Bittersweet Comedy Symphony

Last night’s episode of The Office (4.07: Survivor Man) was one of my favorite episodes of the show’s existence. I can’t remember the last time I laughed that loud and hard watching television. Below are some highlights from the script. (Note: if you haven’t watched the episode yet, I’d advise skipping over these quotes. Some of them won’t make sense in and of themselves, and there are minor spoilers that will take away from the experience of watching the episode for the first time.)

Dwight: It’s better to be hurt by someone you know accidentally than by a stranger on purpose.

Dwight: Do I believe that Michael possesses the skills to survive in a hostile environment? Let’s put it this way: no, I do not.

Dwight: I would remove your teeth and cut off your fingertips so you could not be identified. And they would call me the Overkill Killer.

Creed: You tell her it’s for Creed. She’ll know what that means.

Michael: The sun is in the two-thirds easterly quadrant, which would make it about (glances at watch) 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

Michael: Well if you take a look at this, I tented my pants. I’ve made myself a nice pants tent shelter.

At the end of the show, I had a bittersweet moment. It was sweet because I was basking in the afterglow of one of the best episodes of The Office—ever! It was bitter because there is only one new episode left before they go back to reruns, seeing as how the Writer’s Guild strike has shut down production of the show. But even though it hurts me (the viewer), I’m supporting the strike; the writers need to be fairly compensated for their work.

On a related note, here’s an entertaining video of the scriptwriters for The Office explaining the strike.