The Office: Season Four Episodes (Ranked)

Photo: cc.com

Photo: cc.com

I finished watching The Office all the way through for the fourth time recently, so like any fan of the series, I decided to start it all over again.  This time as I go through each season, I am putting together a ranked list of each episode in that season in order from my least favorite to my favorite.  Keep in mind that these are MY opinions, which means they are 100% correct.  Just kidding.  Sort of.  I’ve already ranked the episodes from seasons 1-3, now it’s time for the shortened Season Four.

 

 

14. Did I Stutter: Episode 12

There weren’t any entertaining storylines in this one for me to consider it a good episode.  Basically, the whole episode revolved around Stanley disrespecting Michael at the beginning of the episode and then again towards the end of the episode after his “fake firing.”  The fake firing had potential to be a good scene, but it just wasn’t funny, was awkward, and hardly entertaining at all.  The episode resolved with Stanley telling Michael he didn’t respect him and Michael accepting that.  Also, the other storyline with Dwight pressuring Andy to sell him his car at a discount, just to turn around and flip it for a profit, wasn’t that funny either, and was more of a dull scene.  This is an episode that you just want to finish to get to the next one.

Photo: theoffice.fandom.com

Photo: theoffice.fandom.com

 

13. Money: Episode 4

I’ve never been a big fan of this episode because it’s more of a downer than it is comical.  The two main issues are Michael and Jan having severe money issues and Dwight being torn up over his breakup with Angela.  Michael resorts to getting a second job at night as a telemarketer, hides all money issues from Jan, and finally gives up and hops on a train to wait for it to take him off.  Dwight is completely tore up over Angela, which is a downer.  Jim and Pam trying to cheer him up by staying a night at Schrute Farms and leaving a good Trip Advisor review was pretty cool.  And I like how Jim had that talk with Dwight on the staircase because it showed the respect (even fondness) of the two, even though they are office rivals.  The best part by far of this episode was when Michael steps into the main office room and screams, “I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY!”

Photo: theoffice.fandom.com

Photo: theoffice.fandom.com

 

12. The Deposition: Episode 8

“The Deposition” is more of a dull episode than comical.  Most of it takes place in a meeting room at corporate with company officials and lawyers from the lawsuit Jan is filing against the company.  Stuck in the middle, Michael has to decide whether to take Jan’s side or the company’s, which creates for some awkward situations and unknown details coming out about Michael’s relationship with Jan and Dunder-Mifflin.  It’s rather boring and it even makes you feel bad for Michael towards the end.  Back at the office, Jim and Darryl’s ping pong matches spark competition between Pam and Kelly when Kelly talks major “smack” at Pam.  It’s not the most entertaining thing, but some of Kelly’s lines were funny, such as her singing “Hey, hey, you, you, I don’ like your boyfriend, cuz, cuz, cuz, cuz, cuz he sucks at ping pong.”

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Photo: cc.com

 

11. Dunder Mifflin Infinity: Episode 2

From the first episode of season four, we find out that Dwight killed Angela’s sick cat and that more would follow that storyline.  Well, the two break up their secret relationship in this episode, which puts Dwight in a sad state and takes away from general cheerfulness of this episode.  Also taking away from this episode was the cringiness of Michael in returning to a former client to take back the gift basket he’d just given him.  Like I’ve said before, cringy-Michael is sometimes very funny, but other times can have a negative influence on the episode.  The most memorable thing about this episode was Michael following the directions of the GPS and driving his car into a lake.  And the funniest thing about this episode was Creed.  He stole the show when he dyed his hair black and acted like he was a much younger guy, in fear that Ryan’s new and sleek company overhaul would push out the older employees of the office.

Photo: imdb.com

Photo: imdb.com

 

10. Survivor Man: Episode 7

This is a “middle-of-the-road” type episode to me.  It’s certainly not bad, but it’s far from the many other episodes that make The Office so great.  Michael, in immature fashion, gets jealous when he’s not invited on a company camping retreat, so he takes to the woods by himself to do a “Survivor Man” challenge.  There are a few funny moments in the woods because Michael is so clueless on how to survive, like him cutting up his clothes.  Since Michael is out of the office, Jim is put in charge and what seems to be a simple birthday celebration request turns the entire office upside down.  There weren’t really in funny parts in those scenes, except Creed’s birthday pie request to Jim…”I don’t care who you talk to, just make it happen!”

Photo: getyarn.io

Photo: getyarn.io

 

9. The Chair Model: Episode 10

We discover that Michael and Jan broke up after their infamous “Dinner Party,” which means Michael is desperate to find someone again.  This time he falls for a model in an office chair catalog while flipping through the pages.  He also has the rest of the office write down names of women he should date, so it’s pretty funny when he calls for Kevin’s friend “Wendy” at a Wendy’s restaurant.  Creed also has a great line about the chair situation, “When Pam gets Michael’s old chair, I get Pam’s old chair.  Then I’ll have two chairs.  Only one to go.”  I realize that doesn’t sound like a great line, but if you are familiar with Creed then it certainly is.  Kevin and Andy make it a mission to get their parking spots back and Michael meets up with one of Pam’s suggested friends at a coffee shop, much to his dismay.  It’s not a bad episode at all, but doesn’t really have any memorable moments in it.

Photo: whatculture.com

Photo: whatculture.com

 

8. Branch Wars: Episode 6

When Stanley tells Michael he has decided to transfer to the Utica branch to make more money, Michael rounds up a willing Dwight and a tricked Jim into driving to Utica to retaliate.  We find out that the regional manager of that branch is none other than Karen, so you know that sets up for some funny and awkward moments.  The warehouse attire and the fake mustaches were a good laugh, along with Dwight peeing in the empty Coke can inside Michael’s car.  We are also introduced to the “Finer Things Club” which created some funny moments with Kevin, Phyllis, and Andy intruding in the break room.

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Photo: cc.com

 

7. Job Fair: Episode 13

This one mostly takes place out of the office with Michael, Pam, Oscar, and Darryl at a local high school job fair.  Michael’s attempts at connecting with the high schoolers while looking for a summer intern are pretty humorous.  Meanwhile, Jim, Andy, and Kevin are playing a round of golf with a potential client.  Andy really steals the show on the golf course with his trash talking of the Dartmouth alumnus, his blistered hands, and driving the golf cart into the bunker.  And Kevin does what Kevin does best: gamble and take the others’ money throughout their round of golf.  While it’s not a special episode, there’s enough funny moments to make this a pretty good one.

Photo: http://community.livejournal.com/inconceivable_m/

Photo: http://community.livejournal.com/inconceivable_m/

 

6. Night Out: Episode 11

I’ve always liked this episode because I’ve always enjoyed the scenes with Michael and Dwight in New York City clubbing with Ryan and “the Hobbit.”  Dwight and Michael both were so out of place, even though Dwight amusingly picked up a girl at the second club who was all over him.  Things back at the office go from bad to worse when the crew decides to stay late on a Friday so they won’t have to come in on Saturday, but find themselves locked in the parking lot when the security guard closed the gates.  The two best scenes from that predicament were Jim calling the super-annoyed Hank (the security guard) and Toby putting his hand on Pam’s leg before announcing his plans to move to Costa Rica and running outside to jump the gate.  It was so perfectly Toby because it was so awkward and weird.  Perhaps the most memorable line in this one though, was from Kelly to Ryan, “Yeah I’ve got a few questions.  Number one, how dare you?”

Photo: http://community.livejournal.com/inconceivable_m/

Photo: http://community.livejournal.com/inconceivable_m/

 

5. Goodbye, Toby: Episode 14

This is a very good set-up episode as it really sets the stage for season five by drawing a lot of intrigue.  Storylines from this episode that leave the viewer intrigued for the next season are Ryan getting busted for fraud, Jim almost proposing to Pam, Andy and Angela getting engaged, Michael falling for Holly (first introduced in this episode), Jan revealing she’s pregnant, Phyllis catching Angela and Dwight at the end, and Toby leaving for Costa Rica.  There are a few other episodes from this season that I enjoy more from an entertainment perspective, but this is by far the most important episode from season four.  I couldn’t imagine having to wait until season five came out after this episode originally aired on television instead of going straight to season five on Netflix.  The funniest storyline from this episode was easily Dwight tricking Holly into thinking Kevin was mentally slow and Holly treating him as such.  Kevin’s character fit perfectly into that prank and the whole time he thought Holly was really into him, which was hilarious.  Very good episode.

Photo: theoffice.fandom.com

Photo: theoffice.fandom.com

 

4. Local Ad: Episode 5

This has always been a classic episode to me.  I would classify it as a “feel good” episode because the whole office comes together to make a local television ad.  The problem that Michael encounters in this one is he wants to produce the commercial entirely based off his and the rest of the office’s ideas, and corporate hired a creative group that already produced 95% of the commercial themselves.  Michael tells the hired creators to go home and proceeds to make the commercial without them.  I love when Darryl, Kelly, Creed, Andy, and Kevin all get together and sing “People Person’s Paper People” together while Darryl plays his keyboard.  It was also funny seeing Andy trying to sing the old Kit Kat commercial jingle the whole episode, but forgetting what it was advertising.  And lastly, when the commercial was shown in Poor Richards (the commercial the office came up with), it was outstanding, even though corporate decided to go with the bland and non-creative one.

Photo: productplacementblog.com

Photo: productplacementblog.com

 

3. Fun Run: Episode 1

Season four starts off with a very good episode, packing a lot into its 42 minutes.  The biggest thing was Jim and Pam announcing they finally were together.  The buildup from the previous three seasons make that a special moment in the show’s tenure.  There are many funny parts in this one as well, all centering around Michael hitting Meredith with his car and the Rabies-Awareness Fun Run put on by Michael to support Meredith.  It seemed like every character had good parts in this episode.  And we also get two classic quotes from it, both from Michael: “Guess what, I have flaws.  What are they?  Oh, I don’t know.  I sing in the shower, sometimes I spend too much time volunteering…occasionally I’ll hit somebody with my car,” and “I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.”

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Photo: cc.com

 

2. Dinner Party: Episode 9

Ahh, the episode that so many people are crazy about.  Don’t get me wrong, this is a very good episode, but I’ve never ranked it among the top episodes of the entire series.  The people that think it is the best episode in the series are ones who LOVE the awkwardness of The Office because there are so many awkward moments packed into the 22 minutes of this one.  Some are very funny and some are just cringe-worthy.  The disconnection between Michael and Jan is what makes this episode.  Michael’s plasma-screen tv, the “snip, snap, snip, snap” quote, and the charade game were among the many great social interactions.  While it does have a lot of funny moments, I don’t rank it as high as some others do for two reasons: I tend to like the surreal comedic episodes rather than the cringe comedic episodes, and it doesn’t feature the secondary characters in the show that make The Office so great.

Photo: NBC

Photo: NBC

 

1. Launch Party: Episode 3

This episode is dedicated to the launching of Dunder-Mifflin’s new website, the brainchild of Ryan and the “brain grandchild” of Michael.  Mistakenly thinking he was invited to a party in NYC, Michael took Jim and they drove halfway there just to realize it was an online party using webcams from the different branches.  There are several memorable scenes in this one including Dwight challenging the website to a sales competition, the Pizza By Alfredo vs. Alfredo’s Pizza Café debacle, the kidnapping of the pizza delivery kid, and Andy singing “Take a Chance on Me” to Angela.  Overall, “Lunch Party” “Launch Party” is a very good episode.

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Photo: cc.com

Garett