Sex Ed (The Office)

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"Sex Ed"
The Office episode
Episode no.Season 7
Episode 4
Directed byPaul Lieberstein
Written byPaul Lieberstein
Cinematography byMatt Sohn
Editing byClaire Scanlon
Production code7004[1]
Original air dateOctober 14, 2010 (2010-10-14)
Running time22 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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"The Sting"
The Office (American season 7)
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"Sex Ed" is the fourth episode of the

television series The Office, and the show's 130th episode overall. Written and directed by Paul Lieberstein, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on October 14, 2010. The episode features the return of several recurring characters, most notably Melora Hardin as Jan Levinson, Linda Purl as Helene Beesly, and Nancy Carell as Carol Stills. Actresses Amy Pietz and Amy Ryan — who portray Donna Newton and Holly Flax
— only make vocal cameos, though Ryan is credited as a starring role.

The series—

Gabe Lewis (Zach Woods
).

Along with several actresses reprising their characters, "Sex Ed" also saw the introduction of warehouse worker Nate Nickerson, played by Mark Proksch; he would go on to recur for the remainder of the series. "Sex Ed" was viewed by 7.36 million viewers and received a 3.8 rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, marking a slight increase in the ratings when compared to the previous week. The episode was also the highest-ranked NBC series of the night, but it received mixed reviews from critics, many of whom felt that Michael was characterized as too stupid and that Andy's subplot was not compelling.

Synopsis

Helene Beesly (Linda Purl
).

Michael and Dwight meet with Jan, who is now a fairly successful office manager for a hospital and single mother. After Jan gives Michael a brutal description of why their relationship failed and he watches her play with her daughter Astrid, Michael reveals that he has herpes. He meets with Helene, Pam's mother, who is playing with Cece at a playground; after an awkward conversation in which she also points out his skewed memory, he insults her and walks off. He meets with Carol while she is conducting an open house. Carol attempts to be polite, but then abruptly points out his faults too. Finally, Michael calls Holly one last time, only to get her voicemail. He leaves her a heartfelt message that what she said hurt him and that when he saw all his other exes, he had not been happy to see any of them, but when he talked to her, he was happy. He says that he does not understand why she wants to downplay what they had, but he remembers their relationship perfectly and considers it special. Before hanging up, he awkwardly adds that she should be tested for herpes.

Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson
), despite Darryl having no idea what his problem is.

Production

The Office actor and executive producer Paul Lieberstein
wrote and directed "Sex Ed".

"Sex Ed" was written and directed by showrunner and executive producer

ninth season episodes "The Whale" and "Couples Discount".[9][10][11] "Sex Ed" is the first episode to feature Dwight's assistant Nate, played by YouTube star Mark Proksch. After the producers of The Office saw a series of prank videos that Proksch did under the name "Kenny Strasser", they hired him to become a recurring character.[12]

The official website of The Office included one deleted scene from "Sex Ed". In the clip,

Business Trip", and more cut scenes from Andy's sex ed discussion. In addition, an entire subplot was deleted from the episode. This story involved the camera crew catching Pam and Jim in the middle of a fight; the crew then tries to determine what caused them to fight in the first place.[14]

Cultural references

Michael compares himself to Canadian pop punk musician Avril Lavigne, noting that both of them get pimples.[15] Andy sings a parody of Foreigner's 1978 hit single "Hot Blooded" about pizza.[16] Jan mentions that she released "an album of Doris Day covers on [her] own label".[17]

Reception

"Sex Ed" first aired on NBC on October 14, 2010.[18] In its original American broadcast it was viewed by an estimated 7.36 million viewers and received a 3.8 rating/10 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that 3.8 percent of all 18- to 49-year-old households watched the episode, and ten percent of that demographic had their televisions tuned to the channel at any point. This marked a slight increase in viewers from the previous episode.[19][20]

Jonathan Teigland of Starpulse called the episode "simple and silly".[21] He applauded the final scene with Holly, writing that it was the "best" of Michael's reconnection with his ex-girlfriends.[21] Dan Forcella of TV Fanatic awarded the episode three out of five stars, calling it "a miss".[22] He felt that none of the encounters with Michael's former girlfriends were "funny", and that "the meetings themselves left a lot to be desired".[22] He was also critical of Andy's subplot, writing that "very little about the execution worked."[22] Forcella did, however, call Michael's conversation with Holly "classic".[22]

Myles McNutt of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "C+" and felt that Michael's antics—largely the fact that he easily believes he has herpes—were too stupid to be believable; however, he felt that the episode's main story largely worked as planned. However, McNutt panned the episode's secondary story focusing on Andy, noting that it "lazily tapped into the series' basic structure".[23] He ultimately concluded that "without any particularly strong jokes, it fell entirely on Andy's character, and there just wasn't enough there to support it".[23] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote that, while Michael's story "had its moments", it was largely "creepy and uncomfortable".[17] He also criticized Andy's characterization, noting that, in the episode, he was written extremely similar to Michael.[17]

Cultural impact

The episode served as inspiration for the Brazilian web series Viral.[24]

References

  1. ^ "Shows A–Z –Office, The on NBC". The Futon Critic. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  2. The Office
    . Season 7. Episode 4. NBC.
  3. ^ Jokinen, Rain (May 14, 2009). "Hey, Watch It! – Thursday's TV Picks". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 17, 2009.
  4. The Office
    . Season 5. Episode 4. NBC.
  5. ^ Ausiello, Michael (March 15, 2010). "Exclusive: 'The Office' Hires Amy Pietz". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  6. ^ Ausiello, Michael (September 1, 2009). "'Office' Exclusive: Meet Pam's Mom". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  7. The Office
    . Season 3. Episode 10/11. NBC.
  8. Tribune Media Services. Archived from the original
    on July 19, 2010. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  9. ^ "'Threat Level Midnight' Q&A with B.J. Novak". OfficeTally. February 24, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2011.
  10. The Office
    . Season 9. Episode 7. NBC.
  11. ^ Allison Silverman (writer), Troy Miller (director) (February 7, 2013). "Couples Discount". The Office. Season 9. Episode 15. NBC.
  12. ^ Hyden, Steven (October 13, 2010). "Milwaukee's Mark "Kenny Strasser" Proksch to appear Thursday on The Office". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Archived from the original on January 21, 2011. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  13. ^ "The Office-Sex Ed-Clip One-Video". NBC.com. October 2010. Archived from the original on October 20, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  14. Universal Studios Home Entertainment
    . 2011. The Office: Season Seven Disc 1
  15. ^ Tan, Jennie (October 14, 2010). "Sex Ed, 7.04". OfficeTally. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  16. ^ "Hot Pizza, Check It and See". SongSpeak. October 19, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  17. ^ a b c Sepinwall, Alan (October 15, 2010). "'The Office' – 'Sex Ed': Ghosts of Girlfriends Past". HitFix. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  18. ^ "Episode Guide | The Office | Season 7". NBC.com. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  19. ^ Gorman, Bill (October 15, 2010). "Thursday Finals: The Big Bang Theory, $#*!, 30 Rock, The Office, Outsourced, Grey's Anatomy, Fringe All Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Archived from the original on October 17, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  20. ^ Seidman, Robert (October 8, 2010). "TV Ratings Thursday: Bones, Fringe, Grey's Anatomy, Nikita Rise; Community, 30 Rock, $#*!, Big Bang, CSI, The Office, Outsourced Fall". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Archived from the original on October 10, 2010. Retrieved October 9, 2010.
  21. ^ a b Teigland, Jonatha (October 15, 2010). "'The Office' Recap: 'Sex Ed'". Starpulse. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  22. ^ a b c d Forcella, Dan (October 15, 2010). "The Office Review: The Pros and Con of Sex". TV Fantic. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  23. ^ a b McNutt, Myles (October 14, 2010). "'Sex Ed' | The Office | TV Club". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
  24. ^ "Porta dos Fundos lança sua primeira série, que fala de aids com humor". Estadão. Retrieved April 5, 2014.

External links

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