Michael begins this week’s episode by calling Oscar into his office and asking his advice — as a gay man —about going in for a colonoscopy. After that, it’s easy to see why someone wouldn’t want to invite him to a meeting, so it’s no surprise that Jim has done his best to keep him out of a closed-door session with David Wallace.
Upset that he has been excluded, Michael begins to worry that David is taking to Jim about replacing him as branch manager — which he is. But what Michael doesn’t realize is that it’s all part of a plan that Jim has proposed to David, which would also result in Michael being promoted. Michael spends half the episode trying (and failing) to infiltrate the proceedings and the other half bad-mouthing Jim to save his job. He does the right thing in the end, though, when David offers a compromise that would make Michael and Jim co-managers of the Scranton branch. Michael accepts, even though it’s kind of a demotion for him, and the balance of power has shifted at Dunder Mifflin — much to the horror of Dwight.
While all of this is going on, Pam has been going around the office hoping to collect negative responses to her wedding invitations. No such luck, though, as everyone seems to be coming. Dwight and Toby are suspicious of Darryl’s workman’s comp claim over a broken ankle, and they stage the worst onscreen stakeout since the movie Stakeout (or, more accurately, its sequel Another Stakeout). Despite their bumbling detective work, they find out that Darryl was indeed lying about the nature of his injury — but not before insulting Darryl’s sister and crashing Dwight’s car into the Philbin family’s garbage cans. It’s a hollow victory, though, as Darryl ends up filing a complaint against them with corporate and Toby gets stuck with a pile of paperwork.
Best Moment: It’s a toss-up between Darryl schooling Dwight on the state of health care in Sweden and Michael being wheeled into the conference room underneath the most pathetic cheese platter we’ve ever seen.
Best Quote: “There has been work every day. I had to come in on a Saturday … to retrieve … I left my cellphone here.” — Michael on the increased workload since the closing of the Buffalo branch
Employees of the Week: Toby and Dwight, who managed to prove Darryl was lying in his workman’s comp claim, despite their overwhelming incompetence and their inability to distinguish Darryl from his sister.
Photo credit: NBC/Trae Patton