The Job (The Office)

Template:Office episode "The Job" is the twenty-third episode, and season finale, of the third season of the U.S. version of The Office. It is the season's second hour-long episode.

The episode first aired in the U.S. on May 17, 2007, attracting 7.88 million viewers; it ranked third in its timeslot (behind a CBS tribute to the retiring Bob Barker and the first season finale of Ugly Betty), and 37th in Nielsen's prime-time television rankings for the week.

Synopsis

Confident that he will get the corporate job, Michael sells his condo on eBay and names Dwight as his successor as Regional Manager. Pam cheerfully withstands her colleague's teasing over her speech (in "Beach Games"), and she tells Karen that she is not sorry about what she said, but does regret putting Karen in such an awkward position. Karen realizes that Pam is "kind of a bitch."

Jan arrives at the office to win Michael back. In a panic, Michael consults the women of the office. Pam tells him to be strong and to not get back together with her. Michael attempts to reject Jan, but reverses himself immediately when he sees that she had a breast augmentation. Jim and Karen spend the night in New York City before their interviews. Karen tells Jim that if either of them gets the job, both should move to New York. She promises to do so, but is met with awkward silence when she asks Jim to reciprocate.

Dwight begins his new regime, assigning Andy the role of his No. 2. Not surprisingly, Dwight's new motivational style is not popular. He and Andy repaint the walls of Dwight's new office black in order to instill fear.

During his interview at Corporate, Michael learns from CFO David Wallace that he is interviewing for the job currently held by Jan, who will be fired. Jan storms into Wallace's office and refuses to leave. After Jan is escorted out by security, Michael learns that he won't be getting the position. On the drive home, Jan tells Michael that she will make their relationship her "full-time job." Michael is visibly uncomfortable.

Jim's interview with David goes very well until he discovers an encouraging note from Pam along with a yogurt lid medal. Jim recalls a conversation with Pam after her confession on the beach. He admits that he feels that he has never really come back. Pam tells him that she wishes that he would.

Jim drives back to Scranton and asks Pam on a date. She accepts.

David Wallace offers the job to Ryan, who accepts and immediately breaks up with Kelly: "You and I are done."

Deleted scenes

The Season Three DVD contains a number of deleted scenes. Notable cut scenes include:

• Michael tells Toby, "I hate your guts."
• Ryan teases Pam about her speech, and Kevin continues comparing Pam and Karen.
• Michael asks Dwight not to change anything for one month to allow the staff to grieve.
• Michael finds an apartment in Queens.
• Scenes from Andy's interview with Dwight.
• Extension of Andy's "my brain" interview.
• Extension of Pam's "Absolutely I do."
• Kelly gives Pam erroneous advice about Jim's feelings for her.
• Michael answers the interview question, "Where do you see yourself in ten years?"
• Additional scenes from Dwight's conference room presentation.
• Creed produces counterfeit Schrute Bucks.
• Dwight and Andy paint Dwight's office.
• Additional footage of Michael's face-saving speech when he returns to Scranton.
• Jan moves into Michael's condo.

References to previous episodes

• Pam accepts Dwight's invitation with "Absolutely, I do." This is the same phrase Jim used to join Dwight's alliance in "The Alliance".
• One of the reasons given for firing Jan was her repeated claims to have been visiting her sister in Scottsdale, as she did in "Back from Vacation". Jan's smoking is also cited, which we have seen in "Performance Review", "Casino Night", and "Cocktails".
• Jim discovers a note from Pam hidden in his sales report. The yogurt lid attached to the note recalls "Office Olympics" which used yogurt lids as medals.
• While interviewing Andy in a deleted scene, Dwight asks him what the Dharma Initiative is. This is the same question that Dwight asked Ryan while in the barn in "Initiation".
• The scene of Jim finding an encouraging note from Pam is reminiscent of the scene from the series finale of the original series, in which Dawn finds a similar note from Tim and returns to the office.

Notes

• This episode (titled "The Job") features two kinds of jobs, the job at Corporate and Jan's breast augmentation surgery (colloquially known as a "boob job").

• When interviewing Jim, David Wallace mentions his dislike for the HR representative Kendall, paralleling Michael's dislike for Scranton HR representative Toby.

• The fake web address Ryan invented for Creed's blog (really, a Microsoft Word document) is "www.creedthoughts.gov.www\creedthoughts". Coincident with the episode's premiere, NBC created the Creed Thoughts blog whose initial entry is identical to the one being composed during the episode.

• Michael's potential roommate in Queens is named Vijay Chokalingam, a nod to Mindy Kaling's real name.

• When Michael leaves the office, he says "Good night, and good luck." That is the famous catchphrase of journalist Edward R. Murrow. It is also the name of the film Good Night, and Good Luck., which is about Murrow's time at CBS. Michael, as a kid, also appeared on a children's television show along side a puppet news reporter named Edward R. Meow, as was revealed in the episode "Take Your Daughter to Work Day."

• The song Michael plays on the tape recorder while exiting the office is "Kind and Generous" by Natalie Merchant.

• When Dwight is interviewing Andy, Dwight asks Andy what the capital of Maine is. Andy replies that the capital is Montpelier, Vermont, and that it is close to Ithaca, New York where he attended Cornell. Neither Montpelier nor Augusta, Maine are close to Ithaca, New York.

• John Krasinski actually cut his hair some time before this episode filmed, for his role in the film Leatherheads. This was the first episode that showed his shorter cut--he had worn a hairpiece to keep Jim looking like his old shaggy self.

• When Dwight states his salary as the co-owner (with Satan) of "The Hotel Hell", he states the best part about it is his salary: $80,000. This comes out to $6,666.66 per month.

• The episode was filmed with two endings. The one that didn't air consisted of Pam taking the elevator at the end of the day. When the doors open, Jim is standing there waiting for her.

• It was not made clear what happened to Jim re: the corporate job. In "Launch Party", Jim tells Michael he withdrew his name from consideration. Since Michael promptly says he did the same thing, which isn't exactly true since the CFO said he wasn't going to get the job in any case, it's implied that Jim was officially offered the job and passed on it, after which Ryan Howard was officially hired.

External links

• The Job at NBC.com
• From "The Job" at QuotesFromTheOffice.com