To commemorate the upcoming fifth anniversary of the series finale of “The Office” I will be ranking all the episodes in the series. I watched through Netflix so I used their episode listings. For all two-part episodes, I watched and ranked them as one, so I came up with 185 episodes. I’ll have something to say about most episodes, even if it’s just a sentence or two. But there will be some where I’ll have no commentary. I will try to include some video clips, but NBC really bird dogs their content, so it might be hard to find videos to embed here.
We got the proverbial “bottom of the barrel” episodes out of the way first. This next batch of rankings will cover numbers 101-149, followed by 51-100, then 21-50, finishing with the top 20, to be posted on May 16.
Most of these episodes won’t be anything special, but we’re getting there. A lot on this section are just going to be good, solid episodes. So let’s get to it.
149) “Vandalism” Season 9, episode 14; 80/100
We get a great Kevin episode here at Philip’s first birthday party – which amounts to nothing more than a political party. I really enjoyed the Jim and Darryl roommate problems sub plot. I wish more time would have been spent on that.
148) “Customer Loyalty” Season 9, episode 12; 80/100
Angered that Jim and Darryl are leaving Dunder Mifflin, Dwight tries to get the other employees to sign a “loyalty pledge.” The riff on the “fire in the hole” milkshake prank was great. But the Pam and Brian scenes were bad. It was just so forced. I’ll get into this more in my season rankings, but I was not a fan of this storyline.
147) “Jury Duty” Season 8, episode 13; 80/100
Angela has her baby and it is revealed she lied about the date of conception. This leads Dwight to suspect he’s the father. Jim had jury duty but was dismissed on the first day. He lied about it and took the whole week off. A fine, run of the mill Office episode.
146) “Lotto” Season 8, episode 3; 80/100
The warehouse crew wins the lottery and they all quit, even though it was only $950,000. Split between the whole crew, it’s not exactly “set-you-up-for-life” money. Dwight, Jim, Kevin, and Erin work the warehouse temporarily, which made for some great moments.
145) “Todd Packer” Season 7, episode 18; 80/100
We get a great Dwight and Jim team up as they try to take down Packer. Jim’s list of prank ideas that he submits to Dwight is a fantastic prank within a prank. Pam goes “full-on corrupt” as Office Administrator.
144) “Ultimatum” Season 7, episode 13; 80/100
The office makes New Year’s Resolutions, highlight by Creed wanting to do a cart-wheel and Dwight wanting to “meet loose women.” A.J. did not propose to Holly but they are still together.
143) “Body Language” Season 6, episode 23; 80/100
Michael awkwardly flirts with Donna and by some miracle it works. Him licking the mint off Donna’s hand is…just awful. Dwight tries to manipulate Kelly with Sabre’s “Print in All Colors” initiative.
142) “Manager and the Salesman” Season 6, episode 16; 80/100
Jo tells Michael and Jim that the branch will only have one manager and leaves it up to Michael to make the decision. He takes the sales position but can’t handle not being in charge any more. I think the show could have been well-served leaving Michael in the sales role for one or two full episodes. I loved Dwight and Ryan’s constant bickering about their plans to take down Jim.
141) “Sabre” Season 6, episode 15; 80/100
Andy and Erin write a song to welcome Sabre, but in classic Dunder Mifflin fashion, didn’t bother to confirm the correct pronunciation of the name. This episode is also our introduction to sad-sack Gabe Lewis. Jim and Pam’s visit to the potential daycare was an episode lowlight.
140) “The Promotion” Season 6, episode 3; 80/100
Jim and Michael are tasked with determining how to allocate raises. Jim wants to give it to just the salespeople, which of course does not go over well. He and Michael struggle to figure out what to do. They even resort to assigning jelly beans as a rating system. This had some potential but the raise issue isn’t resolved and is never brought up again.
139) “New Boss” Season 5, episode 20; 80/100
Charles Miner comes aboard and immediately clashes with Michael. We see a new low for Michael as resorts to doing the copy cat when Charles gets to be too much for him. Michael quits at the end of the episode.
138) “Moroccan Christmas” Season 5, episode 11; 80/100
Dwight buys up Princess Unicorns and sells them at a huge mark-up. Meredith gets too drunk and sets herself on fire, prompting the office to hold an impromptu intervention. Michael pulls an intervention tip list off a Mormon website. Phyllis had been blackmailing Angela (she knows about her affair with Dwight) so she can be the head of the Party Planning Committee. After Angela stands up to her, Phyllis reveals her affair the rest of the office. Everyone except Andy is present to hear it. Some good moments here, but kind of a downer episode overall. At least we get a great Schrute moment.
137) “Employee Transfer” Season 5, episode 6; 80/100
Another up and down episode. The Andy/Dwight story was fantastic, highlighted by the great interview scene.
But as fun as those two were, we weren’t as lucky with the rest of the episode. Jim’s brothers try to prank Jim about Pam’s art career. Michael and Darryl helping Holly move wasn’t great. Though the running bit of the three of them trying to sing “Life is a Highway” was good.
136) “Crime Aid” Season 5, episode 5; 80/100
We get some great insight into who Creed is (maybe?)
The auction itself was pretty good but the parts leading up to it were so-so.
135) “Business Ethics” Season 5, episode 3; 80/100
Jim timing Dwight for any and all “time theft” is a classic bit. As with many Holly moments, her scene were pretty weak and awkward.
134) “Back from Vacation” Season 3, episode 11; 80/100
I’ll go with what my notes say: “Nothing too great. Just a solid episode.” Though Michael accidentally forwarding the picture of Jan to the wrong address is peak Michael Scott, which is also welcome.
133) “The Convention” Season 3, episode 2; 80/100
A fine episode. Nothing too noteworthy here.
132) “Email Surveillance” Season 2, episode 9; 80/100
A Ken Jeong sighting! He plays one of the other members in Michael’s improv class. This episode does a great job showing how little self-awareness Michael has. The improv class, crashing Jim’s party.
131) “Pilot” Season 1, episode 1: 80/100
Where it all began. As far as pilots go, it was fine. Nothing great, but not many pilots are. But it did hint at some of the potential the show would come to fulfill, including Jim’s first prank on Dwight: putting his stuff in Jell-O. It also sets up a few future storylines and characters, including Stamford and Josh; even a Todd Packer reference gets dropped.
130) “Spooked” Season 8, episode 5; 81/100
Robert’s son Bert comes for the office Halloween party and bonds with Dwight over StarCraft. Dwight has him pretend to fire Toby, saying he’s able to as the CEO’s son. Jim and Pam disagree over Pam’s belief in ghosts.
129) “Andy’s Play” Season 7, episode 3; 81/100
It has its fair share of moments (Creed calling in a play review was short and sweet and awesome) but was too bogged down by its low points. Michael again being a big baby, this time for not being cast in the play and being resentful towards Andy about it. And Andy leaving his cell phone, having it with him on stage, letting it ring, and then blowing part of the plot in trying to cover it up. Rough stuff.
128) “Nepotism” Season 7, episode 1; 81/100
Michael hires his nephew as an intern, and he is a terrible employee that everyone wants fired. It all finally comes to a head, resulting in Michael spanking him. Dwight is now the owner of the building, which gives us
127) “The Carpet” Season 2, episode 14; 81/100
Todd Packer leaves a special…gift(?) in Michael’s office. A disgusting act, but it did lead to a top notch Michael moment.
126) “Health Care” Season 1, episode 3; 81/100
Dwight reading aloud all the real and made up diseases is one of the best parts of season 1, and still plays even now. I also personally love the “Office vs. Workspace” debate between Dwight and Jim (remember this for later, there’s an obscure call back later on).
125) “Paper Airplane” Season 9, episode 20; 82/100
Jim and Pam continue to be one of the weakest parts of the final season. Erin trying to keep her competitiveness a secret from Pete was great. And of course, there was Kevin trying, and trying again, and again and again…to make a usable paper airplane.
124) “Stairmageddon” Season 9, episode 19; 82/100
The office elevator is under repair, resulting in everyone having to take the stairs. Stanley does not adjust well. To get him to go on a sales call, Dwight shoots Stanley with a bull tranquilizer (make that 3 bull tranquilizers). In retaliation, Stanley injects himself with another one when they get back, leaving Dwight and Clark to find a way to get him back upstairs to the office.
123) “Lice” Season 9, episode 10; 82/100
Jim gets to meet with Dr. J for his new business, while Pam has to deal with bringing lice into the office. Darryl manipulates Val into breaking up with him since he’ll be moving to Philly. The highlight of the episode was definitely Dwight bug bombing himself…twice.
122) “Tallahassee” Season 8, episode 15; 82/100
First appearance of Nellie since “Search Committee” and she. Is. The. Wooooorrrrssst. Seriously awful. But this episode does gift us a fantastic Florida Stanley moment.
121) “Garden Party” Season 8, episode 4; 82/100
Everything with Andy and his parents is terrible. But Jim’s prank on Dwight, with his fake book, is gold.
120) “The List” Season 8, episode 1; 82/100
First episode of the first season of the post-Michael Scott era. Eh. It was okay. Robert’s winners/losers list provided some nice office drama.
119) “The Inner Circle” Season 7, episode 23; 82/100
I’ll just leave this right here.
118) “Costume Contest” Season 7, episode 6; 82/100
Another episode featuring Michael’s pettiness. But Michael and Darryl teaming up in the end – to Gabe’s chagrin – was a nice finish. The staff’s obsession with the coupon book prize was perfect.
117) “Mafia” Season 6, episode 6; 82/100
Kevin using Jim’s office to far, and then staying in there and accidentally cancelling Jim’s credit card, was peak Kevin Malone. But mafia plot was too unbelievable, even for these lovable buffoons.
116) “Take Your Daughter to Work Day” Season 2, episode 18; 82/100
Another episode with no real stand out moments, just solid throughout. But Stanley screaming at Ryan will always be funny. Kid Michael on the TV show seems to rotate between just awkward enough to be funny and just a bit too awkward to laugh. This time time it veered towards too awkward territory.
115) “The Client” Season 2, episode 7; 82/100
Jim finds Michael’s screen play for Threat Level Midnight and gets the office to do a table read. Michael, with Jan, meets with a client, played by Tim Meadows. Any Tim Meadows is good Tim Meadows. The episode ends with Michael and Jan kissing, kicking off that roller coaster of a relationship.
114) “Diversity Day” Season 1, episode 2; 82/100
I loved this episode the first few times I saw it, but it just didn’t age well for me. But Larry Wilmore still kills it, as you would expect.
113) “Moving On” Season 9, episode 16; 83/100
Andy finds out Pete and Erin are dating and has the expected incredibly immature response to it. He hires Gabe (Erin’s ex) and one of Pete’s exes in one of the pettiest moves of the show. The arguments in the conference room were great, but were somewhat ruined by Andy enjoying it so much. And hey, we have a Bob Odenkirk guest spot!
112) “Suit Warehouse” Season 9, episode 11; 83/100
Darryl’s interview with Athlead was rough. Dwight and Clark pretending to be father and son hit in some spots but went on a little long. The staff testing their new Nespresso machine was good little bit though. Everyone trying to get out of the parking lot at the same time was the perfect end for it.
111) “The Boat” Season 9, episode 6; 83/100
We finally get a real story for Andy but he’s been so bad for a while that I find myself just not caring. The staff’s prank on Dwight for his radio interview is one of the best pranks. It was fun seeing more than just Jim get it on the fun.
110) “After Hours” Season 8, episode 16; 83/100
In a less than inspiring subplot, Dwight and Packer both try to sleep with Nellie in a bid for the new VP job. Cathy finally tries to make her move on Jim, who thankfully resists.
109) “Special Project” Season 8, episode 14; 83/100
Jim signs his text to Robert. Come on, who does that? But really, this episode has one takeaway: The introduction of Florida Stanley
108) “PDA” Season 7, episode 16; 83/100
Michael and Holly are now dating and are expectedly over-the-top with their PDA. Jim and Pam get drunk on their lunch. Andy helps Erin solve Gabe’s Valentine’s Day treasure hunt. I would have thought this would be lower given the Michael and Holly of it all, but the supporting stories were surprisingly effective.
107) “The Sting” Season 7, episode 5; 83/100
Gotta love Andy, Darryl, and Kevin’s band. Meredith’s actions in the fake sales pitch to Danny Cordray was perfectly in character. And that’s unfortunate.
106) “Double Date” Season 6, episode 9; 83/100
Andy and Dwight’s favor-off is about as perfect a sub-plot as you can get. Michael was surprisingly sweet in this one…right up until he broke up with Helen in public at her birthday lunch.
105) “Koi Pond” Season 6, episode 8; 83/100
Michael falls into a koi pond on a sales call. We see it on security camera footage, but it would have been an awesome scene to get live. Pam and Andy going on cold calls was okay, but overall more awkward and bad than good.
104) “Lecture Circuit Parts 1 & 2” Season 5, episode 16/17; 83/100
Jim and Dwight are put in charge of the Party Planning Committee and their first task is Kelly’s birthday. The two of them teaming up to work together was a great dynamic.
Andy hits on Stanley’s friend and client, Julia, in one of the more awkward parts the the show, and that’s saying something. Michael’s presentations to the other branches were predictably nonsensical, terrible, and not informative at all. He also finds out Holly is dating A.J.
103) “Money” Season 4, episode 4; 83/100
We get a famous Michael Scott moment.
We also get some great Creed quotes:
“Creed Bratton has never declared bankruptcy. When Creed Bratton gets in trouble, he transfers his debt to William Charles Schneider.”
“You don’t go by Monopoly, man. That game is nuts. Nobody jut pickup a “Get out of jail free” cards. Those things cost thousands.”
“Bankruptcy, Michael, it’s nature’s do-over. It’s a fresh start, a clean slate.”
102) “Ben Franklin” Season 3, episode 14; 83/100
The bachelorette party was good, but most of Bob Vance’s bachelor party was cringe-worthy. But we do get a much-appreciated call-back to season 2, when Michael brings and uses the same grill he grilled his foot on.
101) “Initiation” Season 3, episode 5; 83/100
Two words: Pretzel Day
And there we go for the next run of episodes. Up next we’ll get into the back half of the top 100. We’re starting to move from the solid to the very good episodes, inching ever closer to the many elite episodes of The Office. Stay tuned!
