In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
Yes, the Michael Scott Paper Company, Inc. has its own office space now (complete with a new opening credits sequence), but it's pretty small, and the company's three workers are getting on each other's nerves even more than they normally would be. Plus it's not like there are any customers banging down their door. It gets bad enough that Pam even goes upstairs to ask for her old job back.
But she's out of luck, because the position is filled. The new receptionist is named Kelly. And now that Dwight and Andy have become best friends in the wake of the whole Angela debacle, that threatens to go south when they both find themselves digging New Kelly. Another duel ensues, but this one is of the musical variety. And they end up better friends than before. If not, as New Kelly suspects, actually gay for each other.
Things aren't going as well for Jim, who spends the whole day trying to do what Charles has asked, a project that is complicated by the fact that he doesn't know what Charles actually wants from him and is too chicken to ask. Man, Charles is so convinced that Jim's an idiot that it's starting to come true.
Finally, just when it looks like the Michael Scott Paper Company, Inc. is about to crash and burn ugly before it even gets off the ground, Pam makes a sale. So it's getting off the ground after all, which means that when the inevitable crash and burn comes, it'll be even uglier.
Get the inside scoop on the show from Rainn Wilson via his Twitter.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Michael drives his PT Cruiser into the shot, top down, blasting Lady Gaga (who he thinks is Britney), sporting a new haircut and sunglasses, and boasting about his new company. But then he bumps into a car trying to parallel park on the street, and drives off to try somewhere else.
Ryan slinks across the parking lot, wearing a tie and untucked shirt, and Jim calls out to him, "Love the hair." Ryan doesn't respond. Walking in with Jim, Pam calls "good morning" to Michael, who's crammed his car in a non-spot so tight he has to crawl out over the side. "They took away my parking spot but they can't take away my pride," he says inaccurately, wriggling out with a briefcase and a big Costco jug of cheeseballs. In the hallway, he tries to cut the ribbon stretched across the door with a hedge clipper, which doesn't work so he has to pull it down, and then leads Pam and Ryan inside. "Welcome to the Michael Scott Paper Company," he declares. The centerpiece? A poker table. Looks like they're all in.
Get this: totally new credits! After Scranton Welcomes You, there's a shot of the three companies' names -- Dunder Mifflin, MSPCoInc, and Vance Refrigeration -- on the signboard in the front lobby. Steve Carell's shot in the credits is him in his new suit, in his new office, talking to his new team. He's hung five clocks on the wall showing international times, and their copier has "TRASH: written on it, presumably because it's the old one salvaged from upstairs. Rainn Wilson's shot in the credits shows him stopping short outside MSPCoiInc.'s door, to that of the ladies' room. John Krasinski only exists as a photo on Pam's "desk," in golf gear. Jenna Fischer is shown busily typing away on a laptop, on the poker table. And B.J. Novak is stapling like a madman. And with a few shots of the three of them bumping into each other in the cramped space and Michael playing with a desk toy that is not a Dundie, we're into the show.
Kelly perches on Jim's desk, distractedly droning about nothing (even more so than usual) while staring in at Charles, who is now occupying Michael's old office. Charles calls, "Kelly!" Kelly hops down and runs into Charles desk, but he meant "that Kelly." Jim THs, "Our new receptionist is also named Kelly. So Kelly Kapoor has decided to hover around my desk so that she can run into Charles's office every time he calls for Kelly. She thinks that if she says, 'You wanted me?' enough, he will in fact want her. It's not the worst plan she's ever had." Indeed. But back in Charles's office, he's deciding to address the Kellys by their last names to avoid further "confusion." New Kelly would rather be called by her middle name, Erin, and when Charles says that's pretty, Kelly snaps, "You know what my middle name is? Rajanigandra. And I hate it. I HATE IT!" Exit Rajanigandra. Which Kevin thought was a boy's name.