Goodbye, Toby

Template:Office episode "Goodbye, Toby" is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of The Office (U.S. version). It was written by Paul Lieberstein and Jennifer Celotta and directed by Paul Feig. It aired on May 15, 2008. It was the season finale for the fourth season of The Office and was an hour-long episode.

Synopsis

Dunder Mifflin Scranton is planning a going-away party for Toby before he leaves for Costa Rica. Michael is determined to make the party match the joy in his heart at Toby leaving, but when Angela balks at his unreasonable demands, such as an anti-gravity machine, Phyllis accepts the duty of planning the party. She does fantastically, ordering carnival rides and hiring Darryl's band. Angela insists that Phyllis will never plan another office party again.

Michael's hatred of Toby has been transferred to the new HR representative, Holly, and he and Dwight plan to haze her. When she shows disdain for Toby, though, Michael suddenly falls in love with her. Jim advises him to fight his over-aggressive instincts and play it slow. Michael succeeds in warming up to Holly with less-obnoxious small talk and jokes, and even tempers Toby's exit interview, which he originally planned to be brutal and insulting, when Holly attends. Dwight continues the hazing, telling Holly that Kevin is mentally challenged and putting a raccoon in her car. When Michael chastises him in front of everyone, Holly is even more receptive.

Pam is accepted to study graphic design at Pratt Institute, for which she will have to go to New York City for three months. Jim assures her that, while the separation will not be fun, it is a great opportunity. Meanwhile, when Jim calls Ryan about his huge sale in "Job Fair", Ryan instructs him to enter the sale on the company's website before abruptly hanging up. Jim leaves Ryan a voicemail proclaiming that he will fight Ryan's attempts to push him out of Dunder Mifflin. Shortly afterwards, the staff finds a video on YouTube of Ryan being arrested for fraud; as Oscar explains, the website was not doing too well so Ryan recorded office sales as website sale. Michael is greatly concerned for Ryan, but a pleased Jim leaves Ryan a second voicemail telling him to disregard the last message "since [his] hands are tied."

Jim also contributes to the party-planning fund in order to buy fireworks. He claims it is to give Toby a proper send-off, but later reveals that he has decided to propose to Pam. Pam notices the purchase and guesses his intentions in an interview; however, at the party, Andy ruins the moment by proposing to Angela (who responds with a halfhearted "Okay"). Dwight is crushed but says, "It's my own fault." In a later interview, Pam is visibly disappointed, thinking she had guessed wrong. Toby gets the pictures he wanted of him and Pam together and leaves forever, but Michael gets in a final shot when he has Hank the security guard escort Toby from the building.

Michael discovers that Jan has artificially inseminated herself from a sperm bank when Kevin runs into her at the grocery store. She wants Michael to be involved in the pregnancy. He initially is indecisive, but eventually calls and agrees to attend lamaze class with her.

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 one of the desks.

Reception

"Goodbye, Toby" received a 5.0 Nielsen Rating and a 8% Share. The episode was watched by 8.07 million viewers and achieved a 4.1/10 in the key adults 18–49 demographic.

Deleted Scenes

• Holly is introduced to more employees, including Meredith, whom she tries to befriend, only to have Meredith call her a bitch in a talking head immediately after. Dwight hears the insult and attempts to get Meredith to help him haze Holly by telling her to pretend to make a sandwich (but to actually do it). While telling her his plans, he criticizes her sandwich-making skills.

• Phyllis is making a call in the conference room to a vendor for Toby's going away party. Due to stress, she snaps and curses at the vendor and immediately apologizes. Jim then walks in the conference room and asks how she's doing, to which Phyllis snaps at him and apologizes, then expresses to him that "[she is] so f***ed." In a talking head, she talks about how her mother used to tell her to reach for the sky and that she could be anything she wanted to be, but Phyllis now thinks it is too late to reach her full potential.

• Toby shows a picture of Costa Rica that he has been carrying with him for six years. He says it used to be an untouched beach but now has condos built on it where the trees used to be. Toby returns to the office after buying a new camera (to take a picture of Pam). Toby asks if he can get a picture (of Pam), to which Jim and Pam agree and embrace each other. Toby reluctantly takes a picture of them and walks away quickly and awkwardly.

Notes

• This is the second time Dwight destroys his cell phone because of Jim's pranks. The first time was in "A Benihana Christmas", in which Jim convinced Dwight the CIA accepted him for a mission and then ordered him to destroy his phone.
• This is the second time Michael makes a Yoda impression, the first instance of which occurs in "The Fire".
• Paul Lieberstein wrote this episode, thus writing off his own character.
• The "anti-gravity" potion that Michael refers to is possibly a reference to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
• This episode marks the first appearance of Holly Flax (Amy Ryan), who is presumed to be a regular member of the cast (being as she replaced Toby) for the upcoming fifth season. She was written with Amy Ryan in mind as the Office writers are fans of The Wire, a show previously mentioned on the Office.
• A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees sticker can be seen on the vending machine when Pam tells Jim that she's been accepted at Pratt Institute.
• Pam has used the word "perfect" before in the office, "The Perfect Storm" in "The Fight".
• Michael mentions that he's worked for Toby for 12 years, meaning he's been there about 3 years after Michael first started at the Office.
• During the conversation with Jan, Michael mentions his use of Propecia which explains the change in hair style and thickness between season 1 and season 2. He also mentions using Accutane, an acne medication associated with birth defects when taken by pregnant women.
• Phyllis' discovery of Dwight and Angela's intimate relationship makes her the fourth person to be made aware of it, after Pam, Jim and Ryan.
• When Jim answers Dwight's call on his phone, he makes it sound as though he is talking to Dwight's mother, although she is deceased ("Fun Run").
• As Michael and the Security Guard arrive to escort Toby, at first there is nothing on the wall of his cubicle behind him, but after he's shown a second time the wall has papers tacked to it.

Continuity

• After receiving Michael's watch as a gift, Toby sets it to Costa Rican time, one hour earlier than the time in Pennsylvania. In this case, the alarm on the watch, which Michael programmed to go off at the minute of Toby's office departure, would go off an hour before Michael intended. However, the alarm goes off at Michael's original planned time, meaning that it is either an error in continuity by the show's producers (the likely scenario), Michael accidentally set the alarm to go off an hour later than he meant to, or Toby set the watch back to Pennsylvanian time off-camera.