Some crazy events transpired in Season 5 of The Office. The season was filled with arrivals and departures of Dunder Mifflin staff. Ryan came back to Dunder Mifflin as a temp, Holly was moved to the Dunder Mifflin Nashua branch, Ryan left for “Thailand” (which turned out to be a new job at a bowling alley), Toby returns from Costa Rica, Michael quits his job to start a new paper company (The Michael Scott Paper Company) with Pam and Ryan, Charles became the acting manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton, Erin was hired as the new receptionist, and finally, The Michael Scott Paper Company was bought-out by Dunder Mifflin and everything settled back down. Things grew a little different at the office with Erin taking Pam’s old job, Pam joining the sales team, and Ryan taking his temp job back, but at least they were able to settle down…for at least a few minutes. The finale episode showed us that The Office is back to its regular zany and awkward self, and it ended with a sweet bombshell that Pam is pregnant.
This long-awaited season premiere begins with the usual hilarious, albeit irrelevant to the episode, scene. Michael, Dwight, and Andy stumble upon the urban free-running activity parkour and test their “skills” all throughout the office building, outside the warehouse, and in the parking lot. The ending to this scene, which I won’t spoil, was amazing, and then it was straight to the opening credits.
The best episodes of The Office typically depend on the awkward, embarrassing moments brought on by Michael Scott, and that’s what this week’s episode, entitled “Gossip,” is full of. It is the last day for the three summer interns at Dunder Mifflin Scranton, and there is some break room gossip that two of them were dating. When Michael walks in on the conversation he demands to know what they were talking about, or he would start screaming. After realizing that he was the last person to hear the gossip, Michael feels upset and out of the loop, so he is determined to discover the next hot rumor.
On his hunt for information, Michael consults the interns and inadvertently finds out that Stanley is having an affair, which he proudly gossips to everyone in the office. Being the king of awkward situations, Michael decides to confront Stanley, who confirms that he was having an affair. However, he leaves begging Michael not to tell anyone this secret. Oops.
Hilarity ensues as Michael, for the rest of the episode, scrambles to tell many false rumors in hopes that eventually everyone would just think everything was made up. Michael spreads everything from Kelly is anorexic to Andy is gay; a rumor that even Andy himself doesn’t exactly deny. But of course, this all comes back to bite Michael in the butt. He confesses that he spread the lies in order to cover one truth that might ruin the person’s life. As Michael is about to spill the beans on Stanley, Jim cleverly intervenes. That said, Stanley does not actually go scot-free, thanks to a classic, laugh-out-loud Michael Scott slip-up.
This is one of those fantastic episodes of The Office that has nearly everything going for it. It is great when a comedy is able to keep the laughs coming throughout the entire show, unlike the cancelled NBC show My Name is Earl, a show that’s humor completely died in its last couple of seasons. Luckily, The Office looks to be on track for another season of clever writing and perfect cast members. I would have to give “Gossip” a 4.5 out of 5.
Jordan is a high school student and aspiring journalist. He loves playing/watching and writing about video games, television, and movies. 
