A Benihana Christmas
"A Benihana Christmas" | |
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The Office episodes | |
Episode nos. | Season 3 Episodes 10/11 |
Directed by | Harold Ramis |
Written by | Jennifer Celotta |
Cinematography by | Randall Einhorn |
Editing by | Dean Holland |
Production code | 309/314[1] |
Original air date | December 14, 2006 |
Running time | 42 minutes |
Guest appearances | |
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"A Benihana Christmas" is the tenth and eleventh episodes of the
In the episode, Christmas time at the office leads to depression for Michael, when his girlfriend Carol (Nancy Walls) breaks up with him. Michael, Andy, Dwight, and Jim then go to a local Benihana restaurant, where Michael and Andy find dates with two of the restaurant's waitresses. Back at the office, after a conflict with a bossy Angela, Karen and Pam decide to create their own Christmas party. When the majority of the office decide to go to Karen and Pam's party, Angela becomes upset, and seeing this, Karen and Pam decide to combine the parties. Soon after, Michael and Andy's dates leave them, but Michael nevertheless finds someone to go to Jamaica with him.
Plot
Meanwhile, Michael is unable to tell the two waitresses apart. To remedy this, he secretly marks his date's arm with a Sharpie. When he offers to take her to Jamaica, she declines and says that she has to attend school, and the two waitresses leave the party because it "blows".
Jim consoles Michael by explaining that he just had a "rebound" relationship. Jim mentions that they are fun for a while, but then you keep on thinking about the girl that broke your heart, implying he still thinks about Pam (the girl who "broke his heart"). From his office, Michael makes a phone call and asks an unknown person to go to Jamaica with him. The offer is accepted. Pam is crushed when she sees Jim and Karen exchange gifts. Jim is crushed when he sees Roy give a gift to Pam.
At the end of the day, Jim tells Pam that a helicopter will be arriving to take Dwight to a welcoming party at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. As Dwight waits on the roof, he receives the text message: "You have been compromised. Abort mission. Destroy phone." Dwight throws his phone off the roof and walks away.
Production
"A Benihana Christmas" was written by
The episode was shot in a real Benihana restaurant in
The actresses who played the women that Andy and Michael bring back to the office were different from the actresses who played the waitresses in the Benihana restaurant. According to the show's prop master, this was because Andy and Michael failed to pick up the original waitresses, and settled for "less attractive ones".[6] However, at Paley Fest 2007, Greg Daniels admitted that the women they cast were "too good-looking", which led to the joke failing since the original script specifically called for Andy and Michael's dates to be unattractive.[6]
Reception
"A Benihana Christmas" was first broadcast on December 14, 2006, in the United States. According to estimates by Nielsen Media Research the episode was watched by an estimated 8.44 million viewers. The episode earned a 3.9/11 ratings share among adults aged 18 to 49, meaning that it was seen by 3.9 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 11 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of broadcast. Among that demographic, The Office finished in twenty-first place for the week among all of the major networks.[7] On the day that the episode first aired, it was the second most watched show of the night, behind only CBS's Survivor: Cook Islands.[8]
"A Benihana Christmas" was generally well received by critics. The episode was also given a 9.2 out of 10 rating by IGN.[9] An IGN review stated:
This week marked the second year in a row The Office has done a Christmas episode, and it's already become such a great way to play the characters off each other, that we can't help but hope they continue the tradition every season. To be fair, at a full hour, this episode was perhaps a bit too much of a good thing, as the first 15 minutes or so were a bit sluggish. But even then, there were amusing moments to be had, such as Dwight arguing with Toby over whether he could cook a dead goose he brought in – [h]aving hit it with his car, he considered it a "Christmas miracle".[9]
– Eric Goldman, IGN
Years after the episode originally aired, the storyline involving the Benihana waitresses received renewed scrutiny in the wake of acknowledgement of racism against Asian Americans. Kat Ahn, the actress who played the waitress that Michael brought back to the office, said in an interview with The Washington Post that she was disenchanted upon realizing she had been cast on the show "just… to be the joke".[10] Ahn also posted a video on TikTok, which she explained "The storyline with myself and the other Asian American actress is that we were the uglier versions of the actresses at the Benihana. Also that all Asian people look alike. We're one big monolith and just one big walking stereotype without any personality or any individuality, which is problematic. The whole joke was that all Asians look alike and that's why Michael Scott couldn't tell us apart."[10] In a 2020 episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey noted that they cringed when re-watching the episode in 2020, and reflected that "the storyline would [not] have been written today."[4]
References
- ^ Wilson, Rainn (December 13, 2012). "Remember all of these? #FinalSeason". Facebook.com. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
- ^ "The Office Episode Info: A Benihana Christmas". MSN TV. Archived from the original on February 10, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
- ^ Adams, Erik. "The Office (Classic): 'The Convict'/'Benihana Christmas'". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ a b Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer (August 5, 2020). "Transcript - Office Ladies Episode39 - A Benihana Christmas". Office Ladies (Podcast). Earwolf.
- ^ a b Holman, Curt (March 21, 2007). "The Offices' Andy Bernard returns to Atlanta". Creative Loafing. Archived from the original on February 20, 2008. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
- ^ a b Goldman, Eric (March 5, 2007). "Paley Fest: The Office". IGN. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
- ^ "Nielsen primetime ratings report". Daily Variety. December 20, 2006. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
- ^ Toff, Benjamin (December 16, 2006). "Arts, Briefly; Holiday Parties, Holiday Ratings". The New York Times. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
- ^ a b Goldman, Eric (December 15, 2006). "The Office: 'A Benihana Christmas' Review". IGN. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
- ^ a b Yasharoff, Hannah (March 30, 2021). "Actress Kat Ahn recalls taking 'racist role' on 'The Office's 'Benihana Christmas' episode". USA Today. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
External links
- "A Benihana Christmas" at NBC.com
- "A Benihana Christmas" at IMDb