The Coup (The Office episode)

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The Office episode

"The Coup"
Dwight after failing to complete "The Coup".
Episode No.	31
Prod. Code	303
Airdate	October 5, 2006
Writer(s)	Paul Lieberstein
Director	Greg Daniels
The Office Season 3 September 2006 - May 2007
Gay Witch Hunt The Convention The Coup Grief Counseling Initiation Diwali Branch Closing The Merger The Convict A Benihana Christmas Back from Vacation Traveling Salesmen The Return Ben Franklin Phyllis' Wedding Business School Cocktails The Negotiation Safety Training
List of all The Office episodes...

"The Coup" is the third episode of the third season of The Office (U.S. version). It aired on October 5, 2006.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Deleted scenes 3 Trivia 4 Behind the scenes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Pam supervises microwave popcorn in progress in the breakroom as Michael comments on his dire hunger. He pulls a DVD copy of Varsity Blues from his office safe, and calls it the only cure for Monday blues. Pam explains in an interview that Michael began Movie Monday with training videos, and continued the tradition with an ill-received medical video, six repeats of a single episode of Entourage and finally a feature film in thirty-minute increments. Prior to the screening, Michael selects an excited Kevin to recite previous action in the film, to bring the audience up to speed.

Angela states her opposition to Movie Monday, and indeed is the only staffer not in attendance when Jan pops in to the branch unexpectedly. Jan scolds Michael despite his explanation that productivity increases following the screenings as employees must work harder due to the lost time.

In interviews, Angela and Dwight both note that Jan seems to have a vendetta against Michael for his choosing Carol over her, and fear it might affect the prospects of the Scranton branch. Angela summons Dwight to the breakroom, where they speak in their traditional manner with their back to each other. Angela tells Dwight she fears for their jobs under Michael's leadership, and tells Dwight to speak to Jan about taking over the branch. In the parking lot, Dwight reaches Jan on her cell phone one hour out of Scranton. She does not want to speak, but listens when he says it concerns Michael. Dwight instructs her to shop at the nearby Liz Claiborne outlet store — which he has determined to be a favorite brand of hers — until he can reach her. In order to leave, he tells Michael he is visiting a new dentist who works far away, so he will be gone for about three hours.

Jan and Dwight sit at a nearby diner where he orders two plates of waffles and begins to propose taking over the branch. Pouring syrup maniacally and proceeding to eat in a deliberate way for effect, he states that he could do the job better by firing half the staff, to whom he swears no loyalty since he doesn't care about any of his co-workers. As the meeting ends and Dwight sloppily devours his meal in front of her, he urges Jan to check out a new Ann Taylor outlet store nearby, as he has noticed she is fond of the brand's earrings. Jan calls Michael, relays the entire meeting and demands he get his branch under control.

Meanwhile, the Stamford branch has its own distraction, the computer war game Call of Duty, being played under the guise of a team-building exercise. New to the game, Jim's play is poor and he mentions video games weren't played at his former office. He does, however, reveal a prank in which he and Pam hummed the same high note in the hopes of Dwight scheduling an appointment to have his hearing checked, an activity Pam dubbed "pretendinitis".

Back in Scranton, Pam shops online for new clothes at Kelly's insistence. Upon the clothes' arrival, Kelly demands through chanting that Pam perform a lunchtime fashion show. Though Kelly, Phyllis and Meredith compliment her on her clothes, Pam claims "it's too much" and considers returning them. Roy enters the breakroom and tells Pam she looks pretty. Kelly asks if that is his third soda of the day, to which he doesn't respond.

In Stamford, Jim manages to kill a player, but the thrill is short-lived as he is told he's killed a fellow teammate on the German side. As another game starts up, Josh calls Jim and Andy for an impromptu huddle about game strategy. Andy blames defeat on "the new guy," and as Jim reveals his use of a sniper rifle, both co-workers react in disgust, with Josh scolding Jim for using the weapon on an inappropriate map, and Andy claiming he is going to shoot Jim "for real."

Upon Dwight's return, a calm but clearly offended Michael initially tries to make him admit he didn't go to the dentist by feeding him M&M's and asking for the dentist's name, to which Dwight replies "Crentist." When Michael notes how the name sounds strangely like "dentist," Dwight reasons it may have been why he chose the profession. Later, Michael tells Dwight that Jan has called to demote him to Dwight's position as Assistant (to the) Regional Manager, and Dwight should be expecting a call from Corporate to take over as acting Regional Manager. Announcing it to the office, multiple people question Dwight's selection, and Kevin even expresses concern about Michael possibly losing his condo. Angela is the only one to congratulate Dwight, though later, when she says in private that they could make a difference together, he corrects her to say he will make a difference. Though Angela seems upset at first, she then smirks as Dwight offers her to be in charge of the female staff.

Michael eventually reveals the trick when Dwight casually refuses the keys to Michael's Corporate Chrysler Sebring convertible and insults the vehicle due to its poor gas mileage and impracticality in Scranton's climate. Taking the remark personally, Michael blows up at Dwight after he refuses to take back what he said, especially after Dwight previously stated that he loved the car (a lie meant to appease Michael). In turn, Dwight begins to beg for his job and grovels at the floor for Michael's forgiveness, offering to do his laundry for a month, then a year, to which Michael responds he has a laundry machine. Michael forces him to "Hug it out, bitch," which, Michael tells the camera, is what men say and do to each other after a fight (a reference to Michael's obsession with Entourage). Dwight returns quickly to being Michael's loyal right-hand man at the next Movie Monday, as Angela looks on in disappointment.

Pam decides to return to dressing her usual way at work when Creed walks over to her desk, blatantly looks down her shirt and refuses to leave the area. Pam covers up with a sweater and decides to keep the clothes for outside of the office.

Jim still can't get ahold of the game, and Karen catches him jumping in a corner trying to shoot with a smoke grenade. Karen tells the camera to "look at how cute he is," before telling Jim to turn his character around. Requesting any last words, she shoots his character point blank, causing "You killed Jim Halpert" to appear on her screen. Jim then turns to the camera and whispers "psychopath." At the end of the day, Jim pretends to throw a grenade towards her desk when leaving, to which she tosses a few paper clips in the resulting explosion. They laugh, and after he leaves, she still gives a slight wave and continues to stare at the exit.

Deciding he still harbored resentment towards Dwight, Michael forces him to solemnly stand atop a box with a "LIAR" sign dangling from his neck, in addition to one year of indentured servitude as a launderer.

[edit] Deleted scenes

• After Jan leaves Michael's office, Dwight attempts to give Michael advice on cutting costs, suggesting that he fire Meredith and charge Creed rent.
• In a talking head interview (illustrated with footage of Creed in the office at night), Creed explains that he sleeps under his desk four nights a week and spends the remaining three nights in Toronto in order to milk the welfare state. "They don't know about this job up there."
• Michael tries to resume watching the movie, but nobody is interested. Angela shoots Dwight a look of impatience.
• In a talking head interview, Dwight describes the conflict between his paternal Schrute blood (which is loyal) and his maternal Manheim blood (which knows when to cut and run).
• Michael tediously recaps a hospital drama program for Pam. His summary is interrupted by a phone call. It's Jan. Michael warily returns to his office. In a talking head interview, Pam admits that she once faked a call from Jan to get out of Michael's synopsis of an episode of Navy NCIS, and Michael has been suspicious ever since.
• Pam's computer screen blanks due to inactivity, prompting her to use it as a mirror to see how her new sweater fits. Kevin drops off some documents, then stares at her chest and says, "Nice. Wow!" Pam uses a binder clip to close up her neckline.
• In the video game, Jim kills Karen's character. He turns to gloat, only to discover that Karen isn't playing; she's talking with Jan. Jan comes over to Jim's computer and playfully presses a key that causes Jim's character to fall to its death. As she leaves for a meeting with Josh, she tells Jim, "Remind me to tell you what Dwight said to me earlier. You're going to get a big kick out of it." In a talking head interview, Jim acknowledges that the work environment in Stamford is very different from Scranton. "It's not bad."

[edit] Trivia

• Andy's Call of Duty screen name is "Here Comes Treble" after his a capella group mentioned in the season premiere.
• Karen's screen name is "KarentheJimSlayer", a spoof of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• This appears to be the first (and only) episode of the Office explicitly set on a Monday. (The "Halloween" episode was implicitly set on a Monday.)
• Michael makes the office watch a single episode of Entourage six times. Michael says Ari Gold's famous line "Let's hug it out, bitch" is how men make up, but that the line does not go over well with women.
• Jim seems to have never heard of Call of Duty, though a copy of the Mac-compatible version of Call of Duty: United Offensive is clearly visible on the desk in Jim's room in the season two episode "E-mail Surveillance". It is best visible when Pam is looking at Jim's yearbook. Also, at that same party, we see Toby playing Call of Duty 2 on Jim's Xbox 360.
• Dwight appears to have ignored Jan's warning from the episode "Health Care" never to call her cell phone.

[edit] Behind the scenes

• Angela Kinsey did an alternate talking head that didn't make the show. Angela (her character) talks about this "friend" of hers that introduced her to this show, Star Trek. "Well, there is this guy named Spock and he is very honorable and brave," Kinsey paraphrases, "And he stands up for what he thinks is right. And she just wishes that "someone" in the office could be more like Spock." Kinsey continues, "I thought it was a cute glimpse into Dwight and Angela's courtship. I can see her being very resistant to Sci-fi but she watches these Star Trek episodes because they are important to Dwight."^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Coup at NBC.com
• Memorable Quotes From "The Coup" at QuotesFromTheOffice.com