The Christening introduces an interesting element in the characters of The Office that, given the number of times the gang has visited a church, has curiously not been explored much before: religion.
The plot revolves around Cice’s titular christening, and Jim and Pam (I refuse to refer to the couple as “Jam”) invite the office to the celebration. The context had me dreading that Michael was going to make a scene and embarrass himself in front of everyone else, but, like Niagra, the writers wisely choose to keep him under some restraint—save for a few misplaced Godfather impersonations.
But, as I wrote, the focus is on how each Sabre employee treats religion, which is handled with a lot of humor and, oddly, some profoundness. Angela, the most overtly “religious” character, uses the church, both literally and figuratively, as a free pass to criticize and admonish everyone around her while maintaining an unearned feeling of superiority.
Here she takes aim at Jim and Pam for whatever reason while cooing over Cice (to such an extent that when Cice goes missing, Jim immediately accuses Angela of baby-napping, and his admission of that mistake is both blunt and very funny). Jim and Pam themselves don’t seem especially pious and treat the christening more as something that is simply done than anything holy.
