The Office “Employee Transfer” Recap

So it was fun while it lasted Holly. My digital cable interactive guide informs me that Michael and Holly have gotten some bad news since the conclusion of last episode, when David Wallace saw them kissing. And Toby has been exec producing all along, so I should have figured he’d be back. Also on this week’s episode, Scranton’s annual costume party, Pam is the only one at Corporate in a costume, and Dwight is going to make Andy’s head explode. For a list of this year’s 5 best Halloween costumes with pictures and the conclusion of all these story lines, click that jump.

The Top 5 Dunder-Mifflin Halloween Costumes

I liked how they handled Halloween this year. The costumes had to make an appearance because they are always so funny, but the costumes disappeared from the show after the introduction. So without further ado, the five best as decided by the DCJ HCS (Halloween Costume Series) statistical analysis software.

1) Creed comes in dressed as an excellent rendition of Heath Ledger’s Joker, which trumps Kevin’s Joker: “Dammit Creed, I’ve been up since 4AM.” Later we see Dwight is the Joker too and probably has the most accurate costume. I still liked Creed better. I know that’s three, but it’s also one. The new math. (There’s always next year, Rays.)

2) Andy is an unaware-of-just-how-not-straight-it-makes-him-look Mr. Mephistopheles.

3) Pam is Charlie Chaplin at Corporate. No one else in that office dressed up for Halloween. But she can’t remove her hat because then she is Hitler.

4) Jim is Dave. His costume consists of a “Hello – My Name Is” sticker with Dave written on it.

5) Kelly is the most horrific Sarah Jessica Parker from “Sex in the City” ever. Ryan is Gordon Gekko. Kelly: “Oh, like the car insurance commercials.” I know, that’s two, but I make the rules in this list.

Alternate Titles: Schrute v. Bernard; Jim’s Totally Unfunny Brothers

Dwight shows up in a Cornell sweatshirt to provoke Andy and it works like a charm. Andy insists that Dwight take the sweatshirt off because “those colors are sacred.” Dwight tells him that he is applying to Cornell. Andy is not amused, but everyone else is.

Darryl is driving Michael and Holly to Holly’s reassignment in Nashua, New Hampshire, because they have decided a seven hour drive will not keep them apart. They sing “Life is a Highway” by Tom Cochrane in very lively fashion, having a good time with the road trip.

Dwight accosts Andy in the break room to give him more hell about Cornell. Andy’s angry, I hope he refrains from putting any holes in the walls of the office.

Pam invites Jim’s brothers to go out to lunch and meets up with them beforehand to plan a practical joke to play on Jim. Instead of Pam’s lost engagement ring practical joke, they decide to just pick on her for being an artist, which they assure her will really bug Jim. She thinks they had planned it beforehand.

Back on the road Michael awakens with a scream; he was “having a nightmare,” which surprises Holly and Darryl because he had been talking a few minutes prior. Michael wants to pull over and find a Bed & Breakfast where he and Holly can meet in the middle of Scranton and Nashua every weekend.

Jim shows up, feels very stuffy.

There’s no bed like Michael had anticipated. Nor is there a breakfast place “with really good bacon.” This can not end well.

Back in the truck, Tom Cochrane is playing again, Michael says, “OK, fourth time is a charm,” and bumbles over the introductory lyrics. Holly starts crying and Michael’s first assumption on the cause: “Did Darryl touch you?”

After a commercial break, Holly thinks that there is too much distance between them for their relationship to work. Michael says that he is not going to give up that easy, he’s going to “make it way harder than it needs to be.”

Dwight hangs a Cornell pennant above his desk, again making Andy’s skin crawl.

Creed gets in on the aggravating Andy act; on the pennant: “It’s pronounced colonel, it’s the highest rank in the military.”

Next to Dwight’s bobblehead of himself he has place a Cornell bobble bear. Andy’s starting to lose it: “That’s a big red bear, that’s a bobble big red bear! God!”

Holly is again trying to convince Michael that the logistics just don’t work out for them to continue the relationship that has only lasted a couple weeks, Michael says his wish is for her to meet a great guy, and incidentally that dream has come true, because she met him. This is going to get ugly.

Jim’s brothers are giving Pam a hard time and Jim, as predicted, gets offended. Both brothers make faces at the camera just like Jim.

Back in the van, Michael has reached desperation mode: “We’re like peanut butter and jelly,” a reference to the Pam Beasley and Jim shippers out there. Michael continuously pleads to no avail. He starts crying and says he will go back to Jan because he is not strong, though he hates Jan. Darryl is highly uncomfortable, calls a friend who doesn’t pick up, leaves a random message ending in, “Please, please call me back.”

We next see Dwight and Andy in the hall where Dwight asks: “Which acapella group should I join at Cornell, the Harmoniacs, or the Do Re Amigos?” Andy informs Dwight that he contacted Cornell and will conduct Dwight’s interview and, of course not let him in. Dwight wants to do the interview anyways.

After a commercial break Andy tells us Dwight has a “none percent chance” of getting in to Cornell.

In the interview room, Andy sits behind a table holding a legal pad, across from Dwight in the authoritarian position. Dwight’s application asked who his role models were and he answered: “Dane Cook, Jack Bauer and Eli Whitney…” Andy reads this and says, “You’re doing great.”

Jim’s brother is showing off a picture of his daughter playing trumpet, and the other brother says, “She’s not considering music as like a professional thing, though,” again prodding about Pam’s interest in art.

Jim’s other brother: “There are jobs and there are hobbies.” Pam looks as if she is going to cry, and then they call off the prank, finding it way funnier than Jim, Pam, or anyone else who watched the show.

Dwight evaluates Andy on his evaluation, they have an evaluate-off which culminates with Andy taking the note: “Applicant has a head shaped like a trapezoid.” Then they battle over the table and the right to end the interview, both saying each other’s affiliation with Cornell would end there because of that interview. Angela wasn’t even in the episode, but for a couple of sarcastic rolls of her eyes.

Darryl is carrying all of Holly’s stuff inside, tells Michael he can get the other dolly from the truck, but Michael is too distraught.

Pam explains the prank she had actually planned to Jim. He says, “Truthfully anything would have been better than that prank.” Pam says, “How about at Thanksgiving we ‘prank’ Tom about being bald.”

Michael decides to not stay the weekend, but instead to go back with Darryl, then Michael and Holly share a heartfelt hug and good-bye.

In the truck, Darryl says “That was hard, Mike, breakups hurt.” Michael still refuses to believe: “We didn’t breakup.” Darryl: “It looked like it. Sometimes when I’m down like this it helps to sing the blues.” Darryl is trying his best to comfort Michael, but Michael doesn’t understand the call and response nature of the blues, and just keeps repeating the twelve-bar backup with varied inflections. Darryl gives in and decides to indulge him.

After the final commercial, Andy shows up dressed in overalls with no undershirt and a straw hat, holding a basket full of beets. He throws one to Dwight, tries to take a spiteful bite out of one, then says, “You’re supposed to cook these, aren’t you?”

Here’s the full episode.