It saddens me to come to the end of this blog because there are so many good Office episodes, but I have to say my favorite by far is “Dinner Party. “ This episode starts off with Michael telling his employees they will have to cancel their plans for the night as they will be stuck working till late on an assignment from corporate. He pretends to call corporate and tell them that he refuses to force everyone to stay late and then proceeds to ask Pam and Jim to a dinner party. This was all Michael’s way to get Jim and Pam to come to his dinner party as they always say they are busy. Later, once Jim and Pam show up to Michael’s, Jan gives them a tour of his condo. Along the tour, Jan shows her office which is unused, her workspace for her candle business, Serenity by Jan, and Michael’s bench where he sleeps at the end of her bed. Michael later brags about his $200 plasma television that is barely more than a foot in length and even shows how it pushes into the wall a whole 2 inches.
F1. Michael and his tiny TV.
Andy and Angela show up and Jan states all she has left to do for dinner is to braise the ossobuco which will take 3 hours. They begin playing a celebrity guessing game that goes horribly wrong as Michael and Jan start to argue after having too much to drink. As the girls go to check on dinner, Michael tries to get Andy and Jim to invest in Serenity by Jan for $10,000 each as Jan asked him to get his rich friends to invest in her candles. While in the kitchen, Jan accuses Pam of sleeping with Michael and Angela says she sees the way Pam looks at Michael despite Pam denying it profusely.
Dwight and his date show up to Michael’s condo for the dinner party despite being uninvited. He later reveals that is date used to be his babysitter when he was young. Jan gets mad that Dwight showed up as she specifically told Michael not to invite him ad the conversation turns angrier as they argue about more personal things such as having children. Michael famously says “When I said that I wanted to have kids, and you said you wanted me to have a vasectomy, what did I do? And then, when you said that you might want to have kids, and I wasn’t so sure, who had the vasectomy reversed? And then when you said you definitely didn’t want to have kids? Who had it reversed back? Snip, snap! Snip, snap! Snip, snap! I did! You have no idea the physical toll that three vasectomies have on a person!” The situation de-escalates and they finally sit down to eat dinner. Michael dips his food in his wine to which Jan get angry. In retaliation, Michael hangs up his neon beer sign right above the table to which Jan gets angry and throws one of Michael’s Dundies at the TV, breaking both. The police show up and Michael goes to stay with Dwight, thus ending his relationship with Jan.
F2. Michael talking about his 3 vasectomies
This is my favorite episode as there is never a dull moment and includes such minor jokes like the camcorder in the bedroom, Michael’s tiny bed, the miniature television, Jan’s candles smelling bad, Jan’s infatuation with her young, hot assistant and his music, and Michael thinking Jan is poisoning him. Below are some other great Office episodes that did not make the cut.
- Goodbye Michael
- Fun Run
- Finale
- Company Picnic
- The Injury
- AARM
- Garage Sale
- The Fire
- The Job
- Niagara
- Safety Training
This episode! Michael actually showed us his genius side with that ploy at the beginning. I didn’t get a chance to watch he Office as it came out, but I watched like a year and a half ago. For me, that meant that I was also watching Space Force at the same time. SO I guess I had never really thought about Michael have a home or having a home life — I guess my brain just made me beleive that he was an office manager in Scranton one day and a military leader when he gets home every day from work .I have no idea why I had just unconsciously assumed that but that realization made watching this episode feel even more surreal and crazy to me.
I love that you picked this episode as your number one because although it is a famous episode, there were much more obvious picks like the finale or Jim and Pam’s wedding. This episode is a classic, and the whole vasectomy line and tension between Michael and Jan just made it even funnier. It also made me really appreciate Carol when she came into Michael’s life, their relationship being one of my favorites on the show. Overall, I loved your blog this semester!
I’ve really enjoyed your posts this semester. I agreed with your rankings of the episodes, good choices! I haven’t watched The Office in a while, so reading your posts was fun because it rejogged my memory of the funniest moments on the show. I’d be interested in other recommendations of good shows from you!
As a fan of the Office as well, I love that you posted about this during the semester. It gave me a smile, remembering the crazy scenes of The Office, especially since it’s gone from Netflix. This episode is my favorite as well with the craziness that ensues throughout. My friends and I always joke about “Serenity by Jan”, “FALSE”, and “It is your birthday.” The Office is truly a show meant to bring joy. Thank you for these posts!
I can fully understand why you chose this episode as your #1 because it is truly one of the best episodes. This episode was so crazy and hilarious but it was also kind of sad because it showed how horrible Jan treated Micheal. In my opinion the vasectomy sense and the scene where Jan fawning over her assistant and his music in front of Micheal was the worst because because of how foul and creepy Jan was. In general I do like Jan’s character but I’m so glad that Micheal and Holly ended up together. I will never not get emotional on the episode where Micheal left and the final episode. This was a great blog and I loved seeing your options on The Office episodes!