“Why is Christmas the only holiday that can have a message?”
This week’s “Koi Pond” sees Michael trying to cope with an embarrassing experience at a business meeting.
Jim has trouble convincing a supplier that he is also a regional manager and is forced to bring Michael along to an important meeting. Michael can’t help but rub it in his face, suggesting they bring a stroller along as well.
Andy and Pam, having the lowest sales this quarter, have to make cold calls to businesses. They spend their first meeting visibly disgusted at being mistaken for a couple (and blowing the sales call), but later embrace it and use it to their advantage. On the way back to the office, Andy reveals to Pam that he’s considering asking Erin out.
“Truthfully, it wasn’t the way he fell in, it was how long it took him to get out.”
Michael returns soaked, Jim dry. When the office prods enough, it’s leaked that Michael had fallen into a Koi pond in a building he had been in numerous times before. The office spends the rest of the day making puns at Michael’s expense (i.e. “Heard you made a splash at the meeting”, “When you fell, did you flounder?”)
Michael decides to hold “sensitivity training” to address the jokes being made about him being koiponded. He composes a list of jokes that are not to be made about each of the employees resulting in further humilation for them. Jim suggests that Michael make fun of himself to diffuse the situation. He takes it too far, blabbing about several far more embarrassing incidents and weeping his way back into his office.
Meredith is sent a video of Michael falling into the pond. Jim attempts to stop the video not to save Michael from anymore jabs, but to hide the fact that he deliberately leaned away from Michael when he started to fall. This overshadows Michael falling into the pond, but Michael tries to cheer Jim up by poking fun at him as well.
In the closing scene, Pam decides to play matchmaker by telling Erin that she had a great day with Andy. Erin tells her that he’s the coolest person she’s ever met.
Initially a redundant episode, “Koi Pond” picks up in the last half. Michael’s humiliation has already been done in the past (“Stress Relief”), but the twist at the end was surprising and lends some credence to Jim suggesting that being a manager makes one do stupid things. I did anticipate more criticism from Pam towards Erin, but it makes sense that Pam wouldn’t want Erin and Andy to have to go through what she and Jim have.
