The hunt for a brand new Regional Manager begins as Jim, Toby, and Gabe interview different people for the position. Meanwhile, Pam tries her best to keep acting manager Creed from acting up, Angela gets some news from the Senator, and Dwight gets depressed over losing his Regional Manager position.
Episode Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Hilariously averted when Creed got Kevin's name right.
- Beard of Sorrow: Dwight gains one after being demoted from acting manager.
- Call-Back: When David Brent met Michael Scott in "The Seminar", David asked Michael to let him know if Dunder Mifflin had any job openings. Brent applies for the manager position here.
- Cameo Cluster: Will Arnett, Ray Romano, and Warren Buffett as managerial candidates, and Ricky Gervais makes his second appearance on the show.
- Cardboard Box of Unemployment: Inverted — when determining who to tap for acting manager, Jo Bennett asks Jim, Toby, and Gabe who has the most experience in the office. Cut to Creed in the manager's office, unpacking his personal items from a Banker's Box and making himself comfortable in the big leather swivel chair.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Pam spends the episode pretending to be multiple Scranton Dunder Mifflin clients to convince Creed that he is discussing rather inappropriate subjects with them to prevent financial damage to the branch.
- Cold Opening: Creed turns out to be acting manager.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Ryan points out to Jim that, with tensions high concerning who will be chosen as the new Regional Manager, now is not the best time for his usual jokes and light-hearted comments, especially since he's 1/3 of the group choosing the new Manager.
- Establishing Character Moment: Robert California makes an impression almost immediately as a calm but calculating man who knows how to get everyone's attention in the room and make them feel both impressed and intimidated by his metaphor-laced monologues, as well as when he's seen planting seeds of doubt in the other candidates to make them sabotage themselves.Jim: He creeps me out... but I think he might be a genius.
- Evolving Credits: For the third time in a row, the final shot of the credits changes. This time it is Creed adjusting a fan shaped like a sumo wrestler.
- Fun with Acronyms: Creed writes the word BOBODDY on the whiteboard, as though it's a new acronym he wants the team to learn. Instead, he just came up with the acronym, and wants them to assign a meaning to the letters.Creed: What does the first B stand for?Kevin: Um… Business!Creed: I like it! (he writes "biznus" next to the first B)
- Hypocrite:
- Ryan tells Jim that he should "Take a day off from the whole Jim schtick. Try caring about something. You might like how it feels" when Jim gets flippant about the search for the manager. While not necessarily bad advice in general, it's nevertheless pretty rich coming from Ryan, who has made smarmy aloof insincerity pretty much his defining character trait.
- For that matter, after raking Jim over the coals for not taking the search for the manager seriously, when everyone is given a chance to contribute at the end of the episode most of their contributions are typically inane, unprofessional, self-serving, unhelpful or all of the previous. Ryan, in particular, flippantly suggests that they find a homeless man to be the boss, purely so he can look righteous.
- Intra-Franchise Crossover: David Brent from the UK series applies for the job, sending a video to the committee as his "interview". He's just as arrogant and delusional as ever.David Brent: Name: David Brent. Occupation: Inspirer. Status: None of your business. Young, free, and single, though. Thanks for asking. Hear you’re looking for a new boss. Yeah? Someone to tell a bunch of discontented, underencouraged drones what to do every day. Is that it, O, our out-of-touch powers that be? Want me to fire them if they don’t see things your way? Then I ain’t that dude. Bye-bye, baby, bye-bye. Get some other corporate suit to lay down the law. What? You’ve changed your mind? You’re now looking for a leader of men? Ipso facto, women too. When do I start?
- Last Episode, New Character: Robert California and Nellie Bertram debut here.
- Oh, Crap!: Jim, Toby and Gabe clearly look rather concerned when Jo suggests making the person with longevity in the office the acting manager — rightly so, as this turns out to be Creed.
- Snap Back: Dwight's marble desk from the previous episode is gone.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Jim suggests randomly choosing a candidate to be the new regional manager, Stanley becomes absolutely livid at the notion, refusing to spend the rest of his life working for another incompetent boob (having worked under Michael Scott, Deangelo Vickers, and Dwight Schrute) and furiously rants at Jim for his unprofessionalism. Oscar and Meredith also express disappointment with Jim for not taking the matter seriously, while Ryan gloats to Jim for being so casual about a serious matter. In total fairness to Jim, he was clearly just joking, but it was still nevertheless not the right time or place for it.
