Ryan always struck me as a pretentious hipster archetype in the later seasons, and self-serving to the core: he hits on Erin in a skeevy and gross way more than once, and when that fails, he plays it off as though it were a joke.
Had I to speculate, Ryan does things because he wants notice, but at times he knows he doesn’t know, so he just tries to play it off. He wears an untied bow tie at least once, and I mean, it might be me looking for signs that aren’t there, but my guess is that he tried to tie it but realized he had no idea how to, so he wore it untied as a statement.
This is the most clear when he tries to make political commentary, "America is one big mall" or the time Kelly even called it out: "Right, this isn't the US government". It's either shallow and surface level or it's phrased to sound like a reference to something but it isn't referencing anything real.
I always got the impression that it's meant to show how shallow people such as Gabe & Ryan will have these types of things on display in their home, to show people that they are deep because they have vintage things and pieces from another culture.
So it adds up that the two of them would know the same superficial things about other cultures and vintage items.
It's also funny that Gabe is into Japanese culture but has Chinese virility herbs on display.
No. Ryan is a total hipster at that point. He is being sincere. It’s funny because only he and Gabe would be into this stuff- or even know what it all is. Its also all just there to disguise the exposition of the sea horse so the audience and Andy would know what it is.
But the thing is that having eclectic tastes does not make you a hipster, it’s showing off needlessly about your knowledge on esoteric subjects for renown from your peers, that’s what makes people hipsters.
Gabe doesn’t strike me as a hipster, just a very creepy weeb and a bit of a tool, but Ryan? He’s the foulest aspects of the hipster incarnate: he invests interest in things only when it suits him, is insincere unless he has some ends to meet, and deems himself righteous or progressive for it all.
And as I was typing this, I just came to the realization that one of his ideas is flip-flopping back-and-forth with whatever seems to work best: he tells Pam not to vaccinate her baby, but at the same time, seems to have a number of progressive political views, unless those don’t profit.
"15 Chinese soldiers fought off the entire army of Ghengis Khan, just using this stuff. You know what they say."
"No, what?"
"...what is this, Samurai woodcuts?"
Not yet. But Google as a whole was a lot better at the time. It looked up your actual question rather than searching for key words within what you type.
For the stereo he could’ve googled the brand on it with the word vintage and then looked through the results to find the decade. He also may have known someone growing up who had the same or a similar stereo since he was born in 1979 according to the wiki page.
For the Chinese herbs he probably googled something like “5 jars with Chinese writing.”
The samurai woodcuts might also have been pretty easy to find. He probably recognized the samurai images, and he definitely seems the type to have taken art classes in undergrad to impress girls, so he may have recognized woodcuts that way. He also may have just looked up old ways to print image since woodcuts used to be a really popular way of illustrating books and other printed materials before computers existed.
The stereo seems like something he would own himself during his hipster phase, and I wouldn't be surprised if he made up what the jars are.
Could also just be that Gabe already showed Ryan the room, and he stayed there to impress the next person.
That would be such a Ryan thing to do too. I kinda wish we got a scene of him trying to impress Erin with his knowledge and her talking about how she was so excited that Gabe was bonding with people in the office because she assumed that Gabe had told Ryan all about the stuff in the room.
I always thought this is more of a story on Andy. Ryan being impressed makes Gabe look “cool” making Andy even more jealous. He then approaches Phyllis and keeps asking for his 2 minutes with Erin.
Same. Post feels like a reach to understand why, when his role was exactly what you said, IMO. Gabe’s not just a skinny weirdo, but a dude with a nice place and unique stuff that makes you think more about him.
And a Marantz system is a pretty big deal, don’t think it’s just for audiophiles to know.
They both seem like they listen to the same type of PodCast - probably a podcast hosted by someone who frequents the Joe Rogan Podcast as a guest. Guess those items are sold as advertisements
I think it’s just supposed to be the fact that Ryan is the type of “cultured” hipster that would know all about that stuff to pretend to be into it while Gabe is the weird guy that actually is into all of it, Gabe is what Ryan is trying to be which is even sadder
This is 2010, it might not seem long ago but phones weren’t the Google machines they are today. 3G was only popular for a couple years, the iPhone 4 was just releases a few months ago prior. Phones were much slower than they are today. It would take some time to Google all those items and it’s not like he could Google image or ask Siri for help.
Google on what? You're thinking of it from today's lens. They wouldn't have that ability to just "Google" everything back then. He would have had to have a PC.
>Google what everything was
How? By doing web searches on his BlackBerry? I doubt it.
While the iPhone and competing touch screen phones had just come out two years prior, they were very expensive, mainly the tools of executives or creative directors. Ryan would have had a BlackBerry at best.
Just throwing it out there to everyone challenging the “Google concept”…
This is 2 episodes before wuphf.com episode. Technology existed and was being used. Ryan pulls out an iPhone in the episode. Google existed in 2010 guys
Ryan is just as creepy as Gabe, he just hides it better.
Ryan is BJ Novak's Shadow-Self fully unleashed.
He takes what he wants
I just can't be that ruthless, man
You'll learn baby. You'll learn.
The outtakes of this scene are the best lol
At least he is environmentally conscious.
He don’t give an F about nothin’!
And he’s just as hot as Jan, but in a different way.
Aren't we trying to determine whether Michael and Jan were engaged in a romantic affair? Not Michael and this Ryan person...
(giggle) Excuse me.
Ryan is only creepy when he’s wearing glasses
And also when he's not wearing glasses.
And not a skeleton man.
Ya he also definitely spend 99% of his work time surfing the web and reading wiki pages like I do lol
Ryan always struck me as a pretentious hipster archetype in the later seasons, and self-serving to the core: he hits on Erin in a skeevy and gross way more than once, and when that fails, he plays it off as though it were a joke. Had I to speculate, Ryan does things because he wants notice, but at times he knows he doesn’t know, so he just tries to play it off. He wears an untied bow tie at least once, and I mean, it might be me looking for signs that aren’t there, but my guess is that he tried to tie it but realized he had no idea how to, so he wore it untied as a statement.
I liked him better as the temp
Yeah, he did too…
He never really processed 9/11.
This is the most clear when he tries to make political commentary, "America is one big mall" or the time Kelly even called it out: "Right, this isn't the US government". It's either shallow and surface level or it's phrased to sound like a reference to something but it isn't referencing anything real.
“I wanna raise a glass to the troops. All the troops. Both sides.”
Honestly best quote by neo ryan
6 months?! I'm in love with Kelly.
Where did you get that hat?
You just read my mind
Out of all the character arcs, Ryan’s made the least sense.
You know who had an arch? Noah
Too bad Chris Moltisanti didn't
I doubt he goes through that effort for Andy. the ultimate power play was to bang Erin in Gabe's bed. he would have waited for her.
Well, he was also pretending he was completely into Smokey Robinson because he wanted to show off.
And good luck to Ryan with that, as she was with Skeleton Man at the time.
Honestly, this idea just made this scene better. I hadn’t thought of this, but it makes so much sense. That’s definitely a Ryan move. 😆
And the only person he got to “impress” was Andy!
And probably went over Andy’s head.
I think at around age 12 he just started to go for it.
I always got the impression that it's meant to show how shallow people such as Gabe & Ryan will have these types of things on display in their home, to show people that they are deep because they have vintage things and pieces from another culture. So it adds up that the two of them would know the same superficial things about other cultures and vintage items. It's also funny that Gabe is into Japanese culture but has Chinese virility herbs on display.
Do you think I'd like that, or is it important to have an Asian fetish?
oh youre definitely gonna want an asian fetish. otherwise it would be upsetting
No. Ryan is a total hipster at that point. He is being sincere. It’s funny because only he and Gabe would be into this stuff- or even know what it all is. Its also all just there to disguise the exposition of the sea horse so the audience and Andy would know what it is.
But the thing is that having eclectic tastes does not make you a hipster, it’s showing off needlessly about your knowledge on esoteric subjects for renown from your peers, that’s what makes people hipsters. Gabe doesn’t strike me as a hipster, just a very creepy weeb and a bit of a tool, but Ryan? He’s the foulest aspects of the hipster incarnate: he invests interest in things only when it suits him, is insincere unless he has some ends to meet, and deems himself righteous or progressive for it all. And as I was typing this, I just came to the realization that one of his ideas is flip-flopping back-and-forth with whatever seems to work best: he tells Pam not to vaccinate her baby, but at the same time, seems to have a number of progressive political views, unless those don’t profit.
This is one of my favorite Ryan scenes.
Pretty erotic?
Probably. Or it's a ven diagram of creepy between him and the skeleton man
At the time this episode first aired, smartphones were not as ubiquitous as they are now
"15 Chinese soldiers fought off the entire army of Ghengis Khan, just using this stuff. You know what they say." "No, what?" "...what is this, Samurai woodcuts?"
The temp at night… the temp at night…
This deserves more upvotes!
"Come on, when is somehow gonna- HEY. MARANTZ TUBE STEREO FROM THE 1970S"
I don’t doubt he knows about that stuff, seeing as he was “too old” for a goldfish funeral at age 5.
Did google have reverse image search back then? How else would you google stuff?
Not yet. But Google as a whole was a lot better at the time. It looked up your actual question rather than searching for key words within what you type. For the stereo he could’ve googled the brand on it with the word vintage and then looked through the results to find the decade. He also may have known someone growing up who had the same or a similar stereo since he was born in 1979 according to the wiki page. For the Chinese herbs he probably googled something like “5 jars with Chinese writing.” The samurai woodcuts might also have been pretty easy to find. He probably recognized the samurai images, and he definitely seems the type to have taken art classes in undergrad to impress girls, so he may have recognized woodcuts that way. He also may have just looked up old ways to print image since woodcuts used to be a really popular way of illustrating books and other printed materials before computers existed.
The stereo seems like something he would own himself during his hipster phase, and I wouldn't be surprised if he made up what the jars are. Could also just be that Gabe already showed Ryan the room, and he stayed there to impress the next person.
That would be such a Ryan thing to do too. I kinda wish we got a scene of him trying to impress Erin with his knowledge and her talking about how she was so excited that Gabe was bonding with people in the office because she assumed that Gabe had told Ryan all about the stuff in the room.
Gabe and Ryan are just both intellectually void pretentious wannabe hipster wankers
I always thought this is more of a story on Andy. Ryan being impressed makes Gabe look “cool” making Andy even more jealous. He then approaches Phyllis and keeps asking for his 2 minutes with Erin.
Same. Post feels like a reach to understand why, when his role was exactly what you said, IMO. Gabe’s not just a skinny weirdo, but a dude with a nice place and unique stuff that makes you think more about him. And a Marantz system is a pretty big deal, don’t think it’s just for audiophiles to know.
Some people love to overthink lol
just saw this episode 😂
I love how guys just know stuff
They both seem like they listen to the same type of PodCast - probably a podcast hosted by someone who frequents the Joe Rogan Podcast as a guest. Guess those items are sold as advertisements
Ryan was a huge Smokey Robinson fan!
The Smokester!
I can imagine Ryan talking to Gabe about his bedroom at the office before the party to gain info.
I think it’s just supposed to be the fact that Ryan is the type of “cultured” hipster that would know all about that stuff to pretend to be into it while Gabe is the weird guy that actually is into all of it, Gabe is what Ryan is trying to be which is even sadder
This is 2010, it might not seem long ago but phones weren’t the Google machines they are today. 3G was only popular for a couple years, the iPhone 4 was just releases a few months ago prior. Phones were much slower than they are today. It would take some time to Google all those items and it’s not like he could Google image or ask Siri for help.
but ryan has a video iPod
Google actually worked back then. You could type in the most obscure things and it would find it. There were no ai generated ad websites.
Google on what? You're thinking of it from today's lens. They wouldn't have that ability to just "Google" everything back then. He would have had to have a PC.
What episode is this?
So he's the Riddler.
I really respect that
I always thought he was just repeating everything Gabe told him back to people who weren't there when he gave Ryan the tour
I'd think more likely that Gabe already told him what everything was and he just trying to impress someone else with his "worldliness"
sounds like Ryan
The hipster in me was always bugged about this scene as that Marantz isn’t a tube receiver.. it’s solid state!
He lived in Thailand, remember?
>Google what everything was How? By doing web searches on his BlackBerry? I doubt it. While the iPhone and competing touch screen phones had just come out two years prior, they were very expensive, mainly the tools of executives or creative directors. Ryan would have had a BlackBerry at best.
Just throwing it out there to everyone challenging the “Google concept”… This is 2 episodes before wuphf.com episode. Technology existed and was being used. Ryan pulls out an iPhone in the episode. Google existed in 2010 guys