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The Office: Golden Ticket, Gossip, and Scott's Tots

The Kree

Banned
Michael Scott is generally depicted as a good guy with a big heart who lacks common sense. But there are three episodes of this show that I think betray his character in such a way that he crosses the line from good natured idiot to blatantly inconsiderate or downright mean. He routinely does idiotic shit, but I think these count among his very worst offenses.

Golden Ticket
Michael accidentally gives Blue Cross a 50% discount, putting Jim's job in Jeopardy since they were his client. He takes advantage of Dwight's loyalty to him by convincing him to take the blame for the discount, only to then betray Dwight when the CFO of the company congratulates him on the initiative because Blue Cross decided make Dunder Mifflin their sole office supplier.

You might say that this serves as comeuppance for Dwight's attempt at usurping Michael a couple seasons earlier, but Dwight had already atoned for that by agreeing to do Michael's laundry for some length of time. This is fucked up. Michael almost got two people fired because of his inability to own up to his ineptitude and then selfishly tries to steal the rewards of an accidental success.

Gossip
Michael learns that Stanley is cheating on his wife after feeling left out of some meaningless interoffice gossip, so he decides to tell everybody about it to make himself the center of attention, not realizing that he's putting Stanley's marriage at risk. Then he creates a series of false rumors about the rest of his staff to distract from the truth about Stanley.

Jim & Pam - He tells everyone they're secretly expecting a baby. They actually were. Not that big a deal.

Kelly - He tells everyone she has an eating disorder. This is fucked up because Kelly clearly does have self-image issues, but Michael is too stupid to realize how damaging it could potentially be to draw attention to someone going through that in that way. She escapes the episode unaffected though.

Kevin - That there's a smaller person inside of him working him with controls. This is simultaneously the most clever and the meanest fat joke I've ever heard.

Erin - That she's a terrible worker, nobody likes her, and she's on the verge of getting fired. This is the second time he's made this joke about her and he literally learned nothing about why it's a bad idea since he did the same thing to Pam in the pilot episode and saw how distraught she was over it. This is not the last time he'll be a total dick to the nicest person in the office, either.

Angela - That she's dating an old rich guy. This is nothing.

Oscar - That he's the voice of the Taco Bell dog. He skipped right over homophobic and went straight to racist. Amazing.

Andy - That he's gay. This is interesting because the show's writers were teasing the questioning nature of Andy's sexuality since his first appearance (from having him offer to share a sleeping bag with Jim in Stamford to the extremely low hanging fruit of having him star in a musical in a late season episode) and some of the other characters have picked up on it over the years, but they knew better than to make a fuss about it. Michael, on the other hand, almost got the company sued for outing Oscar in season 3, so you'd think he might have learned something about why that's a fucked up thing to do to someone, but I guess not.

Toby - That he's still a virgin in spite of the fact he has a daughter. Michael hates Toby, so this is nothing but plain silly.
Jim & Pam decide to reveal the pregnancy to cover for Stanley when the office demands to know which rumor is actually true.

But here's the cherry on top: Michael eventually manages to tip off Stanley's wife that he's having an affair anyway, resulting in the end of their marriage. This is an astounding series of bad decisions all made in a very short time span, many of which are repeat offenses.

Scott's Tots
Years back, Michael pledged to a group of school kids that he'd pay for their college tuition if they all graduated high school. The story made headlines in the local paper.

WHY? Why would he do that?

Michael was trying to inspire them because they were at risk of being dropouts. And it worked - most of them were on track to graduate.

OK, but you're not rich, Michael. You can't afford to send 30 kids to college.

Michael thought he would be rich by the time they were ready to graduate.

Sigh.

Then we get to watch him walk back on that promise and we get to watch 30 kids be disappointed.

My god.

I get frustrated just thinking about this. There is nothing funny about this episode. It is the single most difficult to watch episode of a sitcom I have ever seen.

I-understand-nothing-GIF.gif


The writing of this show was very uneven over the years and it routinely crossed lines in the wrong places because it traded on making the audience uncomfortable. That's absolutely the charm of the show, but it suffered from having to up the ante season after season, I guess. Anyone else have any thoughts about Michael's fuck ups?
 

Dice//

Banned
He burnt his foot on a grill for the sake of experimenting what was legitimately the best way to start a morning.
 
I know a lot of people here have trouble getting through Scott's Tots. It's a tough episode but it's good. I don't agree that any of those episodes betray his character though. Michael is flawed like the rest of the characters. He can be selfish and lie. It might have been a little extreme at times but it's TV. And I could see that character doing all of those things, regardless of whether or not episodes were made about it.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
Scott’s Totts is one of my favorite Office episodes just because it really makes you feel the cringe right in your gutt. Amazing job by the writers to pull that off. Even on rewatches it has the same gutt punching awesomeness.


As for Michael, yeah the dude is a total dick, that’s part of his he key character traits that were there from episode 1. I think at times the show runners tried to spin him as lovably stupid, but they also seem to find their way back to his core: a super big dick of a boss
 

Ryaaan14

Banned
They don’t betray his character at all

In fact they all reflect how desperate he is to be liked by ppl. Simple as that. Sometimes it backfires in spectacular fashion
 
Everytime I marathon the office, I'm always afraid when Scott's Tots comes up. It is literally the most uncomfortable episode of the office I have ever watched and just cringe every time I watched it. It was one of those episodes where his foolishness just got a bit too real and could feel the pain of everyone on the screen.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
It's hard to think that Scotts Tots is intended to be a literal thing that happened in the universe of the show.
 

Ryaaan14

Banned
The meanest thing Michael ever did was tell David Wallace Jim wasn’t manager material in order to keep his position
 

Bridges

Member
Yeah Scott's Tots was unbearable to get through, I watched it with my family when it first aired and none of us had a good time.

But props to the writers cause I'm not sure any of us had or have since cringed that hard from a sitcom.
 

bremon

Member
hey mr. Scott
whatcha gonna do
whatcha gonna do, make our dreams come true

one of the better season 6 episodes imo
This is one of the things on the office that I’ll likely never forget. That episode was rough but had some hilarious stuff in there. It’s like the office meets bleak and oppressive. Erin continuing to sing it after is hilarious.

The meanest thing Michael ever did was tell David Wallace Jim wasn’t manager material in order to keep his position
This garbage is harsh because it happens to people everyday. Hard working people deserving up moving up the ladder kept in place because it makes life easier for the idiot above them.

It’s apparent from extremely early on that Michael is moronic and desperate for affection to the point that he is an absolute detriment of basically everyone around him, but the show is framed in a way that makes him seem like a well-meaning buffoon that everyone feels sorry for.
 

Chittagong

Gold Member
Scott’s Tots is absolute genius in writing. It’s almost incredible that the writers could even dream up such a cringe worthy scenario. It’s legendary.
 

U2NUMB

Member
I power watch through this series almost back to back as background noise to gaming. It has aged so well for me and while I agree with your points that the above situations were some of his meanest I think they 100% fall within his character. He is an idiot.. but he also wants to be loved and will say and do things without ever thinking them through. The tough part comes when it does not pan out and he is willing to throw just about anyone under the bus to save his own ass.

I think he is an amazing character that never gets old to me. And while I do still watch that last couple seasons and can find some enjoyable moments he leaves such a massive hole that its hard to forget that.

Scotts Tots is so believable to me within the context of what he would say and do in that situation. He would promise the world to the kids and then forget about it till its pay day.

Also I hate Andy and Erins relationship.. most annoying part of the show to me. The rest is damn near gold.
 

hollomat

Banned
Michael is not a good guy with a big heart who lacks common sense. He’s a huge jerk throughout the entire show and not just the episodes above. Michael has no friends and desperately wants a “cool” friend at the office, but rejects the friendship of Dwight throughout the entire series while leading him on.

He’s a complete asshole to Toby for no reason and despite this Toby always has Michael’s back. Even after Toby helps him out countless times, Michael is still an asshole to him.

Michael is willing to sell out anyone or be a complete dick to anyone just to appear “cool”.
 
I don’t know why, but Scott’s Tott’s is a very watchable episode for me like any other. Michael created it with the best (most naive) intentions, so there wasn’t really any malicious intent there. And while it sucks for the kids that his promise was made on hot air, it still held the net positive of inspiring and motivating those kids to stay and graduate high school. And everyone forgets that he at the very least vows to pay for the one kid’s schoolbooks if he maintains his grades.
 
Scott's Tots isnt that hard for me to watch.

The episode that gives me the most cringe - enough to skip it - is "Did I stutter?" where Stanley openly and malevolently defies Michael in a meeting and Michael has to figure out how to get over his fear of confrontation and address it.

I watched that episode once. Never again
 
I don't mind Scott's Tots, but, babe, I'm also one of those people who loves the dinner party episode, babe.

Also, since I just went through my library to watch Scott's Tots, I had no idea "Murder!" was just a few episodes prior, and I love that episode and Michael in it.
 
I don't mind Scott's Tots, but, babe, I'm also one of those people who loves the dinner party episode, babe.

Also, since I just went through my library to watch Scott's Tots, I had no idea "Murder!" was just a few episodes prior, and I love that episode and Michael in it.

The dinner party is probably my favorite episode. People hate that one?
 
Scott's Tots was just gross to me.
I absolutely hate "cringe" comedy and this was one of the worst instances of it I've ever seen.

I was starting to get tired of the show by that point, but that episode killed my interest to watch it more than anything.
 
Scott's Tots was just gross to me.
I absolutely hate "cringe" comedy and this was one of the worst instances of it I've ever seen.

I was starting to get tired of the show by that point, but that episode killed my interest to watch it more than anything.

I mean, there were heaps of cringe before that episode. Shit, The Office was built on that very principle...
 
The dinner party is probably my favorite episode. People hate that one?

I thought it was super divisive, not just in part that it was the first episode after the writer's strike.

On a separate note, the worst moment of The Office for me, and the part that made me stop watching the show, was during the last season when the opening made it seem like Pam was having an affair with one of the cameramen. I legit turned off the TV and never watch an episode later. Never saw the finale.
 
I watched Scott's Tots once but that may have been the last ep I saw. I stopped sometime during that season and never continued. I have seasons 1-5 and rewatch them but I'm ok not finishing the rest.
 

Davide

Member
I think his worst moment as a character was when he dumped Pam's mom just because of her age when he'd made progress throughout the seasons.
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
Scott's Tots is the single most difficult episode of television for me to even contemplate watching. It hurts my soul.

I put it on purposefully to get my girlfriend to leave the room. she cannot be in the same room as that episode.

i revel in it tho.
 
I thought it was super divisive, not just in part that it was the first episode after the writer's strike.

On a separate note, the worst moment of The Office for me, and the part that made me stop watching the show, was during the last season when the opening made it seem like Pam was having an affair with one of the cameramen. I legit turned off the TV and never watch an episode later. Never saw the finale.
What? I would like to see this. Was it just an opening gag?

Edit: I think I found the scene. Remarkably I think the cringiest moments of the office were unintentional in the last couple seasons.
 
What? I would like to see this. Was it just an opening gag?

Edit: I think I found the scene. Remarkably I think the cringiest moments of the office were unintentional in the last couple seasons.

I don't know the episode, but it was an opening bit in probably one of the last six episodes of the series. I think it was between Pam and Meredith. It made me so mad that I just turned it off and never went back.
 
I mean, there were heaps of cringe before that episode. Shit, The Office was built on that very principle...
Yeah, but usually the only time cringe humor works for me is when it's on characters that deserve it. Like it's sad that Michael went bankrupt, but it was his own fault.
Even the dinner party where you see how horrible Michael's relationship is, it's so ridiculously over the top that there's humor in that situation.

Scott's Tots' humor was at the expense of a classroom full of children that worked hard in the hopes of going to college.
Haha, he just destroyed the dreams of dozens of teenagers, what a hilarious goof of a character, can't wait to see the hilarious situation Michael gets into next week!

It wasn't just Scott's Tots that soured me on Michael's character, but it was one of the final nails in the coffin for me.
 

sfedai0

Banned
I never really got in to The Office. I do find it humorous at times but for whatever reason, it just dosent click with me. On the other hand, one of my favorite comedies that also takes place in a office is NewsRadio. Sorry OP for derailing but NewsRadio is superior.
 
Scott's Tots' humor was at the expense of a classroom full of children that worked hard in the hopes of going to college.
Haha, he just destroyed the dreams of dozens of teenagers, what a hilarious goof of a character, can't wait to see the hilarious situation Michael gets into next week!

It wasn't just Scott's Tots that soured me on Michael's character, but it was one of the final nails in the coffin for me.


Him having to own up to his mistake is what's funny, not what he did. That's why Stanley was laughing his ass off right off the bat. That's why it's still funny when he gets to the classroom and they're all happy to see him. They keep raising the stakes and you know it's gonna be worse for him.
 

Piscus

Member
Stanley put his own marriage at risk by cheating on his wife, but that's me digressing and unrelated to Michael's poor decisions in that episode...

edit: Also, the affair didn't result in the end of Stanley's marriage. He still had his wife and his mistress for a long while afterward.
 
I think you could make the argument that the episode shows how Michael has grown as a person from the guy who made that silly promise to the guy who now is trying his best, through laptop batteries and checks for textbooks, to atone for his past.
 

Permanently A

Junior Member
Scott's Tots is the only episode of the office I have never watched. I just skip it. I don't think I can handle that much secondhand embarassment.
 
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