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
We’re into the back half of the top 100. We won’t quite reach the elite level episodes but we’ll definitely be covering some very good ones. The real meat of the series will be coming up.
100) “Boys and Girls” Season 2, episode 15; 83/100
Jan leads a “women in the workplace” seminar with the Scranton ladies. Michael of course feels slighted that’s not involved so he has a sort of “guys day” in the warehouse. Michael makes a literal mess of the warehouse. Those scenes are funny but at the same time you feel so bad for Darryl and the warehouse guys. Michael inadvertently gets the warehouse talking about forming a union.
99) “The Secret” Season 2, episode 13; 83/100
Michael knows about Jim’s feelings for Pam so of course everyone else finds out.
In other news, Oscar calls in sick on Spring Cleaning Day. Dwight is suspicious of the timing so he goes to investigate. We find out Oscar is gay, but Dwight doesn’t realize it.
98) “Promos” Season 9, episode 18; 84/100
The first previews for the documentary start to air and the staff finally realizes how much private footage was actually caught on camera. Andy can’t tear himself away from the comment section (unbeknownst to him, it’s all Nellie) and for the first time in a while, I don’t hate seeing him on screen. Former Philadelphia Philly Ryan Howard guest stars as a Subway-obsessed version of himself as Jim and Darryl vie for his business.
97) “The Whale” Season 9, episode 7; 84/100
Jim has his first board meeting with Athlead but does it via phone from Scranton. Makes for a few rough scenes for Jim. Dwight gets a chance to land the business of the Scranton White Pages. Unfortunately for him, they find out he will be selling to a woman, which apparently is his Achilles heel. This was surprising. If Dwight was really the great salesman he was made out to be, he would have had to sell to some women over the years. But when it turned out the woman was none other than Jan, it resulted in a pretty good collection of scenes.
And in the small Movember subplot, we got this incredibly creepy Toby moment.
96) “Pool Party” Season 8, episode 12; 84/100
An inconsistent episode. Robert’s tour of the house and everyone getting drunk of wine was great. As was Ryan and Gabe’s brown-nosing battle. The rest of the episode had its moments here and there, but overall “eh.”
95) “Christmas Wishes” Season 8, episode 10; 84/100
Andy wants to grant everyone’s Christmas wish. Dwight replaces the traditional Christmas music with some rocktastic Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
94) “Mrs. California” Season 8, episode 9; 84/100
Meh. Robert’s erratic behavior was fine, but the rest was largely forgettable. Not necessarily in a bad way, just in a “it happened” way.
93) “The Incentive” Season 8, episode 2; 84/100
The introduction of the Sabre Pyramid, what must be nothing but the worst piece of technology of all time.
As an incentive for the sales staff doubling their sales, Andy gets a Nard Dog tattoo.
92) “WUPHF.com” Season 7, episode 9; 84/100
Dwight creates a Hay Place, where he crowns himself Hay King, Angela meets Senator Lipton, and Kevin gets lost in the maze. Michael finally begins to see Ryan for who he truly is. Jim meets his commission cap and uses his “free” time to play an elaborate prank on Gabe by tricking him into thinking Jo wants him to proof her autobiography.
91) “Counseling” Season 7, episode 2; 84/100
Pam scams her way into the Office Administrator job. Michael has to go through counseling sessions with Toby for spanking Luke. Dwight wants to boycott the Steamtown Mall and gets “Pretty Womaned” by the rest of the staff.
90) “The Cover-Up” Season 6, episode 24; 84/100
Michael hires Dwight to look into Donna to see if she is cheating on him. Dwight working on her at the gym is great. Michael fights out that he is the “other guy” as Donna is married. Andy gets Darryl caught up in his printer fire problem.
89) “St. Patrick’s Day” Season 6, episode 19; 84/100
Jo moves Darryl to the upstairs office. Erin has a really weird relationship with her foster brother. The office preps for St. Patrick’s Day.
And of course:
88) “Michael Scott Paper Company” Season 5, episode 23; 84/100
This marks Erin’s first appearance, replacing Pam after she quit. Andy and Dwight have set aside their rivalry and are planning a hunting trip together.
87) “Dream Team” Season 5, episode 22; 84/100
Everyone pretends to like soccer in an effort to suck up to Charles. They get a game going after work resulting in Phyllis getting hit in the head with the soccer ball. Michael assembles the team for his new company.
86) “Night Out” Season 4, episode 11; 84/100
Michael and Dwight head to New York to join Ryan for a night out. Dwight becomes obsessed with Ryan’s friend Troy. We find out about Ryan’s drug problem. The office staff stays late to finish some work rather than coming in on a Saturday to complete it. Jim forgets to tell Hank and they all get locked inside the property.
85) “The Chair Model” Season 4, episode 10; 84/100
Michael wants to date one of the chair models from an office supply catalog. Turns out she died and we get a classic Michael moment when he actually gets sad about it. We hear the beginning of one of Creed’s mysterious plans.
Andy and Kevin get their parking spots back after construction workers begin taking them over.
84) “Phyllis’s Wedding” Season 3, episode 15; 84/100
Michael is supposed to wheel Phyllis’s father down the aisle but he ends up walking himself. Michael takes it personally and does his best to ruin the wedding for everyone else. He’s terrible the entire episode. Dwight tries to catch wedding crashers, but only ends up throwing out Uncle Al, who has dementia.
83) “Diwali” Season 3, episode 6; 84/100
At Stamford, Jim and Andy get drunk working late. Karen fakes drinking and ends up driving Jim home. Andy just stays overnight in the office. The office goes to Kelly’s family’s Diwali celebration and Michael pulls a Michael and proposes to Carol.
82) “The Coup” Season 3, episode 3; 84/100
Dwight tries to go behind Michael’s back to Jan to get the manager job. But real highlight is the Stamford branch playing Call of Duty. Still one of my favorite moments in the entire series.
81) “Performance Review” Season 2, episode 8; 84/100
Dwight thinks it’s Friday even though it’s Thursday. Michael can’t focus on the staff’s performance reviews because he wants to know how Jan views their relationship.
80) “Office Olympics” Season 2, episode 3; 84/100
In my eyes, the true beginning of the Dwight we see the rest of the way. We also get the first cold open of the series (keep an eye out for that top 10!), something the show became famous for. Jim runs an Office Olympics while Michael and Dwight are out signing Michael’s lease for his new condo.
79) “Junior Salesman” Season 9, episode 13; 85/100
Dwight is tasked with hiring a new junior salesman and he brings in his friends. An absolute delight watching this group of misfits. Even though we’ve seen Mose before, this was the first time I realized Mose was the one and only Mike Schur. Schur was a writer, producer, and EP for The Office; co-creator, director, writer, and EP for Parks and Recreation; and co-creator, director, writer, and EP for The Good Place. We also get to see Dwight’s designs for potential Dunder Mifflin uniforms.
78) “The Target” Season 9, episode 8; 85/100
Jim goes to Stanley and Phyllis for help covering for him on his days in Philadelphia. He takes them to lunch and they order tons of food and get hilariously drunk. Pete starts building a house of cards out of customer complaints. Pam gets her first complaint to get the last card needed. Angela finds out about her husband’s affair with Oscar and hires Trevor to try to “Tonya Harding” Oscar.
77) “Michael’s Last Dundies” Season 7, episode 21; 85/100
Michael helps Deangelo prepare to co-host the Dundies. We get the great goodbye song to Michael. I haven’t found anything to definitively prove it, but a common thought is that it was a surprise for Steve Carell and worked more as a goodbye to the actor rather than the character. You can (and should) watch it here. His reaction does seem genuine. And watch Stanley and Angela specifically. Two characters who clashed a lot with Michael over the years, but they seem to be genuinely into it.
76) “The Search” Season 7, episode 15; 85/100
Michael and Jim go on a sales call and Jim has to leave Michael (who is using the bathroom at a gas station) as Cece got locked in a car while with Helene. Michael left his phone and wallet in Jim’s car so Dwight, Holly, and Erin go off to search for him. Holly’s strong insight into Michael pays off as she follows his steps exactly, ending with her finding him. They kiss and are seemingly getting back together. And you hope it sticks as they are as perfect for each other as any two people could be.
75) “Classy Christmas” Season 7, episodes 11/12; 85/100
Holly gets transferred back to Scranton temporarily while Toby is on jury duty. This part always threw me. Holly was transferred because Scranton was without their HR rep. But wouldn’t transferring Holly leave Nashua in the same situation? I get why it happened from a plot standpoint, but from a logical one, it didn’t make much sense. Jim and Dwight’s snowball fight is mostly good, but you would think at least one or two people could have come to Jim’s defense on this one. But we got Dwight’s wigs.
But back to Holly. While she did turn out to be the perfect match for Michael, Erin’s perception of her was also spot on. Just her bewilderment at what Michael saw in her. It was perfectly played by Ellie Kemper.
74) “China” Season 7, episode 10; 85/100
Michael proves Oscar wrong on one small fact about China, leading to an intellectual discussion between the “two smartest people in the office.” The best part of the episode, though, was another example of something this show does as well as, or better, than any show out there. When Dwight and Nate are following up on Pam’s supposed lead of a new office building, they have a Pam mix up.
Just a small moment, not more than a minute. And it still creates a lasting moment.
Also Nate trying to “re-ply” the toilet paper.
73) “The Lover” Season 6, episode 7; 85/100
Dwight begins spying on Jim with the hope of finding information that can take him down. Michael has been dating Pam’s mom since the wedding. Pam responds…appropriately.
72) “The Meeting” Season 6, episode 2; 85/100
Jim meets with Wallace about a promotion. Of course Michael pulls a Michael and ruins the initial plans. In a move that could only backfire, Jim and Michael end up being named co-managers. Dwight and Toby investigate Darryl’s worker’s comp claim. They find out he was lying, but in the process verbally assault Darryl’s sister. Darryl and Dwight end up filing claims against each other.
71) “Business Trip” Season 5, episode 8; 85/100
Michael, Andy, and Oscar go on a business trip to Canada. Andy drunk dials Angela in a fantastic clip. Michael stands up to Wallace for transferring Holly after finding out about their relationship.
70) “Customer Survey” Season 5, episode 7; 85/100
Kelly lies on Jim and Dwight’s customer survey reports as payback for them not coming to a party she recently hosted. Jim and Dwight team up to figure it out. Any time they are working together makes for good TV. And we get the classic Bill Buttlicker bit.
http://dai.ly/x2xe9ro
69) “Launch Party” Season 4, episode 3; 85/100
The new Dunder Mifflin website launches and Dwight tries to beat the site in sales for the day – and succeeds. Pam and Jim prank Dwight by pretending to be the website which has become self-aware. Michael orders pizza from the wrong pizza place, which then doesn’t accept his coupon. So Michael makes the only logical decision and kidnaps the driver.
68) “Dunder Mifflin Infinity” Season 4, episode 2; 85/100
Michael and Dwight try to win back customers with face to face meetings. Which famously results in Michael going, let’s say, off-roading.
And the awesome moment of Creed dying his hair to appear younger.
67) “Valentine’s Day” Season 2, episode 16; 85/100
We meet David Wallace for the first time, and Michael immediately lets slip that he and Jan hooked up. Though he is able to ease the situation a bit by telling Wallace it was all a bad joke gone wrong. It’s also the first appearance of Stamford manager Josh Porter. Angela gives Dwight the best Valentine’s Day gift ever.
66) “Dwight Christmas” Season 9, episode 9; 86/100
Pete recited Die Hard from memory for Erin, who had never seen it. Also, Belsnickel.
65) “Trivia” Season 8, episode 11; 86/100
Dwight drives to Florida for a job interview but keeps getting pushed aside by Robert. The staff goes to trivia night at Oscar’s favorite bar in an attempt to win money so they can buy enough paper to meet their sales projections. As far as overall story goes, not a particularly important episode, but just simply a fun one.
64) “Secret Santa” Season 6, episode 13; 86/100
Jim lets Phyllis finally be Santa for the office Christmas party, making Michael furious. This episode could have been hirer if not for Michael acting like such a child. I know it’s part of his character, and sometimes it hits. But other times, like this, it’s just too much. Andy gives Erin the 12 Days of Christmas for her Secret Santa gift. She gets attacked by lots of the birds but the ending drum line is a sweet moment.
63) “Murder” Season 6, episode 10; 86/100
Dunder Mifflin might be declaring. bankruptcy. As a distraction, Michael organizes a murder mystery game. We find out Creed may be a murderer?
62) “Cafe Disco” Season 5, episode 27; 86/100
Michael uses the old Michael Scott Paper Company “office” as a Cafe Disco. Jim and Pam are planning on going to a courthouse in Ohio to get married, but decide against it after stopping by the dance party on their way out; thankfully so, as we wouldn’t have gotten the fantastic wedding episode later on.
61) “Two Weeks” Season 5, episode 21; 86/100
Michael gives his two weeks notice and really leans into it, even going as far as drinking in the office. “Scotch and Splenda. Tastes like Splenda, gets you drunk like scotch.” In the end Michael decides to start his own, competing paper company. Pam decides to go with him.
60) “Golden Ticket” Season 5, episode 19; 86/100
Kevin seeks dating advice from Pam, Jim, and Andy and receives vastly conflicting advice from all three. Michael creates a Golden Ticket promotion which goes wrong, giving one of their biggest clients 50% their orders. Scared he might be fired, he convinces Dwight to take the fall, but Wallace ends up loving the idea after the client decides to make Dunder Mifflin their exclusive provider of office supplies. Dwight continues the ruse that it was his idea, until Michael finally reveals it was his idea.
59) “The Duel” Season 5, episode 12; 86/100
Michael reveals Angela’s affair to Andy, who in turn challenges Dwight to a duel. Angela decides to abide by the results of the duel, because of course she does.
58) “Job Fair” Season 4, episode 13; 86/100
The biggest takeaway from this episode is Andy crashing his golf cart.
57) “Business School” Season 3, episode 16; 86/100
Ryan brings Michael in to one of his business school classes as a guest speaker since it automatically raises your grade. Michael predictably is terrible, even going so far as tearing pages out of someone’s (assuredly very expensive) text book. Michael does have a surprisingly insightful moment later on, after learning that Ryan had been critical of Dunder Mifflin’s business practices.
“A good manager doesn’t fire people. He hires people and inspires people. People, Ryan. And people will never go out of business.”
56) “The Convict” Season 3, episode 9; 86/100
Michael finds out one of the Stamford transfers, Martin, is a former convict. The staff teases Michael about the office being worse than Martin’s prison experience, he holds a classic seminar to teach them how good they have it. While ineffective as expected, it gives us a great character in Prison Mike.
55) “Gay Witch Hunt” Season 3, episode 1; 86/100
Jim is in his new job at Stamford. Pam did not go through with her wedding with Roy. Phyllis got engaged to Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration. Michael outs Oscar as gay. Something you may already know, but worth noting just in case: Michael kissing Oscar was improvised. It’s great watching the scene back knowing this fact, as the staff’s reactions are completely real. And of course, Gaydar.
54) “The Fight” Season 2, episode 6; 86/100
Dwight punches Michael after arguing over who could bet up whom. The actual fight scene is nothing short of fantastic.
53) “Basketball” Season 1, episode 5; 86/100
The pinnacle of Season 1. This is the episode that made me fall in love with the show. Sure, some of Michael’s jokes in this one haven’t aged very well, but the funniest bits still hold up.
52) “Livin’ the Dream” Season 9, episode 21; 87/100
Dwight finally gets his black belt and has the ceremony in the office.
Andy quits his job to pursue his dream of “becoming famous.” He stays on as a salesman after everyone convinces him what a terrible mistake he’s making. But he changes his mind and eventually gets Wallace to fire him by defecating on his car.
Dwight is finally named manager and names Jim his Assistant to the Regional Manager.
51) “The Farm” Season 9, episode 17; 87/100
This episode was initially going to serve as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off starring Dwight, though that clearly never materialized into anything. Everything with Dwight’s family was absolute gold. Though it was strange timing in a narrative sense. With so few episodes remaining, it was a strange choice to have such a stand alone episode like this one.
We’re getting closer. I’ll be back next with numbers 21-50, followed by the grand finale of the rankings on Wednesday the 16th, counting down the top 20. After that we’ll still have the season rankings and the best cold opens to look forward to.
Previous rankings
#185-150
#149-101
