Initiation (The Office)

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"Initiation"
The Office episode
Episode no.Season 3
Episode 5
Directed byRandall Einhorn
Written byB. J. Novak
Featured music
Cinematography byMatt Sohn
Editing byDavid Rogers
Production code305
Original air dateOctober 19, 2006 (2006-10-19)
Running time22 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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The Office (American season 3)
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"Initiation" is the fifth episode of the

Karen Filippelli's (Rashida Jones
) chair and foils her attempts to get it back.

Written by B. J. Novak and directed by Randall Einhorn, the episode first aired in the United States on October 19, 2006, on NBC. Upon its debut, "Initiation" was seen by an estimated 8.46 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research. It was positively received by television critics.

Plot

Mose (Michael Schur
), Ryan gets angry and walks out. Dwight apologizes to Ryan and begins to give Ryan serious sales advice as Ryan takes notes. The two then go on a sales call which ultimately does not work out for Ryan. Irritated, Ryan throws eggs at the building housing the company that refused his sale, with Dwight joining him. Dwight and Ryan then go to a bar and return to the office, where it appears they formed a new bond.

Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) for a free soft pretzel, while hinting to Michael that he should focus on being productive. Michael enjoys Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll"
in his office at a high volume. After consuming his sugary pretzel, Michael emerges from his office and launches into a hyperactive, sugar-fueled speech before falling asleep at his desk. At the end of the day, Pam realizes that Michael's antics secured a large sale.

At

Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones) discovers that Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) swapped his chair for hers, but Jim foils her efforts to switch them back. The two flirt for a while before Karen steals Andy Bernard's (Ed Helms) chair. Later that night, Jim, who was trying to call Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner
), ends up talking to Pam on the phone for the first time since the two kissed. The two have a lengthy conversation and begin to reconnect. Jim misinterprets Pam's parting phrase to Ryan as being directed at him, and the two end their conversation, much to their sadness. The episode ends with a brief talking head of Stanley, counting down the days left in the year until the next Pretzel day.

Production

This episode was the first full episode of the series directed by

The Accountants". "Initiation" was written by B. J. Novak, who also acts for the show as Ryan Howard.[1]

The episode aired after "

first season, B. J. Novak pitched the idea when writing "Initiation". In preparation for the episode, Schur grew out his beard for three months. On the days of the shoot, he also wore wool clothes, which was uncomfortable given the high temperatures outside. Mose was based on an actual participant in the UPN reality show Amish in the City.[3]
The episode partially filmed on a ranch owned by Disney, and the production was required to have a professional snake wrangler on site due to the potential for rattlesnake visits to the area.

The third season DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from the episode, including Jan asking Michael to record his day on a schedule, Ryan being hugged by Michael before leaving for his first sales call, Dwight and Ryan leaving the office, Michael reading his schedule in a talking head scene, Pam encouraging Michael to "focus" for the day, Ryan reflecting on his life path, and Dwight showing Ryan his family cemetery and making a reference to his Nazi grandfather by calling him "a good man...who did some VERY bad things".[4]

Reception

"Initiation" first aired on October 19, 2006, in the United States on NBC. According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was watched by an estimated 8.46 million viewers.[5]

This episode was generally well received by critics. Abby West of Entertainment Weekly stated that "one of the many things I love about the show is how current it is. I love the pop-culture references, like Lost's Dharma Initiative, Deal or No Deal, and that soon-to-be classic SNL/Chronicles of Narnia sketch.[6] IGN's Brian Zoromski said that although the episode had "a few hit and miss moments", it "was a very well done episode that carried through on three main storylines" and "began and ended beautifully".[7] A critic from eTV Review said that even if it "wasn’t as good as last week’s episode", it was still "another great one".[8]

References

  1. ^ "B.J. Novak". NBC.com. Archived from the original on September 13, 2008. Retrieved June 27, 2008.
  2. MySpace. Archived
    from the original on 2012-12-09. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
  3. ^ Tan, Jeannie (July 18, 2007). "Q&A with Michael Schur: Part 3". OfficeTally. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  4. Universal Studios Home Entertainment
    . 2007. The Office: Season Three Disc 1
  5. ^ "Nielsen Primetime Ratings Report". Variety. October 25, 2006. Archived from the original on December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2012. (subscription required)
  6. ^ West, Abby (October 20, 2006). "Love Fools". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2013-01-22. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  7. ^ Zoromski, Brian (October 20, 2006) The Office: "Initiation" Review IGN, Retrieved June 24, 2008
  8. ^ "The Office: 'Initiation'". eTVReviewer. October 20, 2006. Archived from the original on June 5, 2008.

External links

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