Blood Drive (The Office)
Encyclopedia
"Blood Drive" is the eighteenth episode of the fifth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the 90th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC
in the United States on March 5, 2009.
In the episode, a lonely Michael
strikes up a pleasant conversation with a woman while giving blood, but passes out before he can learn her name. He holds a Valentine's Day
singles party at the Dunder Mifflin office with the hopes of meeting her. Meanwhile, Jim
and Pam
go on an awkward double date with Phyllis and Bob Vance.
The episode was written by Brent Forrester
and directed by Randall Einhorn
. It featured the first appearance of actress Lisa K. Wyatt
as Lynne, who would make frequent reappearance as a romantic interest for Kevin
. The episode received generally mixed reviews and, according to Nielsen ratings
, was watched by 8.63 million households during its original broadcast.
(Steve Carell
) is depressed because it is the first Valentine's Day
since he and Holly
broke up. Michael donates blood at a mobile blood drive being held in the business park's parking lot and has a nice conversation with a female donor (Kathryn Aselton
) sitting next to him. When they both finish at the same time, Michael passes out because he did not eat much before giving blood, and when he wakes up she is gone. A disappointed Michael finds a glove he assumes she left behind and takes it, hoping she will come back for it. When Michael goes back into the office, he decides to gather all the single employees into the conference room to discuss their own personal romantic dilemmas. After becoming further depressed by their sad dating stories, Michael decides to try lifting their spirits by holding a singles mixer. He puts up flyers which also advertise the finding of a missing glove, and Michael hopes his mystery woman will come to the party as a result.
When Jim
(John Krasinski
) and Pam
(Jenna Fischer
) are threatened with banishment by Michael after they constantly gaze happily on each other, Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) invites them to have lunch with her and her husband Bob Vance (Robert R. Shafer
). Their meal initially goes well, but Phyllis and Bob disappear for a while after their food arrives. Hungry and not wanting to be rude by eating before they get back, Jim and Pam check the bathrooms and hear Phyllis and Bob having sex in the disabled bathroom. Phyllis and Bob finally come back to their table and Jim and Pam lose their appetites and look on in disgust as Phyllis and Bob seductively put food in each others' mouths.
Back at the office, a few outsiders attend Michael's party. One of the attendees (Tate Hanyok) strikes up a conversation with Dwight
(Rainn Wilson
), who tries to sell her paper; Dwight becomes angry when she tells him she already has a paper supplier. Another attendee named Lynne (Lisa K. Wyatt
) converses with Kevin
(Brian Baumgartner
), who is still somewhat depressed over his breakup with his fiancée Stacy and walks away when he admits it was she who broke it off. Kevin returns later to apologize to Lynne and admits he gets nervous talking to pretty girls; Lynne is flattered and gives Kevin her e-mail address. Afterwards, Michael is disappointed the woman who lost her glove does not show up and tells the employees they can go home early, but the empathetic staff decide to stay and later encourage Michael to leave with them.
The episode ends when Stanley
(Leslie David Baker
) attempts to get a cookie from a blood drive nurse at the drive by claiming he gave blood earlier and showing a cotton ball taped to his arm as proof. The nurse recognizes he is lying because they are using band-aids; a frustrated Stanley leaves, and tells Phyllis, who is about to try the same trick. In the final scene, Creed
(Creed Bratton
) is seen leaving the blood mobile with a bag of donated blood in his coat pocket.
and directed by Randall Einhorn
. It featured the first appearance of actress Lisa K. Wyatt
as Lynne, who would continue to make frequent appearances as a romantic interest for Kevin. During the episode, the Ed Helms
character Andy
is described as attending solo honeymoons in Napa Valley
, The Bahamas
and Walt Disney World Resort
, which he previously booked before breaking off his engagement with Angela. Following the episode, NBC posted fake photos of Ed Helms visiting those locations on the show's official Angela Martin and Andrew Bernard wedding website. The photos included Helms scuba-diving, standing in front of a hot air balloon and visiting Disney's Epcot Center
, and includes an assurance by Andy that he "wanted all my bros and bras in cyberspace to know that the Ol' Nard Dog is doing just fine.”
The official website for The Office included three cut scenes from "Blood Drive" within a week of its original release. In the first 85-second clip, Dwight assures his office-mates that the blood taken in the bloodmobile
will not be used in any "ritualistic ways". Later, while giving blood himself, he asks the hospital employee, "How do I know it's not going to go into a person who will later come back to kill me?" The second clip was two minutes of extended footage from the singles party. Meredith talks about her husband leaving her for the garbage-woman, and Dwight said he believes his soulmate, "probably died 700 years ago in feudal Japan
after having impersonated a samurai
, or at the very least she lives somewhere outside the Scranton
Wilkes-Barre
corridor." In the final 90-second clip, Dwight shows off his bobblehead doll collection to a woman, Creed tries unsuccessfully to pick up Lynne, and Dwight gets rid of an attractive male visitor who Michael fears could be competition. Dwight tells him the party is cancelled "due to a death in the elevator".
, which is the second duel fought over her. This is a reference to "The Duel
", an Office episode from earlier in the fifth season, in which Andy and Dwight duel for her affections in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot. In the beginning of the "Blood Drive" episode, Jim, Michael and Dwight drive a phone salesman away by repeatedly saying "Ayyyy!" in the style of Fonzie
, the popular character from the sitcom Happy Days
. The mysterious woman leaves a single pink glove behind after meeting Michael, in a similar fashion to the classic folk tale Cinderella
. Kelly refers to the encounter as "like a modern-day Enchanted". Michael says he was hit by "Cupid
's sparrow", a mistaken reference to the Roman mythological
god who would inspire love by shooting people with arrows.
Michael makes jokes about feeling like a human juice box
, describing himself as "Type O-Cean Spray", a combination of type O blood
and the Ocean Spray
juice company, and as "Hawaiian Blood Punch", a reference to the fruit punch drink Hawaiian Punch
. Jim says, "I have a lot of work to do this afternoon. Those mines aren't going to sweep themselves," a reference to the computer game Minesweeper
. Ryan is said to be "sleeping with random prostitutes" in Thailand
; prostitution
in the Southeast Asia
n nation is technically illegal, but is in practice tolerated and regulated. Kevin said his previous engagement ended immediately after he remarked that the Philadelphia Eagles
, a National Football League
football team, might have a chance at winning the NFC East
division championship.
, which aired at 9:30 p.m. directly after The Office, was seen by 7.35 million viewers, an increase of 30 percent in viewership from the previous week's 6.3 million. Commentators said "Blood Drive" was directly responsible for this ratings increase for 30 Rock because the lead-in Office episode was new, whereas the previous week's episode was a repeat.
The episode received generally mixed reviews. Brian Howard of The Journal News
described it as "classic Office" and praised the camaraderie the staff showed for each other and the "bizarre discomfort" of the double date with Jim, Pam, Phyllis and Bob. Howard described Dwight and Kevin as the episode's stand-outs. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
said the episode lacked many laugh-out-loud moments, but was effective because the characters are so well developed: "The Office has, over the years, become as much of a kitchen-sink drama as it is a comedy. ... The characters are so well-drawn by now, and for the most part so likable, that a sweet, low-key episode about Michael and the staff bonding over their singlehood worked even without a lot of memorable jokes." Travis Fickett of IGN
described the episode as "familiar territory, but it has plenty of fun moments." Fickett praised the scene with Carell and the mystery woman, and Jim and Pam's lunch. But Fickett said the series needed to address why Pam was staying with the company: "Jim and Pam still work there because, well, that's part of the show - but there really isn't a very good reason as to why these two would still be at this dead end job."
Will Leitch
of New York
magazine described "Blood Drive" as "mostly a placeholder episode", although he said it was "legitimately touching" when the cast stays late with Michael during the party. Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club
, who gave the episode a B+ grade, said the episode included both pathos and "big laughs". He particularly liked the joke of Andy attending all his honeymoons: "The thought of Andy forlornly embarking on a couple’s massage solo or sharing a romantic hot air balloon ride with himself was funny and sad in the best Office tradition." Entertainment Weekly
writer Jeff Labrecque said the episode was "unusually sweet", but said the double date with Pam, Jim, Phyllis and Bob "felt slightly undercooked". Josh McAuliffe of The Times-Tribune of Scranton
, Pennsylvania
, said the episode was "a highly amusing, if not fantastic, half-hour" and particularly praised the opening scene involving the phone system salesman.
Several reviewers described Dwight's quote, "I can retract my penis up into itself," as the most memorable line of the episode. Phyllis and Bob Vance's sexual rendezvous in the handicapped restroom during the double date ranked number 8 in phillyBurbs.com' s top ten moments from the fifth season of The Office. "Blood Drive" was voted the seventeenth highest-rated episode out of 26 from the fifth season, according to an episode poll at the fansite OfficeTally; the episode was rated 7.86 out of 10.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in the United States on March 5, 2009.
In the episode, a lonely Michael
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
strikes up a pleasant conversation with a woman while giving blood, but passes out before he can learn her name. He holds a Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
singles party at the Dunder Mifflin office with the hopes of meeting her. Meanwhile, Jim
Jim Halpert
James Duncan "Jim" Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office...
and Pam
Pam Beesly
Pamela Morgan "Pam" Halpert is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom The Office, played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of The Office is Dawn Tinsley....
go on an awkward double date with Phyllis and Bob Vance.
The episode was written by Brent Forrester
Brent Forrester
Brent Forrester is an American writer, who wrote several episodes of the animated television sitcom The Simpsons between 1993 and 1997. He has also worked as an executive producer on King of the Hill, and a writer on The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show with Bob and David, Undeclared, and The Office...
and directed by Randall Einhorn
Randall Einhorn
Randall Einhorn is an American television director and cinematographer. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.Einhorn is best known for his work on The Office . He also directed The Accountants, a ten-part webisode spinoff of The Office which appeared online between the second and third seasons...
. It featured the first appearance of actress Lisa K. Wyatt
Lisa K. Wyatt
Lisa K. Wyatt is an actress and comedian. According to the biography on her official site, she has appeared in more than 150 film, television and regional theatre credits. She is currently appearing in a recurring role as Lynne, the love interest of Kevin Malone, in NBC's The Office.-Life and...
as Lynne, who would make frequent reappearance as a romantic interest for Kevin
Kevin Malone
Kevin Jaye Malone is a character in the United States television series The Office. He is played by Brian Baumgartner. Kevin's counterpart in the UK series is Keith Bishop.-Biography:...
. The episode received generally mixed reviews and, according to Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, was watched by 8.63 million households during its original broadcast.
Plot
MichaelMichael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
(Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
) is depressed because it is the first Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
since he and Holly
Holly Flax
Hollis "Holly" Partridge Flax is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by Amy Ryan. She was an original character, and not based on a character from the British version of the show...
broke up. Michael donates blood at a mobile blood drive being held in the business park's parking lot and has a nice conversation with a female donor (Kathryn Aselton
Katie Aselton
Katie Aselton is an American film director, producer, and actress from Milbridge, Maine. She is married to her co-star on The League, Mark Duplass. She directed and co-starred in The Freebie, which was shown in the non-competition "Next" category at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010...
) sitting next to him. When they both finish at the same time, Michael passes out because he did not eat much before giving blood, and when he wakes up she is gone. A disappointed Michael finds a glove he assumes she left behind and takes it, hoping she will come back for it. When Michael goes back into the office, he decides to gather all the single employees into the conference room to discuss their own personal romantic dilemmas. After becoming further depressed by their sad dating stories, Michael decides to try lifting their spirits by holding a singles mixer. He puts up flyers which also advertise the finding of a missing glove, and Michael hopes his mystery woman will come to the party as a result.
When Jim
Jim Halpert
James Duncan "Jim" Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office...
(John Krasinski
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
) and Pam
Pam Beesly
Pamela Morgan "Pam" Halpert is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom The Office, played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of The Office is Dawn Tinsley....
(Jenna Fischer
Jenna Fischer
Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer is an American actress and director. She is most widely known for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Pam Halpert on the NBC situation comedy and mockumentary The Office, and has also appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,...
) are threatened with banishment by Michael after they constantly gaze happily on each other, Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) invites them to have lunch with her and her husband Bob Vance (Robert R. Shafer
Robert R. Shafer
Robert Shafer is an American actor who has amassed a substantial cult-following for having played Officer Joe Vickers in the 1989 horror-comedy Psycho Cop and the sequel Psycho Cop 2. Shafer, sometimes credited as Bobby Ray Shafer, is best known for playing Bob Vance on The Office...
). Their meal initially goes well, but Phyllis and Bob disappear for a while after their food arrives. Hungry and not wanting to be rude by eating before they get back, Jim and Pam check the bathrooms and hear Phyllis and Bob having sex in the disabled bathroom. Phyllis and Bob finally come back to their table and Jim and Pam lose their appetites and look on in disgust as Phyllis and Bob seductively put food in each others' mouths.
Back at the office, a few outsiders attend Michael's party. One of the attendees (Tate Hanyok) strikes up a conversation with Dwight
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. He originally exactly resembled Gareth Keenan from the original UK version of The Office. Dwight is the top salesman and former acting manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for...
(Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
), who tries to sell her paper; Dwight becomes angry when she tells him she already has a paper supplier. Another attendee named Lynne (Lisa K. Wyatt
Lisa K. Wyatt
Lisa K. Wyatt is an actress and comedian. According to the biography on her official site, she has appeared in more than 150 film, television and regional theatre credits. She is currently appearing in a recurring role as Lynne, the love interest of Kevin Malone, in NBC's The Office.-Life and...
) converses with Kevin
Kevin Malone
Kevin Jaye Malone is a character in the United States television series The Office. He is played by Brian Baumgartner. Kevin's counterpart in the UK series is Keith Bishop.-Biography:...
(Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner is an Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor, best known for playing Kevin Malone on The Office.-Personal life:...
), who is still somewhat depressed over his breakup with his fiancée Stacy and walks away when he admits it was she who broke it off. Kevin returns later to apologize to Lynne and admits he gets nervous talking to pretty girls; Lynne is flattered and gives Kevin her e-mail address. Afterwards, Michael is disappointed the woman who lost her glove does not show up and tells the employees they can go home early, but the empathetic staff decide to stay and later encourage Michael to leave with them.
The episode ends when Stanley
Stanley Hudson
Stanley James Hudson is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Leslie David Baker. Stanley's counterpart in the UK series is Malcolm.-Overview:...
(Leslie David Baker
Leslie David Baker
Leslie David Baker is an American film and television actor who plays Stanley Hudson on The Office. He also had several small roles in Scrubs and appeared on That '70s Show as a janitor after a Ted Nugent concert and played an office worker in several of OfficeMax's "Rubberband Man" series of...
) attempts to get a cookie from a blood drive nurse at the drive by claiming he gave blood earlier and showing a cotton ball taped to his arm as proof. The nurse recognizes he is lying because they are using band-aids; a frustrated Stanley leaves, and tells Phyllis, who is about to try the same trick. In the final scene, Creed
Creed Bratton (character)
Creed Rowland Bratton a.k.a. "William Charles Schneider" is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. Confusion may arise from the fact that the character is played by and partially based on the musician of the same name, Creed Bratton...
(Creed Bratton
Creed Bratton
Creed Bratton is an American actor and musician, a former member of The Grass Roots...
) is seen leaving the blood mobile with a bag of donated blood in his coat pocket.
Production
"Blood Drive" was written by Brent ForresterBrent Forrester
Brent Forrester is an American writer, who wrote several episodes of the animated television sitcom The Simpsons between 1993 and 1997. He has also worked as an executive producer on King of the Hill, and a writer on The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show with Bob and David, Undeclared, and The Office...
and directed by Randall Einhorn
Randall Einhorn
Randall Einhorn is an American television director and cinematographer. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.Einhorn is best known for his work on The Office . He also directed The Accountants, a ten-part webisode spinoff of The Office which appeared online between the second and third seasons...
. It featured the first appearance of actress Lisa K. Wyatt
Lisa K. Wyatt
Lisa K. Wyatt is an actress and comedian. According to the biography on her official site, she has appeared in more than 150 film, television and regional theatre credits. She is currently appearing in a recurring role as Lynne, the love interest of Kevin Malone, in NBC's The Office.-Life and...
as Lynne, who would continue to make frequent appearances as a romantic interest for Kevin. During the episode, the Ed Helms
Ed Helms
Edward Paul "Ed" Helms is an American actor and comedian known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as Andy Bernard on the US version of the sitcom/mockumentary The Office and for his role as Dr. Stu Price in The Hangover films.- Early life :Helms was born and raised...
character Andy
Andy Bernard
Andrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...
is described as attending solo honeymoons in Napa Valley
Napa County, California
Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....
, The Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
and Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...
, which he previously booked before breaking off his engagement with Angela. Following the episode, NBC posted fake photos of Ed Helms visiting those locations on the show's official Angela Martin and Andrew Bernard wedding website. The photos included Helms scuba-diving, standing in front of a hot air balloon and visiting Disney's Epcot Center
Epcot
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named...
, and includes an assurance by Andy that he "wanted all my bros and bras in cyberspace to know that the Ol' Nard Dog is doing just fine.”
The official website for The Office included three cut scenes from "Blood Drive" within a week of its original release. In the first 85-second clip, Dwight assures his office-mates that the blood taken in the bloodmobile
Bloodmobile
A bloodmobile is a mobile blood donation center. It is a vehicle equipped with everything necessary for a blood donation procedure. Blood drives involving bloodmobiles usually happen in public places such as colleges and churches.Many times large employers will sponsor mobile blood drives and...
will not be used in any "ritualistic ways". Later, while giving blood himself, he asks the hospital employee, "How do I know it's not going to go into a person who will later come back to kill me?" The second clip was two minutes of extended footage from the singles party. Meredith talks about her husband leaving her for the garbage-woman, and Dwight said he believes his soulmate, "probably died 700 years ago in feudal Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
after having impersonated a samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
, or at the very least she lives somewhere outside the Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
Wilkes-Barre
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the county seat of Luzerne County. It is at the center of the Wyoming Valley area and is one of the principal cities in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, which had a population of 563,631 as of the 2010 Census...
corridor." In the final 90-second clip, Dwight shows off his bobblehead doll collection to a woman, Creed tries unsuccessfully to pick up Lynne, and Dwight gets rid of an attractive male visitor who Michael fears could be competition. Dwight tells him the party is cancelled "due to a death in the elevator".
Cultural references
During the singles party, Angela mentions that two men previously had a duel over her in OhioOhio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, which is the second duel fought over her. This is a reference to "The Duel
The Duel (The Office)
"The Duel" is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 84th overall episode. In the episode, Andy learns his fiancee Angela is having an affair with Dwight, and the two challenge each other to a physical fight to win her affections...
", an Office episode from earlier in the fifth season, in which Andy and Dwight duel for her affections in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot. In the beginning of the "Blood Drive" episode, Jim, Michael and Dwight drive a phone salesman away by repeatedly saying "Ayyyy!" in the style of Fonzie
Fonzie
Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli is a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the American sitcom Happy Days . He was originally a secondary character, but eventually became the lead...
, the popular character from the sitcom Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
. The mysterious woman leaves a single pink glove behind after meeting Michael, in a similar fashion to the classic folk tale Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
. Kelly refers to the encounter as "like a modern-day Enchanted". Michael says he was hit by "Cupid
Cupid
In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, affection and erotic love. He is the son of the goddess Venus and the god Mars. His Greek counterpart is Eros...
's sparrow", a mistaken reference to the Roman mythological
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
god who would inspire love by shooting people with arrows.
Michael makes jokes about feeling like a human juice box
Juicebox (container)
A juice box, also called a carton or popper, is a small container used to conveniently carry and consume drinks . They are frequently made of paperboard with an aluminium foil lining, but variations exist...
, describing himself as "Type O-Cean Spray", a combination of type O blood
ABO blood group system
The ABO blood group system is the most important blood type system in human blood transfusion. The associated anti-A antibodies and anti-B antibodies are usually IgM antibodies, which are usually produced in the first years of life by sensitization to environmental substances such as food,...
and the Ocean Spray
Ocean Spray (cooperative)
Ocean Spray is an agricultural cooperative of growers of cranberries and grapefruit headquartered in Lakeville/Middleborough, Massachusetts. It currently has over 600 member growers . The cooperative employs about 2,000 people, with sales of $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2005...
juice company, and as "Hawaiian Blood Punch", a reference to the fruit punch drink Hawaiian Punch
Hawaiian Punch
Hawaiian Punch is a brand of fruit punch drinks owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. . It was created in 1934 by A.W. Leo, Tom Yates, Ralph Harrison as an ice cream topping in a converted garage in Fullerton, Calif.; customers later discovered that it made an appealing drink when mixed with water...
. Jim says, "I have a lot of work to do this afternoon. Those mines aren't going to sweep themselves," a reference to the computer game Minesweeper
Minesweeper (Windows)
Windows Minesweeper is a variant of the computer game Minesweeper, created by Curt Johnson, originally for OS/2, and ported to Microsoft Windows by Robert Donner, both Microsoft employees at the time...
. Ryan is said to be "sleeping with random prostitutes" in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
; prostitution
Prostitution in Thailand
Prostitution in Thailand is illegal, although in practice it is tolerated and partly regulated. Prostitution is practised openly throughout the country. Local officials with commercial interests in prostitution often protect the practice. The precise number of prostitutes is difficult to assess;...
in the Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
n nation is technically illegal, but is in practice tolerated and regulated. Kevin said his previous engagement ended immediately after he remarked that the Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, a National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
football team, might have a chance at winning the NFC East
NFC East
The NFC East is a division of the National Football League's National Football Conference. It currently has four members: the Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Giants, the Dallas Cowboys, and Washington Redskins....
division championship.
Reception
In its original American broadcast on March 5, 2009, "Blood Drive" was watched by 8.63 million overall viewers, which was about average for the series at the time. The episode received a 5.1 rating/14 share among viewers aged between 18 and 34, and a 4.5 rating/11 share among viewers between 18 and 49. The episode of 30 Rock30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
, which aired at 9:30 p.m. directly after The Office, was seen by 7.35 million viewers, an increase of 30 percent in viewership from the previous week's 6.3 million. Commentators said "Blood Drive" was directly responsible for this ratings increase for 30 Rock because the lead-in Office episode was new, whereas the previous week's episode was a repeat.
The episode received generally mixed reviews. Brian Howard of The Journal News
The Journal News
The Journal News is a newspaper in New York serving the suburban New York City counties of Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam, a region known as the Lower Hudson Valley. It is owned by the Gannett Company, Inc. The Journal News was created through a merger of several daily community newspapers...
described it as "classic Office" and praised the camaraderie the staff showed for each other and the "bizarre discomfort" of the double date with Jim, Pam, Phyllis and Bob. Howard described Dwight and Kevin as the episode's stand-outs. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
said the episode lacked many laugh-out-loud moments, but was effective because the characters are so well developed: "The Office has, over the years, become as much of a kitchen-sink drama as it is a comedy. ... The characters are so well-drawn by now, and for the most part so likable, that a sweet, low-key episode about Michael and the staff bonding over their singlehood worked even without a lot of memorable jokes." Travis Fickett of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
described the episode as "familiar territory, but it has plenty of fun moments." Fickett praised the scene with Carell and the mystery woman, and Jim and Pam's lunch. But Fickett said the series needed to address why Pam was staying with the company: "Jim and Pam still work there because, well, that's part of the show - but there really isn't a very good reason as to why these two would still be at this dead end job."
Will Leitch
Will Leitch
William F. Leitch is a writer based in New York City and the founding editor of the Gawker Media sports blog Deadspin...
of New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine described "Blood Drive" as "mostly a placeholder episode", although he said it was "legitimately touching" when the cast stays late with Michael during the party. Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
, who gave the episode a B+ grade, said the episode included both pathos and "big laughs". He particularly liked the joke of Andy attending all his honeymoons: "The thought of Andy forlornly embarking on a couple’s massage solo or sharing a romantic hot air balloon ride with himself was funny and sad in the best Office tradition." Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
writer Jeff Labrecque said the episode was "unusually sweet", but said the double date with Pam, Jim, Phyllis and Bob "felt slightly undercooked". Josh McAuliffe of The Times-Tribune of Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, said the episode was "a highly amusing, if not fantastic, half-hour" and particularly praised the opening scene involving the phone system salesman.
Several reviewers described Dwight's quote, "I can retract my penis up into itself," as the most memorable line of the episode. Phyllis and Bob Vance's sexual rendezvous in the handicapped restroom during the double date ranked number 8 in phillyBurbs.com
External links
- "Blood Drive" at NBC.comNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...