Inside Out
Inside Out
Original Air Date: 11-26-1982
This episode opens in medias res, with KITT flying down the road while Michael and some other dude fight each other in the passenger cabin. They approach a roadblock, where the cops clock KITT approaching at 225+ mph. The police, stunned, get out to watch him.
KITT doesn't even slow down; he simply jumps the roadblock. "What was that?" asks one stunned cop.
it was a Pontiac
Down the road KITT starts to swerve, and he tells Michael to stop bumping the wheel and just deal with the dude already. Michael eventually gets KITT to open the sunroof and ejects the guy out of the car. He lands in a tree, and when Michael turns back around to collect him he falls to the ground, unconscious. Michael drags him back into the car.
They pull up to a small camper home in the middle of nowhere. Michael drags the dude into it and locks him inside. No caps on any of this, since the majority of it has an extremely dark night filter over it and there's almost nothing to see. Kidnapping job completed, Michael and KITT head out, and rendezvous back at the semi.
since I couldn't cap all of that night stuff, here's one of KITT looking pretty
home sweet home?
Bonnie is there; she was so worried! Michael begins to assure her that he's okay, just a few bruises, but Bonnie's worry is for KITT. How are his shocks and alignment?
cockblocked by his car
KITT reports that he's fine, but Bonnie decides to give him a check anyway. Totally rebuffed, Michael pretends he's interested in the coffee on the table.
Devon comes in; they decided to meet Michael halfway when he didn't report in on schedule. Turns out that the dude Michael was fighting is named Dugan, and Dugan's kidnapping is a Foundation plot. Michael would rather the guy was in prison instead of locked in a camper, but apparently there is danger if Dugan were to talk to anyone.
Dugan was carrying a map and Michael has confiscated it.
a lot of D&D campaigns start like this
Devon realizes this is an invitation. Some contextual exposition reveals that Michael intends to impersonate Dugan, who is a skilled driver with flexible morals, to one Colonel Kincaid. Kincaid is a very dangerous criminal, who has been pursued by civil and military law enforcement but has never been nailed down with evidence. Since Kincaid and Dugan have never met and photographs apparently don't exist, Michael is sure he can pass himself off as Dugan, collect evidence, and put Kincaid away. Devon hopes that Michael succeeds, because this kind of thing has been tried before and the agents who tried it are now dead.
Bonnie accidentally sets off KITT's anti-theft device and apologizes, then asks KITT if whatever she's doing is good.
wut?
KITT likes it best from Bonnie
KITT's response is a breathless-sounding, "A little higher ... oh! No, lower ... ah! Stop! Ah, that's it." Michael, clearly uncomfortable watching his car masturbated right in front of him, says he needs to gtf on the road.
Devon, on the other hand, seems to be enjoying the show
Bonnie tells Michael that she's boosted KITT's scanners in some way, and also added an electrical jammer. While leaning in through KITT's door window, I might add. Michael asks what that is, so KITT demonstrates by more or less shutting down all of the gizmos inside the semi. He proudly announces that he can disrupt electrical activity within a range of 50 yards.
Michael leans over to Bonnie and says, "Boy, you certainly turn him on." "And off," replies Bonnie, in case you thought that sexual subtext was all in my pervy mind. Bonnie then insults Michael with what is obviously a well-practiced routine, and Michael gets into the car.
There, he wonders if "under those overalls" Bonnie is a real woman and not merely a robot. KITT helpfully draws Michael a picture.
WHAT
Michael actually doesn't appreciate this much more than I do. He tells KITT to stfu and they pull out.
this should cleanse the palate after that unpleasantness
On the road, KITT verifies with Michael that no law enforcement has ever returned from Kincaid's place, and asks (affecting a super-casual tone that fools no one) if Michael knows what happened to their cars.
They arrive at Kincaid's place, which turns out to be pretty swank.
I reckon crime really does pay
They are waved inside. KITT's anxiety leaks through his act, and Michael blows him off.
don't worry, KITT, you're perfectly safe
Michael enters the house and meets up with Kincaid.
can't say the same for Michael though
All of Kincaid's buddies are there, and they are suspicious of Michael. Apparently he is late.
we value punctuality here
Since the treasure map that Michael found didn't have a date on it, it turns out that he's shown up a day later than they expected. One of the other dudes pushes a submachine gun into Michael's back, to which Michael does not take kindly. He throws the guy, whose name is Thompson, over a railing and into a dirty pond. This does not make Thompson happy.
Michael proceeds to front like his life depends on it (since it does). He doesn't appreciate this kind of treatment and is not a mere employee; he's a professional and he wants an extra $10,000 for putting up with this crap. Kincaid resists - he and Dugan had a contract. Yeah, says Michael, but the contract didn't include being attacked. $10K more or he walks.
professional pond cleaners are in high demand
Kincaid caves and agrees to the price hike. He orders the only woman in the group to show Michael to his quarters. This is Linda Elliott.
Thompson is quite upset; he just got thrown into a dirty pond and Michael gets bonus cash for it? Kincaid tells him off - they want "Mr. Dugan" in the "team spirit" so Thompson just needs to suck it up.
note that he's actually labeled his office "off limits"
Linda brings Michael to his room and Michael tries to get some info from her. He wants to know what the "caper" is (yes, he actually says "caper," like a loon) and why Kincaid needs a top-notch driver in the first place. Linda doesn't know. Also: there's a 10 PM curfew. Don't break it, or else.
Michael tries again: what is Linda in particular doing here? Her explanation boils down to that she fell in with the wrong crowd. "Like Kincaid?" asks Michael. No, says Linda, like you.
in need of saving, of course
Once she's gone, Michael starts to report in to KITT, but realizes that the room is probably bugged and stops. He checks around.
you can stop looking, I found the only one that could possibly exist
As a consequence, he must actually walk out to his car to talk to KITT. KITT scans the compound and discovers bugs everywhere, and that all the phone lines are tapped. For some reason, this means that he can't call the Foundation from here without being overheard.
so ... what, does KITT's microwave mobile line just splice straight in to Ma Bell?
He'll need to move a quarter mile away to have a secure transmission. Michael doesn't want to do that yet, not until he has some info. He muses that maybe Linda can give him some. KITT, again exasperated, pokes Michael for once more trying to use an assignment to get a date.
KITT speaks truth to power, and power does not appreciate it
Michael protests that it's nothing like that, but KITT doesn't buy it.
Meanwhile, Dugan is trying to escape from his completely unguarded camper prison. He breaks the window but it has a screen welded over it. He grunts and rarghs like he's auditioning for the part of the Incredible Hulk.
The next day, Michael dresses up like the other monkeys and meets the crew out on the lawn.
does this jumpsuit make me look fat?
Kincaid explains that they will be conducting drills. Any military maneuver that is attempted without prior practice is doomed to failure, and Kincaid does not do failure. He moans a bit about how he was branded "brutal" in Vietnam, but hey, one man's "brutal" is another man's "efficient," amirite?
He does not explain what the drills are for, and they are kind of wacky: two guys hanging upside-down catching beanbags with hooks, and another dude in a dune buggy driving by inner tubes on the ground and tossing beanbags into them. Linda's drill is to do gymnastics on a balance beam and then attempt to stick a ball on a peg on a wall that another guy is wiggling around.
She isn't doing too well at it, and Kincaid is annoyed. He gets Thompson to spray the balance beam with bullets, which startles her and she goes tumbling.
um, yeah
Kincaid reprimands her, and docks her lunch and dinner in hopes that low blood sugar will improve her performance tomorrow. Michael helps her up, but she angrily shakes his hand off her.
Then Kincaid wants a demonstration as to Michael's driving skills. He asks Michael to use some ramps set up on the lawn to do a little jump. Electing not to mention that he doesn't actually need ramps to do a jump, Michael gets them to move the ramps 20 feet farther apart. KITT whinges about not being able to use his rockets, but nevertheless makes the jump easily. Kincaid is pleased, and the act ends.
The next act begins by showing us the real Dugan disassembling the bed in the camper and reassembling it into a series of tubes.
little did they know that this was MacGyver undercover
He uses this to (I'm guessing here, it's not 100% clear to me) catch gas from the stove in a bottle. He then lights a Coleman lantern, hides in the closet behind the mattress, and tosses the lantern at the bottle. It breaks the bottle and explodes the gas inside it, blowing the door off the camper. Dugan is bruised by the explosion but alive and now free.
So, let me get this straight. They not only locked this dude up and left him completely unguarded, they also supplied him with a fully-equipped kitchen and working stove, matches, and a lantern. The reason I'm not totally clear on the sequence of events here is because it makes no goddamned sense.
Later that night, Linda is sneaking around outside after curfew and is caught by Michael, who is doing the same thing. He elects to announce himself by grabbing her and putting a hand over her mouth, and dragging her into the bushes. Creepy. Turns out he brought her a sandwich, since she was forced to skip dinner.
She warms up to him immediately and they chat a bit; it seems that Michael forgets for a moment that he is supposed to be Dugan, but we don't see much of their conversation because the camera cuts away. No caps of that, either, and you can again blame that super-dark night filter.
Some unspecified amount of time later, Michael once more sneaks out (alone) to consult with KITT. He wants KITT to keep watch while he breaks into Kincaid's "off limits" room (conveniently labeled so that you know exactly where he keeps all his important stuff). There's a guard with an assault rifle up on the balcony, but Michael gets by him without trouble.
instead of keeping watch, KITT plays Raiders of the Lost Ark on his Atari
Michael easily jimmies the lock (using his ... switchblade ... ???) and finds a big, important-looking map on an easel.
SHAZAM!
KITT alerts him that some people are coming down the hall and are about to discover him. Michael can't go out on the balcony because of the guard with the assault rifle, so he hides in the fireplace.
Kincaid and Thompson walk in. Thompson thinks "Dugan" is a highly suspicious character, but Kincaid blows him off. They are kicking it into gear in 12 hours and he has no time for Thompson's rivalry issues. Kincaid grabs some paperwork and Thompson says that when he's proven right about "Dugan," he wants ... I guess to be able to kill him?
what he says is, "I want him," and I doubt he means this sexually. but who knows? let's be open-minded
Michael retreats back to KITT and fills him in: they are going to be breaking into the Federal penitentiary in 12 hours, probably to bust someone out. He is about to send KITT off to contact FLAG when Linda runs by. Michael promises KITT that he'll "distract her." "I'll bet," says KITT disdainfully.
Getting out of the car, Michael just walks boldly up to her and they establish that they are both breaking curfew. She admits that she was looking for him.
Later, KITT makes his way down the road and reaches the compound gate. It is guarded. KITT uses his jammer to destroy an innocent coffeepot inside the gate house, starting a fire that draws the guard's attention.
be glad KITT is not capable of setting out a bag of flaming poo, because he would
While the guard tries to put out the fire, KITT unlocks the gate (presumably with his jammer) and then opens it. I think we're meant to believe that the gate is fully electronic in nature and therefore susceptible to KITT's new gizmo, and that he's not using the Force.
nobody will notice this!
Linda and Michael retire to Michael's room, where Michael turns on a radio under the bug to foil it.
I still have a radio that looks much like this one
Linda then reveals that she knows Michael is not Dugan. Apparently while they were chatting about a job that he did in Paris, she invented a detail about some nuns in an orphanage that wasn't true, and which Michael obviously did not catch. Now she wants to know who the hell he really is.
Meanwhile, KITT is on the road. He runs into a roadblock. There is an overturned semi up ahead and the police are turning everyone around and sending them on a detour. One of the officers walks back to KITT, who rolls down his window to listen to the directions for the detour; happily, the cop does not look in to see the driver and so he doesn't notice that there is no driver.
got his script-blinders on
It's only after KITT turns around to go back to the detour that the cop realizes (too late) that this is the car that jumped them a couple nights earlier.
Once I came upon this scene, it came back to me - this was the second bit I remembered from when I watched this as a kid (the first bit being the "baby skin" comment from the pilot). There was no third bit for me ... turns out that the remainder of the series was completely gone from my memory. It's odd what stays with us through the decades. Why this scene, and that very brief moment in the pilot, and nothing else? Both are memorable, but there are other parts of Knight Rider just as memorable, or more so, that were lost.
Back at Kincaid's place, Michael has given Linda his name, but she'd like to know more than that. He refuses, so she decides to confess all (in hopes that he'll reciprocate I guess).
time to break out the damage
Everyone else on the team is being paid, but Linda is on board because Kincaid is blackmailing her. She used to attend an Ivy League school but her father was doing something illegal to pay the tuition (sounds like embezzlement to me but it's unclear). At the trial she perjured herself so that her father, who had become very ill, wouldn't go to prison. Her dad is dead now, and somehow Kincaid found out, and has threatened to turn her in if she doesn't work for him.
Michael thinks that if she helps him nail Kincaid, she can get clemency. Linda is skeptical, but very tempted, and quickly comes around.
Michael's arms are a healing space for women
Elsewhere, KITT has finally gotten on the phone to Devon. He is very respectful, but it's nevertheless a challenge for Devon to talk to him, as he goes off on tangents to clarify minor points and offers a 40-point statistical readout when his certitude is questioned.
doing his best!
He manages to get the message across, and Devon is quite happy to hang up the phone and not have to talk to KITT anymore.
Back at base, Michael sneaks Linda out of his room, and they are now on kissing terms.
is this a business kiss or a social one?
KITT returns just as Linda is leaving. "Well," he says diffidently. "What was that all about?" "Biology," says Michael. "Oh, that," is KITT's dismissive reply. He reports that he got in contact with Devon, and Michael gives him a pat.
Michael returns to his room just as the real Dugan arrives at the compound. However, Dugan has the bad luck to be jumped by Thompson and knocked unconscious. Thompson locks him in the basement and reports to Kincaid. Kincaid somewhat gleefully makes plans to interrogate the prisoner as soon as he wakes up, and the act ends.
The next morning, the final act opens as Kincaid calls a meeting to announce the mission. It is quickly revealed that the map to the penitentiary was a ruse, and that the real mission map was underneath it.
PWNED!
The plan is to steal $12 million in gold from a moving convoy.
getting that gut-deep feeling of horror upon realizing that he did the wrong homework assignment
Devon, meanwhile, is busy pulling strings to put the penitentiary on high alert.
Kincaid assembles the team outside and gives them a pep talk, then sends them to their vehicles. As soon as he gets into KITT, Michael has to break the news that they passed the wrong mission info to Devon, and that they are actually robbing a gold shipment. KITT is very alarmed and wants to know what to do, and Michael shifts responsibility for figuring out a plan onto him.
yes, make the computer cover your ass
Linda then gets into KITT as well and the conversation is over.
On the road, Kincaid seems to re-iterate the challenges and the plan, telling the team things that I have to assume he already told them once that morning. The gist is that the truck carrying the gold cannot stop, or a device on the vehicle will automatically inform the cops.
As soon as Michael, Linda and KITT pull away from the main group, Michael must admit that the brilliant plan he talked about the night before is now toast, and he can't phone home without Kincaid knowing (somehow). They have to go along with the robbery for now.
but you told me last night you had a vasectomy!
The plan unfolds like something out of the A-Team (which, interestingly, was not on the air yet). I'm not going to bother describing it, as it is ludicrous in its execution but not ludicrous enough to be hilarious. Michael's role is to draft the semi carrying the gold, closely enough so that Linda can walk up KITT's hood and reach the trailer, and closely enough that the guys driving the truck can't see them in the mirrors.
KITT's t-top feature finally comes in handy
Predictably, the semi carrying the gold swerves a little and Linda almost goes flying. This necessitates Michael putting KITT on Auto and walking the hood himself to rescue her. He gets her back into the car but she's sprained her shoulder and he has to take over her role, which is to get into the trailer and dump the little beanbags of gold out onto the roadway to be picked up by another part of the team. While he does this, Linda pretends to drive but wisely does not try to touch the wheel.
On 11-26-1982, the price of gold closed at $417.75/troy ounce. That means that $12 million in gold would be in the vicinity of 2000 pounds. For comparison, the curb weight of a 1982 Trans Am is 3200 pounds. I generally assume that KITT weighs more than that, given that he is not factory-standard, so let's round it up and say that there is approximately 1/2 of KITT's weight worth of gold in that truck to unload. This gold would have an approximate volume of 12 gallons - doesn't sound like much, but if it were in gallon milk jugs, each jug would weigh a bit over 160 lbs.
And Michael is going move it all by himself.
getting a good workout today!
The gold is retrieved off the roadway by some guys in a trailing pickup truck.
'nuff said
Once all the gold has been implausibly retrieved, the team returns to Kincaid's swank compound, where it is revealed that Michael has been made.
PWNED AGAIN!
Turns out that Kincaid has known all day that Michael is not Dugan, as he and the real Dugan had a chat that morning; he went along with the deception so that Michael would have to help them get the gold. Thompson is about to execute Michael, so Linda creates a distraction by claiming that the gold is just lead covered in gold paint. This creates some commotion, and allows Michael to get the drop on Thompson and punch his way out of death.
Michael calls for KITT, who comes with all haste to run interference while Michael gets a rematch with Dugan. Kincaid goes for a machine gun but Michael wins his fight and gets his hands on one first, and takes control of the situation.
not in the mood after moving 2000 lbs of gold alone
The epilogue finds us at the penitentiary, where the battalion that Devon rousted to protect it is still waiting for the break-in attempt. They, and the prison warden, are getting antsy. Devon's credibility is being called into question.
that suit definitely makes me question your credibility, Devon
Fortunately Michael arrives, driving a truck, with KITT following behind alone. Devon starts to dress him down, until Linda opens the truck to reveal Kincaid and his merry band. Devon goes quickly from angry to pleased. And that is the end.
this is from the trailer that runs before the credits in every episode, but after all that pain I think we deserve a cap of KITT looking simple and beautiful
The first woman we meet in this episode is Bonnie, and boy howdy does she get some serious objectification. Not only does she do all her work on KITT while leaning in through his door window with her butt in the air ... not only is she assigned to make adjustments to KITT that make him pant like he's getting sexually aroused ... not only does Michael speculate that she's not a real woman because she isn't interested in making him pant with sexual arousal ... but in addition to all of those things we are "treated" to a graphic of her naked with her height, weight and bust size labeled (with the implication that KITT was labeling it with more measurements as the camera cut away).
I mean, seriously, KITT? Your description of Bonnie's vital statistics include her height, weight, and the size of her breasts? You're a computer! You should be interested in her processing power!
Let me touch a little more on the "is she a woman or a robot" bit. I mentioned this in the "It's My Bill" episode commentary, but it's so explicit here that I have to say it again: this perpetuates the myth that women are denigrated when they have multiple identities. A woman who is political is not a full woman; prior to the Civil War, it was common for female abolitionists and feminists (two groups with a lot of overlap but not identical) to tour the country speaking on these freedom topics. They received a lot of harassment for this, because a woman's place was in the home, and not in the public sphere. A woman who entered the public discourse was "unsexed" by it, rendered into a lesser being by her willingness to do an unwomanly thing like standing up in front of an audience and talking.
Just by way of example, there was a famous incident in which Sojourner Truth, who was a black abolitionist and feminist, was challenged by a white man in the audience to prove that she was female. She had to actually expose her breasts to shut him up. She was so unsexed by her actions that she had to offer proof that she was genuinely a woman.
Maggie Flynn, in the "It's My Bill" episode, evades this problem by being old. An older woman has already been unsexed by being older, and no longer (as) sexually attractive; therefore she is free to be political without challenging gender constraints.
Bonnie finds herself in the same trap, but she is not an older woman and is very pretty. She is not, however, interested in being an object of sexual desire. Michael has some serious cognitive dissonance about this and actually says as much out loud. How can she brush him off like that and also be a woman at the same time? It's just not possible to him. She must be a robot! Bonnie has been unsexed by her insistence that she is present as a technician and scientist, and not as something for Michael to screw. His opinion is that she cannot be a full woman if she is something else at the same time; she is not permitted multiple identities.
This is one of the reasons why I was disappointed that the relationship between Michael and Bonnie never went anywhere. It would have been interesting to have Bonnie eventually call Michael out on his crap and tell him hello she is a full human being. Of course, it's probably better that it went the way it did (nowhere) because I doubt I would have ever gotten that scene anyway.
The other woman we meet is Linda Elliott, and wow, the treatment of her character is extremely offensive. How offensive? Let me count the ways:
First, she is a damsel in distress, from the moment we meet her until the last few minutes of the episode. Sunk into this problem via a man's actions and unable to extricate herself on her own, she needs a(nother) man to come help her out.
Second, she mentions that the other members of the team (all men) are being paid but she is different, implying that the only payment she is getting is the maintenance of her secret. They are free agents, on the scene because they want to be on the scene. She doesn't want to be there, and is being forced. Her agency has been explicitly stripped from her.
There is a certain sexual allegory in this. Linda is being economically coerced in a situation in which the men are not, just as women are sexually coerced (raped) much more often than men. If you make money an allegory for sex, the true squickishness of Linda's plight becomes clear. She even says at one point that Kincaid kind of owns her. Not cool.
Third, she is the least competent member of the team. Everyone else (all men) are picking up the skills they need in a straightforward and businesslike way. Linda, on the other hand, is struggling. She is the only one struggling. Even Michael, who is pretending to be someone he isn't, covers his role with ease.
Fourth, that roll across the grass she does, which lands her literally at the feet of two men, is painful for me to watch. OMG. She doesn't even stand up on her own; Michael gives her an assist. There is allegory in that, too, which relates to point #1, but it is offensive in its own right.
Fifth, Michael grabs her and drags her into the bushes with a hand over her mouth. Again, painful to watch. It plays into all the stereotypes of stranger rape. There is no reason why that should have been filmed and included in the episode - it reinforces Linda's implied role as rape victim, a role she should never have been put into in the first place.
Sixth, and related, even though Michael has just done this weird and creepy thing, and even though she is rightly outraged and defensive about him grabbing her like that, he gives her a sandwich and she calms down immediately. She becomes warm and open to him. So the way to her heart is through her stomach, just like with a dog. Gross.
Seventh, even though Michael refuses to give her more than his name, she spills her soul to him. It seems as though she hopes he will reciprocate, but he doesn't. There is a power imbalance in this information exchange, one that does not favor her.
Eighth, she accomplishes very little. She actually could have been cut completely out of the episode without Michael's mission going any differently, except for at the tail end when she distracts Thompson. Given that this is the second time Thompson has pulled a gun on Michael, and that Michael got out of it the first time without help, there is reason to believe that her help was extraneous here, too.
Ninth, what is with that hug and kiss after she opens up to Michael? After she rolls into Michael's feet (see point #4) he helps her up and she throws off his hand like she doesn't want to be touched. But after she confesses her damage to him, she falls into his arms and then gives him a kiss on her way out.
This again ties in with the sex allegory - when she believes Michael is in allegiance with Kincaid (her allegorical rapist) she doesn't want to be touched by him. Once he establishes himself as one of the good guys, she falls into his arms (for allegorical healing sex). Again: gross.
Is there more? I am probably forgetting some things. Really, the way this episode portrays women is rage-making. The misogyny isn't even hidden. It's right there in the open, bold as brass.
In this episode, KITT must act independently for a short period of time, and we get to see what that's like for (I believe) the first time since the pilot. And, just as in the pilot, KITT is more than a little menacing. He seems to think nothing of starting a fire as a distraction, for instance, just as he thought nothing of plowing through a wall to get to Michael in the pilot.
It's not that he harms anyone by actions like this. I'm sure he could tell, in the pilot, that there was no one behind that wall who was going to be smushed, and I'm sure he calculated that the fire here would be small and controllable, and not kill anyone. However, these are not the sorts of things that a normal human being would consider doing. You can really see how his morality is stamped into his programming, and is therefore inherently limited. He doesn't kill people, but massive property damage? A-OK, if it gets the job done. KITT's thinking is not a human's thinking. Leastwise, not the thinking of a neurotypical human.
It was also pretty interesting that Devon seems to not actually like talking with KITT. This can't be the first time he's held a conversation with KITT without an interpreter, but he gives every sign of finding the experience unpleasant. Granted, it's the dead of night and KITT woke him, but KITT is also pedantic and Devon doesn't care for that. He seems to like KITT more in the abstract than in reality.
Like the last episode, in this one KITT makes it clear that he getting impatient with Michael's womanizing. However, there is no hint of this impatience when he draws Michael a picture of Bonnie.
Would that be a relationship that KITT would approve? Or has it just not crossed his mind that Michael might want to mack on Bonnie, too? For KITT, Bonnie is clearly in a completely separate category from other humans, so perhaps he just doesn't realize that Michael is thinking of her that way. Perhaps he does, and his impatience with Michael's dating life is his annoyance that Michael is taking it outside the family, so to speak.
Regardless, KITT is definitely playing a boundary role in this respect. He looks on Michael's womanizing, not as a (stereotypical) male friend might, with either indifference or admiration, but as a (stereotypical) female friend might, with irritation and disapproval. One might look at his comments as being mothering ones, but I don't take that view. There's just not a mothering tone in his voice, and under other circumstances he clearly desires Michael's good opinion. He's speaking as a friend, but as a disapproving, buzzkilling, easily-within-the-feminine-stereotype friend.
That's all for this episode. If I am very lucky, I will never have to watch it again, ever.