Lice (The Office)

Last updated

"Lice"
The Office episode
Episode no.Season 9
Episode 10
Directed by Rodman Flender
Written byNiki Schwartz-Wright
Cinematography byMatt Sohn
Editing byJosh Belson
Production code9011 [1]
Original air dateJanuary 10, 2013 (2013-01-10)
Running time22 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Dwight Christmas"		Next →
"Suit Warehouse"
The Office (American season 9)
List of episodes

"Lice" is the tenth episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the 186th episode overall. The episode was written by Niki Schwartz-Wright and directed by Rodman Flender. It originally aired on NBC on January 10, 2013. The episode guest stars Julius "Dr. J" Erving as himself.

Contents

The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) accidentally brings lice into the office but lets Meredith Palmer (Kate Flannery) take the fall, while Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) vows to destroy the parasites. Meanwhile, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) spends a great day in Philadelphia with a potential business associate (Erving); Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate), Phyllis Vance (Phyllis Smith), and Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) interfere with Darryl Philbin's (Craig Robinson) love life.

"Lice" received mixed reviews from television critics; many reviewers enjoyed the emphasis the episode placed on Flannery's character, although others felt the story did not work. The episode was also viewed by 4.54 million viewers and received a 2.2/6 percent rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, ranking third in its timeslot. The episode ultimately ranked as the highest-rated NBC series of the night.

Synopsis

Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) finds managing her household without her husband Jim (John Krasinski) to be more difficult than anticipated, as she struggles with duties such as taking out the trash. Her already frazzled condition worsens when she finds lice on her daughter Cece, leaving her no choice but to wash all the fabric in the house. At work the next day, she notices Meredith Palmer (Kate Flannery) frantically scratching her head, and realizes she may have transferred the lice from Cece to the office. She initiates an investigation and Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper), who experienced numerous lice infestations as a child in foster care, finds that all of the employees except Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson), Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate), Phyllis Vance (Phyllis Smith), and Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) have lice. Given her disregard for cleanliness, the employees assume Meredith is responsible; Pam defends her but neglects to admit her guilt. To eliminate the lice, Meredith shaves her head. Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) also overreacts, donning a hazmat suit and accidentally exposing himself to a hallucinogenic bug bomb that causes him to faint.

On Erin's advice, the other infected employees pair up to put mayonnaise on each other's hair to suffocate the lice, which allows Pete Miller (Jake Lacy) and Erin to spend time together and Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) to prank Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) in retaliation for his affair with her husband. Pam's mother calls to inform her that Cece still has lice; the other staff overhear and realize Pam is responsible for the lice infestation, much to Meredith's delight.

Jim goes to Philadelphia to meet with a potential investor in his sports marketing company; the investor is none other than Julius "Dr. J" Erving, a personal hero of Jim's. Being sensitive to how difficult it must be to manage the house and kids by herself, Jim does not tell her who the investor is during their phone conversations and pretends to be stressed over the meeting; Pam, in turn, affects to be having no problems so that she will not add to Jim's supposed stress. Back at the office, Pam apologizes to Meredith, and the two go out for a beer. While at the bar, Pam tells Meredith—who is a single parent—she now realizes how hard it is to handle children without a husband. The two bond throughout the night, singing a karaoke version of Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

The uninfected workers are sent down to the warehouse to avoid contracting lice. Darryl had recently manipulated the warehouse foreman Val (Ameenah Kaplan) into breaking up with him because he wanted to have a new start when he moves to Philadelphia for his job at Jim's new sports marketing company. Darryl tells the others about this and feigns heartbreak to gain their sympathy and appear that the breakup was not his choice. Nellie, Phyllis, and Kevin confront Val and try to convince her to take Darryl back, to no avail. However, when Kevin then asks out Val, she is so mortified at her apparent dating prospects that she decides to get back together with Darryl, much to his annoyance.

Production

The episode guest starred Julius Erving, who portrayed himself. JuliusErvingMay08.jpg
The episode guest starred Julius Erving, who portrayed himself.

"Lice" was written by story editor Niki Schwartz-Wright, marking her debut writing credit for the series. [2] It was directed by Rodman Flender. This marked his second directorial effort for the series, after the earlier ninth season entry "The Whale". [2] [3] As mentioned before, the episode guest starred Erving as himself. [4] In addition, "Lice" featured performances by Ameenah Kaplan, who reprised her role as Val; and Linda Purl as Pam's mother, whose voice was heard on the phone. [2] This is the third episode to not feature Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) or Clark (Clark Duke). Helms left the show temporarily in the season's sixth episode "The Boat" in order to film The Hangover Part III , whereas Duke left for a few episodes to film Kick-Ass 2 . [5] [6]

Kate Flannery did not actually shave her head for the episode. According to her Twitter account, make-up artist Ed French was responsible for the bald cap and Kim M. Ferry designed the shaved hair effect. [7] According to the actress, the prosthetics took three hours to apply. Afterwards, she joked that she has "newfound respect for the actors in Planet of the Apes !" [8]

The scenes at the end of the episode take place at The Bog; this is an actual bar in Scranton. In addition, the exterior shots were all actually filmed in Scranton. In order to secure permission, the series' production staff phoned the bar's co-owner, Brian Craig, and requested that the bar be featured on the show. Reportedly, parts of the scenes were filmed with an iPhone. [9]

Cultural references

Jim compares spending a day with Julius Erving to a hypothetical situation wherein Pam would spend the day with John Stamos. [10] Pam and Meredith bond over karaoke, and the two sing the song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", which was made famous by Cyndi Lauper in 1983. [11]

Broadcast and reception

Ratings

"Lice" originally aired on NBC on January 10, 2013. [1] In its original American broadcast, the episode was viewed by 4.54 million viewers and received a 2.2 rating/6 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. [12] This means that it was seen by 2.2 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 6 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. [12] The Office ranked third in its timeslot, being beaten by an episode of the CBS series Person of Interest which received a 2.9/8 percent rating, and an entry of the ABC series Grey's Anatomy which received a 3.2/8 percent rating. In addition, The Office was the highest-rated NBC television program on the night it aired. [12] The episode was the twenty-fourth most-watched episode of television for the week it aired in the 18–49 demographic, with 2.772 million viewers in the age group. [13]

Reviews

Kate Flannery 2 2009.jpg
Craig Robinson 2009.jpg
Many critics praised the storyline with Meredith Palmer (Kate Flannery, left), but were unimpressed with Darryl Philbin's (Craig Robinson, right).

USA Today writer Whitney Matheson called the episode "the funniest ep this season" and that "it also ranks as one of the best since Steve Carell's departure in 2011". She lauded Flannery's performance, writing that "the actress has never made me laugh harder than on last night's episode". [8] Mark Trammell of TV Equals called the episode "excellent"; he was particularly pleased with the episode's humor. [10] Michael Tedder of Vulture awarded the episode four out of five stars and said that it allowed Meredith, who until the episode had been "a mostly one-dimensional source of promiscuity jokes" to have "two dimensions for once". He also applauded Fischer's performance, writing that it "would make for a terrific Emmy submission episode". [14]

Farihah Zaman of The A.V. Club awarded the episode a "B" and criticized its excessive narrative threads. She felt that Pam and Jim's separation brought "out the worst in them", but that "the same situations that force Jim and Pam to confront their flaws reveal the overlooked strengths of a couple of less prominent characters". She also wrote that the ending was "touching" because it humanized Meredith and made her out as a "badass". [11] Cindy White of IGN awarded the episode a score of 7.8 out of 10, denoting a "good" episode. She felt that the final scenes with Pam and Meredith singing were "a nice callback to the show's glory days" and made the ending feel "layered and grounded". White also applauded the short sequence that showed many of the office staff mundanely going about their day with mayonnaise on their heads, noting that the pacing was reminiscent of the first season when the episodes "had room to breathe". White, however, did feel that Jim's storyline was too reminiscent of the story arc in the fifth season when Pam went to art school. [15]

Nick Campbell of TV.com wrote an extremely negative review of the episode and called it "terrible". He felt that Pam's behavior due to Jim being gone was uncalled for. Furthermore, he felt that Dwight "swung too far into the territory that is known as 'annoying caricature'". Campbell did, however, write highly of Ellie Kemper, saying that "she's played [her character] funnily and warmly as anyone else". [16] Several reviewers argued that the episode functioned as a filler episode. Brett Davinger of The California Literary Review called it the "epitome of filler". [17] ScreenCrush reviewer Damon Houx wrote that "if everyone were in the same location this would be a bottle episode". [18] Furthermore, Darryl's subplot was mostly criticized. Tedder wrote that while "it's fine to have a story line where someone pursues something and then realizes it wasn't what it was cracked up to be" he wished that the show had actually developed Val as a character. [14] White wrote that she did not enjoy seeing "this manipulative version of Darryl" because it contrasted with his earlier characterization in episodes like "The Deposition". Zaman called the subplot "surprising". [15]

Related Research Articles

"Christmas Party" is the tenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's sixteenth episode overall. It was written by Michael Schur and directed by Charles McDougall. It was first broadcast on December 6, 2005 on NBC. The episode guest stars David Koechner as Todd Packer.

"Business School" is the seventeenth episode of the third season of the American version of The Office and the show's 45th overall. In the episode, Michael Scott is invited by Ryan Howard to speak to his business school class. When many of the students question the usefulness of paper in a computerized world, Michael attempts to inform the class of how essential paper is. Meanwhile, a bat becomes trapped in the office, leading Dwight Schrute on a mission to protect the employees.

"The Negotiation" is the nineteenth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's forty-seventh episode overall. The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, Roy Anderson tries to attack Jim Halpert for kissing Pam Beesly on Casino Night, only to be pepper-sprayed by Dwight Schrute. Jim repeatedly tries to thank Dwight for his actions, but each attempt is rejected. Meanwhile, with Roy fired, Darryl Philbin asks for a raise and is astounded when he learns that this raise would cause him to be paid more than his boss, Michael Scott.

"Fun Run" is the first and second episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth episode overall. Written and directed by executive producer and showrunner Greg Daniels, the episode first aired on NBC in the United States on September 27, 2007.

"Moroccan Christmas" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office and the show's eighty-third episode overall. The episode aired in the United States on December 11, 2008, on NBC.

<i>The Office</i> (American TV series) season 6 Season of television series

The sixth season of the American television comedy The Office premiered in the United States on NBC on September 17, 2009, and concluded on May 20, 2010. The season consisted of 22 half-hour episodes, and 2 hour-long episodes to comprise the 26 total episodes of material created. The Office is an American adaptation of the British TV series of the same name, and is presented in a mockumentary format, portraying the daily lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictitious Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The season stars Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B. J. Novak, and Ed Helms, with supporting performances from Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Creed Bratton, Kate Flannery, Mindy Kaling, Ellie Kemper, Angela Kinsey, Paul Lieberstein, Oscar Nunez, Craig Robinson, and Phyllis Smith.

"Andy's Play" is the third episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 129th episode overall. Written by Charlie Grandy and directed by John Stuart Scott, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on October 7, 2010. Guest stars include Robert Mammana, Phil Abrams and Robert R. Shafer.

"Christening" is the seventh episode of the seventh season of the American version of the comedy television series The Office and the show's 133rd episode overall. Written by Peter Ocko and directed by Alex Hardcastle, the episode aired on November 4, 2010 on NBC in the United States. The episode guest stars Linda Purl as Helene Beesly, Rick Overton as William Beesly, Robert Pine as Mr. Halpert, Perry Smith as Betsy Halpert, Bobby Ray Shafer as Bob Vance, and Peggy Stewart as Sylvia.

"The List" is the eighth season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 153rd episode overall. The episode originally aired on NBC in the United States on September 22, 2011. It was written and directed by executive producer B. J. Novak.

"Special Project" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 166th episode overall. The episode aired on NBC in the United States on February 9, 2012. It was written by Amelie Gillette and was directed by David Rogers.

"After Hours" is the sixteenth episode of the eighth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 168th episode overall. The episode aired on NBC in the United States on February 23, 2012. "After Hours" was written by co-executive producers Halsted Sullivan and Warren Lieberstein and directed by Brian Baumgartner, who portrays Kevin Malone on the series, marking his directorial debut.

"Andy's Ancestry" is the third episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office. The episode originally aired on NBC on October 4, 2012. The episode was written by Jonathan Green and Gabe Miller, and was directed by David Rogers. The episode guest stars Randall Park as Jim and Pam's actor friend, Steve.

"Here Comes Treble" is the fifth episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office. The episode originally aired on NBC on October 25, 2012. It guest stars Stephen Colbert as Andy's college friend Broccoli Rob and Ben Silverman as an investor.

"The Whale" is the seventh episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the 183rd episode overall. The episode originally aired on NBC on November 15, 2012. The episode guest stars Jack Coleman as Robert Lipton and marks the return of actress Melora Hardin as Jan Levinson.

"The Target" is the eighth episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the 184th episode overall. The episode originally aired on NBC on November 29, 2012. It features guest star Chris Gethard as Trevor.

"Suit Warehouse" is the eleventh episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the 187th episode overall. The episode was written by Dan Greaney and directed by Matt Sohn. It originally aired on NBC on January 17, 2013.

Customer Loyalty (<i>The Office</i>) 12th episode of the 9th season of The Office

"Customer Loyalty" is the twelfth episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the 188th episode overall. The episode was written by Jonathan Green and Gabe Miller, and directed by Kelly Cantley. It originally aired on NBC on January 24, 2013. The episode guest stars Chris Diamantopoulos as Brian the boom mike operator, and Ben Silverman as Isaac, a coworker of Jim's.

"Promos" is the eighteenth episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the 194th overall. The episode was written by Tim McAuliffe and directed by Jennifer Celotta. It originally aired on NBC on April 4, 2013. The episode guest stars sports star Ryan Howard, Chris Diamantopoulos, Nora Kirkpatrick, and Allan Havey. Former series regulars Steve Carell and B. J. Novak also appear through archival footage.

"Livin' the Dream" is the twenty-first episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the 197th episode overall. It originally aired on NBC on May 2, 2013. The episode guest stars Michael Imperioli as Sensei Billy, and was initially scheduled to air in its half-hour timeslot, before being expanded to a full hour.

References

  1. 1 2 "Shows A–Z – Office, The on NBC". The Futon Critic. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 Niki Schwartz-Wright (writer); Rodman Flender (director) (January 10, 2013). "Lice". The Office. Season 9. Episode 10. NBC.
  3. ↑ Carrie Kemper (writer); Rodman Flender (director) (November 16, 2012). "The Whale". The Office. Season 9. Episode 7. NBC.
  4. ↑ Snierson, Dan (December 13, 2012). "'The Office': Julius 'Dr. J' Erving to Guest". Entertainment Weekly . Time Inc . Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  5. ↑ White, Cindy (November 9, 2012). "The Office: "The Boat" Review". IGN . News Corporation . Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  6. ↑ Houx, Damon (December 7, 2012). "'The Office' Review: 'Dwight Christmas'". Screen Crush. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
  7. ↑ Flannery, Kate (January 11, 2013). "Ed French is the artist who ..." Twitter.com. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  8. 1 2 Matheson, Whitney (January 11, 2013). "Last Night's TV: Kate Flannery Rocked 'The Office'". USA Today . Gannett Company Inc . Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  9. ↑ Riedmiller, Jason (January 16, 2013). "After a Long Day at 'The Office'". Weekender . Times Leader. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  10. 1 2 Trammell, Mark (January 11, 2013). "The Office Season 9 Review 'Lice'". TV Equals. Daemons Media Inc. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  11. 1 2 Zaman, Farihah (January 11, 2013). "'Lice' | The Office | TV Club". The A.V. Club . The Onion . Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  12. 1 2 3 Kondolojy, Amanda (January 11, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory', '30 Rock' & 'Grey's Anatomy' Adjusted Up; No Adjustment for 'Scandal'". TV by the Numbers . Zap2it. Archived from the original on January 14, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  13. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (January 15, 2013). "TV Ratings Broadcast Top 25: 'NFL Football Playoffs' Tops Week 16 Viewing Among Adults 18–49 & With Total Viewers". TV by the Numbers . Zap2it. Archived from the original on January 17, 2013. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
  14. 1 2 Tedder, Michael (January 11, 2013). "Skull Vampires". Vulture . New York Media, LLC. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  15. 1 2 White, Cindy (January 11, 2013). "The Office: 'Lice' Review". IGN . News Corporation . Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  16. ↑ Campbell, Nick (January 11, 2013). "The Office: 'Lice' Review: I'd Rather Have Actual Lice". TV.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  17. ↑ Davinger, Brett. "The Office Recap: 'Lice' (Season 9, Episode 10)". The California Literary Review. Archived from the original on January 14, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  18. ↑ Houx, Damon (January 11, 2013). "'The Office' Review: 'Lice'". ScreenCrush. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.