Dunder-Mifflin's weight loss contest continues, but the Scranton branch is having difficulties, so Dwight goes over the line to force his coworkers to shed the pounds. As a result, corporate forces the group to undergo "Body Image Sensitivity Training" which Michael conducts with his usual degree of tact. Ryan returns to fill the vacant secretary position, and Jim makes an important decision regarding his relationship with Pam.
Tropes
- Backhanded Apology: After Phyllis reports Dwight to corporate for taking her on a fake sales call and abandoning her in a bad part of town, Dwight offers this truly sincere response:Dwight: I apologize for creating a ruse which forced you to exercise.
- Bait-and-Switch: Ryan enters the office asking how "his favorite branch" is doing, implying he's back at Corporate. Then he goes and sits at the reception desk.
- Beard of Evil: Ryan returns to the office with a goatee and a book of grudges. The former doesn't last long though.
- Butt-Monkey: Toby broke his neck while zip-lining in Costa Rica.
- Call-Back: The fat suit Michael wears is one of the sumo wrestling suits from "Beach Games."
- Didn't Think This Through: To make everyone lose weight, Dwight replaced the junk food in the vending machine with fruit. It wasn't appropriately refrigerated, and nobody really wanted the fruit, so the machine became infested with flies.
- Enemies List: Ryan reveals that he's keeping a list of everyone who's wronged him so that he can punish them once he's back on top. Kevin and Jim are added to it within minutes of his return.
- Fat Suit: Michael's in-universe character, Michael Klump, is both morbidly obese and talks like Fat Albert. What better way to make people feel good about their body?
- Gone Horribly Right: Jim's advice accidentally made Michael completely oblivious to Holly's attempts to flirt with him.
- Innocently Insensitive: Michael thinks he can "celebrate fat people" by comparing them to pigs and saying they're thin on the inside.
- Karma Houdini: Downplayed; it would initially seem that Ryan's only apparent punishment was being sent back to his temp agency, where Michael immediately rehired him. He is not universally forgiven for his actions, though, as the office staff rag him endlessly and David Wallace flips out on learning Ryan is back even as a temp receptionist. Furthermore, Jim brings up his court-ordered community service, implying some kind of legal punishment was also imposed on him.
- Mythology Gag: With his goatee and fat suit, Michael Klump looks like a caricature of David Brent.
- Oblivious to Love: Or in this case oblivious to flirt. Michael seems totally oblivious to the fact that Holly wanted him to accompany her to the supposed date she had with the other guy.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In a deleted scene, Ryan answers the phone to David Wallace. Wallace is incensed to find out that Ryan has been hired back, even as a temp, and gives Ryan a blistering one of these down the phone. It makes Ryan cry.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: The documentary crew had apparently asked Angela one question in regards to her cheating on Andy with Dwight, which she answered very literally.Angela: I have a nice comforter, a few cozy pillows, I usually read a chapter of a book, and it's lights out by 8:30, and that's how I sleep at night.
- Romantic Rain: When Jim and Pam meet up, it is pouring down sheets of rain. The next time we see Jim, he's drenched from head to toe.
- Shout-Out: Michael Klump is a mix of Professor Klump from The Nutty Professor (1996) and Fat Albert. The "bang, zoom" bit is likely a reference to Jackie Gleason's character in The Honeymooners.
- Training from Hell: Dwight's plan to help Phyllis lose weight is to abandon her in a bad part of town without money or a phone and make her walk home.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Ronnie, the first replacement secretary, was apparently fired between Parts 1 and 2, having only said one or two lines.
- Will They or Won't They?: After putting it off for years, Jim finally decides to propose to Pam. She says yes.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Upon returning to the office, Ryan discovers that Michael imitated his goatee. Timeskip to a week later, and he's shaved it off, only for Michael to shave his as well the following week. Ryan is not amused.
