The Promotion (The Office)

"The Promotion" is the 3rd episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 103rd episode overall.^[1] It was written and directed by Jennifer Celotta and originally aired in the United States on NBC on October 1, 2009.

The series—presented as if it were a real documentary—depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, the office struggles to deal with having both Michael and Jim as managers, with Dwight trying to manipulate the office into thinking that Jim will be a horrible boss. Meanwhile, Pam tries to get people to give money as a wedding gift.

Synopsis

The office is still trying to adjust to having both Michael (Steve Carell) and Jim (John Krasinski) as bosses, with Jim getting a newly built personal office space in the main section. Michael and Jim constantly find themselves at odds with each other as Michael keeps having "conference room meetings" while Jim wants to keep productivity in the office place. They get a call from CFO David Wallace (Andy Buckley) who tells them that not everyone in the branch will get their desired raise and that they will have to decide how to disperse it amongst the employees. Michael gets annoyed when Jim keeps making pros and cons lists for each idea. Jim decides to give the raises to the sales staff since they bring money to the company. Michael is against the idea, but invites Jim to announce it to the office.

Jim tells the office that they are only going to give raises to the sales staff, which clearly upsets the non-sales staff. Dwight (Rainn Wilson), not wanting Jim as a boss, complains about the unfairness of Jim's decision despite being a salesperson. Michael, who was scoffing at Jim, is then asked to give his idea, but he does not speak coherently about it, leading everyone to say that Jim was at least being direct despite having a bad idea. Michael and Jim go back into the conference room to decide how to handle the raise issue. They ultimately decide that the raises should be performance-based, and decide to take turns placing beans on employee pictures to determine who deserves them. Jim believes that it is a good idea, but when Michael and Jim leave the conference room, Dwight goes into the conference room and shows the employees their plan. Everyone gets upset at Michael and Jim for this, particularly Pam (Jenna Fischer), whose picture did not have any beans, as Jim was trying to remain unbiased.

With the entire office now upset with both Michael and Jim, Dwight uses this opportunity to start an uprising against Jim personally. However, everyone in the office refuses to as they are more concerned about the raise issue. Michael then goes into Jim's office to check on him. Michael explains he felt terrible having to make those kinds of decisions on his own and he leaves to get Jim something. Jim comments that Michael is currently his only friend in the office at the moment, as everyone else, even probably Pam, is upset at him about the raise situation. Michael returns to give Jim his own new "World's Best Boss" mug and they share some gin together.

Meanwhile, Pam is trying to discreetly ask everyone to give cash as wedding gifts instead of actual gifts. She first tries Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) to no avail. She then manages to get Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) to write her a check, and starts to feel guilty about asking people for simple cash, but she gets ecstatic when she sees that the check is made out to "Mrs. Pam Halpert". At the end of the episode, Ryan (B. J. Novak) gives her an offer of either having $100 now or $5,000 in a year. She initially wants the $100, but after he tells her about an algorithm that can determine the winner of any college basketball game, she agrees to the $5,000. However, this allegedly requires a $50 investment from her, which she gives, later regretting it.

Cultural references

While discussing the rivalry between Michael and Jim, Kelly compares them to Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, the co-stars of the reality show, The Simple Life. She also compares them to Heidi Montag and Lauren Conrad of the reality show, The Hills, concluding "Heidi's a bad friend, and her skin is terrible". When sarcastically praising the decision to establish two co-managers, Oscar points to the example of the "two Popes", referring to the leader of the Catholic Church. While discussing her preference for money rather than wedding gifts, Pam said, "Why can't Crate & Barrel let you register for a toaster full of cash."^[2]

Reception

In its original American broadcast on October 1, 2009, "The Promotion" was seen by 7.28 million households, according to Nielsen ratings. It was a drop in viewership compared to the previous week's episode, "The Meeting". "The Promotion" received a 3.7 rating/10 share among viewers aged between 18 and 49.^[3] The episode received generally mixed reviews. Several commentators specifically praised the scene in which Meredith and Creed reveal they previously had sex.^[2][4][5][6]

Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club said the episode "represented both a return to The Office's roots and a bold look at what the future holds for the Dunder-Mifflin gang" due to the Michael and Jim co-manager arrangement. Rabin praised the episode's "sharp little character moments", like Oscar's deadpan speeches and Ryan's gambling schemes.^[7] IGN writer Dan Phillips said the episode further developed the relationship between Jim and Michael, and Phillips liked that they found common ground at the end. He also praised "laugh-out-loud gags", like the fact the revelation about Creed and Meredith.^[4]

New York magazine writer Will Leitch said it was smart to make Jim a smug, flawed manager, and said "it was impossible not to love the quiet final scene with Michael and Jim bonding over the hatred their co-workers feel for them".^[5] Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly said the episode felt like a "placeholder", although she said it improved upon a second viewing. Lyons said the episode had some good moments, "none of these moments seemed tied to the main plot" and was "basically just killing a week until The Big Wedding Episode OMG next Thursday".^[2] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger said "The Promotion" did not live up to a "promising new dynamic" between Michael and Jim set up in the previous episode, "The Meeting". However, Sepinwall said he liked the gifts subplot with Pam, and said Dwight's new role as "the office insurrectionist" has promise.^[6]

References

External links

• "The Promotion" at NBC.com
• "The Promotion" at the Internet Movie Database