After years of speculation, Jan announces the decision to close the Scranton branch. Dwight and Michael go to Wallace's house to confront him. Meredith tries to find out who she made her "last day pact" with. Everyone has different means of dealing with the news.
Air date: November 9, 2006
Tropes
- Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch: When Josh uses his position in Stamford to leverage a management position at Staples it comes across this way because a subtext of the first part of Season 3 is that Jan has been particularly vicious toward Michael for rejecting her in "Casino Night."
- Big "NO!": Dwight, when he receives a fax from "Future Dwight" (really Jim) telling him the coffee is poisoned and sees Stanley is about to drink some.
- Breaking Bad News Gently: Jan tells Michael that some of the Scranton employees will be transferred to Stamford, and the rest will be laid off. Michael asks which group he's in. Jan responds that the groups haven't been finalized... but he's definitely being laid off.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: While the series does this all the time, an unusual case when Dwight waves the cameras away from Michael's meeting with Toby.
- Brick Joke: After all the other plots are resolved, Meredith finds out who she made her sex pact with: a warehouse worker named Gary who doesn't work at DM anymore. When he calls her, still under the impression that Meredith is about to lose her job, she sleeps with him anyway.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Just as when Jim told him about his crush on Pam and when he learned Oscar was gay, Michael cannot keep the news that the branch is closing a secret for more than ten minutes.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Kelly asks Pam to sign her company directory and it's played a lot like a yearbook signing, complete with Kelly being upset how bland Pam's message was.
- Dumbass Has a Point: When Dwight pretends to be David in order to let Michael practice what he's going to say to him, Dwight ends up playing the role too well, and providing several good reasons why the Scranton branch must close. Michael tells him to start over, not say any of that, and "be more afraid of me".
- Everyone Has Standards: Jim points out that Michael may be an ass, but he would never pull the stunt that Josh does.
- Foreshadowing: When the news of Scranton reaches Stamford, Josh appears uncomfortable and unwilling to discuss the repercussions with Jim or the staff. Turns out it's because he's actually accepted a new job at Staples.
- Hope Spot:
- For Stanley. He was absolutely giddy when he thought the Scranton branch was closing, as he was ready to take his severance package and immediately retire and travel with his wife. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out that way...
- Likewise, Ryan accepted the scenario, reasoning that Michael would give him a glowing recommendation that he could use to land another job and it gave him an excuse to end his relationship with Kelly. Once it turns out they're staying open, he's not as enthusiastic as she is.
- At the end of the episode, Toby says that he was going to sell his house and move to Costa Rica.
- Hypocrite: After a quarter of a season of seeing Josh act like the perfect boss who cares for and is good friends with his employees, the revelation that he secretly sold them down the river to accept a better-paying job at Staples, thus forcing Stanford to close instead of Scranton, doesn't really reflect well on him.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Michael breaks down into this when Jan announces the branch closing.
- Insane Troll Logic:
- When the news Scranton is being shut down reaches the Stamford office, Andy mocks Jim about it. A confused Jim points out he's not a member of that office anymore so it doesn't affect him.
- After finding out that Stamford is being shut down and not them, Michael and Dwight ecstatically assume that they somehow pulled it off, despite the fact that all they did was stand by a house and not interact with anyone.
- Re-Cut: An extended cut of this episode was available on NBC.com after it originally aired, and is the version on the Season 3 DVD and on Netflix. It included subplots of Meredith trying to remember who she agreed to a "last day of work sex pact" and Creed selling all his office supplies (which is how he pays for celebratory drinks at the end of the day).
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Stanley declares his intention to use his severance package to retire and travel.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Michael and Dwight's "mission" to confront David Wallace at his home and save the Scranton office ends up being completely meaningless; their branch was inadvertently saved behind the scenes by Josh Porter's departure, and Wallace never even showed up.
- Spanner in the Works: Josh leaving for Staples puts a huge wrench into the merger plans since it was made with him being the main focus. With Josh leaving, Corporate has no other choice but to close the Stamford branch, and make Scranton the hub of the merger.
- Stable Time Loop: Played with, in Jim's "Future Dwight" prank.
- Stepford Smiler: Michael makes an attempt not to share the news of the branch closing, but it doesn't last long.
- Tantrum Throwing: Andy goes nuts in the break room after it's revealed that Stamford will be closing instead.
- Verbal Backspace: When they learn that Stamford will close instead of Scranton, Pam asks Jan if anyone is coming back to Scranton before correcting herself.
