My Top 5 Best And Top 5 Most Painful Episodes of The Office

Once upon a time in the earlier days of the 21st century, Ricky Gervais created a British sitcom about the day-to-day lives of office employees called The Office. Even through it only lasted for two seasons, it became one of the most successful British comedy exports. Years after the show ended, it was remade into different versions in many other countries. But none of them made such a large and remarkable impact as the version that was made in the United States. This version of The Office gave so many characters - sometimes to hate with all our hearts, but in most cases were made for us to love to no end - and had comedy, drama, romance, and a lot of it was done exceptionally well. But as the years have gone by like leaves in the wind, it has become less interesting and tragically keeps making more seasons when it has painfully overstayed its welcome. Few words can really describe how sad that this once classical show has now become a bland, boring,  and uninspi-

 

What? It's finally over!?! As in it ended a couple of weeks ago !?!?! OH PRAISE MY MASTER ALMIGHTY, THE EARTH IS FILLED WITH HIS GLORY AS IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Oh don't get me wrong. It was a very good show - one of NBC's best. But...well...there's no other way to look at it except that it just had the freaking go. After Pam and Jim finally got married and had their first child not too long afterwords, the series really did start to annoyingly overstay its welcome. The stories really did become less interesting, the comedy was less clever, the rest of the show as a whole didn't really give us any more real juice under the debatable exception of the last couple of episodes of Michael in Season 7 and most of the second half of season 9. But however you view its later years, The Office as a whole was a great show that had some brilliant and unforgettable jokes, great acting when it came to both the comedic and dramatic moments, and some of the best romance that you could ever watch. But as entertaining as it is, it sadly also brings out some of the most annoying, awkward, and altogether unbearable moments ever seen in either TV or film. What some of us might find very funny to watch with characters like Michael, Dwight and Andy, the rest of us may sometimes if not often find to be pure torture to watch. So now that The Office has finally kicked the bucket, it's time to take a look at The best and most painful (because worst...just doesn't really express it) episodes of The Office.  

The Top 5 Most Painful Episodes

5) Sexual Harassment.

Now to be fair with this episode, the jokes that are done by Jim are pretty funny and the part where Pam's mom comes to visit is pretty cool too. The rest of the episode on the other hand...just no. The story starts off with corporate having Toby make a 5 minute review of the company's sexual harassment policy. Michael greatly dislikes this as he really likes making sex jokes and sending trashy e-mails, so he tries to fight against it. Who can really blame why people dislike this particular episode? Not only are the jokes not funny (again, Jim's jokes are the exception to that), but the episode is probably among the episodes that are very horrific to watch when it comes to Michael. From bringing a blow up doll in the middle of the review, to bringing a lawyer to fight against Jan her lawyer (well I don't know if a lot of people dislike that, but I personally always hated that part when it comes to how irritatingly far Michael goes), to trying to make Phyllis feel attractive by saying he hopes he doesn't get a boner from her, Michael just takes the whole episode and makes it unbearable, awkward and just brutal to watch. Plus we are introduced to Todd Packer in this episode, and while he gets much worse as the show goes on, the hate against him all started right here.



4) Gay Witch Hunt and The Convict

When it came to organizing the most painful episodes I ended deciding to just make a tie with these two episodes because in terms of structure and what we more or less put up with from Michael, they're kind of actually the same. Michael discovers something really personal about one of his employees (Oscar is a homosexual and Martin is a former criminal) and starts spreading the news all over the office, he then starts a meeting in the conference room where he starts to truly make the whole things a way bigger deal then it is, does something excruciatingly painful to watch and it results in that employee leaving the office. (Oscar gets a three month paid vacation and Martin just quits.) Now there's some funny moments too. Dwight pretending to be sad Jim left and Jim putting Andy's calculator in Jello in Gay Witch Hunt are both pretty funny. And Jim giving Andy false information about Pam when he tries to pursue her in The Convict is something Pam and Jim fans have to just love watching. But again, when Michael makes both matters a way bigger deal then you want it to be, you just can't believe what you are watching. In Gay Witch Hunt, he over does his claim that he's okay with homosexuals by kissing Oscar, which...is probably a bit more awkward and disturbing then it most likely sounds. And in The Convict when the employees discover that prison sounds way better then the office, he tries to convince them otherwise by creating the persona of "Prison Mike" where he "explains" how horrible prison is, and when that doesn't work, he just locks everyone in the conference room until they decide that the office is better. Which of these moments do you find unbearable is completely up to you, but they're both great examples of how Michael can learn one thing about a person and just make it uncomfortable for everyone.



3) Mafia

 If you look up worst episode of The Office on Goggle, the episode that you will most commonly find in the lists that you see on just the first page is this particular episode. And taking another look at it, I can see why. A insurance salesman comes to Michael's office and just because of his last name and how he looks and acts, Dwight and Andy are convinced that he is actually part of the mafia. So all three of them try to decide what to do and eventually try to face the salesman at a lunch meeting with Andy dressed as a mechanic. This is an episode that shows not only how Michael can be gullible and take things the wrong way, but just how he and Dwight and Andy are all idiots. Most if not all of these other lists that have this for one of the worst episodes point out how we need Pam and Jim to balance things out since during this whole episode, they are on their honeymoon. And they are absolutely right. There isn't really anybody else in the office that really gives out a plain and clear voice of reason like Pam and Jim do individually or together. Granted, other people in the office discuss the possibility the likeliness that the salesman isn't part of the mob, but no one really makes a clear opposition to Michael, Dwight and Andy's claims. Plus we also really needed either Pam or Jim or both in terms of comedy because I can't think of anything that was particularly funny. And the whole mix up with Jim's credit card because of Kevin just doesn't make things better. So with Michael, Dwight and Andy acting like morons with no one to really stop them, Mafia is a painful episode to end up in my list as well.



2) Phyllis's Wedding

Now I consider Season 3 to probably be the best season when it comes to a lot of the comedy and the big moments that happens between a lot of the main characters. But as painful as some episodes from that season have easily become like with Gay Witch Hunt and The Convict, I think I can more or less put up with them compared to this one. In this episode, Phyllis is getting married to Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration. (I hope everyone who watched the show enjoyed what I did there.) And Phyllis asked Michael to push her father's wheelchair down the aisle at the wedding. Michael takes this as something that's going to be the highlight of the wedding, but when her father decides to amazingly get off his chair halfway down the aisle and walks Phyllis to the alter by himself, Michael feels upstaged and starts becoming petulant over the whole matter by making an embarrassing toast in order to try to still be the highlight of the wedding resulting in him getting thrown out of the reception. Now Michael making a fool of himself in the office is one thing, but when he's trying to get everyone's attention like a little kid at something like a wedding, that's just wrong. Because it really is embarrassing and awkward, and is just too much to bare. That is the kind of moment where I either fast forward, hide under a pillow or otherwise just run out of the room until it is over whenever I get to that scene. It truly hurts to watch this episode, but it's NOTHING compared to my #1 most painful episode of The Office.




1) Scott's Tots

Mother fricker why would anyone in heaven's name create this episode? Just...you...why...toast...you know what I'll just get to the plot out of the way. 10 years ago, Michael made a promise to a class of 3rd graders that if they all graduate high school, he will pay for all of their college tuition due to his belief that he will be very rich by the time that happened. This unsurprisingly bites him in the rear like nobody's business as it has been ten years and all of those children have pushed themselves to graduate high school and invite him to come to their high school and display their undeniable gratitude, not knowing that Michael can't keep his promise as he his not rich like the believed he would be. How should I begin to possibly describe how brutal this episode is? Because ultimately while this episode got high ratings and people on the internet have different choices as to which episode is the worst or the most painful, the undeniable truth is that deep down, everyone and their dog knows that this one is the worst. It just tears you apart at how stupid Michael is and just how sick and wrong the entire situation is. What makes this worse is how the children even created a song and dance number to show their appreciation, and considering the entire situation, it has to be one of the most disturbing songs you've ever heard. If that song reaches your mind for any reason, you have to immediately sing something random but catchy to keep it from staying in your mind and haunting you for only heaven knows how long. I know part of the purpose of the episode seem to be to show how sad it is that Michael's dreams have not come true and all that, but the truth is we don't need this episode for that. You know why? BECAUSE THEY ALREADY FRICKING DID IT!!!!!! In Take Your Daughter to Work Day, Michael begins to realize that he hasn't come close to his dream to marry and have 100 kids. And when that happened, we felt dreadfully bad for him. In here they're just taking one of his dreams and shoving it right in everyone's face - just torturing us slowly but deeply as the episode goes on. And to top it all there's a prank that Dwight pulls on Jim while all of this is happening, and while it's not completely as sick and wrong, it's also very painful to watch. All this and a little bit more is why Scott's Tots is and truthfully always will be the most painful episode of The Office.



Dishonorable Mention: While my decisions are final with the top most painful, some of my friends have pointed out that a fair portion of Season 9 has been a torture. Because during a good portion of Season 9, Jim is offered an entrepreneurial sports job that was created from an idea that he and an old college friend had. Throughout the season, Jim and Pam start having a lot of fights over the entire matter and the worst of that is in Customer Loyalty where they get in a extremely brutal and devastating fight. While this isn't painful as far as being very uncomfortable goes like the episodes I went with, it still is painful to watch considering that all we've been through with Jim and Pam seems to be on dangerously thin ice. These moments were heartbreaking, uneasy and just horrid to watch to the point that even if it's not on the list, we still have to recognize them for what they did to us during the final season.    






The Top 5 Best Episodes

5) Beach Games

Like I said when I began to talk about Phyllis's Wedding, I consider season 3 to be the best when it comes to its comedy and big moments that happen to some of the main characters. And one of the best examples of that is in Beach Games. In this episode, Michael learns that he's a candidate for a job at corporate. So he decides to use Beach Day for the entire office as a chance to create a competition on deciding who will take his place as manager if he gets the job. So he selects Andy, Dwight and Jim as candidates and has them form their own teams with other employees; Team U.S.A. for Andy, Team Griffindor for Dwight, and Team Voldemort for Jim (you can guess the kind of jokes are pulled from those names.) And from egg and spoon races to inflatable sumo wrestling matches, we get some really funny jokes. The best one is probably where Jim thought he was going to die during his sumo match against Stanley. It's also an episode that just helped bring up the suspense of not just the possibility of Michael leaving, but the good ol' love triangle between Jim, Pam and Karen. But the best part of the episode is in the very end. When no one else takes Michael's challenge to walk across hot coals, Pam takes the challenge without anyone noticing and as a result of feeling great from the experience, she makes this speech in front of everyone just pouring out her feelings. I still remember seeing this episode for the first time with my mom rewinding that scene a couple of times just loving that moment and cheering Pam on. All this and more makes Beach Games the right episode to be #5 on the list.

 

4) Halloween

Some of the best moments of the show are when it's Halloween and all the characters dress up. Because who didn't get a kick out of later Halloweens where we have Ryan as Edward Cullen, Jim as a "face"book or Kevin, Creed and Dwight all dressed as Heath Ledger's Joker at the same time? And we all owe our thanks to the episode actually titled Halloween. A good portion of the most memorable jokes and creativity from the show revolves around what everyone is dressed as for Halloween. Dwight is a Sith Lord, Kelly is Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, Pam, Phyllis and Angela are all cats, Jim is a "three-hole punched Jim" (it's better explained if you've seen the episode), and so on and so forth. We also get another classic prank against Dwight and a little more of Pam and Jim together which is awesome considering that this was just the fifth episode of season 2/11th episode of the whole series. Now the main story to this episode I'm not too fond of - especially with how it ends, and I feel there are people who feel the same more or less. But it's still one of the funniest and is an altogether classic episode from the show.

3) The Return

Yeah let's face it, we all know the main reason why this is in the list. It's because of Andy putting his fist through the wall. I mean come on, who the heck didn't laugh that he punched the wall? Not to mention Jim's reaction to it which was just priceless. But that's not necessarily the only reason why this episode is on this list. The story plays a great factor into it as well. In the previous episode, Andy tricks Michael into suspecting Dwight for disloyalty. And since the only way to clear his name would also reveal his secret relationship with Angela (which she disapproves), he decides to resign. So Dwight is working at Staples while Andy takes his place and tries to be Michael's new best friend and start to annoy the crap out of everyone. Now sure we may have started to care for Andy a little bit eventually in later episodes when he started dating Erin the first time and all that, but this is a perfect example of how he had come a long way to be likable in any way. Because I think Andy is probably the one of very first if not THE first character that we had come to really deeply hate. I mean again, he gets better later on and we get way worse characters like Charles Miner, but before all of that, there was Andy. So this was a great episode to watch story wise because the office was facing the currently most hated person in the show to date at the time and how it turns out is not only funny but it has a great ending. The story also works as a touching addition to the story line of Dwight and Angela's relationship and the love triangle between Jim, Pam and Karen. 

2) Stress Relief

Part of why I put this episode on the list is because its the one that got me and my whole family into the show. But that doesn't mean there aren't justified reasons to putting it so high. Heck, the first five minutes is completely hysterical. Dwight starts a fire in a trash can and locks all the doors and cuts the wires for the phones in attempt to teach the employees for not taking his fire safety seminars seriously. And what happens when everyone thinks it's an actual fire is just laughing-your-butt-off great stuff. The best line from the episode is probably during the very end of that whole scene where Michael is trying to wake Stanley up when he gets a heart attack. During the rest of this two part episode, we get a little more of Dwight causing trouble again by destroying a CPR dummy but afterwords the whole thing is never brought up again...which is weird, but it gets replaced with Michael eventually deciding to cheer everyone up by making a comedic roast of himself to try to cheer the office up. Even thought I didn't know any of these characters the first time I saw this episode, that didn't stop some of the really big jokes from the roast being any less funny. We also get more romance from Pam and Jim that turns out really touching and also a guest-star-filled-video that some of the staff watch that...while is a sort of strange kind of thing to get in a Office episode, does have its funny moments. Stress Relief as a whole has a great story...or sets of stories with touching romance and exceptional comedy that you don't really get in any other episode of The Office.

1) The Job

I picked this episode for one main reason: it gave us the end of the long wait of Pam and Jim finally getting together. I mean the rest of the episode is great too. The comedy for sure has classic moments like the Schrute Buck, Stanley Nickels, and of course Creed's blog; www.creedthoughts.gov.www/ creedthoughts. It had a very big story with Michael, Jim and Karen all trying to get the position for cooperate while Michael gets back with Jan because of her breast implants (loved how Pam and Jim reacted to that). But it's the very end when Jim asks Pam to dinner that just makes this episode great. Because at this point we've gone through three seasons of Pam being engaged to Roy, Jim confessing is love only to be shot down, Jim leaving Scranton and then coming back dating Karen, Pam's speech during the end of Beach Games and a whole bunch of other great moments. But after all that on top of Jim interviewing for that job to build up the suspense even more, we at last see them start a beautiful relationship that we've all grown to love so well throughout the show. This two-part season finale was well acted, well written, very funny and just gave us one big story that ended with our favorite couple finally getting together at last. And that's why The Job is in my opinion the number 1 episode of The Office.

Honorable Mentions: The Negotiation was a great episode for getting rid of Roy for good (aside from appearing in a couple of episodes) and getting more of the romance between Dwight and Angela. Niagra had Jim and Pam getting married... I'll just leave it at that, the last episodes of Michael had him finally getting engaged to Holly and all the employees saying goodbye we're very emotional, and the second half of Season 9 was funny and it more or less wrapped up all the remaining stories like Erin finding her parents and Dwight and Angela getting married. The last episode gave the series a very emotional and at some points exciting ending. Michael even came back during the wedding where we learn he and Holly have kids which is wonderful. (But we didn't see Holly come with him with the kids. What's up with that?) Even if none of them where the greatest episodes even made, they still gave us a lot and that's why they are at least  honorably mentioned.

So that's all the best and most painful episodes of The Office. And looking back, it really was a good show. Even if it's not one of my personal all time favorite due to how it really was painful in a lot of cases that mostly have to do with Michael, it still was a creative show that gave us so many characters to love or hate, jokes that we don't ever want to forget, romantic moments that deeply touched our hearts, and just one show that had great run and will most likely will be remembered for a very, very long time.

Now if you excuse me, I need to hold my stuffed Snoopy and sing a My Little Pony song swinging back and forth to keep my sanity in check for so much as remembering that Scott's Tots even existed let alone talked about it. So I'll see you guys next time when I officially know that my brain is not terribly damaged from bringing back mental scars.