Thoughts on The Duel

* While better than Moroccan Christmas, overall this episode was still...meh. Not what I expected for the first episode back after the Christmas hiatus.

* The cold open was hilarious!

* Severe lack of "JAM" in this episode, which I can only assume means many of the episodes coming up will be more JAM-centric. Let's hope so.

* "In charge" Jim was quite the turn on. Hubba hubba. I'd like to see him raise his voice more often. And did anyone else notice that he seemed to really be in work mode in this episode? Not just when he was acting regional manager and trying to get the Dwight/Andy fight stopped, but even in the break room he was working on some kind of paperwork. I've NEVER seen Jim work on anything in the breakroom (other than flirting with Pam).

* I'm torn on the fight scene. It seemed kind of anti-climactic in some way, but at the same time I guess that's classic Office. Dwight is a lot of talk but wouldn't actually hurt Andy, like with weapons. Right? Hmmm...

* Speaking of the fight scene, I LOVED when the camera was close up on Jim's face while Dwight & Andy were fighting. JKras gives the BEST camera faces. Perfection!

* I implore you to watch the deleted scenes, particularly the second one :

http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/clips/the-duel-clip-two/944661

This is one of the funniest deleted scenes I have EVER seen. And it solidifies my (admittedly biased) opinion that this show should be an hour long every week. Gems like this are left on the cutting room floor and that's just an absolute shame. "Darwin, baby. Darwin." will most certainly make its way into my daily lexicon.

*The whole thing with Michael and David Wallace was strange, awkward, and felt totally out of place. And not really funny except for Michael's "improversation" line. But as I read some of the synopses for upcoming episodes, I think it was a set up for bigger things down the road.

* When Dwight threw away the bobblehead??!! MY GOD!! I let out a huge gasp. I couldn't believe it. That simple act said soooooo much.

Favorite moments/quotes
-Creed's "You are welcome"
-Michael asking if Angela is crazy in bed and Dwight saying yes because she's "eager and flexible"
-Jim yelling at Dwight {{{body shiver}}}
-Oscar's realization of exactly where Dwight & Angela had sex in the office
-Meredith: "I call loser"
And my favorite...that entire deleted scene, from Phyllis' line, to Stanley's speech, to Kevin's talking head, to Dwight bit at the end about his great aunt. Pure comic gold that absolutely should NOT have been cut.