The Office Season 5
Overview
The season opens with the whole office on a company-wide weight-loss kick and ends with Michael Scott running his own paper company out of an office the size of a closet downstairs, and somehow the ride between those two points is peak Office. In between: Jim finally proposes to Pam at a highway rest stop halfway between Scranton and New York, in the rain, and it's perfect precisely because it isn't fancy. Pam heads to art school in New York, which hands the show a few episodes of genuine ache. Holly's transfer early on leaves Michael (Steve Carell) lonelier than he'll admit, and her absence hangs over every disastrous attempt he makes to move on. The two-part "Stress Relief" — the one with Dwight's fake fire drill and the CPR dummy — aired after the Super Bowl and became the most-watched episode the show ever made. Then there's the Michael Scott Paper Company arc, where Michael, Pam, and Ryan try to poach Dunder Mifflin's clients with pancake breakfasts and sheer stubbornness. It's scrappy, funny, and weirdly touching: the closest the series ever comes to letting Michael actually win at something.
