Vandalism (The Office)

"Vandalism" is the fourteenth episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the 190th episode overall. The episode was written by Owen Ellickson. It was directed by Lee Kirk, who is series star Jenna Fischer's husband. It originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) on January 31, 2013. The episode guest stars Chris Diamantopoulos as Brian the boom mike operator, Mark Proksch as Nate, Brad William Henke as Frank, and Ameenah Kaplan as Val.

The series—presented as if it were a real documentary—depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, someone vandalizes Pam Halpert's warehouse mural. Distraught, she seeks the help of Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate), who both eagerly help her track down the vandal. Meanwhile, in their Philadelphia apartment, Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) is uncomfortable with Jim Halpert's (John Krasinski) cleanliness. Angela Lipton (Angela Kinsey) begrudgingly allows Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) and Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) to attend her son Phillip's first birthday party.

The episode received mixed reviews from television critics; many felt that the subplot involving Brian (Diamantopoulos) being attracted to Pam was shoehorned into the series and served little function other than to create superfluous drama. The episode was viewed by 3.97 million viewers and received a 1.9/5 percent rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. Although the episode ranked first in its half hour timeslot, it tied with the series finale of 30 Rock to be the second highest-rated NBC series of the night.

Plot

Someone vandalizes Pam Halpert's (Jenna Fischer) warehouse mural by drawing lewd pictures on it. Distraught, she seeks the help of Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate), who both eagerly help her track down the vandal. The three eventually find out that the criminal was a warehouse worker named Frank (Brad William Henke). Pam and Dwight take revenge by painting childish pictures on his beloved truck with washable paint. However, Frank over-reacts and begins to show signs that he is going to physically assault Pam. Brian (Chris Diamantopoulos), the documentary crew's boom mic operator, breaks protocol and intervenes by hitting the warehouse employee across the face with his mic. In the end, the audience learns that both Frank and Brian have been fired from Dunder Mifflin and the documentary, respectively. As Brian leaves, he tells Pam that he will always be there for her if she needs someone.

Meanwhile, in their Philadelphia apartment, Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) is uncomfortable with Jim Halpert's (John Krasinski) lack of cleanliness. After Jim accidentally uses Darryl's labeled coffee mug, the two begin bickering; both feel that the other is being unreasonable. Eventually, Jim decides to try and make an effort to keep the apartment clean, and Darryl tries not to be so retentive about the cleanliness of his things.

Angela Lipton (Angela Kinsey) and Sen. Robert Lipton (Jack Coleman) celebrate their son Phillip's first birthday. Angela is shocked to learn that Robert invited Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) to the party, even though she told Robert she didn't want him there. Angela then invites Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner), both in retaliation and to keep him from being alone with the office's accounts. Oscar, who believes he is invited because he thinks Robert is in love with him, is stunned to find out that he was invited to boost Robert's opinion in the polls among Latino voters. After the party, however, Kevin thanks Angela and Robert for the food, but tells Robert that he is a terrible person for using Kevin's friends to gain political support.

Production

"Vandalism" was written by supervising producer Owen Ellickson, making it his third writing credit for the series.^[2] It was directed by Lee Kirk.^[2] This marks his first directorial entry for the series, although he had previously guest starred as the minor character Clark in the sixth season episode "The Delivery".^[2][3] Kirk is also Fischer's husband.^[3][4][5] The episode guest stars Diamantopoulos as Brian the boom mike operator, his third appearance after the preceding two episodes. Mark Proksch returns as Nate, as does Ameenah Kaplan as Val. This is the first episode to feature Henke as Frank.^[2] Daniels had teased in an interview that one character would be fired from the show "in Episode 15".^[6] Although "Vandalism" was the fourteenth episode aired, it was actually the fifteenth produced, based on production numbers.^[1]

Broadcast and reception

Ratings

"Vandalism" originally aired right after "Junior Salesman" on NBC on January 31, 2013.^[1] In its original American broadcast, the episode was viewed by 3.97 million viewers, making it the second episode in the series, after the earlier ninth season entry "The Target", to dip below the 4 million threshold.^[7][8] It received a 1.9 rating/5 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.^[8] This means that it was seen by 1.9 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 5 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast.^[8] The Office ranked first in its half hour timeslot, and tied with the series finale of 30 Rock to be the second highest-rated NBC series of the night, although 30 Rock garnered more viewers. Both the finale of 30 Rock and "Vandalism" were beaten by "Junior Salesman".^[8]

Reviews

The episode's subplot involving Chris Diamantopoulos (left) was met with scorn by most critics.

Michael Tedder of Vulture awarded the episode—along with "Junior Salesman"—four stars out of five.^[9] He enjoyed Kevin's moment in the end of the episode, in which he was able to tell off the Senator for his poor treatment of his friends and family, and noted that "it came with Kevin's halting delivery just made it better."^[9] However, he was critical of the Brian subplot, calling it "the least interesting way this camera crew reveal could have gone".^[9] Roth Cornet of IGN awarded the episode a 7 out of 10 rating, denoting a "good" episode.^[10] Despite noting that the show itself was still good in comparison to much of television, Cornet wrote that the episode is an example of the "danger of needlessly dragging things out, as we have seen the waste of ending things before they have had the opportunity to reach their full potential in the past."^[10] Cornet praised Kevin's "truth bomb", writing that it "worked beautifully", but she called "the 'man behind the curtain' reveal [...] a bitter disappointment" and a "cop-out" to engage the audience.^[10]

Brett Davinger of The California Literary Review called Brian's antics "creepy", and wondered if the character would begin to emulate the characteristics of the eighth season character Cathy, who attempted to cheat with Jim.^[11] In addition, he was pleased with the episode's other subplots. Despite calling the Jim and Darryl story filler, he was more positive about Oscar and Kevin's story, noting that the ending was "a short segment, but well done".^[11] Bonnie Stiernberg of Paste magazine wrote that the idea of Brian temporarily dividing Pam and Jim led to "one of the more out-of-the-box episodes" of the series.^[12] However, she felt that the writers should have "thought of [the idea] sometime last season" and that the concept seemed forced.^[12] Stiernberg paralleled the quick buildup to Pam and Brian's relationship unfavorably to the slow buildup of Pam and Jim's initial attraction to each other.^[12] Nick Campbell of TV.com wrote that "Vandalism"—along with "Junior Salesman"—was "so much sharper than last week's trial in Dullsville".^[13] He felt that the episode was "important", because it continued the plot involving Brian.^[13] Campbell initially was not pleased with the development, but said that the plot will be "the ultimate test of the show's romantic theory" that "the meek men (the proletariat) constantly and righteously upending the established and neglectful men (the bourgeoisie) in the lives of The Office's womenfolk".^[13]

Erik Adams of The A.V. Club awarded the episode a "C−" and largely criticized the introduction of Brian as a potential love interest for Pam.^[14] He was especially critical of the final scene, noting that he "laughed hard—because I thought it was Dwight who hit him."^[14] However, once he realized it was Brian, he felt that a "conclusion to the rare Dwight-Pam story that brings Pam down to Dwight’s level was denied."^[14] While he enjoyed Greg Daniels attempt to take a risk, he wrote that "it’s starting to feel like they’re fucking up now."^[14] Adams, however, was complimentary towards Kevin's part in the episode, and called it a flash "of late-period Office at its very best".^[14] Casey Gillis of The News & Advance said that the overall success of the ninth season of The Office was hurt by "Vandalism", as well as "Junior Salesman". She wrote that, while the episode "would have been enjoyable by" itself, after Brian defended Pam "the show sailed right over that shark".^[15]

References

External links

• "Vandalism" at NBC.com
• "Vandalism" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Vandalism" at TV.com