ST. PATRICK'S DAY

The Office
Season 6 (2010)

Once upon a time my office had a sort of optional snow day.  Early in the work day the head honcho gave everyone the option of going home due to an impending snow storm.  Of course everyone jumped at the opportunity and quickly abandoned ship—everyone but my then boss.  No, she decided to stay and work ALL day.  Meanwhile my absent co-workers were sending me pictures of them frolicking in the snow while I sat in the deathly-quiet office.  Even the receptionist had gone home and most of the lights were turned out, but I had no choice but to stay as long as my boss did.  It was AGONY.  This episode of The Office perfectly captures that very situation, and compounds it by setting it on St. Patrick’s Day.

We open on St. Patty’s Day, with the Dunder Mifflin employees wearing their best green outfits and notorious lush Meredith revering the holiday as the most sacred of days.  It’s also the last day in the office for new owner Jo Bennett (played by the always welcome Kathy Bates) and Michael is doing his best to cozy up to her.  Of course he goes way overboard in his efforts, taking her casual comment to stop by and visit her sometime in Florida as an invitation to book multiple plane tickets.  Michael is taken aback when Jo finally loses it and chastises him in front of his employees.

Michael displays the ubiquitous St. Patrick's Day green tie

When the clock hits 5 and everyone is preparing to hit the town to celebrate the holiday, Jo decides to stay and work late. A now-timid Michael feels that he and everyone else must stay as well.  Thus the agonizing waiting game begins; a few people attempt escape but only Jim manages to successfully slip out, stealing Dwight’s idea of claiming he has a business dinner (Dwight had it coming, as throughout the episode he attempts to drive Jim out by making him feel guilty over being away from his newborn daughter).

Michael finally reclaims his gumption and tells Jo he’s releasing the staff, saying that he’s satisfied with the work they’ve done.  Jo respects this show of managerial authority and everything ends happily, with the gang celebrating at a pub.  While it’s a great episode, the St. Patrick’s Day stuff is really just window dressing, via the green outfits (Andy wears a kilt!) and office decorations.  We do get a couple of brief scenes set at rowdy pubs but the emphasis is definitely not on the holiday—though kudos to The Office for even doing a St. Patrick’s Day episode in the first place.

Drugstore decorations and kilts = holiday magic!

My favorite moment?  Early on we get a brief glimpse of receptionist Erin picking through a bag of M&Ms and slowly filling a candy dish with just the green ones.  It’s a small but true-to-life moment—I once spent a significant amount of time picking out Halloween-colored M&Ms for a party only to realize that Reese’s Pieces are all the autumn-colored candy you need.  Moments like these show the lengths people will go to be on-theme, and that’s something I can only respect and admire.

St. Patrick’s Day Quotient: 3

See It, Skip It, Own It?
Despite the rather low holiday quotient, this is a fun episode that's worth seeing—but you don’t have to rush.