To commemorate the upcoming fifth anniversary of the series finale of “The Office” I will be ranking all the episodes in the series. I watched through Netflix so I used their episode listings. For all two-part episodes, I watched and ranked them as one, so I came up with 185 episodes. I’ll have something to say about most episodes, even if it’s just a sentence or two. But there will be some where I’ll have no commentary. For any episodes that have identical ratings, it will just be a gut call on which gets placed higher. I will try to include some video clips, but NBC really bird dogs their content, so it might be hard to find videos to embed here.
We made it. It’s May 16, 2018. Five years to the day of The Office’s series finale. And here we are to finish off the rankings of every episode of the show with the top 20. We’ll be covering some real bangers. Not just all time episodes for The Office, but some all time sitcom episodes. Read and enjoy!
20) “Women’s Appreciation” Season 3, episode 21; 90/100 Phyllis gets flashed and Michael takes the women to the mall for a “Women’s Appreciation Day.” Dwight, with Andy in tow, starts a task force to try to find the culprit. “Better 1,000 innocent men are locked up than 1 guilty man roam free.”
While Michael and the women are at the mall, the guys left at the office check out the women’s restroom and find it surprisingly delightful. Until they see Creed come in.
At the mall, Michael realizes he wants to break up with Jan. He later does so. Over voicemail. As she walks arrives at the office to talk with him.
Pam gets to show off her art skill by making a sketch of the “suspect.”
19) “Safety Training” Season 3, episode 18; 90/100 It’s safety day in the office and the warehouse. Michael is upset that Darryl’s safety presentation was so much “cooler” than his was. He feigns depression in an attempt to make everyone think he’s going to jump off the roof of the building – onto a bouncy castle, no less.
The office staff gambles on mundane, everyday things in the office, in one of the better bits of the show’s run.
18) “The Return” Season 3, episode 13; 90/100 After Dwight quits, Andy’s sucking up efforts hit a new high (low?). In a funny bit of irony, even Michael notes how little self-awareness Andy has. Andy is proud of his new ringtone, too proud if you ask Jim. He hides it in the ceiling and Andy loses his mind when he can’t find it.
Oscar returns from his all-expenses paid vacation. There is a welcome back party planned, and of course Dwight thinks it’s for him after Michael convinces him to return to Dunder Mifflin.
17) “The Injury” Season 2, episode 12; 90/100 While the show had been solid up to this point, this is what I would consider the first (of many) great episode of the series. Michael burns his foot on his George Foreman grill. Dwight rushes out of the office to go to his aid, and in the process crashes his car and gets a concussion.
Michael is upset that people aren’t catering enough to his each and every need. He calls a disability awareness meeting, which goes about as well as you would expect it to.
16) “A.A.R.M” Season 9, episode 22; 91/100 The penultimate episode of the series. Dwight is manager, Jim is Assistant to the Regional Manager. Jim convinces Dwight he needs to name an Assistant to the Assistant to the Regional Manager (A.A.R.M). They run the employees through a series of tests to determine the most worthy candidate. Jim rigs the tests so that Dwight will name himself his own A.A.R.M.
Andy goes tries to get on an American Idol-esque singing show. Aaron Rodgers is one of the judges, and as much as the Minnesotan in me wants to hate the show for that, the guy’s pretty funny.
Jim makes Pam a video to show her just how much she means to him (hint: it’s everything) and he finally gives her the letter from the teapot from the season 2 episode Christmas Party.
Dwight proposes to Angela, who accepts.
15) “Dwight K. Schrute, Acting Manager” Season 7, episode 24; 92/100 This was an important episode for the show. It was the first true episode in the post-Michael Scott era (the preceding Will Ferrell episode, “The Inner Circle” was more of a filler). This was our first look at what the new-look show could be. And they nailed it.
Dwight makes tons of Dwight-like changes to the office, while Jim forms the counter-movement “The Fist.”
Dwight accidentally fires a gun in the office, ultimately putting an end to his short-lived reign as manager. The gun shot itself is great, but so is the sometimes-missed act of Dwight handing the gun off to Creed immediately after.
The episode ends with the most senior staff member being named temporary manager. And that staff member? Who else but Creed.
14) “Goodbye, Michael” Season 7, episode 22; 92/100 Michael gives his biggest clients to Andy, who promptly begins to lose them. But he does end up keeping one, by promising they would never have to deal with Deangelo again.
Michael tries to fit in all his goodbyes, including spending a loooooong time trying to hit a no-look shot on the warehouse basketball hoop. We get a very touching goodbye scene between Michael and Pam.
And that’s what this episode was about. It had its share of laughs, but it wasn’t especially funny as far as Office episodes go. But it was very sweet and touching, a great sendoff for both Michael Scott and Steve Carell.
13) “Baby Shower” Season 5, episode 4; 92/100 Michael has the Party Planning Committee plan a baby shower for Jan, even though Michael has as much connection to the baby as anyone else in the office (i.e. none). Michael’s delusion about the baby is classic Michael Scott and it plays perfectly, resulting in a great “baby daddy” conversation between him and Darryl.
Jan comes in with an expensive, top-of-the-line stroller, and Dwight takes it out to test throughout the day.
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Jim and Pam, still in New York, have a rare “off” day. But their mirroring voicemails at the end of the episode assure us they’re never too far off.
12) “Goodbye, Toby” Season 4, episode 14; 92/100 This marks the first appearance of Holly Flax, who Michael instantly falls for. Holly’s work ethic worries Creed.
Jim tries to plan his proposal to Pam for during Toby’s party, but Andy beats him to the punch, proposing to Angela.
11) “Beach Games” Season 3, episode 22; 92/100 Michael takes the office to the beach for a day of competition to determine who he will recommend as his replacement, should he get the corporate job. Jim and Karen take a call from Wallace, inviting them to also interview for the position.
Dwight does the coal walk in a bid for the manager job. It does not go well.
Pam does the coal walk and then gives an emotional speech, mostly directed to Jim. It was great seeing her have a moment like that, really standing strong and owning it.
10) “Traveling Salesman” Season 3, episode 12; 92/100 The sales staff goes out in teams of two on sales calls. Andy goes with Michael and blows the sale, all while trying to ingratiate himself with Michael. Jim and Dwight are together and crush their sales call. There’s never been a miss when those two team up together for anything. They didn’t overuse that as a plot device, which made the times they did use it even better.
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Earlier in the episode, Dwight had gone to corporate to drop off some tax forms Angela forgot to mail. Knowing the history between Michael and Dwight, Andy informs Michael of this. Not wanting to risk revealing his and Angela’s relationship, Dwight quits.
9) “Conflict Resolution” Season 2, episode 17; 92/100 This has always been one of my go-to episodes if I’m just going to pop into a quick episode. Sure it has some slower, awkward parts. But the scenes that are funny, are funny. The list of Jim’s pranks against Dwight, Jim making Dwight’s ID card, the “special file” Toby keeps for Dwight’s complaints against Jim, Michael forcing Oscar to wear Angela’s weird baby poster as a t-shirt.
8) “Dwight’s Speech” Season 2, episode 17; 92/100 After being named the Northeastern Pennsylvania Salesman of the Year, Dwight is tasked with making a speech. He is helped by Michael and Jim. Michael makes up a fake story about everyone getting raises. Dwight then follows by describing a fake car accident, finishing by saying there are no raises. Jim makes a Jim move and gives Dwight tips based on speeches made by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
Jim’s “help” actually ends up paying off and Dwight gives a rousing speech at the convention.
7) “Michael’s Birthday” Season 2, episode 19; 93/100 It’s Michael’s birthday and he’s upset nobody is making a big deal out of it. At the same time Kevin is awaiting test results to find out whether or not he has skin cancer. Michael takes everyone to a local skating rink for an “impromptu” birthday party. And surprise! Michael is actually an excellent skater.
Kevin gets a call confirming his health, but Michael does not know that a negative test result is a good thing.
Dwight gives Michael a great (from everyone but Michael’s perspective) birthday gift.
THE OFFICE — NBC Series — “Michael’s Birthday” — Pictured: (l-r) Steve Carell as Michael Scott, Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute — NBC Photo: Paul Drinkwater
6) “Stress Relief” Season 5, episodes 14/15; 94/100 Dwight takes over the First Aid meeting and goes full-Dwight on the practice dummy.
Andy, Jim, and Pam watch a pirated movie starring Jack Black and Cloris Leachman as the main love interests (side note: I would totally watch that movie). Pam’s parents are going through a tough time in their marriage and she and Jim discuss it during the movie. Andy thinks they’re talking about the movie and is amazed at their in-depth film analysis.
Michael lets the staff roast him.
After coming back, Michael in turn roasts the staff which gets everyone back to their normal selves.
(And no, I did not forget the outstanding cold open here. Since I’ll be doing a ranking of the top ones, I didn’t discuss any cold opens.)
5) “The Job” Season 3, episode 23; 94/100 Wallace interviews the candidates for the open position at corporate, which turns out to be Jan’s job. There are a lot of great moments that will be better served as pictures and videos.
Dwight chewing Big League Chew like tobacco.
Schrute Bucks and Stanley Nickels
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Wallace ends up offering the job to Ryan, proving that even someone who seemed to be above the nonsense at Dunder Mifflin could be an idiot sometimes.
And of course Jim finally asks Pam out on a date.
Also “Creed Thoughts”
4) “Casino Night” Season 2, episode 22; 94/100 Some big moments here. It’s a charity casino night at the warehouse and Michael inadvertently finds himself with two dates, in Jan and Carol.
Creed ends up the big winner of the night, though he was certainly helped by the fact that he was stealing chips all night.
One complaint I have to get out there. They’re playing Texas Hold ‘Em. Michael goes all-in on the first hand, pre-flop. Toby calls and flips over pocket Jacks. Michael gets up and walks away, which apparently means Toby wins. There were still five cards left to show! They didn’t even play the hand! Come on. I get it was meant for a quick moment of comedy, but still. It was lazy. Obviously not a big deal in the overall scheme of things. But it’s things like this that make me more upset than she should.
Jim finally works up the courage to tell Pam how he really feels about her. They end up kissing. Cut to black. What a way to end the season.
3) “Finale” Season 9, episode 23; 95/100 The series finale this highly ranked. It’s quite an achievement for any show, sitcom or otherwise, to have the finale turn out so well. Seinfeld resorted to a clip show. I’m still not over how bad How I Met Your Mother’s finale ended up being. (They had the perfect ending! Just stop filming a few minutes earlier! That’s all you had to do!) But I digress.
We catch up with the staff one year after he documentary aired. Creed faked his own death. Dakota Johnson (yes, that Dakota Johnson) is now employed at the Scranton branch. Kevin was fired and now owns a bar. Dwight is preparing for his bachelor, which is being planned by his best man: Jim Halpert.
Michael Scott returns briefly for Dwight’s wedding and it was handled perfectly. It was a natural moment, not forced at all.
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And there’s the oft-quoted line from Andy.
Pam sells their house so Jim can rejoin Athlead (now Athleap).
Just an awesome way to end an awesome show.
2) “Niagara” Season 6, episodes 4/5; 96/100 Jim and Pam finally tie the knot, another watershed moment for the show. So many memorable moments.
I can’t think of any moment in any show where I’ve laughed harder than I did the first I saw Dwight kick Isabel in the face.
And of course.
And with that we arrive at the #1 episode, the crème de la crème, the pinnacle of The Office. That’s right, we’re finally getting to
1) “Dinner Party” Season 4, episode 9; 97/100 What can you really say about this one? It’s dam-near perfect. Let’s relive some of what makes it so great.
And there you have it. All 185 episodes of The Office. But fear not, that’s not all. I still have the season and cold open rankings to come out. Stay tuned for those. I’m particularly excited about the cold opens. The Office did cold opens as well as any sitcom I’ve ever seen. They’re some of the funniest scenes of the entire series, so that should be a fun one to read.
