Episode no. Season 5
Episode 4 Written by Aaron Shure Original air date October 16, 2008 | Directed by Greg Daniels Production code 504 | |
"Baby Shower" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the show's seventy-sixth episode overall. The episode aired in the United States on October 16, 2008 on NBC.
Contents
In this episode, Michael's ex-girlfriend Jan Levinson comes to the office for a baby shower, although she has already given birth, to her daughter Astrid. Her arrival causes Michael to be rude to his love interest Holly in order to fool Jan and causes Dwight to spend most of his day testing out Jan's expensive new stroller.
Plot
Dwight (Rainn Wilson) acts out the process of birth with a watermelon, as Michael (Steve Carell) wants to be prepared for Jan's (Melora Hardin) baby.
The Party Planning Committee is planning Jan's baby shower, and collects money for a present, to which many employees are reluctant to donate. Angela (Angela Kinsey) makes a "guess whose baby picture" game for the shower, and she is angered when Andy (Ed Helms) unintentionally makes fun of her picture.
Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) feel awkward trying to communicate with each other throughout the day, with Pam telling the documentary crew that the two of them were having an off day.
Jan arrives with her baby girl, Astrid, already born, much to everyone's surprise. The shower ends up taking place anyway, and Michael tries to pacify Jan by being cold to Holly (Amy Ryan), which makes her uncomfortable despite being foretold by Michael.
The present the office got for Jan ended up being a stroller, which was unnecessary as she already had a more expensive $1200 Orbit Baby stroller. Dwight found this a ridiculous price to pay, stating that his bomb shelter cost that much, so he goes out to test the durability of the stroller as the shower continues. He straps the watermelon from the beginning of the show into the stroller and goes out to a dump-like area to throw the stroller into fences and off of small cliffs. He also ends up tying the stroller to the back of his car for his "bumper test."
Michael holds Astrid, only to find no connection, so he seeks advice from another "baby-daddy," Darryl (Craig Robinson). Darryl mocks him, as the baby is not even Michael's. Jan acts coldly to Holly when they have a conversation, being direct when Holly attempts humor. Jan then retrieves her daughter from Angela and Andy, who were setting up a photo of the baby amongst vegetables. She leaves soon afterward, telling Michael in the parking lot not to date Holly. Michael hugs Holly when he goes back into the building and feels a connection he did not feel with Astrid. He then asks her out on a date, which she accepts, visibly moved.
Jim and Pam call each other at exactly the same time and leave each other messages that are extremely similar, hinting that perhaps they are not as disjointed as this day has made them feel but highlighting the difficulty they are both having with being apart.
Reception
"Baby Shower" received mixed reviews. IGN gave the episode a 7.5, saying that, "Dwight's ludicrous testing of the $1200 stroller goes on too long, is predictable and only intermittently funny. It also feels like we've done this before. The same can be said of Jim and Pam's phone-tag problem," and that it was one of the more mediocre episodes in a while." "Baby Shower" was voted the nineteenth highest-rated episode out of 26 from the fifth season, according to an episode poll at the fansite OfficeTally; the episode was rated 7.74 out of 10.