"Koi Pond" is the eighth episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series o ...

'' and the show's 108th episode overall. The episode was written by

Warren Lieberstein Warren Keith Lieberstein (born September 20, 1968) is an American writer and producer. He has worked on shows such as ''Carpoolers'' and ''The Office'', to which he has extensive ties. He is the younger brother of Paul Lieberstein, the show's fo ...

and

Halsted Sullivan Halsted Sullivan is an American television writer and producer who has worked on shows such as ''Carpoolers'' and ''The Office''. He often works with his writing partner Warren Lieberstein. He's currently an executive producer and one of the t ...

, and directed by Reggie Hudlin. It originally aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

on October 29, 2009. The series, presented in a

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

style, depicts the everyday lives of office employees at the

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

branch of the fictitious Dunder Mufflin Paper Company. In the episode, Michael (

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott in ''The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, where Ca ...

) and Jim ( John Krasinski) go to a sales meeting across town, where Michael falls in a

koi pond Koi ponds are ponds used for holding koi carp, usually as part of a garden. Koi ponds can be designed specifically to promote health and growth of the Nishikigoi or Japanese Ornamental Carp. Koi ponds or lakes are a traditional feature of Jap ...

and has to return to the office soaking wet. Meanwhile, Pam (

Jenna Fischer Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer (born March 7, 1974) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...

) and Andy (

Ed Helms Edward Parker Helms (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor and comedian. From 2002 to 2006, he was a correspondent on Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. He played paper salesman Andy Bernard in the NBC sitcom '' The Offi ...

), as punishment for having the two lowest sales records in the office, are required to go

cold calling Cold calling is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase either the salesperson's product or servic ...

for sales across town. The episode achieved a viewership of 8.2 million in the United States. The cold open of the episode featured Michael hosting a haunted house in the company's warehouse for the office workers' children, where Michael pretends to hang himself at the end in an attempt to scare the children. The cold open aired only once, on the night of the episode's premiere, and was subsequently pulled from future reruns by NBC. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics.

Synopsis

Jim Halpert ( John Krasinski) sets up a meeting with a client who requests that Michael Scott (

) come with him. Jim is unhappy because he wants to be able to do meetings by himself. When they come back from the meeting, Michael is soaked because he fell into a

. When they find out, the rest of the office makes fun of him. Michael responds by holding a sensitivity meeting where he asks everyone to write down things they wish were not said about them. The meeting goes nowhere, so Jim ends it. To help, Jim tells Michael that if he mocks himself, the rest of the office will be less inclined to mock him. This works, but Michael gets carried away and rambles into a self-pitying confessional about his loneliness. Meredith Palmer (

Kate Flannery Kate Destiny Flannery (born June 10, 1964) is an American actress. Following her early theatre work, Flannery had her screen breakthrough playing Meredith Palmer on the NBC series ''The Office'', which won her two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Sh ...

) receives a copy of the security tape showcasing Michael's fall. The tape shows that Jim could have stopped Michael from falling but deliberately stepped away. Jim admits that he wished he had gone by himself because he wants to be able to do things by himself as a co-manager; Michael's mood is lifted when he realizes that Jim is jealous of his sales skills. Jim then becomes the victim of office mocking, but he and Michael laugh it off later.

Pam Halpert Pamela Morgan Halpert ( née Beesly) is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom ''The Office'', played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of ''The Office'' is Dawn Tinsley. Pam begins the series as the recept ...

(

) and

Andy Bernard Andrew Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the NBC comedy television series ''The Office (U.S. TV series), The Office'', portrayed by Ed Helms. He is introduced in Season 3 as the Regional Director in Charge of Sales at the Stamford br ...

(

) go

to drum up more sales, as they have the lowest quarterly sales numbers in the branch. At the first place they go to, the receptionist notices Pam's pregnancy and assumes Andy is the father. Pam reacts to the mistake with alarm, offending Andy. During the next meeting, the client also assumes that Andy is the father, and in an act of revenge Andy harshly mocks the idea, leaving Pam frustrated and costing them the sale. At the next place they go to, that client also assumes Andy is the father, and this time they play along with it in order to avoid further antagonizing each other and ruining their sales. Andy takes it too far by touching her belly, even kissing it, and indulging in extensive

baby talk Baby talk is a type of speech associated with an older person speaking to a child or infant. It is also called caretaker speech, infant-directed speech (IDS), child-directed speech (CDS), child-directed language (CDL), caregiver register, parent ...

, but the client says "maybe" to signing with them. In the car back to the office, Andy admits that he enjoyed pretending to be a father and is unhappy that he is still single. He then admits his attraction to

Erin Hannon Kelly Erin Hannon (born May 1, 1986) is a fictional character from the U.S. comedy television series ''The Office'', played by Ellie Kemper. She is the optimistic office receptionist for the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, a position previou ...

( Ellie Kemper). Sympathizing with Andy, Pam approaches Erin and tries to set them up.

Reception

This episode was watched by 8.2 million viewers, with a 4.2 rating and a 10 share in the 18–49 demographic.

Controversy

The original aired version featured a cold opening where Michael turned the warehouse into a haunted house for children for Halloween. At the end of the scene, Michael is pretending to hang himself. The scene was pulled from the reruns and DVD versions due to protest from Caryn Zucker, then-wife of NBC Universal's CEO Jeff Zucker who worked in suicide prevention.Revisit the controversial Halloween joke The Office scrubbed after its first airing
/ref>

References

External links

"Koi Pond"
at NBC.com *
"the deleted cold open"
at NBC.com {{The Office US Episodes 2009 American television episodes The Office (American season 6) episodes Halloween television episodes