Appraisals

"Appraisals"
In a few years time, you could be in the hot seat.
Episode no.	Episode 8
Original airdate	7 October 2002 (BBC 2)
Written by	Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant
Directed by	Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant
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Appraisals is the second episode of the second series of The Office.

Plot

Lee apologized to Tim for overreacting when he saw him dancing with Dawn. David Brent conducts his staff appraisals where Dawn shares that she wants to be an illustrator. Tim and Rachel continue to flirt as they wait in the parking lot after the fire alarm went off and later Rachel asks Tim out on a date. Brent tries to win over the Swindon lot by taking them out for drinks at lunch but they clearly prefer Neil over him. Brent takes his frustration out on Neil when he returns to the office which causes Neil to have a stern talk with him in his office. Brent then tries to save face with Tim and Gareth by telling them that Neil slagged them off. Gareth is also interested in Rachel but she rejects him for Tim. Brent, desperate to be liked, has a drink with Dawn in his office and reads her some of his poetry.

Quotes

• Gareth: I can read women. And you’ve got to know their wants and their needs, and that can be anything from making sure she’s got enough money to buy groceries each week to making sure she’s gratified sexually after intercourse.

• David: Trust, encouragement, reward, loyalty... satisfaction. That’s what I’m...you know. Trust people and they’ll be true to you. Treat them greatly, and they will show themselves to be great.

• David: (to Dawn) Keep the dream alive, because, you know, otherwise one day you'll "Oh! Could I have made it?" You know? If you keep trying, at least then when it doesn't happen, you know, you can go, "At least I gave it a go".

• David: Tim Canterbury. The Canterbury Tales. By Chaucer. And Shakespeare.

• David: Today I'm doing the staff appraisals, and some people get a little bit nervous about that 'cos they think they're walking the long mile to put their head on the block. But they're wrong, it's a chance for them to tell me where we're going wrong. It's very much an opportunity...
  Gareth: -to separate the wheat from the chaff.
  David: Well, no, that sounds bad. It's not a witch-hunt, we're not trying to find out who the worst people are.
  Gareth: Well, we know who they are already.
  David: Well, no.
  Gareth: I've written them down on my form.
  David: You shouldn't have written them on your form.
  Gareth: I've underlined the worst ones.
  David: You're missing the point.
  David: (looks at Gareth's form) Yep.

Trivia

• The scene where Brent gives Tim the appraisal took 74 takes.

Cultural References

• Denzel Washington was mentioned by David about a film he saw the previous night. Denzel Washington is the most popular actor in Hollywood<ref>World Entertainment News Network http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0132493/</ref>. He won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2002, which made his the second African American actor to win an Academy Award for leading actor.
• David's favourite actor is Mr. Sidney Poitier. Sidney Poitier is the most famous African-American actor, who in 1963 won the Academy Award for Best Actor making him the first African-American actor to win this award.
• Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.

Gallery

• 

  Wankathon.

• 

  Yep.

• 

  Under weakness, you put eczema.

• 

  If you expect me to go in there.

• For more images go to: Gallery:TheOffice_Appraisals

External links

• BBC episode guide: "Appraisals"

References

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