When Toby sends out a memo requesting the staff refrain from expressing affection in public (PDA), Jim and Pam's relationship is revealed. Ryan returns to visit the Scranton branch, which makes Creed and Michael worry about ageism. Dwight tries to win back Angela's affection. Michael and Dwight bring gift baskets to former clients, to try and convince them to return.
Air date: October 4, 2007
Tropes
- Argentina Is Nazi-Land: Dwight's 103 year old grandfather lives in Argentina. He also states that his visa to visit him was protested by the Shoah Foundation.
- Blatant Lies: Ryan tells Kelly that Karen had asked him out, even though he actually tried to ask her out while she was dating Jim.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': What provokes the "No PDA" memo that Toby sends out is him happening to catch Pam giving Jim a quick, harmless peck on the cheek. Meanwhile Dwight, Angela, Michael and Jan — who have all engaged in borderline-to-actual sexual acts while at work — go completely unnoticed and uncommented upon (although Dwight and Angela look rather worried when they're reading the memo and Michael over-defensively assumes it was aimed at him and Jan). Justified in this case, since Toby only sends the memo out because he's got a crush on Pam and is jealous to learn she's now dating Jim.
- Comically Missing the Point: Michael fails to sway an ex-client — even with the gift basket — until he mentions Ryan's new website project. When the ex-client says he'll reconsider once that's up and running, Michael's happy... because it means the gift basket worked.
- Continuity Nod:
- Pam and Jim offer to fill out a disclosure form for corporate, which we encountered in Season 3 when Michael and Jan announced their relationship.
- Kevin still refers to Ryan as "fire guy." Then when Andy starts doing the same, Kevin points out he hadn't started working in Scranton when the incident occurred.
- Dinner and a Breakup: Angela asks Dwight out to dinner at a public restaurant and then dumps him.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Angela says she cannot look at Dwight without seeing Sprinkles. He suggests looking at a point on his forehead instead.
- Drunk with Power: It's all but outright stated that Ryan has quickly let his promotion to Corporate go right to his head.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Ryan is annoyed when he returns to Scranton and everyone still treats him like their co-worker (or protege/friend in Michael's case) instead of their boss.
- Fake Pregnancy: Kelly tells Ryan she's pregnant so he'll talk to her.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Toby sends out his PDA memo after seeing Pam give Jim an affectionate peck on the cheek in a bit of passive-aggression because of his crush on Pam.
- When Jim and Pam ask if they need to fill one of the HR dating forms, Toby brushes their concerns aside out of the hope that their romance will be short-lived.
- Grief-Induced Split: Angela breaks up with Dwight due to the death of Sprinkles.
- Hope Spot: Michael's attempt to win clients back with gift baskets doesn't go well until he mentions to one of them that Dunder Mifflin is coming out with a new website, which piques the interest of one client. However, after Michael crashes the car, he decides that new tech is evil and only the old ways should be used.
- Hopeless with Tech: Michael drives his car into a lake when he misunderstands his GPS's instruction to turn right.
- Ignored Expert: Dwight isn't an expert, but he is correct when he points out to Michael that the GPS is obviously telling him to go right on the road ahead. Michael ignores him and drives directly into the lake.
- Insane Troll Logic: The entire second half of the episode.Michael: Ryan thinks that technology is the answer. Well, guess what? I just drove my car into a lake.
- Insult Friendly Fire: A deleted scene contains a self-inflicted example; Ryan, as a bit of a power move, challenges Michael's assertion that the branch is doing well by pointing out that their sales are flat. Michael immediately retorts that part of the problem was that over the past year one of his salesman was underperforming to the point that he never actually made a sale, this affecting the overall performance of the branch. As Ryan was the salesman in question, he can only fume silently.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Ryan is right to set boundaries for how he will be treated as a boss and that Michael, Kevin and Andy are completely inappropriate in the way they greet him, acting as if he's still just a temp and not their boss. However, he also blanks Pam for about a minute when she tries to give him an appropriate friendly greeting in favour of playing with his phone and doesn't really bother to show any kind of good humour, pleasantries or diplomacy with people he spent three years working with before getting promoted over, heavily suggesting that he really has just become a Drunk with Power jerk who has let his newfound position go straight to his head.
- Ryan is also right that the company needs a complete restructure on its business model in the face of growing competition.
- Never My Fault: The above-mentioned Hopeless with Tech leads Michael to use this as 'evidence' that technology is bad. However, as Dwight argued beforehand, it was pretty obvious it meant to go right at the turn, not just drive straight into the opening next to them that visibly lead straight into a lake. It was purely down to Michael's refusal to listen to what others had to say or use any basic logic why this happened.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Angela has always sought discretion in her relationship with Dwight, going to great lengths to avoid being seen with him in public. When she suggests they go to a public restaurant, it's a clear hint that she intends to break up with him.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Creed thinks coloring his hair black will make him look like he is 30. Well, almost 30.
- Portmanteau: Andy thinks the website should be called "DunderMifflinfinity".
- Scatterbrained Senior: Michael brings in Robert Dunder, one of the founders of the company, to make a point about how the elderly are still useful. However, Dunder goes into a rambling story until Michael sends him away.
- Serious Business: Godspeed to both Dwight and Michael.Dwight: (with gritted teeth) I need to win those clients back.
- Skewed Priorities: After Michael drives into the lake, he and Dwight attempt to get out of the car, and Dwight tells him to watch out for leeches. The most urgent priority should be to escape the car before it sinks. Leeches are not life-threatening, and since the men are fully clothed, it's unlikely any leeches would be able to attack them anyway.
- Stealth Insult: Jan to Ryan.Love the beard; keep it forever. *pats Ryan's cheek*
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Toby's passive-aggressive attempt to shame Jim and Pam by sending out his PDA warning memo backfires when everyone is clearly thrilled that they're together, which leads to this little moment:Pam: Toby, was this your fun little way of congratulating us?
Toby: ... Yes. - Suspiciously Specific Denial: Angela vehemently denies having been involved with anyone in the office after Toby sends out his memo.
- Take That!: In-universe, Michael attempts this.Game, set, match. Point, Scott.
- That's What She Said: Michael says this to himself when he sees Phyllis and Pam putting up a banner, and had workshopped several other double entendres.Michael: Can you make that straighter? That's what she said.
Phyllis: Did you plan that?
Michael: [as he looks at his notes] No.
Pam: [Pam grabs and reads off the notes] "Can you make that straighter? That job looks hard. You should put your mouth on that." How can you even use that one naturally?
Michael: Blowing up balloons, I thought.
Pam: "You might want to trim it a little"? - Unintentional Period Piece: Ryan uses Blackberries as examples of "cutting-edge technology"
