| "Scott's Tots" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Office episode | |||
Michael is serenaded by the "Scott's Tots" |
|||
| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 11 |
||
| Directed by | B. J. Novak | ||
| Written by | Gene Stupnitsky Lee Eisenberg |
||
| Production code | 612 | ||
| Original air date | December 3, 2009 | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
|
|||
| List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes | |||
"Scott's Tots" is the 12th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 112th episode overall.[1] It was written by Gene Stupnitsky & Lee Eisenberg and directed by B. J. Novak, which marks his directorial debut on the network series (he had previously directed the four-episode "Blackmail" webisode series). It aired in the United States on NBC on December 3, 2009. Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg submitted this episode for the 2010 Emmys.
In the episode, Michael and Erin meet "Scott's Tots", a group of local teenagers whose college tuition was promised in one of Michael's grand delusions ten years prior. Meanwhile, in Michael's absence, Jim starts an employee-of-the-month program to boost morale, which Dwight sabotages.
Contents |
Michael (Steve Carell) is forced to face the music after he realizes he can't keep a promise he made to a group of underprivileged kids 10 years ago, that he would pay for their college tuition provided they graduated from high school. With no other option, he visits their high school with Erin (Ellie Kemper) to break the bad news. Over the years, the students have pushed to graduate because of his promise, and greet Michael with standing applause. They all take turns giving their thanks to Michael, as do several school and community leaders. When Michael takes the stand, he congratulates everyone for being able to graduate from high school, before breaking the bad news. Everyone gets mad at him for making a promise he couldn't keep. Michael then tries to calm them by giving them laptop batteries.
When Michael and Erin leave, one of the students comes out to talk to Michael. Michael admits he's made many promises he couldn't keep, but gives that student four checks to pay for his books each year when he does get into college and tells him not to cash them until he calls about it first. In the car on the way back to the office, Michael continues to lament his promises, but Erin comforts him when she points out that this group of students have a much higher graduation rate, and that, at the very least, will help them significantly. Michael tells Erin she's doing a good job and asks what she would want to get out of Dunder Mifflin provided it doesn't go under. Erin confesses she always wondered what it would be like to be an accountant, although she admits that she isn't that good at math. Michael responds that Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) initially applied for a warehouse position, but Michael saw potential in him, and he now sees potential in her. They drive back home singing.
Meanwhile, on a suggestion from Andy (Ed Helms), Jim (John Krasinski) starts an employee of the month program to increase office morale. Andy is led to believe this is his own idea by Dwight (Rainn Wilson), who is trying to use this idea as part of a greater scheme to get Jim fired. Dwight gives Jim a performance sheet to determine the employee of the month, using complete anonymity to ensure a fair and unbiased assessment. Dwight also collects money from each of the employees as part of a cash prize, even though Jim specifically did not authorize this. At the conclusion of the day, Jim announces the employee of the month, and it is revealed that apparently picked himself by accident. Everyone starts blaming Jim for using this gimmick as a ploy to take money away from the office. Jim tries to pin part of the failure on Dwight, but since he has taken numerous precautions to protect himself from direct blame, he passively fires back. Jim decides to forgo the award and give it to the next best employee, but things are only made worse when that person is revealed to be his wife Pam (Jenna Fischer). Everyone reaches their breaking point when a cake is delivered to the office with Jim's face on it.
With the primary part of his plan a success, having manipulated the assessment and ordered the cake, Dwight sneaks away to the warehouse to initialize the second part of his plan. He calls CFO David Wallace (Andy Buckley) multiple times, each time pretending to be a different employee, and leaves messages complaining about Jim's failed program. An angry David calls Jim back and chews him out for the mishap. Almost assured that this will get Jim fired, Dwight listens in to the phone conversation from his pen recorder. But instead of firing Jim, David apologizes to him for losing his temper. Angry that his plan has done very little to nothing, Dwight gets upset and goes back to the drawing board.
At the end of the episode, Ryan (B. J. Novak) confronts Dwight on his desire to get Jim fired by showing him a copy of his "Diabolical Plan" document. He informs Dwight that they both share the same goal, to get Jim fired, and the two form an alliance.
This episode was watched by 8.1 million viewers, with a 4.1 rating and a 11 share in the 18-49 demographic.[2]
Dan Phillips of IGN gave the episode a 9.4 out of 10 rating, the highest given to any season 6 episode. Phillips called the episode "an instant classic and another phenomenal installment of this season, which hit some rough patches but seems to have recovered brilliantly", especially pointing out the scene between Michael and the irate students.[3]