Reception
This recipe for classic Office awkwardness doesn’t quite work — it feels kind of wrong and weird, even if the image of Michael dragging Meredith by her arms across the floor into the waiting room sounded funny. Everyone seemed to be trying too hard. Maybe an intervention scene just can't be funny.
“ ” Will Leitch, New York magazinePhyllis's takeover of the Party Planning Committee and the subsequent fight with Angela ranked number 9 in phillyBurbs.com's top ten moments from the fifth season of The Office. However, "Moroccan Christmas" was voted the second lowest-rated episode out of 26 from the fifth season, according to an episode poll at the fansite OfficeTally; the episode was rated 7.08 out of 10.
Brian Howard of The Journal News was mixed in his review of "Moroccan Christmas". He praised the cold open scene, Toby's reaction to the doll and Andy's reaction at the end of the episode. But Howard said he did not enjoy the Moroccan Christmas party theme, and felt scenes of Meredith's alcoholism and Michael dragging her to rehab were more awkward than funny. "Moroccan Christmas" received generally mixed reviews. Alan Sepinwall, television columnist with The Star-Ledger, was highly complimentary toward "Moroccan Christmas", which he said featured "consistent hilarity mixed in with some of the sharpest emotion we've ever gotten from a non Jim & Pam story". Sepinwall called it a strong episode for the Dwight, Andy Meredith and Phyllis characters, and particularly complimented the acting of Phyllis Smith. TV Guide writer Shahzad Abbas called it an "excellent episode all around", referring to intervention scene and the fighting among Phyllis and Angela as "really intense stuff". Abbas said she looked forward to seeing the new developments unfold, and said Ed Helms had "never been better with his 'where's these people's Christmas spirit' reaction".
New York magazine writer Will Leitch criticized the episode, claiming the main story between Meredith and Michael seemed forced and did not work. Leitch particularly disliked the Phyllis subplot, claiming her negative behavior toward Angela was out of character and ineffective.
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Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion.... Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art.”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
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“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
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