Merger

"Merger"
Mahna Mahna
Episode no.	Episode 7
Original airdate	30 September 2002 (BBC 2)
Written by	Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant
Directed by	Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant
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Merger is the first episode of the second series of The Office.

Plot

The Swindon lot merges with the Slough branch while the PA David Brent hired in the last series was let go. Tim has been promoted and appears to be taking his job more seriously and is being more distant to Dawn. Tim and Gareth both express an interest in Rachel, one of the new employees from Swindon. Neil Godwin, the former manager in Swindon, has taken Jennifer’s position and is now Brent’s boss. Neil and Jennifer join the office at the merger party. David gets off on the wrong foot straightaway with his new employees by giving an embarrassing speech and telling an offensive joke. Neil and Jennifer reprimand David for offending staff members with his jokes, causing David to feel that the new staff don’t understand his humour. Tim finally opens up to Dawn by winding up Gareth with her, yet when Lee walks into the office he finds Tim dancing and flirting with Dawn and he pushes him away from her in front of everyone in a tense moment.

Quotes

• Gareth: Gareth Keenan. Who’s that? Oggy! Oggy Oggy Oggy, oink oink oink. Oggy Oggy Oggy, oink oink oink. Oggy! Oggy! Oggy Oggy Oggy, oink oink oink. Yeah I’ll see ya later.
  Tim: Do you still keep in touch with Oggy?

• Tim: It’s like making the div kid at school milk monitor, no one respects it.
  Gareth: Uh yeah they do
  Tim: No they don’t Gareth
  Gareth: Uh yes they do because if people were rude to me then I used to give them their milk last. So it was warm.

• David: I was a little bit drunk.
  Neil: For most of the week as I remember.
  David: Doesn’t sound like me does it, Dawn?

• David: I don’t agree with that in the workplace.

• David: Some of you seem to have got off on the wrong foot with me. You didn't like some of the jokes I told earlier. You've got to chill out, yeah, trust me, this is what I do, alright? You will never work in a place like this again. This is brilliant. Fact. And you will never have another boss like me. Someone who's basically a chilled out entertainer.

• David: And they were cracking up and he loved it ‘cause it was nothing vicious. Some ‘comedians’ would have picked on other stuff been a bit more nasty. Like he’s got a little withered hand like Jeremy Beadle, I didn’t mention it. No need.

• Neil: But there will be perks for him (Brent). I’m sure he’s looking forward to having a whole new group of men underneath him. Anyway here’s the man at the top of the pile, David Brent.
  David: Right, you know he was saying there about me being the top of the pile of men, saying I’m gay, right. I’m not gay. In fact I can honestly say, I’ve never cum over a little queer (while doing a wanking gesture).

• David: I’m not used to public speaking, I pispronunciate a lot of my worms.

• David: He (Eric Hitchmo) talks exactly like that. Doesn’t he, Gareth?
  Gareth: I prefer the stuff you do about his little hand.
  David: (Looks at camera) I don’t do stuff about his little hand.
  Gareth: Yeah you do, the wanking claw…

• Gareth: That’s it see. A lot of people can’t keep up with what words are acceptable these days and what words aren’t. It’s like my dad for example, he’s not as cosmopolitan or as educated as me and it can be embarrassing. He doesn’t understand the new trendy words like he’ll say poofs instead of gays, um birds instead of women, darkies instead of coloureds.

Trivia

• When Tim and Dawn wind up Gareth, they ask if he’s seen the film, Gaylords Say No. This joke was first used on Karl on the Xfm radio show on 17 November 2001 as a way of testing to see if he was gay.

• The puppet Flat Eric that was on top of the coat stand from the first series is replaced by the ITV digital monkey.

Cultural References

• The Muppet Show - an American television show that ran from 1976 to 1981 created by Jim Henson. In the opening scene of this episode David Brent and Gareth successfully annoy Tim by singing the theme song from the show.
• Jeremy Beadle - an English television presenter, writer, and producer. Beadle suffered from Poland syndrome and he had a disproportionately small right hand. Thus, David Brent compares him to Eric Hitchmo, a fictional character who apparently suffered from a similar condition. Beadle passed away on 30 January 2008 after he was admitted to a hospital with severe pneumonia.
• Fawlty Towers – an iconic British sitcom from 1975 featuring John Cleese as Basil Fawlty. It was broadcast on BBC 2 and only 12 episodes were produced. Brent references this show during his speech to his new staff.
• The Two Ronnies – a comedy sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. The show aired on BBC 1 from 1971 to 1987.
• Harry Enfield – a British comedian, actor, and writer who got his break on Channel 4’s Saturday Live.
• Scooby-Doo - an animated American television show which has aired on many networks and has led to several spin-offs beginning in 1969 until the present.

Gallery

• 

  Oggy Oggy Oggy!

• 

  Inside Paper.

• 

  David's new boss.

• 

  Monkey!

• For more images go to: Gallery:TheOffice_Merger

External links

• BBC episode guide: "Merger"