"Body Language" is the twenty-third episode of the
sixth season of the American comedy series ''
The Office
''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries.
The original series of ...
'' and the show's 123rd episode overall. It aired on April 29, 2010 on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
.
In the episode, Pam and Jim work on their first sales pitch together to Donna, the manager of a local restaurant, but Michael keeps misreading the signals she's putting out. Dwight encourages Kelly to try out for the minority training program, but is forced to work against her after finding out her future plans after she is accepted into the program.
"Body Language" has received positive reviews from critics and was viewed by 7.09 million viewers.
Synopsis
Pam Halpert
Pamela Morgan Halpert ( née Beesly) is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom ''The Office'', played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of ''The Office'' is Dawn Tinsley. Pam begins the series as the recept ...
(
Jenna Fischer
Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer (born March 7, 1974) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...
) and
Jim Halpert
James "Jim" Duncan Halpert is a fictional character in the U.S. version of the television sitcom ''The Office'', portrayed by John Krasinski. He is introduced as a sales representative at the Scranton branch of paper distribution company Dunder ...
(
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom ''The Office''. He also served as a producer and occasional director of the series throughout its nine ...
) work on their first sales pitch together to Donna (
Amy Pietz
Amy Pietz (born March 6, 1969) is an American actress, known for her roles on television. She received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series nomination for her role as Annie Spadaro in the ...
), the manager of a local restaurant.
Michael Scott (
Steve Carell
Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott (The Office), Michael Scott in ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the The Office (B ...
) employs several tactical dating and psychology moves to flirt with her, including juxtaposing pictures of himself with attractive people. He also gives Donna a
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...
catalog and flashes subliminal messages of the word "SEX" in his presentation. Throughout the day, he makes numerous unsuccessful attempts to kiss her. Michael discusses these attempts with the office workers, who largely interpret Donna as uninterested. Only Pam argues that she may have some interest, pointing out that Donna had opportunities to leave earlier in the day. At the end of the sales pitch, Donna leaves hurriedly, but remains in her car. Michael finds one of Donna's accessories in the office, giving him a pretext to chase after her. Though even Pam argues against it, Michael takes the opportunity and shares two kisses with Donna in the parking lot. He returns to the office and brags to the office workers, who are skeptical of his story.
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III () is a fictional character on ''The Office (U.S.)'' and is portrayed by American actor Rainn Wilson. Dwight's character was a salesman and the assistant to the regional manager, at the fictional paper distribution compan ...
(
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'', for which he earned three consecutive Emm ...
) learns that
Darryl Philbin
''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' is an Television in the United States, American television series based on The Office (British TV series), the British television comedy of the same name. The format of the series is a parody of the ...
(
Craig Robinson) is interested in applying for the Sabre minority executive training program "Print in All Colors". He encourages
Kelly
Kelly may refer to:
Art and entertainment
* Kelly (Kelly Price album)
* Kelly (Andrea Faustini album)
* ''Kelly'' (musical), a 1965 musical by Mark Charlap
* "Kelly" (song), a 2018 single by Kelly Rowland
* ''Kelly'' (film), a 1981 Canadi ...
(
Mindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979),Additional archive on June 25, 2015. known professionally as Mindy Kaling (), is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer. She first gained recognition starring as Kelly Kapoor in the N ...
) to apply for the position, preferring that a "malleable simpleton who can be bought for a few fashion magazines" fill the role rather than a competent worker. Later, Kelly mentions to Dwight that she and
Ryan Howard
Ryan James Howard (born November 19, 1979), nicknamed "the Big Piece", is an American former professional baseball first baseman. Howard spent his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, from to . He is ...
(
B. J. Novak) are planning to make Ryan the Scranton office manager once Kelly has assumed a position of authority, thus confounding Dwight's plans. Dwight attempts to sabotage the arrangement using racial semantics, uncovering that Indians are, in fact, Caucasians by definition. However, Gabe tells him that Darryl has decided not to apply as it would leave him no time for his softball league, leaving Kelly as the only applicant. Dwight turns to Stanley and Oscar, but they are both too scared of Kelly to compete with her for the position. In a last desperate attempt, he interrupts Kelly's interview to present Hide from the warehouse as a new applicant. Outraged by Dwight's betrayal, she storms out of the room. Kelly ultimately is accepted into the program. Though Dwight congratulates her, she promises revenge on him for introducing Hide as an applicant.
Production
![Mindy Kaling at PaleyFest 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Mindy_Kaling_at_PaleyFest_2013.jpg)
It was written by
Justin Spitzer
Justin Spitzer is an American television and film writer, producer, and series creator whose credits include ''Scrubs'' and ''Courting Alex''. He worked as a writing assistant on '' Queer as Folk'' (U.S. version) and ''Grounded for Life'' prio ...
, his second writing credit of the season after "
Shareholder Meeting
"Shareholder Meeting" is the eleventh episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series ''The Office'' and the show's 111th episode overall. Written by Justin Spitzer and directed by Charles McDougall, it originally aired on ...
" and directed by
Mindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979),Additional archive on June 25, 2015. known professionally as Mindy Kaling (), is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer. She first gained recognition starring as Kelly Kapoor in the N ...
, which marks her television directorial debut (she previously directed the "
Subtle Sexuality
''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' is an American television sitcom broadcast on NBC. Created as an film adaptation, adaptation by Greg Daniels of the The Office (British TV series), British series of the same name, it is a mockumen ...
" webisodes), she also portrays
Kelly Kapoor
Kelly Rajanigandha Kapoor is a fictional character from the American television series ''The Office'', portrayed by Mindy Kaling. She is the customer service representative at the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin from seasons 1 to 8. Following ...
on the series. The episode also features the second guest appearance of
Amy Pietz
Amy Pietz (born March 6, 1969) is an American actress, known for her roles on television. She received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series nomination for her role as Annie Spadaro in the ...
as Donna (her first being in "
Happy Hour") and Zach Woods as
Gabe Lewis
''The Office'' is an American television series based on the British television comedy of the same name. The format of the series is a parody of the fly on the wall documentary technique that intersperses traditional situation comedy segments wi ...
.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Body Language" was watched by 7.09 million viewers, with a 3.6 rating and an 11 share in the 18–49 demographic. The episode also received a 4.2 in the 18–34 male demographic coming first in its timeslot for the demographic with the closest competition being ''
Grey's Anatomy
''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into se ...
'' with a 1.7. The show ranked 10th in the 18–49 weekly ratings making it NBC's highest-rated show.
The episode received positive reviews from critics. Cindy White of
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
gave the episode an 8.8 saying, "While the episode probably won't stand out among the great ''Office episodes'', it did everything you want an ''Office'' episode to do – make you laugh, sigh and cringe, sometimes all at once." Nathan Rabin of
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
gave the episode a A− writing "All in all, it was a fine episode. The only reason I’m not giving it an A is because it lacked the tragicomic heft of the best ''Office'' episodes." Joel Keller of
TV Squad
Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could be ...
gave the episode a positive review as well saying "Despite the fact that we all knew that Michael and Donna were going to end up in a liplock, the journey there was still funny. I mean, who doesn't like seeing Kevin trying to push his manboobs together, or Andy talking about how the doctor who was feeling his punctured 'scrote' was just teasing doing so to up his bill?" Darren Franich of
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
gave the episode a positive review writing "straightforward and funny outing".
Not all the reviews were positive. Alan Sepinwall gave the episode a mixed review saying "wasn't nearly as bad as this season's '
Mafia
"Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
' – nor was Michael as idiotic in this one as he was there — but it was still a fairly uncomfortable, airless outing, one where nearly all the laughs could be found in the Dwight/Daryl/Kelly subplot" and said that if
Steve Carell
Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott (The Office), Michael Scott in ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the The Office (B ...
leaves, the show could actually work.
References
External links
"Body Language"at
NBC.com
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
*
{{The Office US Episodes
2010 American television episodes
The Office (American season 6) episodes