Official Episode Description:

“Frame Toby”
A mysterious person in the office has made a huge mess in the microwave and will not clean it up. Meanwhile, Michael (Golden Globe winner Steve Carell) has to come to terms with the fact that there have been certain personnel changes in his staff without his knowing.

tonight’s episode reminded me very much of last year’s “Dinner Party”. That episode was very uncomfortable to watch in its first airing, and so was this one for the most part. The bulk of the episode is taken up with Michael and Dwight trying to find some way of framing Toby to get him fired (after he returns to work without Michael even noticing).

Michael even goes so far as to buy what he thinks is weed in order to plant it into Toby’s desk. Dwight then calls the police – and hilarity ensues. Except – it really wasn’t that funny. It was mean, and had it been real, Toby could have been convicted of a federal offense…and really – that’s just not funny.

Ryan’s departure from the show was also set up, with him saying he was going to take an extended trip with his friends. Hopefully, he’ll never return.

The other main point of the episode was Jim revealing to Pam that he’d purchased his parents house. Jim’s initial walk thru of the house was hilarious – and the clown painting on the wall made me laugh out loud. When Jim showed Pam the house, though it was uncomfortable for several minutes. The entire walk through was just a ball of stress waiting for Pam to freak out, or mask her disappointment or something…instead, though, Pam seemed to genuinely love that Jim bought her a house…which was nice.

Overall, though, this was not the most fun episode to watch. Maybe that will change over repeat viewings – but I doubt it. Every season has to have a low-point. I hope this is it.

Also NBC has posted the first episode of a new “Office Webisode” series on online: