We’ve talked about a lot of things on here but there’s one show that has always remained our favorite : The Office. There’s almost never a point where it’s not playing on at least one of our multiple devices and even if it isn’t then we’re probably quoting it throughout our daily conversations. That being said, we’ve never actually done any articles featuring it and believe me we have some plans for future ones but we wanted to start with out top 10 favorite episodes. This was a difficult process for all of us as we all had to come up with our own top 10 and then work together to make our official list but we finally got it down to one we all agree with. So here we go!
10. Stress Relief (By WiseSage)
“Stress Relief” deserves its place on the top 10 list, because it is a perfect example of The Office at the height of its power. If we compared The Office to a classic band, like The Bangles for instance, then “Stress Relief” is the show’s version of “Manic Monday.” It doesn’t reach the stratospheric heights of “Eternal Flame,” or “Hazy Shade of Winter,” but “Manic Monday” is emblematic of The Bangles’ pitch perfect pop song formula, as “Stress Relief” is emblematic of the pitch perfect comedy that can only be provided by The Office.
“Stress Relief” has it all. We start with an insane cold open, wherein Dwight fakes a fire in order to teach his co-workers fire safety procedures. After Stanley has a heart attack, Michael makes it his job to make the Office safer, and eventually falls upon the idea to be the subject of a roast, so that his employees can relieve some stress at his expense. Alongside this story line is a fantastic b-story involving Pam’s Father living with Jim and Pam, during a rough time in Pam’s parents marriage. The resolution to that story is so perfect that the viewer might forget that the writers forgot how to write Jim and Pam in the last season (that’s my one).
But as great as the plot of this episode is, it is the sheer amount of laughs that they pack in this episode that makes it stand out. In my opinion, only “Dinner Party” is funnier. Where do you start? It has probably the most perfect interview cutaway in the entire series, from Stanley: “I am going to die.” We get to watch Kevin steal the snacks from the snack machine during the fire. It has a perfect Michael Scott line: “I knew exactly what to do, but in a much more real sense, I had no idea what to do.” It has David Wallace asking Dwight, with all seriousness, “Can you explain why you felt the need to cut the face off of the practice dummy?” The entire CPR training class is perfection. So while it might not reach the lofty heights of the more classic episodes, “Stress Relief” is a great example of The Offices patented mix of heartfelt hilarity.
9. Broke (By Vance)
The pacing of Season 5 is honestly why it’s my favorite season. It’s all about the rise, fall and rise again of Michael Scott as a character. He loses the love of his life, gets screwed over by his company and decides he wants something better. When that something better isn’t actually what he thought it was, he comes back and everything is fixed.
This episode was actually my #1 on my main list and I’m so happy to be able to share why it’s my favorite. This episode is the finale of the Michael Scott Paper Company arc and Everything about Season 5 leads to this moment where Michael proves exactly what he’s worth. Everything about this episode shows why and how he is effective. He leaves a Company, manages to hurt them enough to get them looking into buyouts and then manages to help everyone involved in what is probably my favorite scene of the show. There’s a few episodes where Michael just shines as a worker but this one nails it so much for me.
It’s also a fantastic Jim episode cause the way he plays Dwight and Charles is just hilarious to me every time.
8. Fun Run (By Vance)
We’ve talked about what makes the drama aspects of this series so great but it’s still very much a comedy and there are few better examples than this episode.
Between Michael Hitting Meredith and trying to make amends with both her and the rest of the Office, the budding relationship of Jim and Pam(and with Kevin and Oscar trying to figure it out) and, although it is sad, the Dwight and Angela story has some great moments with it too.
It even led to what might be my favorite quote of the office
Michael : “Alright, I’ll drive as well. Who wants Shotgun?”
Stanley : “You can’t be serious. You ran a woman over this morning.”
Michael : “Everyone inside the car was fine, Stanley!”
All of this leading up to the actual run for Rabies Awareness, Michael’s quote of “Good that you went back and got your degree.”, Oscar, Creed and Stanley ditching the race and of course, Michael’s Fantastic Line : “You don’t know me, you’ve just seen my penis.” makes this one of the funniest episodes of the series and it’s why I love it so much!
7. Beach Games (By Raven)
Beach games is always a big motivating episode for me.
Michael is assuming it’ll be his last outing with his coworkers, and wants to have a last hurrah including a fire pit, a hot dog eating contest and a coal walk. All of these activities will help him to decide who’s going to replace him after he leaves Dunder Mifflin.
Episodes prior, we see Pam struggling to find her voice again after calling off her wedding to Roy and then dating him again because she is ultimately, lost. If any of you have been in a long term relationship with a manipulative person, you can relate. We are told that Roy and Pam were highshool sweethearts, hence why most of Pam’s personality is stifled by Roy. It’s clear a lot of her identity was tied to him. Before casino night, she was learning more about herself through her friendship with Jim who always encouraged her to listen to her inner voice and pursue her dreams. Jim brought out the best in Pam and helped her find herself. But due to the overwhelming pull of safety, comfort and familiarity she is drawn back to Roy after losing her friend to Stamford and then finding out he was dating Karen after he came back. The fact that their friendship was forced to change after this, was difficult and probably felt hopeless to Pam, who felt like Roy was her only option. I unfortunately have been there.
In beach games, something finally clicks with Pam. Everything finally comes into focus. She walks across the fire coals and she is reborn. She runs to the circle, where no one had even realized she wasn’t there, and says this:
“Hey! I wanna say something. I’ve been trying to be more honest lately, and I just wanna say a few things. I did the coal walk! Just, I did it. Michael, you couldn’t even do that. Maybe I should be your boss. Wow I feel really good right now. [pause] Why didn’t any of you come to my art show? I invited all of you. That really sucked. It’s like sometimes some of you act like I don’t even exist. Jim, I called off my wedding because of you. And now we’re not even friends. And things are just like weird between us. And that sucks. And I miss you. You were my best friend before you went to Stamford. And I really miss you. I shouldn’t have been with Roy, and there were a lot of reasons to call of my wedding. But the truth is, I didn’t care about any of those reasons until I met you. And now you’re with someone else. And that’s fine. It’s, whatever, it’s not what I’m- I’m not- Okay my feet really hurt. The thing that I’m just trying to say to you Jim, and to everyone else in the circle, I guess, is that I miss having fun with you. Just you, not everyone in the circle. Okay. I am gonna go walk in the water now. Yep. It’s a good day.”
Michael of course responds in the most Michael way possible: “Pam! That was amazing! …But I am still looking for someone with a sales background.”
Its important to me to note, that she didn’t *need* Jim to become who she was, but he helped. And afterwards, she was more confident and happy. In the following episode, she is content knowing her and Jim might not end up together. But that was okay, she knew who she was now and he was a big part of that journey. Shes optimistic about the future, as she should be.
6. Threat Level Midnight (By Vance)
Webster’s defines vocation as : “A strong feeling of suitability for a particular career or occupation.” Another synonym for that is a “Calling” or a “Purpose” So many people search for their entire lives before they finally find their true calling and the same can be said by Michael Scott. We’ll get back to that momentarily.
Threat Level Midnight is not only a cinematic classic poised next to the likes of Gone With The Wind, Casablanca or On The Waterfront, it’s also the title of one of the funniest episodes of the entire series. Whether it’s the fantastic production value of the film or the multiple callbacks to characters that we hadn’t seen for a few seasons. Todd Packer, Karen, Troy, Jan, Helene and Carol all have fantastic references or cameos and both the Ice Skating Fight Scene and the “Scarn” will always be two of the funniest scenes of the series.
Now, contrast that with what’s happening outside of the film. Michael has finally finished something that he dreamed about for years. He’s always wanted to be a filmmaker and a writer and when he begins to show it to his friends including Holly and while watching it she doesn’t seem as interested as Michael wants her to be and this causes a fight for them but Michael realizes that his movie doesn’t matter as much to him. Holly is what matters.
This episode is one of the funniest of the entire series but it’s also one of the most important for Michael’s story. It’s no mistake that this episode is only two episodes before he proposes to Holly and decides to leave. He loves his job and he loves his family at Dunder Mifflin but when it comes down to it, his true calling is wherever Holly is.
That’s it for today. We’ll be posting the second half of the list tomorrow. Thanks for reading! Catch you guys on the flippity flip!
