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Recap / The Office USS 4 E 9 Dinner Party

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Michael and Jan invite Jim, Pam, Andy, and Angela over for a dinner party. The night takes one uncomfortable turn after another as tensions rise and secrets are revealed in a manner that would make Edward Albee blush.

Air date: April 10, 2008

Tropes:


  • Abhorrent Admirer: Either Michael lied to Jan and told her that he once dated Pam, or Jan somehow came to that conclusion herself and lied that Michael told her. Still, when Jan confronts Pam about this, Pam almost seems offended that anyone would think of her and him as a couple.
  • Ambiguous Situation: Did Michael lie to Jan and tell her he once dated Pam? Or did Jan come to that conclusion herself and lied about Michael telling her to try to get Pam to confess?
  • Acquainted with Emergency Services: The two cops who arrive at Michael's condo know Dwight from previous experiences with him.
  • Batman Gambit: Michael gets Jim and Pam to agree to dinner with one of these due to being turned down nine times prior. First, he had the office do a supposed overtime assignment from corporate. After asking Jim if he has any plans, he "angrily tells off" corporate, sends everyone home, then asks Jim again and reminds him that he didn't have any plans. Jim even confessed how clever this was.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Dwight's surprise arrival makes Jim and Pam genuinely smile, clearly hoping that he will help make the party less awkward. He gets an additional moment of this when he volunteers to let Michael stay with him.
  • Blatant Lies:
    • Jim tells the party his apartment is flooded. And on fire.
    • Michael and Jan's "Michael ran through the sliding glass door chasing the ice cream man" story. Really, with the hints of how truly horrifying their relationship has become, coupled with their paper-thin attempts to put on a front for their guests, every single thing Jan and Michael say in this episode is absurdly suspect.
  • Bottle Episode: Other than a prologue at Dunder Mifflin and the final montage, the whole episode takes place at Michael's condo.
  • Call-Back:
    • In "Women's Appreciation," Michael says that Jan records their sex and shows it to her therapist (and to him, in order to "improve [his] form"). When showing Jim and Pam their bedroom, there's a video camera near the bed.
    • The policemen who show up are on a first-name basis with Dwight, from his days as a Volunteer Sheriff's Deputy.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Jan acts this way toward Pam, who she thinks once dated Michael.
  • Comically Missing the Point: When hearing Hunter's song for the first time, Jim, Pam and Angela all visibly realize he's singing about Jan taking his virginity and are appropriately horrified/confused. Meanwhile, Andy just cheerily harmonizes to the music.
  • Continuity Nod: After Jan gives Jim a whiff of the "Bonfire" Serenity by Jan candle, Michael starts riffing on "James Bond-fire" in a Sean Connery voice, before shouting "Michael Scarn!" and making a finger gun, referencing his secret agent character from his screenplay Threat Level Midnight and his improv class. Additionally, Michael later mentions that he's (technically) a screenwriter when he and Jan finally explode at one another at the end of the episode.
  • Cringe Comedy: "Dinner Party" is universally considered to be one of the cringiest (and funniest) episodes that the show ever did. We watch Michael and Jan's relationship fall apart at the seams, with Jan's abuse and Michael's inner resentment coming to the forefront. There's also Angela being a complete jerk to Andy, Dwight showing up with another woman to make Angela jealous, and Jan revealing her loathing and jealousy of Pam, of all people. Given the writers of the episode have openly admitted to taking cues from a certain blackly comedic and absurdist story about a failing marriage and the collateral damage that ensues from its fallout, this is hardly a surprise.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Micheal manages to get some genuinely sharp barbs at Jan once the Happy Couple mask finally slips completely ("Good luck paying me back on your salary of zero dollar a year plus benefits!")
  • Domestic Abuse: invoked Jan is awful to Michael (and if she's acting that badly while they're having guests over and being filmed... yeah, probably best not to think about it too much). Though it’s initially Played for Laughs by the end of the episode it's very much Played for Drama (to the point that the police get involved and Michael ends up going home with Dwight).
  • Dumbass Has a Point: Michael launches some genuinely good Reason You Suck zingers at Jan during their dinner argument, complete with a well-deployed That's What She Said at the climax.
  • Funny Background Event:
    • Pam briefly flashes a "WTF?" look at the documentary crew when Jan quickly puts away a camera in her and Michael's bedroom.
    • Looking behind them, one can see that Dwight and Melvina didn't just bring their own food and wine glasses, they brought their own lawn chairs to sit in.
  • Immediate Self-Contradiction: When he's being interviewed by the documentary crew about the upcoming dinner party, Dwight scoffs as the idea that he's upset about not being invited. Barely a few seconds pass before Dwight bursts into tears.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: The evidence of three wine bottles on the appetizer table shows that Michael, Jan and their dinner guests are drinking a lot to be able to tolerate one another.
  • It's All About Me: It's quite clear by now that Jan has fully taken over Michael's condo, with him merely being allowed to live there. And she's turned the whole place into a Shrine to Self, including a large Andy Warhol-style painting of herself on the wall.
  • Kiss-Kiss-Slap: This is what the Michael/Jan relationship has degraded into by this point. They call each other "babe" constantly and make a big show of being openly affectionate, then immediately start bickering.
  • Malaproper: Michael describes some wine as having an oaky afterbirth. One can only hope he meant "aftertaste".
  • Manchild: Dwight appears to drive in a large circle to help Michael fall asleep before taking him home.
  • May–December Romance:
    • It's heavily implied that Jan had an affair with her much younger assistant, Hunter (whom Michael is clearly jealous of).
      You took me by the hand, made me a man... / That one night! You made everything all right! / So wrong, so right, oh yeah, oh yeah...
    • Dwight shows up with his now fifty-something ex-babysitter Melvina, with him claiming that they have a "purely carnal" relationship.
  • Meaningful Background Event: Lots of hidden details are placed in the background, subtly showcasing certain bits of characterization in regards to Michael, Jan and their dinner guests. Just a few examples include:
    • None of the photographs in the condo have Michael in them; they are all of either Jan or Jan with other men.
    • Michael's garage contains Bowflex and Soloflex machines back-to-back. They were placed there by the writers because they loved the idea that Michael is completely taken in by late-night infomercials.
    • Angela places a pillow on the couch between her and Pam to make sure that she and Pam aren't touching despite sitting right next to one another.
  • My Friends... and Zoidberg: In a deleted scene, Michael lists his ideal dinner party guests as Jim, Pam, Ryan, the mayor, Barack Obama, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt (because then Brad or Angelina would come pick her up), Shia LaBeouf, all of the children of the world, Val Kilmer (but he probably wouldn't come), George Clooney, and finally, as an afterthought, Jan, if there was room.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • The look on Jim's face when he realizes that he won't be able to talk his way out of dinner with Michael this time.
    • Pam and Jim get the same look when they realize they are stuck at Michael's for at least 4 more hours when Jan reveals that the meal hasn't even been cooked yet.
    • Speaking of Pam, she's clearly terrified after Michael warns her that Jan might've poisoned either his food or Pam's for the dinner.
    • Melvina (Dwight's "date") is visibly worried after Jan finally snaps and throws one of Michael's Dundies at his tiny plasma-screen TV.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Played for Laughs; Previously, Jim spent years pining after Pam, transferred branches because it hurt to be around her, gave up both a corporate job and a girlfriend for her, gave a wonderful speech to Dwight about her... and yet, it's only after about 40 minutes into this episode's titular dinner party that he's ready to abandon her with no regrets. That is how awkward Michael and Jan are in this episode.
  • invoked Paranoia Fuel: In-Universe; Pam starts worrying when Michael warns her Jan may have poisoned his food, she believes she would be the actual target due to Jan's Clingy Jealous Girl attitude.
  • Overly Narrow Superlative: Michael tries to get Jim and Andy to invest in Jan's candle business by telling them that scented candles are "the #1 fastest-growing product in the scent/aroma market".
  • Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Throughout the evening, Michael and (especially) Jan have a tendency to Stealth Insult and waspishly put-downs and accuse each other, dressed up as light-hearted teasing. Over the course of the evening, the "passive-aggressive" part becomes increasingly strained until eventually it just becomes combat. Both Jan and Angela also act incredibly cruelly towards Pam — Jan because she is under the misapprehension that Michael and Pam have dated and Angela because... well, that's how she always is with Pam.
  • Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Angela legitimately hasn't heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger, or any of his films or political career. Jim just pretends not to have either.
  • Rewatch Bonus: After the big revelation that Jan is jealous of Pam because she thinks Pam and Michael dated, her behavior earlier in the episode toward Pam is more noticeably catty on a rewatch, like when Jan rejects the wine Pam brought with her, saying she'll just cook with it.
  • Rule of Symbolism: Jan having become essentially a vicious devil ruining Michael's life is a clear subtext throughout this entire episode, with the writers freely admitting that it was deliberate. Most notably, Jan spends the entire episode wearing a red blouse coupled with a black skirt, and her failing candle business is meant to evoke the idea of Michael's apartment having been turned into a Fire and Brimstone Hell. It even becomes almost direct text when Michael crows about how Jan's the devil and he's in Hell while she "jokingly" gives herself devil horns with her hands.
  • Rules Lawyer: It is revealed that Jan refused to allow Michael to invite Dwight to the dinner on the excuse that it is a "couples" dinner. When Dwight shows up with his former babysitter, Michael allows him to stay and points out to Jan that, as he is with someone, it is still a couples dinner.
    • Additionally, one of the other reasons why Jan said Dwight couldn't come was because there was only six wine glasses available, and thus there wouldn't be enough for another person (read: Dwight) to come. As such, Dwight brought two more wineglasses with him, one for him and his "date" so that they would be allowed to come.
  • Sanity Slippage: This episode is where Michael and Jan's relationship hits rock bottom, as they reveal more and more unsettling personal facts about each other. Eventually, the police have to get called in.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
    • Jim tries to leave early with Pam by claiming his apartment has flooded. When Michael says that both don't need to leave, he tries to leave alone but Pam is able to cajole Michael in forcing him to stay.
    • After Jan smashes Michael's TV, all the guests decide it's time to leave, with Dwight's "date" being the first one to get up.
  • Shout-Out: Everyone tries to play "Celebrity" at the dinner party. Michael also later complains to Jan about how when they went to the theatre to see a play, Michael wanted to see Stomp but Jan didn't want to and she instead made them see Wicked.
  • Stealth Insult: Jan takes the bottle of wine Pam offers as a gift and says that it'll be great for cooking, which (despite the maxim to never cook with wine you wouldn't drink) is often done with cheaper, low-quality wine.
  • Stepford Smiler: Even before things go completely off the rails, there's something more than a little bit fake about the big smiles and enthusiastic attitudes of Michael and Jan.
  • Take Our Word for It: Jan and Michael comment on the smells in her candle workshop, and judging from the reactions of Pam and especially Jim, they aren't pleasant smells (Michael appears to agree — a deleted scene shows him closing the door and quipping that he's doing it so they "don't have to smell it").
  • Taking You with Me: A comedic example; as soon as Jim tries to hightail it out of the party even after it's clear he can't bring Pam along with him, Pam is able to convince Michael that Jim should stay with the party, clearly annoyed at his attempt to escape and deciding that both her and Jim should suffer together instead of just one being "released".
  • That's What She Said: Only Michael Scott would use this line in the middle of a heated domestic argument. And only Michael Scott could somehow make this declaration come across as legitimately impressive.
  • Too Much Information: To say that Michael and Jan's guests learned far more than they ever cared to know about them and their love life (Michael's three vasectomies being just one example) would be an understatement.
  • Touché: Jim's reaction when he realizes the whole "assignment from corporate" was a Batman Gambit to get him and Pam to agree to dinner at Michael's.
  • Undying Loyalty: Dwight takes Michael home with him without a second thought.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: The episode's writers have freely admitted that they conceived this episode as what would happen if Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? took place in the Office-verse.

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