- Here are the top 12 episodes of The Office
of all time!
Even though it has been off the air for over half a decade,
The Office is easily one of the most popular shows
on Netflix.
But sadly, 2020 will be the last year to watch
the workplace sitcom on the streaming giant,
as it is set to move over to NBC's
upcoming online service, Peacock.
So we thought it was our duty, nay,
our responsibility,
to countdown the top 12 episodes of The Office,
of all time, before it disappears forever.
Unless you decide to sign up for Peacock,
or, even worse,
actually pay for physical media!
Now, these episodes were heavily vetted
by a team of Office experts,
who carefully weighed all of the humor, cringe,
and classic moments and yes,
there was many a hurt feeling.
Sorry Stephen, but you and Scott's Tots can go to hell.
But we did cut through all of the 201 episodes
to find the top 12.
So let's break them down now,
starting with number 12, Murder.
- There's been a murder, in Savannah.
- In the 10th episode of the sixth season,
The office finds out that Dunder Mifflin
is on the verge of bankruptcy.
While Jim tries to keep everyone working,
Michael pulls out a Whodunit party game
and forces the staff to play characters in the game
to get their minds off the impending doom.
- This plantation,
we're running low on
greenbacks.
- Not only did Murder give all of the characters
a chance to shine, it showed us once again,
that while Michael may not be the best manager,
Tube City anyone?
He does genuinely love his employees,
and sometimes that is the best medicine to a bad situation.
Plus, the cold open of Dwight fighting himself
is worth the price of admission.
- Groin punch.
Hip block, elbow to the gut.
- Coming in at number 11, The Surplus.
(whistling)
- Whoo!
- Practically a perfect bottle adventure,
this season five episode finds the office
with a surplus of 43 hundred bucks,
and if it is not spent before the end of the day,
it will be deducted from next year's budget.
- Why don't you explain this to me like I'm five?
- This leads to the staff taking sides
on whether it should be used to buy new chairs,
or buy a new copier,
which has everyone vying for Michael's favor.
Of course, things only get worse when Michael learns
that he can get a huge bonus if he turns it back in.
Couple the inter-office politics with the B plot
of Angela and Andy trying to set up
their wedding venue at Schrute Farms,
and you have a recipe for a perfect little episode
that also points out why you should never buy a coat
until you have the money,
or eat tiramisu while talking on the phone.
- I am calling-
(coughing)
- With that, we're in the top 10!
And, to be honest, the 11 and 12 picks
were basically just honorable mentions
to keep a few of the producers from quitting.
Let's get to the real gems.
Number 10, Goodbye Michael.
- T-shirt, idea, good bye stink.
- Season seven's send off of Michael Scott
is easily one of the most emotionally powerful episodes
of the entire series.
For seven years we have watched as Michael Scott
bumbled his way across the screen,
but ultimately he found his way into our hearts.
While he may have made some super problematic decisions,
we're looking at you, gay witch hunt,
usually his heart was always in the right place,
and watching him leave the show was undoubtedly
one of the hardest and saddest moments.
In this episode, Michael quits to move to Colorado
to be with the love of his life, Holly.
And must now find a way to say goodbye
to his pseudo family of 15 years.
The humor takes a backseat for heart, in this outing
which hits the hardest during Michael and Pam's goodbye.
Side note, this is Jenna Fischer's real life goodbye
to Steve Carell.
There are a few gems in the later seasons,
but it's clear that without Steve Carell,
the show would never be the same.
- Catch you on the flippity flip.
- Next up, number nine, Casino Night!
- I am going to drop a deuce on everybody.
- It's casino night for Dunder Mifflin,
and the warehouse has been taken over
to host a charity event.
In the episode, we find out more about
Creed's thieving ways, watch as Michael juggles two dates,
learned about Kevin's band Scrantonicity
and witness one of the best Michael Toby flare ups.
- I hate
so much about the things that you choose to be.
- But the night belongs to Jim and Pam.
As much as The Office tried to develop the love interests
of other characters,
the true heart of it was always those two.
And in this second season cliffhanger,
he lays it all on the line to let the
then engaged Pam know how he feels.
- I'm in love with you.
- What?
- Aw!
While eventually find out that Jim
ends up crashing and burning,
there's no denying that this is the moment
that kicks off their eventual relationship.
Also, dinkin flicka.
- Dinkin flicka.
- At number eight, the season three episode, The Convict.
Following the merging of the Scranton and Stamford branches,
Michael has a whole new group of employees to oversee.
But when it is revealed that one of the new staffers
was previously incarcerated,
Michael Scott goes off the rails trying to defend the office
after tales of prison begin to sound better
than working at Dunder Mifflin.
While this episode has it's fair share of laughs,
like when Jim tries to set Andy up on a date with Pam,
it's a three minute scene of Steve Carell letting loose
that takes this episode from great to awesome.
- I'm Prison Mike.
- Honestly, just pause this video right now
and go re-watch this scene.
Because nothing we say is going to do it justice.
(upbeat jazz music)
- Now, there's a lot of debate over
which holiday episode of The Office is the best.
But we had to settle on one,
so we went with the one all others are measured against.
Season two's Christmas Party for the number seven spot.
- Well Happy Birthday, Jesus.
Sorry your party's so lame.
- It's time for some holiday cheer around the office,
but when the party turns south,
after Michael turns the friendly tradition
of Secret Santa into Yankee Swap.
- Yankee Swap,
is like Machiavelli meets
Christmas.
- And everyone's personalized gifts end up
going to the wrong people as the staff vie for ownership
of the $400 iPod,
he decides to violate the company's policy
of no alcohol.
- Is this enough to get 20 people plastered?
- 15 bottles of vodka?
Yeah, that should do it.
- Cool, cool, box it up.
- And, off the chain it goes.
Shots, lampshades, and of course, a topless Meredith,
which is why it made the top 10.
- Alright, let's head out.
Sounds good, do you have a coat?
- Let's jump on to our number six pick, Safety Training.
In this season three episode, the office is forced
to go through the annual safety training.
- It gonna be zoppity.
- But, after feeling emasculated by the warehouse workers,
Michael decides how to show how dangerous
life in the office can be, due to depression.
- Depression?
Isn't that just a fancy word for feeling bummed out?
- In true Michael Scott fashion, it involves a roof,
a bouncy house, and him preparing to jump
to show the office the real effects of suicide.
- He's going to kill himself pretending to kill himself.
- Yeah.
- While everything ends up for the best,
it's a great episode that shows, despite all of his antics,
that Michael is truly loved by his staff as well.
- You Braveheart, man.
- I Braveheart.
- We're in the top five, and what's this?
Another season three episode?
That's right, it's Business School.
Directed by Joss Whedon,
this episode is hilariously split down the middle
with it's A and B stories.
As the name implies, one plot focuses on Michael
guest speaking in Ryan's business class,
which basically results in him tearing apart
a student's book, and throwing candy bars at people.
While the second half of the episode involves
the rest of the office dealing with a bat
that got loose in the building.
Naturally, Jim uses this to troll Dwight
into thinking that Jim was bitten by the bat
and is slowing turning into a vampire.
But what solidifies this episode as a classic
is the Pam Beasley sub plot, where she invites
the rest of the office to her art exhibition,
and it's only Michael who truly appreciates her art.
- Your art was the prettiest art of all art.
- Thank you.
- It's a beautifully vulnerable moment
that highlights why The Office is so much more
than just a workplace sitcom.
Now, for our number four pick.
Some might consider it a cheat,
since it was broken up as part one and two,
but it's basically one supersized episode.
Stress Relief.
In one of the series' greatest cold opens,
Dwight holds a fire training simulation
that goes about as sideways
as any training simulation can go.
Cats falling through ceilings,
Kevin breaking into the vending machines,
and of course, Stanley having a heart attack.
- Stanley!
Stanley!
Barack is president!
- Though Stanley survives, it's clear
that after a CPR training course gone awry,
and an attempt at office meditation,
Michael is the one causing the stress in the office.
And so he comes up with the brilliant solution
to relieve the tension by letting everyone roast him.
- I consider myself a good person.
But I'm gonna try to make him cry.
- While everyone has a good laugh
at Michael's expense,
he's clearly hurt by his co-worker's jabs,
and after a day of soul searching,
feeding the birds,
he returns to awkwardly dish it back at them
as only he could.
The whole episode is bananas,
but surprisingly believable and that is why
we place it firmly at number four.
- Boom.
Roasted.
- We're in the top three!
And the bronze Dundee goes to season two's, The Injury.
- I burned my foot!
- In a rather insane, but somehow completely logical
set of circumstances,
Michael burns his foot after his George Foreman grill,
that he uses to cook bacon with by his bed,
clamps down on it.
- I don't see what's so hard to believe about that.
- From there, the episode just gets more
and more outrageous.
From Dwight's attempt to rescue Michael,
where he crashes his car, injures himself,
and pukes all over the back windshield,
to Michael hosting the cringiest disability seminar
with his special guest, the wheelchair bound
building manager, Billy Merchant.
But, the cherry on top is Jim driving
both Michael and Dwight to the hospital
and using a spray bottle to keep them in line.
All of this adds up to one of the funniest and silliest
episodes of TV.
- That's what she said.
- That's my joke, dammit Dwight.
- In the number two spot, and this was a tough one,
but we had to go with Michael Scott Paper Company.
- It's Britney, bitch.
- The whole arc of the
Michael Scott Paper Company is one of the
greatest story arcs for the entire series.
And you should really just watch all of the episodes,
but here's the too long, didn't watch.
- It's gonna be mental!
It's going to be mental.
- When the new boss, Charles Miner,
played to perfection by Idris Elba,
comes in to take over Jan and Ryan's job,
Michael decides to quit and forms a rival paper company,
the Michael Scott Paper Company.
But even with a dream team of Ryan and Pam,
Michael's new company struggles
as they prepare to host a pancake luncheon.
But after some inter-office bickering
threatens to tear apart the fledgling company,
leading to one of the best screen grabs of all time,
the team does manage to pull through and make a sale,
hinting that things might not be so bad
for everyone in the long run.
- Who would have thought,
that the thing that would save this company would be work?
- Like we said though,
just do yourself a favor and watch the entire
five episode arc,
starting with New Boss and ending with Broke.
It's basically one long episode.
It's The Office at it's best, and it proves again,
that while Michael may not have been the best boss,
he was a killer salesman.
- Our balls are in your court.
- And now,
it's time for the number one pick.
Drum roll, please!
(drum roll sound)
It's Dinner Party!
- That's what she said!
- Easily the best episode of the series,
Dinner Party is the perfect blend of humor,
heart, love, sadness and most importantly,
cringe.
In this fourth season episode, Michael is finally
able to trick Pam and Jim into coming over
to his condo for dinner with him and Jan.
And from the moment the two walk in the front door,
it is off to the races with awkwardness.
You've got the Serenity by Jan candles,
the highly suggestive song, That One Night,
by Jan's assistant, Hunter,
the reveal that Michael had three consecutive vasectomies,
Jim almost abandoning Pam,
the worst game of charades ever,
Dwight showing up with his former babysitter,
only to reveal their relationship is purely carnal.
The list goes on, and on, and on, and on,
and when the tension between Jan and Michael
finally explode in front of all of their guests,
with Jan killing Michael's 200 dollar plasma screen TV,
well, it's almost too much.
Ultimately, Dinner Party is a train wreck
on top of a plane crash in the middle of a garbage fire,
it's so hard to watch.
But damn, if it isn't one of the funniest episodes of TV
of all time.
Which is why it is our number one pick.
- Sometimes, I will just stand here
and watch television for hours.
- And there you go!
The top 12 episodes of The Office.
Don't at us, don't go in the comments
and try to justify why our list is bull (beep)
without Robert California or why Niagara
deserves to be in the top five.
This is the list, and you know it.
But what do you folks think?
Why isn't Niagara in the top five?
Should a Robert California episode have made the cut?
And, what's your favorite cold open?
(car screeching and thud)
Let's discuss.
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(Closing whoosh sound)