The Office: Welcome Party

What Happened, Yo!:

-Robert arrives one morning to find the whole office unproductive and Nellie absent. When Nellie shows up, saying that she's still getting used to moving and has gotten a bunch of boxes sent to her new apartment, Robert gets the office to throw her a party and makes Jim and Dwight help her move in. Because they dislike Nellie, Pam comes up with the idea of throwing an intentionally awful party as a prank of sorts. Jim advises her to hire a magician (having found out that Nellie hates them). But while helping Nellie move, Jim and Dwight find a box of photos of Nellie and her ex-boyfriend. Nellie tells them that she pretty much lost everything after she broke up with her ex, who was a stage magician, and she's hoping to make a fresh start here. Jim feels sympathy for Nellie and tries to get Pam to call the horrible party off, but when she tries, the rest of the office won't listen. In order to remain at least a bit subtle, she convinces them to use a different name when talking about how much they dislike Nellie. But the office decides to use Pam as the code name. At the party, Creed plays his originals, and the office talks about how much they hate Pam. When the magician shows up though, Jim sabotages him until he has a breakdown and Dwight pushes him off the premises. Robert sees the party as a success, even though he doesn't understand why Jim and Pam abused the magician. Nellie appreciates it though.

-Meanwhile, Andy and Erin head off to Jessica's family cabin so Andy can break up with her (Erin won't kiss him anymore until that happens). However, when they get there, they find a bachelorette party in process, and they find themselves staying through periods of hating on the brides ex-boyfriends and having one of the bridesmaid talk about how great Andy is. Andy finally gets the chance to break up with Jessica, but lies about his reason, saying it's because he's gay and denying that it's because of Erin (Who Andy had previously claimed wasn't relationship material.). Andy and Erin leave, but both don't feel that great. So Andy goes back and tells everyone that he loves Erin, which gets them both chased off by the entire bachelorette party, but also has Erin and Andy feeling a lot better.

I Liked This: Welcome Party was another enjoyable Office episode. It's good to know that even after she gave them all raises, the office isn't exactly that happy to have Nellie there. And speaking of Nellie, I'm liking the character more and more every week. She's still a wacky character, but she gets fleshed out a lot this week, making her character more sympathetic. It was also good seeing Jim, Pam, and Dwight work together to try and protect Nellie and the party had some funny moments, particularly Creed's big joke of the episode and Robert not realizing that the party was purposely horrible. And I was excited to see Andy finally break up with Jessica, even if he had to be humiliated to do it. She was always more of a plot device than a character and I'm glad to see her go. And now that everything is right with Andy and Erin (For now at least), I'm excited to see Andy return and take on Nellie. The rest of this season could potentially be very awesome.

But...: I think the writers got carried away with the scene of everyone saying how much they hate "Pam", taking it too far for my tastes. And Jessica still wasn't that interesting, even in her last appearance. Good thing we never have to see her again. (Hopefully).

The Bottom Line: Welcome Party was an enjoyable episode, adding some more much-needed depth to Nellie and removing the last obstacle between Andy and Erin.

Grade: 75% (Good)

Memorable Moments

-Loved the cold open with everyone being unsure on whether or not Stanley as a mustache (Even I was unsure by the end of it.) Pam: "Okay, which one of these (holds up two drawings of Stanley. One with a mustache, one without.) looks more right?" Dwight: "Neither of those looks like any person that has ever existed or been dreamt of in the history of human insanity. That said, the one on the left."

-Nellie: "No offense, but are there a lot of Irish people living around here?" Everyone: "Yes."

-Nellie: "I see you've found Benjamin. That's what I call my box full of photos of Henry."

-Creed: "Best gig ever. They asked me to only play originals. I said, 'have you heard my originals? They're terrible'. They said, 'even better'. I said, 'I get it. It's an ironic party for Nellie."

-Kevin: "You think this is a great party? This cake has vegetables in it. Like a salad bar, Robert!"