“Since when is this an office where we delve into each others’ personal lives?”
Pam and Erin gather the ice cream and ready everyone for Michael’s latest heartbreak after finding out Donna is married. After Michael does not show any signs of depression, everyone confronts him. It’s revealed that he is still dating Donna despite her marriage. Andy–who has had d first hand experience with being a cuckold–offers Michael his advice and suggests that they go and observe Donna’s husband to see how much he deserves to be cheated on.
Meanwhile, Dwight and Angela have hired a mediator to settle their issues with their baby contract during work. Unfortunately, the mediator determines that the contract is air tight and that they would techincally have to conceive to honor the terms. Dwight decides to honor the contract–but not before attempting to injure his own sperm supply.
Andy and Michael go to a high school baseball game to spy on Donna’s husband Shane, who is a coach. Andy blows their cover when he decides to pry Shane for his thoughts on his marriage. Michael shakes his hand and then prides himself on how he looked him straight in the face and thought “I’m sleeping with your wife!”
Back at the office, Jim and Pam are caught napping by Gabe.When Darryl sees that they’re sleep deprived, he shows them a “restful location” in the warehouse where he used to nap. While trying to sleep, they hear Dwight and Angela having sex in the back room of the warehouse.
Michael returns to the office and boasts about talking face to face with the man whose wife he is sleeping with. When everyone accuses Michael of being awful, he decides that he will “take what he want” and raids the refrigerator. Michael then announces that he is off to meet Donna again. On the way, however, he has a change of heart and goes back to work.
The episode closes with a news crew confronting Michael in the parking lot about the Sabre printers that caught fire…
“The Chump” keeps the same dark tone as most of this season has, dealing with infidelity, job losses, and conception-by-contract. While the last few episodes have had their hilarious moments, this season feels as though it’s ending far too abruptly and this episode does little to assuage that. Michael’s affair with Donna was an interesting twist for him, as it ended with another baby step towards maturity. Dwight and Angela’s reunion was inevitable, but I can’t help but feel just as disturbed as Jim and Pam looked at the end of the episode. The faulty printer plot line that began last week begs the audience to care about a company that was haphazardly introduced in the middle of this season.
Overall, “The Chump” works well as a stand alone episode but does nothing to entice viewers to tune in next season, let alone next week.
