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"Goodbye, Toby" is the hour-long finale of the fourth season of the American
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...
''
The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...
'' and the show's seventy-first and seventy-second episodes overall. Written by
Paul Lieberstein Paul Bevan Lieberstein (born February 22, 1967) is an American actor, screenwriter, television director and television producer. A Primetime Emmy Award winner, he is best known as a writer, executive producer, and supporting cast member on the ...
and Jennifer Celotta, and directed by Paul Feig, the episode first aired in the United States on May 15, 2008, on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
. In this episode, Toby Flenderson (Lieberstein) spends his last day at Dunder Mifflin before moving to Costa Rica. Michael Scott (
Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Michael Scott in the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2011, 2013), and also worked at several points as a producer, executive producer, writer, a ...
) develops feelings for the new Human Resources Representative Holly Flax (Ryan), who makes her first appearance in this episode.
Jim Halpert James Duncan Halpert is a fictional character in the U.S. version of the television sitcom '' The Office'', portrayed by John Krasinski. He is introduced as a sales representative at the Scranton branch of paper distribution company Dunder Miff ...
's (
John Krasinski John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), where he was also a producer and occasional director. He directed, co-w ...
) plan to propose to
Pam Beesly Pamela Morgan Beesly Halpert ( born 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 th ...
( Jenna Fischer) is ruined after Andy Bernard (
Ed Helms Edward Parker Helms (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor, musician 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 sit ...
) makes a proposal of his own. Elsewhere, Ryan Howard ( B.J. Novak) is fired as vice president of the company for misleading the shareholders and is sent to prison. "Goodbye, Toby" introduced the character Holly Flax, played by
Amy Ryan Amy Beth Dziewiontkowski (born May 3, 1968), known professionally as Amy Ryan, is an American actress. She began her professional stage career in 1987 and made her Broadway debut in 1993 as a replacement in the original production of Wendy W ...
, whose presence drastically affected the office in the series' fifth and seventh seasons. The episode received largely positive reviews from critics, with many applauding the introduction of Amy Ryan's character, as well as the ending between Jim and Pam. The episode received a 4.1 Nielsen rating and was watched by 8.07 million viewers.


Plot

Dunder Mifflin Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. is a fictional paper and office supplies wholesale company featured in the American television series ''The Office''. It is analogous to Wernham Hogg in the British original of the series, and Papiers Jennings ...
's
Scranton Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...
branch is planning a going-away party for Toby Flenderson before he leaves for
Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
. Michael Scott is extremely happy that Toby is leaving, but when
Angela Martin Angela Noelle Schrute (née Martin; formerly Lipton) is a fictional character in the U.S. version of the television sitcom '' The Office,'' portrayed by actress Angela Kinsey. The character is based on Sheila from the original version of ''Th ...
balks at his unreasonable party demands, Phyllis Vance accepts the duty of planning the party. She does fantastically, ordering carnival rides and hiring a band. Michael's hatred of Toby has been transferred to the new human resources representative, Holly Flax, and he and Dwight Schrute plan to haze her. When she playfully affects disdain for Toby, Michael takes her seriously, and suddenly falls in love with her. Taking advice from
Jim Halpert James Duncan Halpert is a fictional character in the U.S. version of the television sitcom '' The Office'', portrayed by John Krasinski. He is introduced as a sales representative at the Scranton branch of paper distribution company Dunder Miff ...
, Michael succeeds in warming Holly up with small talk and jokes, and even tempers Toby's exit interview, which he had originally planned to be brutally insulting, because Holly attends. During the interview, Pam helps Toby finally get revenge against Michael by making him give up his favorite watch to Toby after discovering he planned on giving him a rock for a going away gift. Dwight, however, continues the
hazing Hazing (American English), initiation, beasting (British English), bastardisation (Australian English), ragging (South Asian English) or deposition refers to any activity expected of someone in joining or participating in a group that humiliates, ...
, telling Holly that Kevin Malone is mentally challenged, and putting a raccoon in her car. After Michael catches Dwight, who has released a raccoon into Holly's car, he loudly proclaims his high esteem for Holly. Holly gives special attention to Kevin throughout the episode due to her belief that he is mentally challenged, but Kevin believes her attention is a sexual interest in him.
Pam Beesly Pamela Morgan Beesly Halpert ( born 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 th ...
reveals that she is spending the summer studying graphic design at
Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, which she got accepted at. Meanwhile, Jim calls Ryan Howard about a huge sale that he has recently made. Patronizing as ever, Ryan instructs him to enter the sale on the company's website before abruptly hanging up. Jim takes this as another sign that Ryan is trying to push him out of the company, and leaves Ryan a voice mail proclaiming that he will fight Ryan's attempts to fire him. Shortly afterward,
Creed Bratton Creed Bratton (born William Charles Schneider; February 8, 1943) is an American actor and musician. A former member of the rock band the Grass Roots, he is best known for playing a Creed Bratton (character), fictionalized version of himself o ...
and Jim find a video on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
of Ryan being arrested for
fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...
in the full presence of his peers who are all recording his arrest on their cell phones and interrupt Toby's exit interview to show Michael, Toby, Pam, and Holly. In an interview, Oscar Martinez reveals that Ryan's website was floundering, so he double-counted office sales as website sales, fraudulently inflating the firm's figures. Although Michael is deeply concerned for Ryan, Jim is pleased and leaves Ryan a second voice mail mockingly telling Ryan to disregard the last because he had his "hands tied". Michael discovers that Jan Levinson has artificially inseminated herself from a
sperm bank A sperm bank, semen bank, or cryobank is a facility or enterprise which purchases, stores and sells human semen. The semen is produced and sold by men who are known as sperm donation, sperm donors. The sperm is purchased by or for other persons f ...
. She explains that she did this while she was dating Michael, but still wants him to be involved in the pregnancy. He initially is indecisive, but eventually calls and agrees to attend Lamaze class with her. Jim contributes several hundred dollars to the party-planning fund in order to buy fireworks, later revealing that he has decided to propose to Pam, going back to their "first date". Pam notices the purchase and guesses his intentions; however, at the party, Andy Bernard ruins the moment by proposing to Angela, who reluctantly accepts. Pam is visibly disappointed that Jim did not propose to her. Michael has security escort Toby out of the office as a parting insult. Dwight is crushed that his ex-girlfriend is marrying someone else. In the last scene of the episode, Phyllis returns to the office, pleased at the success of her party, where she and the camera crew walk in on Angela and Dwight having sex on Angela's desk.


Production

"Goodbye, Toby" was written by Paul Lieberstein and Jennifer Celotta. Lieberstein is also the actor who plays Toby Flenderson. It took Lieberstein and Celotta four or five days to write this episode. Writer Anthony Farrell said that the idea for Dunder Mifflin Infinity to fail was inspired by the days that he was an administrative assistant for Countrywide Home Loans. Farrell recalled watching the company try new online initiatives and seeing them all be unsuccessful. "Goodbye, Toby" was the seventh episode of the series directed by Paul Feig. Feig had previously directed " Office Olympics", "
Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
", " Performance Review", " Email Surveillance", " Survivor Man" and " Dinner Party". Feig was tasked with shooting many of the shots that would hide Angela Kinsey's pregnant stomach. To do this, he "looked for places around the office that could conceal her belly". Notably, the ending of the episode was shot in such a way that the audience could see that Dwight and Angela were having sex, but that Kinsey's stomach would not be seen. The talking head interview wherein Michael compares Holly to a
baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...
came after what the writers call "blitzes", in which all the writers write a talking head on a specific topic, such as "Michael's feelings to Holly". Then they all read all of them out loud and see which one gets the biggest reaction. The YouTube video of Ryan being arrested was set on a private account. After "Goodbye, Toby" aired, the video was released to the public. When writing the story for the episode, the show originally planned on having Dwight put a badger in Holly's car, but after finding out that it was difficult to get a badger, it was switched to a raccoon. The script also called for the raccoon to attack Meredith, but that was decided against for safety reasons. During one of the takes wherein Michael is singing his parody songs, Carell grabbed a guitar and played an
Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...
guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...
, but that scene was cut because it did not match Michael's character. After filming, the editors had about 72 minutes of material that they needed to cut down into 40 minutes. The script also included an un-filmed scene in which Jan reveals to Michael that her sperm donor was
Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 13 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in ...
. "Goodbye, Toby" introduced Holly Flax, played by Amy Ryan, who would go on to become Michael's main love interest. In fact, her return to the series in the seventh season was used by the writers as a way to write Steve Carell out of the series after his contract ended. Ryan gained prominence with her role as Beadie Russell on the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
series ''
The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...
''. The writers of ''The Office'', who were fans of the series, then approached Ryan about appearing in their show. Ryan, feeling that a comedy series would "keep era couple steps ahead of people ndsurprise people" agreed. Holly's character was developed by the writers awhile before the episode was scripted. However, once Ryan began acting on set, Lieberstein explained that "we started to see this really silly side that Amy brought to the character, and efound almost like a junior Michael in her. And we all saw it and knew what we had." After the filming of "Goodbye, Toby", the writers were hoping that Ryan would return for the fifth season; the crew had not made a deal with her to film more episodes, but Lieberstein noted that "we knew that she would stay around, or we hoped." The episode also guest starred Melora Hardin, and Robert R. Shafer. The members of Darryl's band are the actual members of actor Craig Robinson's band: Chris Rob played bass, Asa Watkins played drums, and David Sampson played guitar. The Season Four DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode. Notable cut scenes include Michael comparing Toby to the flu, Holly asking Pam if Kevin just ate before jumping in the bounce castle, Jim not sure whether Ryan is going to downsize him, Jim and Pam browsing for apartments online, the revelation that Kevin's band, Scrantonicity played 30 full
Police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
songs during Phyllis's wedding, Kelly watching Ryan's YouTube arrest video over and over again at Jim's desk, Jim asking about the website, and Troy (Noel Potek)—Ryan's drug dealer—showing up in Scranton. In one deleted scene, in which Toby gives a "farewell" speech that is interrupted by Michael, Toby pleads with the Dunder Mifflin staff to continue his fight to have the office checked for
Radon Radon is a chemical element; it has symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive noble gas and is colorless and odorless. Of the three naturally occurring radon isotopes, only Rn has a sufficiently long half-life (3.825 days) for it to b ...
; this scene foreshadows the Season 6 episode " The Chump", in which Toby sets numerous Radon test kits around the office.


Cultural references

Michael offers to make Holly a
mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...
. Michael and Holly trade comments, speaking as if they were
Yoda Yoda () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a small, green humanoid alien who is powerful with the Force. He first appeared in the 1980 film '' The Empire Strikes Back'', in which he is voiced and puppeteered by F ...
. Michael and Holly shout "Acting!"—the catchphrase from the
Jon Lovitz Jonathan Michael Lovitz ( ; born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990 for which he was nominated for two Pr ...
' " Master Thespian" skit from ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
''. Michael sings a parody of "
Goodbye Stranger "Goodbye Stranger" is a song by the English rock band Supertramp; it was written by Rick Davies. The song first appeared on their sixth studio album, '' Breakfast in America'' (1979). The lyrics present an "optimistic view from a drifter". ...
" by
Supertramp Supertramp were a British rock band formed in London in 1970. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), the group were distinguished for blending p ...
entitled "Goodbye, Toby". He also mentions two other parodies that he wrote, "Beers in Heaven" and "Total Eclipse of the Fart", which are respectively parodies of " Tears in Heaven" by
Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...
and " Total Eclipse of the Heart" by
Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer. Known for her distinctive husky voice, Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' and its ...
. The band performs " Just My Imagination" by
The Temptations The Temptations is an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1961 as The Elgins, known for their string of successful singles and albums with Motown from the 1960s to the mid-1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield ...
right before Andy proposes to Angela.


Reception

"Goodbye, Toby" first aired on May 15, 2008, on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
. The episode received 4.1/10 in the 18–49 demographic in the
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
. This means that 4.1 percent of all households with an 18- to 49-year-old living in it watched the episode, and ten percent had their televisions tuned to the channel at any point. The episode was watched by 8.07 million viewers. "Goodbye, Toby" was generally well received by critics.
TV Squad Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles, and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could b ...
's Jay Black said that "''The Office'' is at its best when it's exposing the dramas that take place at every workplace". Black went on to say that Angela's rudeness to Phyllis "was a small thread throughout the show, but a hilarious one". Kelly West of Cinemablend.com wrote that even though the episode did not play-out "the way heexpected", she was "definitely not complaining".
Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He ...
, a writer for ''
The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' was the largest circulation newspaper in New Jersey. It is based in Newark, New Jersey. The newspaper ceased print publication on February 2, 2025, but continues to publish a digital edition. In 2007, ''The Star-Ledger''s ...
'', was critical of the proposal scenario, saying that "I really, really, really hope the writers aren't going to be foolish enough to try to create real strife in the PB&J (Pam Beesly and Jim) relationship over how long it's going to take Jim to propose." Furthermore, Sepinwall felt that "Goodbye, Toby" might have been, up until that point in the series, the show's "best hour-long 'Office' ever". Nathan Rabin of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' noted that "Goodbye, Toby" felt like "the season finaleiest of all season finales", largely because the series "cramm dthree or four episodes worth of revelations and big plot twists and turns into one jam-packed, over-stuffed, incidentriffic mega-super-double-extended episode." Rabin was pleased with Ryan's performance, noting that it proved she could play more than an "unfit, coke-crazed, borderline feral Boston shit-kickers", a reference to her Academy Award nominated performance in ''
Gone Baby Gone ''Gone Baby Gone'' is a 2007 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Ben Affleck in his directorial debut. Affleck co-wrote the screenplay with Aaron Stockard based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. The film star ...
''. Furthermore, he was also complimentary towards the Jim and Pam plot. However, he felt that the episode's "overstuffed" qualities were a weakness, and he ultimately awarded it a "B+". The episode was nominated for an
Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...
at the Primetime Emmys in the "Best Direction for a Comedy Series" category in 2008.


References


External links


"Goodbye, Toby"
at NBC.com *
"Whoaa!! Check it out !!!"
by MOPIndustries, the
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
video of Ryan getting arrested seen in the episode {{Good article The Office (American TV series) season 4 episodes 2008 American television episodes The Office (American TV series) episodes in multiple parts Television episodes directed by Paul Feig