Dwight takes a job at Staples. Andy tries to bond with Jim, to Jim's annoyance, which makes Jim realize he misses Dwight. Oscar returns after his "gay-cation." Michael, despite his Friendless Background, rejects Andy's attempts to bond. Angela is upset at Dwight's departure and tries to reach out to both Oscar and Pam. Jim hides Andy's phone in the ceiling, to prank Andy.
Air date: January 18, 2007
Tropes
- Actually Pretty Funny: Kevin asks Oscar how his "gay-cation" was, revealing it as a joke he came up with when Oscar left; Oscar isn't offended and fist bumps Kevin.
- Aesop Amnesia: Jim's previous attempt to prank Andy a la Dwight (the calculator in Jell-O) went badly, but Jim apparently must've forgotten about that (or else Andy had just gotten so annoying Jim was willing to risk another temper tantrum).
- Armor-Piercing Question: Karen, after watching Pam and Jim interact all day, asks Jim if he still has feelings for Pam.
- Artistic License – Cars: In-universe, Michael comments on the "German engineering" of Oscar's new company car which is a Lexus, a Japanese brand. Then again, it is Michael.
- Artistic License – Sports: Andy invites Michael to watch the Cornell versus Hofstra football game with him on Saturday. In fact, Cornell and Hofstra never played each other in football (Hofstra dropped its football team after the 2009 season). Moreover, the episode takes place in January, after the college football season has already ended.
- The Atoner: Angela invites Oscar to join the Party Planning Committee.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Along with a touch of The Alleged Car. The top to Michael's convertible won't go up. In PA, in January.
- Boob-Based Gag: Pam refuses to "shake her maracas" at Michael's request, but Phyllis obliges.
- The Bus Came Back: Oscar returns to work.
- Call-Back:
- Back in "The Coup", Dwight refused Michael's offer of his car, claiming that the convertible was not suited for Scranton's climate. Here we see that he was indeed correct, as the hood gets stuck when Michael tries to close it due to the cold causing it to freeze up. He later tries to leave with it only to have to scoop out piled up snow in the driver's seat first.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Creed's recap of events while Oscar was gone. It's actually just a slightly garbled version of what really happened in "Grief Counseling".Jim: I'm pretty sure none of that's real.Creed: You're not real, man!
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Michael misses several cues to Dwight and Angela's relationship.
- Dwight mistakes Oscar's party as a welcome back party for him, despite the Mexican themed decorations and the banner that says "WELCOME BACK OSCAR".
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: If Dwight and Angela had just been honest about him taking the tax papers to corporate with no mention of their romantic relationship, Michael would have assumed that Dwight was just doing a favor for a coworker. This is essentially what happens when Angela tells Michael in the episode.
- Cringe Comedy: Andy bouncing between extremely annoying and extremely creepy is a little uncomfortable to watch, and his final explosion is pure Mood Whiplash.
- Everyone Has Standards: When obnoxious, dense, stalkerish Michael Scott finds Andy's behavior annoying and unsettling, a major line has definitely been crossed.
- The Fixer: Michael sees himself as "The guy they call to clean up the mess."
- Hypocritical Humor: Weirded out by Andy's behavior, Michael tells the camera that "I don't understand how someone could have so little self-awareness". The camera lingers on a shot of Michael as he says this, just to emphasize the trope.
- Innocent Bigot: Michael suggests a "Mexican" themed party.Oscar: Why don't you have me riding in on a donkey?
- Jerkass Realization: Even Andy realises that punching the wall is a disproportionate step too far. Tellingly, in future episodes after his anger management classes he will be a lot more even-tempered and pleasant, if still annoyingly quirky to his coworkers.
- Literal Ass-Kissing: Discussed during one of Michael's segments.
- Motive Misidentification: When Angela explains what Dwight was really doing in New York that morning, Michael assumes that the reason he delivered Angela's forms for her was because of his dedication to Dunder-Mifflin and his coworkers in general.
- Never My Fault: When Angela goes to Michael to finally confess that the reason Dwight was late was because she was covering for Angela forgetting to mail a form, she tacks on a, "but, to be fair, Kevin never reminded me".
- No, You: Jim receives this twice. From Creed: "You're not real, man!" From Andy: "Maybe you're in the ceiling!"
- Oblivious to His Own Description: Micheal goes on a long rant about how Andy is desperate for attention, keeps telling annoying jokes and obsessed with being liked. It ends with him wondering how someone could be so lacking in self-awareness.
- Oh, Crap!: This is Jim's reaction when his prank on Andy eventually results in the latter growing so frustrated that he punches a hole in the wall. The look on his face clearly says that he didn't think it would go that far.
- Only Sane Woman: Paris at Staples reacts the way any of us would if we suddenly found ourselves working alongside Dwight.Paris: I don’t like him, his giant head, or his beady little eyes! That’s all I gotta say on the matter.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: Michael comes to the realisation that Andy annoys him because he's even more this than Dwight, whose admiration of Michael at least seems to be based in honesty.
- Punch a Wall: Andy does this after he's been tormented by his own song and rejected by Michael.
- Put on a Bus: Andy gets sent to anger management at the end of the episode.
- Punctuation Shaker: Ryan halfheartedly uses a Sharpie on the lemonade bottle to Mexicanize "lemonade" as "lemoñadé" (which would be pronounced "lay-mone-ya-DAY").
- Re-Cut: A "supersized" cut of this episode was available on NBC.com after it originally aired. This led to a number of complaints as the extended cut featured the scene of Andy going to anger management at the end, whereas fans who did not see the extended cut were left without an explanation for his disappearance the following week.
- Rage Breaking Point: Jim manages to make Andy hate the sound of his own singing voice just by hiding his phone and calling it so Andy's homemade ringtone would play in full.
- Replacement Scrappy: Andy is this for Dwight after he left.
- Shout-Out: Michael coming to Dwight to convince him to come back plays out like the ending of An Officer and a Gentleman. If you listen closely, you can hear "Up Where We Belong" playing on the store's PA system.
- Stalker without a Crush: Andy follows Michael around the office, to the point where Michael hides to avoid him.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Once Angela tells him why Dwight went to corporate, Michael assumes that Dwight did it because he is simply that loyal to the company, unaware that its actually because Dwight and Angela are in a relationship. Angela's response is to leave Michael's thoughts on that assumption.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Played with, when Andy takes the spot usually occupied by Dwight in Michael's "talking head" segments.
- Two Words: I Can't Count: Dwight describes himself to prospective employers with three words: "Hardworking, alpha male, jackhammer"."...merciless."
- Vetinari Job Security: The rest of the office — Michael especially — begins to realize exactly how much work around the office Dwight does, and that no human being can replace him (especially not Andy). By the end of the episode, he is back.
