 2 finale "Casino Night".
  • The Benihana restaurant closest to Scranton, Pennsylvania is over ninety minutes away.
  • The episode was shot in a real Benihana restaurant.[1]
  • The 40-Year-Old Virgin, also starring Steve Carell, featured a scene set in a Benihana restaurant.
  • During filming, John Krasinski threw a shrimp across the table at Rainn Wilson. It bounced off Dwight's glasses and landed in the glass of water he was about to drink. The producers chose not to use the footage because it looked so improbable as to be unbelievable.[1]
  • The two Asian waitresses at Benihana are not the same waitresses that Michael and Andy bring back to the office.
    • According to the show's propmaster, different actresses were used because Andy and Michael failed to pick up the original waitresses, and settled for "less attractive ones".[2]
    • At Paley Fest 2007, Greg Daniels admitted that the joke failed due to poor casting. The waitresses that come to the office were supposed to be unattractive. The actresses they hired for the role were too good looking.[3]
  • Dwight's addition of drum noise to Angela's karaoke version of "Little Drummer Boy" is a reference to the pilot episode, in which he annoyed Jim with the same song.
  • This episode marks the return of Oscar Martinez, who has been on three months paid vacation offered by Corporate as an apology. Oscar enters the building with his partner Gil, but decides that it is too soon to return.
  • This is the third time in the series that a word has been bleeped.
  • Creed sings along with the karaoke machine to a song called Spinnin' N Reelin'. The character Creed is played by Creed Bratton, who wrote the song and was a member of the 1960s folk-rock band The Grass Roots. He is singing over his own recording.
  • In a deleted scene in which Ryan and Kelly are in the dumpster, Kelly asks why there are so many egg yolks. Ryan says that Michael was on some sort of an egg yolk diet, an allusion to a deleted scene in "The Client".
  • In "Grief Counseling", Dwight tells Michael that birds (and particularly dead ones) carry disease, and advises him not to pick up the one at the front entrance of the building. In this episode, he seems to have no such qualms about bringing a dead goose into the office.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b 'The Office's' Andy Bernard returns to Atlanta
  2. ^ See blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=102409815&blogID=205783475
  3. ^ Paley Fest: The Office

[edit] External links