"No More S'mores"

Thursday night's episode, "Survivor Man," was full of Michael not being as awesome as he thinks he is. First off, you find out there was a special camping trip that Ryan put together where Michael wasn't invited. You find this out from 4 or 5 different interviews. The best part is, Toby was. This has been the first episode in which I have actually laughed at Toby's jokes. The incredibly corny "no more s'mores" was definitely his best line. After Michael hears he wasn't invited, he decides to come up with a ridiculous idea to 1-up Toby and Ryan's weekend. Michael is inspired by Survivorman, and decides he will go and be dropped in the woods of Scranton and then have to fend for himself. Jim declines the invite since today was his day to donate blood. Also, there may be some asbestos in the office.

Now Michael needs to things to survive in the wild: duct tape and a knife. This is when Dwight really shines with his office knife collection. I especially liked his dart blow gun from the bathroom. Not that Michael and Dwight are ready to go, Michael puts Jim in charge and tells Pam he is taking a personal day for the next day or two. During the car ride, Michael blindfolds himself, and Dwight proceeds to hit him with his shoe in order to knock him out. Genius.

Back at the office, it is Creed's birthday. Of course, Angela is planning and Jim has to deal with her. Jim is not a big fan of the whole birthday celebration, so he decides to group all the November birthdays into one day. Angela is not ok with that. And surprisingly, neither is the rest of the office. For the first time, Jim has to deal with the office like as if he is the boss, and everyone treats him like the boss. After the peach cobbler and fudgey the whale cake requests, and an additional birthday request from Toby, Jim is annoyed with what is taking place. This is when Phyllis calls him Michael, which causes Jim to really look at his life. Is Jim going to be the new Michael?

Back to the jungle. or forest. Michael cuts his pants into shorts, then realizes its cold, and proceeds to duct tape his pants back together. Only Michael. Dwight, concerned for Michaels safety, stays close behind Michael. My favorite quote of the episode is when Dwight is talking about watching Michael explaining, "I will let him die, but I will not let him lose his dignity." Classic Dwight. This is also followed by some more classic Dwight when he takes a bird's nest from a tree, and steals the eggs for lunch. At this point, Michael's pants are now a shelter, and it's time to look for some food. Of course, he decides to eat mushrooms, where a intense Dwight sprints towards him from across the woods, tackles him, and rips the mushrooms out of his mouth. A normal day in the life of Dwight.

Jim has finally decided to celebrate just Creed's birthday, and Michael and Dwight return just in time for Michael to sign the high harmony for "Happy Birthday." He then tells Creed to skip around the room, in which Creed does some sweet Irish-type jig for a bit. Everyone is happy again. Andy has his fudgey the whale, Jim and Pam share a fun moment together showing they're still happy, and Michael is decked out in Dwight's Battlestar Galactica sweatshirt. The final scene is Jim and Michael talking about the whole birthday fiasco, where Michael tells Jim he made a rookie mistake trying to put the birthdays together. Then Jim proceeds to make a "thats what she said joke." This heartfelt moment made Jim realize that Michael is not necessarily a bad guy, he is just the boss so he basically has to be hated. It also makes Jim realize he needs to do something with his life.

Sadly, next weeks episode could be the last episode for a long time. It's the last episode written before the writers strike, so I really need to decide how I'm going to spend the rest of my Thursday nights. Jan decides to sue Dunder Mifflin, and an epic ping pong game takes place between Jim and Darryl. Savor it, people. Savor it.