The Office: WUPHF.COM, 7.09

72 comments

1. does that say dunder mifflin policies? they’re baaackk.

2. @Ryan What do you mean?

3. Jack Coleman, I’ve missed you on my television!

4. @Ryan The Office is still Dunder Mifflin, it is just known as Dunder Mifflin Sabre. The company is still bought out.

5. Well, Jack Coleman, once HRG, goes now from “Heroes” to “The Office”, and “House”.

6. Jo being around for an episode focusing on Ryan’s shenanigans doesn’t bode well for him, especially if “more than money is at stake”.

   I hope I’m wrong :(

7. Being Canadian, I’m always thrown off by the Thanksgiving theme days aired on nearly every channel more than a month after I’ve celebrated it. :P

   This episode looks like it’ll be a lot of fun! Just the word “wuphf” makes me laugh every time I see it.

8. What an awesome and hilarious episode! Loved it!

9. Give me a hard one…That’s what Oscar said.

10. FIRST THOUGHTS:

    – Great episode! Loved it all!
    – Classical Dwight crowning himself King and the needle in a hay stack..
    – The cold open was funny..
    – Kevin gets lost.
    – Angela’s new romance?
    – Ryan’s business. Michael sort of getting over his man crush on Ryan.
    – Michael telling us what thinks about his co-workers.
    – And of course.. Jim’s goofing and prank on Gabe!

    Great episode all together

11. Great episode. The Dwight Hay King stuff was a little distarcting but the Michael/ Ryan was a pure joy to watch. It was great to see some of Michael’s hero worship issues with Ryan resolved.

12. Pretty good episode. Though, I was laughing out loud when Kevin was lost in the maze.

    “SOMEBODY HELP!”

13. Ryan and Michael are always so hard to watch because of the unrequited affection on Michael’s end. I’m just relieved it had a (sort of) happy ending. It wasn’t particularly funny, but I love watching their “relationship” so much it’s definitely been the best episode of the season for me, by far.

    Seeing slacker/prankster Jim and Kevin running around the maze didn’t hurt either.

14. Wasn’t the funniest episode of all time but it was an important one

15. I thought this one was okay. The premise of Jim maxing out on his commissions seems funny enough, but if money is tight why wouldn’t he just make the sales and give Pam the credit (I assume she’s still in sales in addition to her role as office administrator).

    Since when did they quit recycling? What happened to Recyclops? Although Michael’s line about dividing into whites and colors was great.

    I like the new romantic interest for Angela.

    I’m glad Michael’s finally realized some things about Ryan. It took long enough. And I’m glad we found out the inspiration for WUPHF. That was clever. Michael pulled out a mini-Broke like performance with Ryan.

    My problem: Paul Lieberstein said the first half of the season would be a celebration of Michael Scott. But it seems like we’re treading water with Michael until Holly returns. He just keeps getting whacked over the head with realizations about people and his life. It’s getting a bit repetitive.

16. HRG plus Angela? I approve!!

17. It was a good episode! The episode was unrealistic with the hay stuff, but I thought it was funny. It was another solid episode. If the season can stay like this for the rest of the year with a few glimpses of genius, we have a season that is the best since Season 4.

18. Wow, that was solid from start to finish. Probably the closest to “old school” Office we’ve seen this year. All hail the Hay King!

19. Pretty freakin’ amazing episode!!!!! Absolutely awesome!!!!! I loved all the scenes in it. Jim being kinda shunned by everybody and finally pulling a prank on Gabe by the end of the episode, was funny. Dwight’s scenes with his hay world were great, too. So was Angela’s encounter with Jack Coleman’s character. And Kevin getting lost in the maze, was pretty damn funny too. The Michael/Ryan/Pam/Andy/Stanley/Darryl sequence was definitely spectacular. Wuphf!

20. eh.

    while i like pranking jim, i did not like immature jim. farting noises with his mouth? really jim? REALLY?!

    loved his talking head about “selling” carrots to cece, though.

    i’m liking the new guy for angela, too.

21. The Office stayed in the office and guess what? I actually liked the episode! I don’t know why I can’t get into a lot of the episodes that don’t take place in the Scranton Industrial Park.

22. This one ended up much better than I thought it would. I loved Jim’s give up without sales commission and nailing Gabe at the end. Angela ended the contract. The cold open with the server password was great. And tons of Pam. You can never go wrong with tons of Pam <3 <3

23. Very enjoyable episode. And I loved Jim’s yelp of joy when he made another sale– so outside of his calm demeanor!

24. My hopes in this season have been restored after 2 down weeks.

    I agree with jimbo slice – it was a funny episode but more than that it was a very important episode.

    This episode set the stage for a lot of things to change and, most importantly for the Office at this stage, it set the scene for Jim to finally finish the management arc and return to prankster Jim, which has been sorely missing for some time now.

25. Fantastic from start to finish! I thought it had the most old-school type feel of any episode so far. There wasn’t one moment i didn’t enjoy. “That’s what Oscar said” and Jim’s TH about the carrots was amazing. So was his little yelp and the “gay bastard” tag. Really enjoyed Michael facing reality with the help of Pam. Michael/Ryan are so painful so watch yet always enjoyable. Dwight talking about the quality hay and show bales reminded me of the money beets.

    And the cold open was absolutely hilarious. Awesome!

26. Very solid episode. What I enjoyed most were the Pam and Michael interactions. They have such a funny, but yet tender relationship. I like how Pam knows him so well and can talk to him in a way that reaches him. I’m really going to miss their dynamic when Michael’s gone.

    Also, loved Jim’s prank on Gabe, top notch. And finally, way to go Angela on cancelling that contract, I was growing weary of that storyline.

27. -Hay world!

    -Bigboobz

    -but the world shines on Mose

    -If I can make mush carrots seem better than a boob…

    -…and it can launch the lighthouse into the space!

    -Washington University of Public Health Fund.

    -Thanksgivingme-your-money-day

    xD

28. This episode went by amazingly fast, and I really enjoyed it! I especially loved the characterizations; I felt they were more subdued than they have been in a few other episodes this season, and far more so than season six.

    I laughed out loud plenty of times, but most memorably at Dwight’s hay crown (which kind of reminded me of “Christmas Party” where the talking head expands to fit all of Dwight’s elf hat in the shot) and Michael’s line about not knowing where Creed came from.

29. Although, in retrospect, I’m worried that Dwangela is ending for good. I know it’s been rocky and barely there for a long time now, but the idea that they’re both interested in other people is sad, because I’ve always supported them.

30. Aaron Shure! Aaron Shure! Way to go – what a great episode! I thoroughly enjoyed this. There’s something so tragic and funny and sweet and desperately bad about the Michael and Ryan combo. And loved Jim’s “Jo phone call” prank on Gabe – amazing!

31. Agree with jimbo slice: This episode marks a milestone in Michael’s character growth, which is happening because the episodes are leading up to his exit. :o(

    Lots of good things to enjoy in the episode: Erin growing a spine in the office as demonstrated by her commitment to her responsibilities in the office and her vocal resentment at how Ryan was using office equipment to do personal business; Jim turning the annoying Gabe into the object of his pranks; Ryan getting called out on his BS by Andy, Stanley, Darryl and Pam; and Dwight and Angela reaching a turning point in their relationship/contractual arrangement.

    Lots of great one liners and solid performances. Well done, Show!

32. Darryl: “What happened to you in high school?”

    Michael: “That’s what Oscar said.”

    And we got a Mose shout-out!

33. chris, I agree- I couldn’t understand why Jim didn’t just attribute his commissions to Pam. And also, it’s often been established that Dwight’s sales are higher than Jim’s, so why haven’t we heard more about the commissions cap from Dwight? Has he had a dip in sales due to his preoccupation with running the building?

    This one point notwithstanding, I really enjoyed this episode. I think that I’m going to be wondering why Creed wanted Jim to hold his breath and stretch out his long arms almost as much as I wonder why Creed needed three chairs…

34. WUPHF.com: Another “C” episode in an “C” season.

    “A” to Angela finding some adult, normal man to speak to. Boring sex contract void. Breath of fresh plot air!

    “A” to Ryan and his dreams of success. Zany, self-absorbed, narcissistic, dreamer, bumbling schemer-the All-American Dream. Michael’s worthy successor.

    “C” to Gabe. Average in every respect-no more, no less.

    “D” to anything Michael now does. Spinning wheels. Plot over & his character has become a caricature. Give him his gold watch & let’s move on.

    “F” to Dwight. Hay King nonsense-Borderline mental child abuser. Predictably amoral. Authoritative, misogynistic. Now more plot device than a person.

    “D” for anything Kevin does or says. Lost in maze-sad, not funny. Treated by co-workers as mentally challenged.

    “C” to Pam. Now relegated to either boring banter with Jim or motherly chats with Michael. Pam once had fire. Now she’s just a smoldering campsite. Ryan & Pam sparkle together-give them a major plot.

    “C” to Jim. Dull, slacker, prankster, going nowhere fast. No longer charming or romantic. Just a salesman who spends all day pranking a tape recording. Haven’t laughed at Jim in years!

    “B” to Andy NOT singing!

35. Solid episode, through and through. Definitely one of my favorites of this season. I’ve always enjoyed the interaction between Michael and Ryan, so to see those two together (even if it resulted in a bit of a realization for Michael) was great. I admit I wasn’t all too sure about this episode going in, but overall I enjoyed it. Always glad to see less-serious Jim around the office; the end with Gabe was hilarious, I thought. Gabe is a fine alternative to simply pranking Dwight time and time again – although I suspect Jim better tread carefully, considering Gabe’s his “superior”. All in all, a great episode!

36. “Toby is the instruction card you throw away”

    That is officially one of my all time favorite lines.
    And Michael’s final TH was perfection. Also one of the VERY best to date. It was hilarious, touching and sentimental. Bravo!

37. I found the ending really, really, really, funny, but otherwise, the episode wasn’t that amazing. It was above satisfactory, to say the least.

38. Really funny episode. Loved Jim’s pranking Gabe. Did anyone else notice the picture on Pam’s desk of her, Jim and Cece dressed up in their Halloween outfits? How cute!

    Creeds interaction with anyone is great. Really enjoyed seeing Darryl manhandle Ryan.

39. Remember the whole scenario after the takeover when Jim and Michael were fighting over who was going to be the manager? Now why did they both end up wanting to be a salesman? Was it because commission was capped, or was it that it was uncapped?

40. I don’t know why, but I cannot stand Ryan! If someone like that was in my office, I would probably go nuts. On the brighter side, Kevin and Creed were insane in this episode, I was laughing out loud every time they said something!

41. I just spent the last two weeks watching the entire series (I had seen just two episodes since the show premiered five years ago), and this is the first one I actually saw when it aired. My loser status with this show has been verified, but that feels like such an accomplishment nonetheless! What a great episode to start this new trend with, too!

42. I’m worried i’m going to burst out crying at school today because Angela ended the contract. It seriously just ruined my whole day and possibly weekend. Is this the end of Dwangela? And now we won’t be able to find out for two weeks, unless they don’t talk about it in the next episode, then it would be even longer. That’s what Oscar said. :'(

43. The password exchange in the cold open, especially the guesses after they remember Pam was really offended made me laugh a lot. Really a solid episode that managed to be funny while also moving the Michael story forward which has been a bit problematic this season. I’m guessing Jim and Pam have made enough money this year to both hit the commission cap and let Pam invest in WUPHF.com. You’d think after Ryan’s basketball scam from last year Pam would know better.

44. This had to be one of the best episodes this season. It kind of was like one of the old episodes. Jim pranked someone, Dwight crowned himself as hayking, Pam talked to Michael about Wuphf.com. I loved it:)

45. It seems Jack Coleman has gone from one paper company to another! Now if he became the new traveling salesman instead of Tim Olyphant, I think I’d approve more!

46. CKGfan: He can’t transfer them to Pam because she’s not in Sales anymore. She’s the Office Administrator.

    Loved this episode. From beginning to end – it was great. :)

47. Absolutely great episode!!

48. Thank God that whole baby contract storyline is over with. I hope we never hear of it again. Terrible idea from the beginning and it made Angela into a completely unrecognizable character.

    The rest of the episode was in top form. I, too, was worried after the first few episodes of the season that this show had completely lost what made it so wonderful. Episodes like last night make me realize they still have it in them somewhere. Here’s hoping they bring it out more often.

49. Reading all the comments surprised me. Maybe I’m alone in my below average rating?? I just thought the whole Dwight Hay Day was a little random and sorta dumb. A big YAWN to Dwangela’s contract. Hope it’s gone for good. Ryan was his old on-crack self. Where did THAT come from?? It was a mish mash of events .. Creed being the only breath of fresh air. He seems to be getting more screen time and it’s about time. Now HE’s got an interesting story behind him that I’d like to know more about.

50. I also thought the little subplot with Erin being so irritated about the color printer was hilarious. She gave an awesome angry look to the camera.

    [from tanster: i thought so, too! loved it. erin gives a great death stare.]

51. I am so glad Angela put an end to the baby contract, she was being demeaned as a woman and I think this might make Dwight realise what he had before he lost it.

52. Wow. Where has that been the last couple of episodes? Easily in my top 3 for the season. The best part? No more of that dumb Dwight-Angela contract. That was dragged out WAY too long and was just cartoonish. The cold open was one of the better ones in a while as well.

53. The Office is back on track! Great episode :)

54. Good epi, but I thought Michael was supposed to have tried to get Jo to invest.

    And after hearing Gabe’s rant, I was soooo hoping for Jim to be wearing just a tie, if you get the drift.

55. This was a pretty good episode.

56. Loved this episode.
    Pros: Some great moments. “What happened to you in high school?” “Toby is an instruction card that you throw away.” “No idea where Creed came from.” Cold open was great and very solid plot and sub-plot.
    Cons: The new Ryan is so much different than Temp Ryan/Business School Ryan that would have had some sort of an idea of what to do with his company and Jim seemed a little immature(did love the end prank though)

57. #56:

    I don’t know about that. Ryan’s ideas/time at Dunder Mifflin corporate were pretty much a disaster.

58. This episode was just so-so for me. There were of course some good zingers but overall it was not one of the best. I was wondering if Creed asking Jim to hold out his arms and hold his breath was in relation to Creed’s scuba diving. I’m looking forward to the Christmas episode, always a highlight every season.

59. Very nice episode. Calm and hilarious as always. Love Jim’s prank on Gabe. Erin is so cute in this episode.

60. Thought this was just ordinary. Jim and Dwight’s plots were really dull. And yes, the sex contract wasn’t very good, but this new guy for Angela looks even more boring. The writers are trying to recapture the JAM magic with Andy/Erin and Dwight/Angela, but it’s not inspiring at all. Especialy Dwangela – we’ve been there, done that (that’s what she said). The WUPHF plot was good enough, but you feel they’re scraping the barrel a bit. What’s next? An episode devoted to David Wallace’s ‘Suck It’?

    Good bits: Laughed out loud at Ryan handling Kelly, and Erin’s anger at Ryan. Pam’s heart to heart with Michael had that good ol’ Office depth and heart.

61. I liked it, especially Michael’s speech at the end. Happy that the baby contract is over. Hopefully Angela’s not PG and will move on to a man who actually likes her. Also happy that the focus was off Erin/Andy/Gabe. The plug needs to be pulled on that storyline. It’s a pathetic rip-off of the Jim/Pam/Roy (and later Karen) office romance scenario. Anytime Dwight talks about his childhood it makes me laugh.

    Kudos to snarky Ryan and airhead Kelly for being funny this whole season! Don’t ever change them…

62. It was great to see an episode in which Michael isn’t completely childish and ruins everything. IMO, this season has really been unkind to him. For me, the best part about Michael’s character is the many outstanding and redeeming qualities he has. For example, he does actually care about his employees as much as himself (i.e being the only one who shows up for Pam’s art show and say something kind a few seasons back). Michael’s final talking head when he makes the office members as playing cards metaphor was priceless.

63. what a great episode…
    finally back in the office!! :D

64. [from tanster: thanks!]

65. Great episode! Although, I don’t fully understand the prank. Help?

66. Thought this episode was pretty good, but Michael’s talking head at the end was amazing. “Toby is the instruction card you throw away” and “No idea where Creed came from” made me burst out laughing. The cold open was also great.

67. 65:

    Jim re-edited Jo’s book on tape and played it over the phone. He made Gabe sit there and listen to her entire book, thinking it was really Jo on the phone.

68. Does anyone else think that the guy Angela met is like a Bizarro Dwight? A more “regular guy” Dwight. His delivery was very similar to Dwight’s and wore the same earth tones (if I recall correctly) that Dwight typically wears, but seemed like a normal guy. Anyone else on board with this? I’m also glad and hopeful that the contract is done with.

69. Nice episode! a little more balanced than others, and back again are the good Jim pranks!

    @ 54. Ginger – just wait for the deleted scenes; i’m sure that whole Jo investing thing will turn up soon

70. @56: I don’t think Jim was acting immature, I think he wasn’t sure what to do with himself when he had no incentive to work anymore. I worked in a sales position with no commissions and not only did making sales not help me, it created MORE work for me to handle. It’s an extremely dissatisfying position when there are no incentives to do work only to create additional work for yourself.

    @65/67: I don’t think Jim actually re-edited the book. I think he combed the book to make the call to Gabe sound authentic and then made him sit through the entire original book that truly wasn’t changed at all. At least that’s what I took from it, and that’s the funniest part in my mind – thinking of Gabe closing the back cover and wondering what Jo was talking about, since what she just read to him on the phone was exactly the same as what he was reading.

71. I hope to see Dwight swoon a bit for Angela in the future. They are perfect, but need to be together as equals. The baby contract made Angela appear as somewhat desperate. Now it will be Dwight’s turn to step it up and get his woman, who’s “evil like a hobbit” back!

72. 71 comments and no one has mentioned Erin’s “everyone was getting their driver’s license” line? So weird and so good.