Andy starts to believe that he'll never achieve his dream while working on the company and plans to quit.
Jim gives his relationship with Pam more thought after their marriage counseling and stays in Scranton for more time.
Dwight tries to finally get his black belt.
After her divorce, Angela's new studio apartment sucks.
Tropes:
- Aw! Look! they Really Do Respect Each Other!: When asked, Jim and Dwight each say that the other would be perfect for the Regional Manager position, and Jim personally vouches for Dwight when David asks about him. Once Dwight is promoted, his first two official actions are to 1): Give Jim his desk back so he can sit with Pam and 2): promote Jim to Assistant (to the) Regional Manager.
- Burning the Ships: Andy brings up the example of Hernán Cortés burning his crew's ships upon landing in Mexico so that they couldn't return home, and decides to do this to himself by getting himself irrecoverably fired from Dunder Mifflin so that he can't fall back on his old position, forcing himself to move forward with his dreams.Andy: Huge dick move. But very effective. I need to be that same kind of dick to myself.
- Call-Back:
- Andy tells David about how he lost the Scranton White Pages account and only did it to spite Dwight.
- Pete has to remind Jim that he's not into sports.
- As David is offering the manager position to Dwight, Dwight laments that he was acting manager once, and shot a gun in the office.
- Character Development: Angela learns that she can't let pride dictate how she lives her life. At the end of the episode, without a place to live with her son and cats, she accepts Oscar's help without any pride.
- When asked by Clark about the Regional Manager position, Dwight humbly and rationally laments that his prior antics had certainly removed him from consideration rather than arrogantly boasting about how he is the only valid choice.
- Crazy-Prepared: When David offers Dwight the manager position, he pulls out a business card addressing himself as such.David: Why do you already have this?Dwight: In case Michael or Andy ever got killed in a traffic accident and there was a trade show on the same day.
- Didn't Think This Through: Andy reveals that he has no savings to fall back on when he quits, instead applying for more overdraft protection to cover his expenses.
- Easily Forgiven: Andy outright tells David to stop forgiving him for every mishap as he tries to willfully get himself fired.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Pam was in the bathroom at the same time that Jim refuses a big opportunity for Athlead.
- Excrement Statement: Andy takes a dump on the hood of David's car as part of his scheme to get fired.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite himself observing that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by Andy leaving Dunder-Mifflin, Dwight tries to convince him not to make a disastrous mistake by pursuing his dreams of stardom despite the fact that he's clearly not equipped for it.
- Humiliation Conga: For Angela. After being personally humiliated, publicly humiliated, she is now divorced, living in a crappy apartment trying to balance out her too many cats and child. By the end of the episode, she is evicted by her mean landlady and her cats had all been seized (her apartment didn't allow pets). On top of all that, she loses her deposit because of having the cats in the apartment.
- In Vino Veritas: After spiking her soda with vodka, Angela finally admits her true feelings: she is still in love with Dwight.
- Shout-Out: Andy mentions Death of a Salesman as a play that Kevin is referring, but he says that it was one that has Spongebob Squarepants in it.
- Wham Episode: Dwight finally becomes regional manager. Andy decides to leave Dunder Mifflin forever to pursue acting. Jim decides to quit Athlead.
- Wham Line: When told by Darryl that Athlead is taking off and it will mean 3 months on the road, Jim decides he has to leave the company.Jim: "I can't do it."
- Turns into a Wham Shot when after the two leave, Pam is revealed to have been listening from the bathroom with a guilty look on her face.
