Suit Warehouse

"Suit Warehouse"
The Office episode
Episode no. Season 9
Episode 11
Directed by Matt Sohn
Written by Dan Greaney
Production code 9012[1]
Original air date January 17, 2013[1]
Running time 22 minutes
Guest actors

"Suit Warehouse" is the eleventh episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the 187th episode overall. The episode was written by Dan Greaney and directed by Matt Sohn. It original aired on National Broadcasting Company (NBC) on January 17, 2013.

The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In the episode, Clark returns from his stint as Jan's sexual assistant and Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) enlists his help; the two pose as a father and son so that they can successfully sell to the owner of a suit warehouse. Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) travels to Philadelphia with Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) to interview at Jim's new company. Meanwhile, Pam starts to realize that her family may have to leave Scranton.

"Suit Warehouse" received mainly positive reviews from critics. The episode was also viewed by 4.15 million viewers and received a 2.1/5 percent rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, ranking second in its timeslot. The episode ultimately ranked as the highest-rated NBC series of the night.

Plot

Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) is off to Philadelphia to interview at Jim Halpert's (John Krasinski) new company, Athlead, and Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) decides she wants to come along, since office manager Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) is still not back from his sailboat excursion. Upon leaving, Pam asks Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) to take care of a shipment of pens in lieu of her. While on the drive, Darryl opens to Pam that he is worried about the interview since his last attempt at one (for the job Andy currently holds, which he interviewed for in "Search Committee") ended up in failure. Pam assures him he will do well. At Jim's new company, Pam gives Darryl a thumbs up as he heads into the interview room, and then is chatted up by an employee who says "Jim speaks about you all the time" and we "can't wait for you to move here." Since Pam thinks of Jim as living in Scranton and commuting here, the thought of moving to Philly worries her. Meanwhile, Darryl initially fumbles his interview due to nerves and him feeling inadequate, but everyone else helps calm him down, and he makes a strong reversal. After having a successful interview, Darryl accidentally kills several fish in the interview room fish tank with a basketball and light fixture. Worried that he has blown his shot, he and Pam begin to complain about how Philly is actually awful. Jim returns to inform Darryl that although he will have to replace the fish, he has the job. During the drive home, Darryl celebrates his new job and how awesome Philly will be while Pam, looking anxious, worries about where she and her family will be in the future.

At Dunder-Mifflin, Clark (Clark Duke) returns from his stint as Jan Levenson's (Melora Hardin) sexual assistant. Despite the awkward past couple of weeks, Jan has purchased an espresso machine, and the rest of the office jumps on the opportunity to 'test' out several espresso flavors. Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) enlists Clark's help to snag a newly freed account at a suit warehouse; the two will pose as a father and son so that they can successfully sell to the Stones; father and son owners of the warehouse. Dwight leads off on how proud he is of Clark to elder Stone (Ed Lauter), hoping he can wrap up an easy sale. When the elder Stone reveals that his son has forced him out of the lead of the company, Clark takes the lead and makes the sale to the younger Stone (Will Greenberg). Both Dwight and Clark also buy a suit from the company to celebrate their team sale.

Back at the office, the entire staff have drunk multiple cups of espresso and initially experience a caffeine rush along with a powerful surge in office productivity. As the rush dies down, they all begin to sweat profusely, become highly irritable and argumentative, and begin to frantically tear up the carpet of the office to reveal the hardwood underneath and try to relocate the copy machine to another position at the same time. Just things begin to escalate, Stanley points out that it is five o'clock and everybody immediately leaves the office, leaving it in total disarray. When Pam and Darryl arrive back from Philadelphia, they are bewildered by the sight they encounter. A leaving Erin, queried by Pam about what happened, frustratedly blames the whole situation on the shipment of pens she was asked to handle, which she has taken care of with obsessive and disproportionate dutifulness throughout the day, due to her nervousness around Pete Miller (Jake Lacy), causing her a great deal of stress.

Production

"Suit Warehouse" was written by consulting producer Dan Greaney, his second writing credit for the series, after "Mrs. California".[2][3] The episode was also directed by Matt Sohn, his seventh directorial effort for the series, following the ninth season entry, "Roy's Wedding".[3] The episode features the return of series regular Clark Duke, having previously left for several episodes in order to film Kick-Ass 2.[4] The episode is the fourth not to feature Andy Bernard (Ed Helms). Helms left the series temporarily, in the seasons sixth episode, "The Boat", in order to film The Hangover Part III.[5]

The official website of The Office included several cut scenes from "Suit Warehouse" within a week of the episode's release. In the first 64-second clip, more scenes of the effect of the espresso machine are seen and the increased productivity from the Scranton branch.[6] In the second 47-second clip, Erin grows ecstatic when the pens are finally delivered.[7] In the third 80-second clip, the Scranton branch gets distracted on their smartphones.[8]

Cultural references

When Oscar gets excited about drinking all the types of espresso, he shouts "YOLO", a carpe diem-esque phrase popularized by the song "The Motto" by Canadian rapper Drake.[9] Pam calls Jim "Gumby with hair" to calm down a nervous Darryl; this is a reference to the green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey, who also created Davey and Goliath.[10] Both Pam and Darryl marvel at how Jim has managed to "Zuckerberg" his new office, a reference to Mark Zuckerberg, the American programmer and internet entrepreneur, who founded Facebook.[10]

Broadcast and reception

Ratings

"Suit Warehouse" originally aired on NBC on January 17, 2013.[1] In its original American broadcast, the episode was viewed 4.15 million viewers and received a 2.1 rating/5 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.[11] This means that it was seen by 2.1 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 5 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. The Office ranked second in its timeslot, being beaten by an episode of the ABC series Grey's Anatomy which received a 3.0 rating/8% share.[11] In addition, The Office was the highest-rated NBC television program on the night it aired.[11]

Reviews

The episode featured the return of Clark Duke, who received positive reviews for his performance and storyline.

IGN writer Cindy White criticized the espresso subplot and the episode in general, for the lack of authority in the office, due to Jim, Andy and Pam leaving the office.[9] She also went on further, calling the plot to similar to the season five episode, "Cafe Disco".[9] Despite this she complimented use of the ensemble players throughout the plot and praised the Dwight-Clark storyline, comparing it positively to the season three episode, "Traveling Salesmen".[9] She also compared the Jim-Darryl-Pam storyline to the style of the early seasons, writing that it "was the stuff of classic office, making you cringe as you are forced watch someone digging a hole deeper and deeper for himself".[9] She ultimately gave the episode a 7.5/10, calling it "Good".[9] Damon Houx of Screen Crush called the episode "solid" and praised the use of the whole ensemble cast.[12] He also complimented the build-up towards a future conflict between Jim and Pam, and said that while he is "still waiting for the show to hit the gravitational pull of wrapping up" and that the show "probably should have ended three years ago", the episode was still good.[12] New York writer Michael Tedder wrote that the episode had a nice balance of cringe humor, particularly in Darryl's job interview for Athlead.[10] He also praised the set-up for the Dwight-Clark subplot, saying that the plotline was perfect for their dynamic and couldn't work with previous seasons.[10] He was also complimentary towards the espresso subplot and ultimately gave the episode four out of five stars.[10]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Shows A–Z – Office, The on NBC". The Futon Critic. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  2. ↑ Dan Greaney (writer); Charlie Grandy (director) (January 10, 2013). "Mrs. California". The Office. Season 8. Episode 9. NBC.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dan Greaney (writer); Matt Sohn (director) (January 17, 2013). "Suit Warehouse". The Office. Season 9. Episode 11. NBC.
  4. ↑ Houx, Damon (December 7, 2012). "'The Office' Review: 'Dwight Christmas'". Screen Crush. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
  5. ↑ White, Cindy (November 9, 2012). "The Office: "The Boat" Review". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  6. ↑ "The Office - The Cappuccino Effect - Video". NBC.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  7. ↑ "The Office - Erin and The Pens - Video". NBC.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  8. ↑ "The Office - A Rough Afternoon - Video". NBC.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 White, Cindy (January 18, 2013). "The Office: "Suit Warehouse" Review". IGN. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Tedder, Michael (January 18, 2013). "The Office Recap: Schrute & Son". New York. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Kondolojy, Amanda (January 18, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Adjusted Up; ‘Rock Center’ Adjusted Down, No Adjustment for ‘American Idol’ - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Houx, Damon (January 17, 2013). "‘The Office’ Review: “Suit Warehouse”". Screen Crush. Retrieved January 27, 2013.

External links