The staff organizes a garage sale on the warehouse, in which Dwight tries to get the most valuable item by trading things, starting with a needle.
Michael needs to make an important decision regarding Holly and his life.
Tropes
- Armor-Piercing Response: When asked by Holly when to look into long-term care for a mentally ill parent, Phyllis replies:Phyllis: "If you have to ask, then it's already time."
- Bait-and-Switch: Kevin proudly tells Andy and Darryl that when he was a kid, he was on Dallas.Andy: Really?Kevin: Yeah. We missed our connecting flight, and we spent the entire day on Dallas. Then we spent a week on Hawaii. I was on heaven.
- Batman Gambit: Kevin becomes annoyed when Andy and Darryl start making up their own rules while playing Dallas in lieu of the missing rulebook, to which Andy replies "That is Dallas". Eventually, he notices that the money they bet has gone missing and leaves in a fit of rage... only to reveal Kevin turned the rules back on them and swiped the money for himself.Kevin: And that is Dallas!
- Bittersweet Ending: Downplayed, as it's much sweeter than usual, but while Michael and Holly are engaged, the staff is surprised and a bit saddened by Michael going away.
- Call-Back: Jim's proposal to Pam is mentioned again, Michael finds the setting much less romantic than what they remember it to be.
- Chain of Deals: Dwight is determined to start the episode with a thumbtack and continue trading with people until he ends up with the most valuable item in the garage.
- Continuity Nod: Michael mentions that the first time he and Holly had sex was on the stairs. That was the night they left the office unlocked and it was robbed.
- Didn't Think This Through: Michael fills the annex with candles to make his proposal, however, the candles' heat and smoke eventually sets off the sprinklers right when he was proposing.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: One of the people to fake ask Holly to marry them is Angela. Michael mentions that it would be hot and he'd pay to see it.
- Growing Up Sucks: Realizing that old age is catching up to your parents and you may not have as much time left with them as you thought. Even worse, when one (or possibly both) of them is showing signs of dementia.
- Irony: Michael's proposal to Holly was meant to be perfect, unlike Jim's to Pam, which was in the middle of the rain. At the moment he was gonna make the proposal, the sprinkler system starts and the proposal becomes as funny as it is heartwarming (though knowing Michael, it's entirely possible that was actually his intention).
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: According to Michael, his and Holly's first time was on the staircase of the building they work in.
- Money Dumb: Michael spent three years' salary on an engagement ring (he misremembered the accepted American tradition of three months).
- Mood Whiplash: The office goes from being happy and celebrating Michael and Holly's engagement to shocked and silent when Michael reveals that he and Holly are both leaving for Colorado.
- The Reveal: Michael finally mentions who gave him herpes in Sex Ed. It turns out it was nobody, it was just an ingrown mustache hair.
- Shout-Out: Andy, Darryl, and Kevin play a board game based on the show Dallas.
- Wham Episode: Holly and Michael are engaged, and as a side-effect, Holly needs to move back to Colorado, and Michael is leaving to go with her.
- Whole-Plot Reference:
- Jim's prank on Dwight with "Professor Copperfield's Miracle Legumes" is basically taken wholesale from Jack and the Beanstalk, with someone being conned into trading something valuable for something (apparently) worthless. Incredibly, in an unusual degree of perceptiveness Dwight all along realises that the beans actually are completely worthless and not magic at all... and yet still gets suckered into it.
- Meanwhile, Dwight is trying to—knowingly or otherwise—reenact the Japanese fable of The Straw Millionaire.
