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 1-7, now let’s get to the first complete Michael Scott-less Season 8.

24. Get The Girl: Episode 19

What a terrible episode. I hate, hate, HATE how Nellie takes over Andy’s manager position when Andy goes to Tallahassee to get Erin. It’s confusing and infuriating at the same time. And just when you think Robert California will step in and stop the situation, he just lets it all happen. I’ve never liked Nellie’s character at all and this is one reason why, in addition to her not being funny and just not contributing anything to the show. Andy’s trip to Tallahassee to get Erin and try once again to start a relationship with her is very, very boring. I wonder what it was like watching this episode on its original air date on television, because I can only imagine it had a lot of fans thinking the series should just hurry and end before it continues to get worse. Luckily, we know that season 9 gets better.

23. Welcome Party: Episode 20

Just like its prior episode, “Get the Girl,” this episode is terrible. The focus is still on Andy’s trip to get Erin from Tallahassee, but this time they are on their way back to Scranton with a detour for Andy to break up with Jessica, who is attending a bachelor party in southern Pennsylvania. All of those scenes are just very uninteresting. I mean, you’re glad that the two are getting back together for the sake of the show, but it’s not interesting. The other focus is on helping Nellie get acquainted to the office, so Robert tells everyone to throw a party for her while Jim and Dwight help her move. The party is planned to be bad on purpose, but when Jim and Dwight find out sad information about Nellie’s past they ruin the “bad party” for her. Even typing what happened in this episode is boring, and this one could honestly be interchanged with “Get the Girl” for the worst episode in The Office.

22. Angry Andy: Episode 21

I’ve already stated how I very much hate Nellie taking over Andy’s manager position and this episode continues that storyline. Andy comes back from Florida with Erin to discover his office and job taken, and when he confronts Nellie about it, all she can say is “no.” And even Robert California takes Nellie’s side, so it’s very frustrating to watch when Nellie and Robert are so unlikeable and Andy is so likeable from a character standpoint. At this point you just want the show to get rid of Robert and Nellie forever because it feels like they are ruining it. Not only are they unlikeable, but they get VERY CLOSE to tarnishing the show. And when Andy finally stands up for himself at the end, he is fired, so it creates curiosity as to what will happen next. Lastly, Kellie is introduced to someone else and Ryan is desperate to get her back, but Kelly chooses the other guy. Not very interesting, but considering their long, strange relationship throughout the show, it makes you wonder how long it will take before the two are back together.

21. Gettysburg: Episode 8

When Andy takes the willing office employees on a field trip to Gettysburg in hopes of inspiring them by comparing sales to war, the rest of the employees stay behind and pitch their “creative” ideas to Robert California in the office. And viewers of the episode get one result: BORING. This one really just brings nothing to the table. From the sound of it, you would think a field trip to Gettysburg would provide a lot of entertainment, but it doesn’t when everyone there other than Andy is uninspired and doesn’t really want to be there. Gabe getting roped into portraying Abraham Lincoln in an outdoor play was semi-funny, and was the best thing about this episode. Back at the office nobody had creative ideas, and Robert misinterpreting Kevin’s cookie ideas for genius analogies wasn’t funny. Overall this was a dud episode.

20. Test The Store: Episode 17

When the new Sabre store opens in Tallahassee, not very much excitement follows. It’s pretty boring to be honest. To no surprise, Ryan flakes from his big presentation, to which an unenthused Jim has to step in. But he does do a good job with it, which gives Dwight the Vice President position. If you’ve not seen future episodes, it creates wonder as to Dwight’s future in the show, whether he will come back to Scranton or fulfill his new position in Tallahassee. Back in Scranton, we find out that Andy has a black eye after taking a punch from a 5th grade girl. This creates some funny parts as everyone makes fun of him and Toby gives his self-defense lesson to the office. But altogether, this is just another episode in the very mundane season 8.

19. Tallahassee: Episode 15

Annnnd this episode kicks off a string of Tallahassee episodes which are all pretty bad. In my opinion, and probably a lot of others’, the rest of season 8 from here is The Office at its worst. But it’s a part of every tv series and you just have to endure them every time you watch the series all the way through. The best things about this episode were “Florida Stanley,” which is quite entertaining to see that side of Stanley, and Dwight’s line to the hospital worker on the phone when asked where they should send the ambulance for him (appendicitis), “send it to the freakin’ moon you idiot.” But the rest of the episode is just dull. Nellie Bertram is a big part of it introducing the Sabre project they’re there to all work on, and I never liked her character at all. I think she’s boring and just doesn’t fit into the fabric of the show. And back at the office, Andy falls in love with reception while Erin is gone and…that’s basically it.

18. Last Day In Florida: Episode 18

From the get-go, we find out that Dwight will be staying in Tallahassee to serve as Vice President instead of coming back to Scranton, which does a good job of creating intrigue. But we also find out pretty soon after that Robert California plans to nix the whole Sabre store operation and fire Dwight. Jim does the “good guy” thing and desperately tries to tell Dwight this so he won’t lose his job, and while a hard-headed Dwight won’t listen, you instinctively know that he will get through to him and Dwight will be back in Scranton just like old times. Instead it is Todd Packer who steps into the VP role for a presentation once Dwight doesn’t show, and gets fired, which is great. The best thing about this episode though, was the girl-scout cookie selling competition between Darryl and Toby, whose daughters are both girl scouts. Of course, Kevin shines in these cookie-oriented scenes, and watching Darryl and Toby compete for Kevin’s business is pretty funny. Overall, you’re just glad to see the Tallahassee group come back to Scranton at the end because the Tallahassee episodes were just not “The Office.”

17. The List: Episode 1

This one kicks off and instantly provides you with a lot of brand new information as if we’d been gone a while. Season Eight’s first episode tells us that the search committee picked Robert California to be Regional Manager (only for him to turn around and talk Jo Bennett out of her job and replace her), California picking Andy as the new Regional Manager, Dwight agreeing to be Andy’s #2, and Pam and Angela are both pregnant. We also get the trends of planking and Stanley’s “shove it up your butt” quotes, which are the two most entertaining things in this episode. While it provides us with a lot of new information, it just isn’t very entertaining and doesn’t feel like The Office. The entire office worries about the list that Robert California made of their names in two separate columns. And it turns out to be a winners/losers list, which causes you to start to dislike Robert California quite a bit. The best thing about this episode is Andy really taking up for his employees as the new manager, which makes you feel good after the winners/losers list.

16. Jury Duty: Episode 13

Most of this episode is spent with Dwight trying to prove that Jim was actually not at jury duty the entire week he missed from work. And while Jim/Dwight interactions are usually entertaining, this one wasn’t. Maybe it was because Jim was cornered in his story after his food truck admission and he knew it. And when Jim just admitted to the office (who was pretty frustrated with Jim) what he done, Dwight was fuming that he wasn’t going to get fired…until a big twist came in this episode that heavily hinted that Dwight was actually the father of Angela’s newborn child instead of the senator. Dwight stood tall and told the nurse, “I just may be that baby’s father,” which was pretty funny, especially when she replied she didn’t know what that meant. The best part in this episode was probably when Kevin gave his gift to Angela’s new baby. Upon realizing how big the baby was, Kevin named it after himself and said, “I got little Kevin Call of Duty.”

15. Fundraiser: Episode 22

After a couple of episodes that were very dull, this one finally provides some laughs. The best part without a doubt is when Dwight mistakes the silent auction for a “guess the price” competition and he won every single auction item/service by collectively donating $34,000 by mistake. We find out that Andy is trying to convince himself that he is doing well since being fired by him trying to convince everyone else of that, but inside he’s actually falling apart. He has some semi-funny parts like volunteering to take home all the shelter dogs from the fundraiser and some awkward interactions with others at the get-together. And we got a few seconds of David Wallace, who was at the fundraiser as well. Even though it was just a few seconds of him talking to Andy, I very much enjoyed it because he brings back a sense of The Office in its good ol’ days after going through a very forgettable season.

14. After Hours: Episode 16

I’m not at all a fan of the Tallahassee episodes, but I would have to say this one is the best of them. Dwight and Todd Packer competing to bed Nellie for the Vice President position is a recipe for entertainment, and the funniest part was Gabe spraying his asthma inhaler into Packer’s beer causing him to throw up on Gabe. That was hilarious! The rest of the episode is nothing to brag about as Jim has to get creative to fend off a seductive Cathy, and there’s Darryl/Val/Val’s boyfriend Brandon drama back at the office. Florida Stanley is still pretty funny in this one though, as Jim discovers he just can’t hang with him. And I love Stanley’s line to Jim of, “careful Jim, it just gets easier from here” when he discovers Cathy in Jim’s room.

13. Special Project: Episode 14

Dwight is chosen to lead a group of employees from the office on a special 3-week business trip in Tallahassee, Florida. And while at first he is beyond excited about it, he becomes very upset when he does not get to pick his team and ends up with Jim, Stanley, Erin, Ryan, and Cathy. This leads to the best part in the episode, where Dwight holds the first Florida orientation and tries to scare everyone out of going on the trip. He turned up the temperature in the conference room really hot and released a bunch of mosquitos to try to emulate Florida. And his drill sergeant acts were pretty funny. But the rest of the episode was pretty bland. The Valentines beanies that Val knitted everyone took Darryl for an emotional roller coaster ride throughout the episode, but just wasn’t very interesting. The last bit of the episode created a little intrigue though, with Erin stating she wasn’t going to come back from Florida. While not a central character by any means, you kind of become attached to her by this point and don’t want to see her leave the show.

12. Garden Party: Episode 4

Ehhh, I think this episode represents the point when office fans realize the show will just never be the same. It has set-in that Michael Scott is gone and so are the glory days of the office. With that being said, this is not a bad episode if compared to television shows in general. It’s just that when compared to only other Office episodes, which are so great, it doesn’t rank well. There’s not much to this particular episode, except that Andy throws a fancy garden party to impress his parents and Robert California. But his efforts to impress fail and his parents are now known to be complete unsupportive jerks towards Andy. The only part I enjoyed in this one is the end when Darryl pulls out the grill and the entire office staff is supportive of their beaten down boss.

11. Pam’s Replacement: Episode 7

There are two main storylines here: Pam’s replacement and the warehouse band. Firstly, I was pretty uninterested with the Pam replacement storyline. It got boring really quick, and frankly, was pretty annoying watching Pam pester Jim about trying to get him to admit her temporary replacement was attractive. When she teamed up with Dwight to get this admission, it was funny watching Dwight do the “crotch fall” though. The other storyline was more entertaining, mostly because I like music, but didn’t contribute much to the episode either. Like Val, I liked watching Andy, Darryl, and Kevin jam together in the warehouse, but when Robert California and friends took over, it lost its luster, even though they could really play.

10. Free Family Portrait Studio: Episode 24

This is Andy’s revenge episode. After convincing David Wallace to buy back Dunder-Mifflin, he plots his delicious moment to reveal this to the office, but he does it in typical Andy over-dramatic fashion. By trying to convince people he’s a drunken janitor at rock-bottom, he believes his moment will be extra “delicious,” but it just doesn’t work out for him the way he figures. Still, I love what is all happening. David Wallace is once again CEO just like The Office glory days, Andy replaces the dreadful Nellie as the rightful regional manager, and Robert California is leaving. After a lackluster season 8, this season finale ends on a high note that gives you a lot of hope for the next season. And after all of that, this episode strongly suggests that Dwight is the father of Angela’s child. Even though it’s far from peak The Office, overall this episode is a decent one that sets up hope for a better season nine.

9. Turf War: Episode 23

This episode has a series of turn of events that set up major changes in the near future. We first find out that Robert California abruptly closed down the Binghamton branch the night before in a drunken state of mind, which caused Jim and Dwight to compete for their clients with the Syracuse branch. This led to several funny parts when a Syracuse salesman came down to Scranton to confront them about it and race them to pick up their biggest client in Prestige. Andy, who still hangs around the office, decided to beat them to the punch to pick up Prestige on his own (Big Red Paper Co.) to force Robert’s hand in hiring him back or missing out entirely on the enormous client. I loved that part since I hate Robert and like Andy. And lastly, the biggest turn of events in this episode was when Andy met David Wallace at his house to convince him to buy back the company. We don’t know what David Wallace said, but it strongly hints that he will do it. This creates big-time intrigue for the next episode and you’re really hoping he gets rid of Robert California if he does take control.

8. Spooked: Episode 5

In the 8th season’s Halloween special, the most memorable thing was Robert California’s “spooky” tale at the very end. Throughout the episode he discreetly gathered what everyone’s biggest fear was and combined them all in his tale as he told it. It was a very, very strange tale, and for that reason alone it was memorable. This episode didn’t deliver much else though. Like always, I enjoy seeing the different costumes everyone in the office dressed up in. But the Andy/Erin back-and-forth was uninteresting, as well as the other biggest storyline about Pam and Jim’s different beliefs about ghosts. The funniest scene, without a doubt, was when Gabe’s “cinema of the unsettling” played on the tv in front of everyone and seeing everyone’s reactions; especially Stanley’s after the scene shot to him in his car.

7. Lotto: Episode 3

Darryl is a primary player in this episode and he really brings it down. I love Darryl’s character in this show, but in this episode he is annoying with his zero-motivation and his “just fire me” antics…after the warehouse crew wins the lottery and he wasn’t part of it. It just wasn’t the Darryl we know. There were some funny parts though, such as Oscar busting out the car window at the beginning for the dog inside, Stanley after his lunch was stolen, Kevin’s creative idea to load the boxes faster, and Creed’s classic line of, “I’ve already won the lottery. I was born in the US of A baby!”

6. Mrs. California: Episode 9

It’s pretty funny the position Andy is put in when Robert California pressures Andy into hiring his wife after he demanded him not to. It was an absolute no-win situation for Andy and it was funny watching him try to explain his way out of everything. When Jim gets roped into the situation as well, he takes off running and climbs to the roof of the building where there is…Creed flying a remote controlled helicopter! Dwight’s gym at work had some entertaining parts as well and I’ll always remember his line of, “first you have to get the black people to join before the white people will join. Then you have to get the black people to quit.” For season 8 standards, it’s a pretty decent episode.

5. Doomsday: Episode 6

Not a bad episode at all, especially for season eight. After Robert California demands the office to stop making mistakes, Dwight implements his “doomsday device” where after five mistakes in one day, emails go out to Robert that would most likely result in everyone losing their jobs. Of course, the office makes those five mistakes and it’s up to Pam, Kevin, Andy, and Erin to save everyone by going to visit Dwight at his house and be friendly with him. Jim’s squash match with Robert California was pretty funny and I really enjoyed Gabe’s scenes in this one. I’ve always liked Gabe’s character and this episode is a perfect example why, as he tries to court Val from the warehouse and is so weird in doing so. Lastly, I really like the opening of this episode where Andy plays “Closing Time” every single day before closing and Stanley belts it out.

4. Christmas Wishes: Episode 10

One of the better episodes of season 8, but far from the best Christmas episodes is “Christmas Wishes.” Even though it doesn’t have the “classic” Michael Scott messing something up in it, it does have some pretty funny parts. My favorite is Stanley’s rant at the beginning when he just wants a plain, “baby Jesus in a manger Christmas” and his line of “I know Santa ain’t black!” That was a hilarious opening. I also love Kelly’s scene of her purposely embarrassing Andy’s girlfriend Jessica (who we see for the first time) by asking her if she farted in front of a group of people. Jim and Dwight’s back and forth had its moments, as did Erin and her getting really drunk at the Christmas party.

3. The Incentive: Episode 2

Season 8 overall isn’t very good, but this is one of its best episodes. When Robert California demands that the office double its sales and puts all the pressure on Andy, things get interesting when Andy starts offering sales incentives with a point system. Eventually he corners himself into promising the office he would get a tattoo on his butt if they reached so many points collectively, definitely believing they wouldn’t reach the goal. It’s hilarious seeing the office work harder than they ever have (even Stanley during his usual nap time) to reach the goal. It pulls the office employees together as one, which is a rarity, but very cool to see. Overall, it’s a fun and lighthearted episode.

2. Pool Party: Episode 12

Before Robert California sells him mansion, he decides (Kevin’s idea) to throw one last “harrah,” inviting the office over that night. There’s a lot of good parts in this one that are fun to watch. The swimming pool chicken fights, the unexpected skinny dipping, the Ryan vs. Gabe competition for who will party with the CEO the longest, Jim desperately trying to leave the party, Oscar and Toby’s wine talk, and everyone having an overall good time. Kevin’s remark to Val of “that’s racist” when she asked him if Darryl doesn’t swim was hilarious too. This is just one of those light-hearted episodes that I love about this show where nothing is too serious and everyone is just having a good time. Very enjoyable to watch.

1. Trivia: Episode 11

This episode is funny and enjoyable throughout its 22 minutes. The opening is funny when the office is on their historic silent streak of 20 minutes when Kevin takes a bite of a candy bar and says, “oh yeah!” Then the premise of this episode is the office going to a bar in Philadelphia to compete in a trivia contest to win enough money to help reach the monthly quarterly. This leads to many funny moments as the “good timers” group of Kevin, Erin, Kelly, and Meredith wind up winning the whole thing. Some of the answers given, whether right or wrong, were hilarious, like Kelly knowing who won NBA’s 6th man of the year award because of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and Jim and Darryl getting the answer wrong. And Dwight traveling down to Tallahassee to interview for a COO position had its moments as well. Best episode of this season.

Garett

The Office: Season Eight Episodes (Ranked)