Koi Pond (The Office)

"Koi Pond" is the eighth episode of the sixth season of the American comedy series The Office and the show's 108th episode overall. It was written by Warren Lieberstein and Halsted Sullivan and directed by Reggie Hudlin. It originally aired on NBC on October 29, 2009.

The cold open of this episode featured a 'haunted warehouse'. During a tour by the children of workers of the building, Michael simulates committing suicide in an attempt to scare the children. NBC has subsequently tried to prevent this being aired in reruns. In this episode, Michael and Jim head off to a meeting and Michael comes back soaked after having fallen in a koi pond. Meanwhile, Pam and Andy, as the two worst salespeople in the branch, have to go cold calling for sales.

Synopsis[]

Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) sets up a meeting with a client who requests that Michael Scott (Steve Carell) come with him. Jim is upset since 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 koi pond. 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) 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 (Jenna Fischer) and Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) go cold calling 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, 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 (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.^[2]

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 , then-wife of NBC Universal's CEO Jeff Zucker who worked in suicide prevention.^[3]

References[]

External links[]

• "Koi Pond" at NBC.com
• "Koi Pond" at IMDb
• "the deleted cold open" at NBC.com