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.
Previous rankings
#185-150
#149-101
#100-51
50) “Search Committee” Season 7, episodes 25/26; 87/100
Lots of cameos as the search committee of Jim, Gabe, and Toby search for a new branch manager. In the meantime, we get the glory of Creed Bratton as manager. Angela gets engaged to (State) Senator Lipton.
49) “Threat Level Midnight” Season 7, episode 17; 87/100
Michael finally finishes his movie and screens it for the staff. Pretty much a stand-alone episode that doesn’t further the plot. But it’s just a fun episode, plain and simple.
48) “Heavy Competition” Season 5, episode 24; 87/100
Dwight, still feeling loyalty to Michael, slips him sales leads. Jim pranks Andy, pretending to have marriage problems and letting Andy “help” him solve them.
47) “The Surplus” Season 5, episode 10; 87/100
The office comes in under budget so Michael has to decide what to do with the surplus. There are two factions: One wants a new copier, the other wants new chairs. Michael can get a bonus if he simply turns in the surplus. Dwight gives Angela and Andy a walk-through of their wedding, but tricks Angela into marrying him for real. Angela predictably does not react well to it. Michael takes the bonus and buys a fur coat, which does not turn out well for him.
46) “Frame Toby” Season 5, episode 9; 87/100
Michael is unaware that Toby is back at work, giving us an oft-used gif/meme.
Jim buys his parents’ house for him and Pam, without telling Pam. Luckily for him, she’s happy about it. Michael tries to buy drugs to frame Toby but just ends up buying salad. Kind of frustrating to watch the cops here as they have to smell it before they realize it’s not marijuana. Anyone could tell just by looking at it. But Creed gets nervous when he sees the cops come in on the drug tip.
45) “Did I Stutter” Season 4, episode 12; 87/100
Stanley snaps at Michael during a meeting. Michael goes to Darryl for advice on how to deal with being disrespected by a member of your own gang. Michael tries to teach Stanley a lesson by fake firing him. To no one’s surprise, this goes poorly.
44) “The Deposition” Season 4, episode 8; 87/100
Michael is deposed for Jan’s lawsuit against Dundee Mifflin. His diary gets entered into discovery and we hear an entry detailing his affection for Ryan. Back at the office, Jim keeps getting destroyed by Darryl in ping pong. He enlists Dwight to train him.
43) “Local Ad” Season 4, episode 5; 87/100
Michael films his own commercial to compete against what the professional ad team comes up with for the branch. Dwight, still depressed over being dumped by Angela, throws himself into the computer game “Second Life.”
42) “Branch Closing” Season 3, episode 7; 87/100
Amid rumors of the Scranton branch closing, Michael and Dwight stake out David Wallace’s house to try to convince him not to close Scranton. Creed begins selling off a bunch of the office equipment. Josh leverages his new job for a job offer from Staples. Even though they had nothing to do with it, Michael and Dwight think they had something to do with Stamford closing instead of Scranton.
41) “The Fire” Season 2, episode 4; 87/100
Ryan starts a fire by leaving a cheese pita in the toaster set to “oven” instead of “toaster.” This is the first episode we really see Michael’s fierce infatuation with Ryan. This is the first episode we see Stanley doing one of is puzzles.
40) “Happy Hour” Season 6, episode 21; 88/100
Oscar organizes an office and warehouse happy hour to try and flirt with and spend more time with warehouse worker, Matt. Though that was never really a storyline that I cared about too much. They jut never really spent any time trying to develop it. Andy and Erin are still trying to keep their relationship a secret which results in some super awkward moments. But we get two great things out of the episode.
Date Mike
And more importantly: Hide’s story!
39) “Delivery” Season 6, episodes 17/18; 88/100
One of the watershed moments for the series. Kevin and Pam became great friends bonding over second breakfast, lunch, second lunch, and first dinner. Michael is of course delusional about the whole thing and baby-proofs the office. Pam tries to stave off labor until the next day so she can get an extra day in the hospital so she has the the office help distract her. The highlight for sure is Andy doing the “Evolution of Dance” dance…sans the music. “The music would just throw me off. I need complete silence.”
38) “Shareholder Meeting” Season 6, episode 11; 88/100
Michael is invited to the Dunder Mifflin shareholder meeting. Wallace sends a limo to pick him up. He takes Dwight, Andy, and Oscar. They have an out of control obsession with the limo part. Michael predictably makes a mess of the whole thing. What else should Wallace have expected to happen?
Jim tries, and struggles, to get Ryan to do any work, as nobody really believes he has any true power or authority as Co-Manager. And that’s how we get Ryan’s under-appreciated closet office.
37) “Gossip” Season 6, episode 1; 88/100
Michael feels left out of the office gossip and ultimately ends up finding out about and revealing Stanley’s affair. In a misguided attempt to fix the problem he created, he spreads rumors about everyone in the office in the hopes that everyone will simply discredit each and every one. By chance he includes a rumor that Pam is pregnant. Luckily for him, that one was true and Pam tells everyone in an effort to spare Stanley. However, Michael still manages to spill the beans to Stanley’s wife.
And once again, we get a spectacular Creed moment, responding to the rumor that he has asthma.
36) “Casual Friday” Season 5, episode 26; 88/100
Michael is showing favoritism to Pam and Ryan, his former Michael Scott Paper Company employees. He alienates the rest of the sales staff, creating a tense office environment. Jim tries to escape it all by hanging out with Creed.
Eventually Michael keeps Pam on in sales and moves Ryan back to his temp position.
35) “Survivor Man” Season 4, episode 7; 88/100
Toby is back from a wilderness retreat led by Ryan and Michael is visibly jealous. He decides to go off into the woods by himself. In getting a knife for Michael, we see Dwight’s extensive weapon collection in the office. “It’s better to be hurt by someone you know accidentally than by a stranger on purpose.”
Dwight takes Michael out to the woods and obviously he has no idea what he’s doing.
34) “Fun Run” Season 4, episode 1; 88/100
Michael hits Meredith with his car, in one of the funniest scenes of the whole series. As far as first time viewings go, there are very few things I’ve laughed so hard at. When Michael tells the staff about it, he inadvertently leads them to believe Meredith died in the accident.
A number of great one-off moments and quotes in this one.
But this is an important episode from a larger narrative standpoint, as we get official confirmation that Jim and Pam are finally dating.
33) “Cocktails” Season 3, episode 17; 88/100
Michael goes to a cocktail party at David Wallace’s house. He and Dwight show up hours before the party starts and Michael is wearing the same outfit as the caterers. Dwight inspects Wallace’s house. Creed runs a fake ID business.
32) “The Merger” Season 3, episode 8; 88/100
After the Stamford branch closes, they merge with Scranton. Andy and Dwight’s rivalry starts. Michael and Dwight premiere “Lazy Scranton.”
And we get a couple great Andy quotes.
31) “The Dundies” Season 2, episode 1; 88/100
Michael hosts the annual Dundies. Pam gets drunk and kisses Jim and starts stealing drinks from other tables. She subsequently gets banned from Chili’s. Ryan win’s “Hottest in the Office” award (yes, the awards are chosen by Michael…). A definite fan favorite episode. Many people would have this in their top 10 or higher.
30) “New Leads” Season 6, episode 20; 89/100
The sales staff gets too big for their britches with Sabres “Sales is king” mantra. They alienate the rest of the staff, leading Michael to give their new leads to the non-sales employees. Kevin “hides” his in the trash which gets picked up and taken to the dump.
Andy and Erin have their “romantic” first kiss at the dump.
29) “Company Picnic” Season 5, episode 28; 89/100
Michael and Holly team up for the entertainment at the company picnic. It’s the two at their best, which also means they’re at their worst. They accidentally reveal the Buffalo branch is closing. Dwight’s friend Rolf is introduced.
But of course the biggest news of the episode comes at the very end: Our very own Pamela Beasley is pregnant!
28) “Broke” Season 5, episode 25; 89/100
Michael Scott Paper Company is broke. Charles finally sees Dwight for the weirdo he is. Wallace finally relents and buys out the company, giving Michael, Pam, and Ryan their jobs back.
27) “Product Recall” Season 3, episode 20; 89/100
An obscene watermark is printed on some of the company’s paper. Creed was supposed to do a weekly quality check but this is “the one year he blows it off.” It’s a great Creed episode. He pushes the blame onto a blameless employee, organizes a card for said employee and then steals the money that everyone donated. We learn he has been homeless in the past.
Oh, and Andy is dating a high school student.
26) “The Negotiation” Season 3, episode 18; 89/100
Roy tries to attack Jim and is fired, prompting Darryl to ask for a raise. Since his request would put his pay higher than Michael’s, Michael also asks for a raise.
25) “A Benihana Christmas” Season 3, episode 10; 89/100
Carol breaks up with Michael after he puts his face on a picture of a family ski trip…replacing her ex-husband’s face. Pam has been sending Dwight letters from the CIA, which he falls for. Andy, Dwight, and Jim take Michael to Benihana in an effort to cheer him up. Just a good, solid episode through and through.
24) “Drug Testing” Season 2, episode 20; 89/100
A great, classic episode. Shows how strong the top collection of episodes are for this show if this one is this low. A single joint is found on company property so Dwight, as volunteer sheriff, makes it his (volunteer) duty to launch a full investigation. Michael reveals he unknowingly smoked weed at an Alicia Keys concert so he convinces Dwight to give him some of his clean urine so he can pass the drug test.
23) “Garage Sale” Season 7, episode 19; 90/100
We’ve reached the 90s! Now we’re really getting into to the thick of it! And we’ve got a great episode to kick it off. Dwight tries to trade his way to the best item at the garage sale. But of course Jim is able to dupe him into trading for the miracle legumes.
Michael decides he’s going to propose to Holly so he calls her dad to ask for his blessing. He leaves a voicemail…
He already had the ring (for which he paid three years worth of salary!) and plans the proposal in the office. Even though I HATED the Yoda thing they did, it was perfect for these two.
22) “Weight Loss” Season 5, episodes 1/2; 90/100
The branch enters into a company-wide weight loss challenge. Pam can’t participate as she is leaving to begin art school. Kelly basically starves herself and even eats what she thinks is a tapeworm.
We get some enjoyable insight into Andy’s past struggles in life.
And how competition prowess (in one of my favorite quotes of the series).
Oh, and the little tidbit of Jim finally proposing!
21) “Branch Wars” Season 4, episode 6; 90/100
Karen is the manager of the Utica branch and offers Stanley a position there. Michael and Dwight plan a prank on Utica, in one of the great visual moments of the show.
They end up destroying the branch’s copy machine.
Also the Finer Things Club.
We’re almost there. We’ll be counting down the top 20 tomorrow. At this point, you know what’s coming, it’s just a matter of which episodes finish where. Stay tuned…
Previous rankings
#185-150
#149-101
#100-51
