The fifth season brought us a great starter episode, “Weight Loss.” Not just funny, but also pivotal in the progression of Jim and Pam, as he finally just proposes to her already. This doesn’t make their relationship any easier, but it does strengthen the bond between them. This season was notable not just for stepping up Jim and Pam but also for returning Ryan to the branch, freshly humiliated after his legal problems in the previous season. The best episode was either “Customer Service,” (featuring the usually meek Pam going out of her way to get a complaint, Jim and Pam with the bluetooth headsets, and Andy and Angela booking their upcoming wedding at Schrute arms), or two-parter “Lecture Circuit,” which forced Michael and Pam into very close quarters as they travelled around to different branches, to explain how Michael continually scores highly in branch sales evaluations.
Other highlights included “New Boss,” when a new regional Vice President Charles Miner (Idris Elba) arrives and charms the office, leaving Michael feeling unloved (and beginning the trope the show would later adopt of “arrival new boss + current boss = comedy”), “Michael Scott Paper Company,” detailing the emergence of the eponymous paper company (albeit in the same building and with some of the same employees and sales leads as the previous one), and “Employee Transfer,” when Holly is moved. The dissolution of the Michael Scott Paper Company and the subsequent staff shuffle meant that there was a receptionist spot vacant, a role given to Erin (Ellie Kemper). Angela and Dwight’s affair is revealed by Phyllis in “Morroccan Christmas,” causing both Andy and Dwight to leave her in the next episode “The Duel.” In the season finale “Company Picnic,” which featured not one, but two romanctic reveals, Michael is reunited with Holly, but she is with somebody else. In a mirroring of the original Pam/Jim scenario, he doesn’t tell her he loves her. Also, Pam discovers she is pregnant. Aww.
We get a marriage and a birth in season six, finally making Jim and Pam a family unit with the addition of little baby Cecellia (Cece). The marriage episode, “Niagra,” is a highlight of the entire show and the culmination of everything everybody had been anticipating for them. Jim was also made a co-manager in the first half of this season (“The Promotion”), much to Dwight’s horror. Erin and Andy begin a furtive relationship in “”Murder,” and Michael starts dating Pam’s mom Helene (Linda Purl), but it doesn’t end well.
He also, after a terrible meeting with shareholders (“Shareholder Meeting”), could have maybe made the share price drop, which possibly triggers the buy-out that occurs towards the end of this season by Sabre (“Sabre”) and the arrival of rambunctious CEO Jo Bennett (Kathy Bates). Pam’s contractions begin (two-parter “The Delivery”), inspiring Dwight and Angela to form their own baby contract. We also see the arrival of Gabe (Zach Woods), who will go on to affect Andy and Erin in later seasons. They have their first date (“St. Patrick’s Day”), and Erin discovers Andy’s previous engagement to Angela (“Secretaries Day”) that he was hiding from her. Season finale “Whistleblower” signals the beginning of the end for Sabre – someone is leaking information to the press about Sabre printers catching fire. Who could it be? Everyone, as it turns out.
