| "The Client" | |||
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| The Office episode | |||
Jan watches Michael charm "The Client". |
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| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 7 |
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| Directed by | Greg Daniels | ||
| Written by | Paul Lieberstein | ||
| Production code | 205 | ||
| Original air date | November 8, 2005 | ||
| Guest stars | |||
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Tim Meadows - The Client |
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes | |||
"The Client" is the seventh episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's thirteenth episode overall. Written by Paul Lieberstein, who also acts in the show as Toby Flenderson, and directed by Greg Daniels, the episode first aired in the United States on November 8, 2005 on NBC.
In this episode, Jan and Michael begin a relationship after landing an important client. Meanwhile, the rest of the office find a screenplay written by Michael and decide to read it together.
Contents |
Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Jan Levenson (Melora Hardin) meet a client (Tim Meadows) at Chili's for an important meeting. Jan is disgusted with Michael's antics (which began when Michael changed the meeting location from a hotel meeting room to Chili's without permission) and refusal to talk business, but discovers at the end of the day that there is a method to his madness when the client bonds with Michael, allowing him to close the deal. Afterwards, in the parking lot, Michael and the recently divorced Jan kiss and leave together.
Meanwhile, Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) finds a screenplay written by Michael called Threat-Level Midnight starring himself as "Agent Michael Scarn", and the staff read it together. While reading the script, the word "Dwigt" appears. Pam explains to the camera that originally, Michael based his incompetent sidekick on Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), but later changed the name with a search and replace. Unfortunately, the search and replace mechanism failed to change Dwight's misspelled name. Dwight is upset and quickly shuts down the exercise to invite everyone to set off fireworks outside.
Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam break off their respective evening plans to enjoy an impromptu dinner on the roof and watch the fireworks show. The next day, Jim jokes about their "first date", and Pam bluntly tells him it was not a date. Jim is clearly disappointed and tells her at least he didn't leave her at a high school hockey game like Roy did on one of their dates as Pam revealed when her and the office members discussed the worst first dates they've ever been on. Pam is clearly upset and gets up to go make copies leaving it awkward between her and Jim, who tries unsuccessfully to apologize.
Word quickly spreads that Jan and Michael spent the night together. Michael initially tells the documentary crew that "nothing happened", that they just talked for several hours, but his story gradually changes to imply that they did more than that. Jan calls, clearly regretting what happened, but Michael refuses to accept her change of heart.
Jim and Michael share a mutual glance at each other, both disappointed in the days' events.
This episode was the third episode of the series directed by Greg Daniels. Daniels had previously directed the episodes "Basketball" and "The Dundies". "The Client" was written by Paul Lieberstein, who acts on the show as human resources director Toby Flenderson.
The idea for Jan and Michael to have a romantic relationship was conceived by Steve Carell as far back as the filming of the pilot episode. According to writer and producer Greg Daniels "it was like he (Michael) was turned on by his teacher."[1] Writer and actor Paul Lieberstein said that the first idea that anybody came up for the episode was the final shot, where Jim and Michael look at each other and shake their heads, suggesting that they had been through similar experiences. The rest of the episode was written to lead to that scene.[2] The scene where Oscar tells a story about a date getting a background check on him was based on an actual date that Paul Lieberstein went on.[2]
While filming, Steve Carell and Tim Meadows improvised a lot of their dinner scene, but most of it never made the final cut.[3] One improvised scene that did make the final cut was the "Baby Back Ribs" song.[4] In an interview, Jenna Fischer said that the rooftop scene was her favorite to shoot. Fischer recalled that "there was a very small crew up on the roof and they had the cameras really far away."[5] After the main shooting ended, producers decided to do a reshoot to explain the "Dwigt" situation clearly and concisely.[4] While editing the kiss between Michael and Jan, Greg Daniels brought many people into the editing room to see if they thought the kiss was too long or not long enough.[3]
The name of Michael's movie has been referenced several other times through the series. In the Season 3 episode "Product Recall", Michael frantically states that, due to the amount of angry customers, the office "is put at Threat Level Midnight." Michael's screenplay was eventually turned into a home movie, and is viewed by the entire office in the Season 7 episode "Threat Level Midnight."
"The Client" received 3.8/9 in the ages 18–49 demographic in the Nielsen ratings. This means that 3.8 percent of all households with an 18 to 49 year-old living in it watched the episode, and nine percent with their TV on were watching it. "The Client" was watched by 7.5 million viewers.[6]
TV Squad's Michael Sciannamea wrote that Michael is "totally taken with himself", but still "has shown us his vulnerabilities", which for Sciannamea is "what makes this sitcom so compelling". Sciannamea did point out that this is the second week in a row that "Pam is offended by something Jim has said or done", which in his mind "will get tiresome quickly if it continues".[7] "Miss Alli" of TelevisionWithoutPity.com graded the episode with a "B+".[8]
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