Business Trip

"Business Trip" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office and the 80th episode overall. It was written by Brent Forrester and directed by Randall Einhorn. It first aired November 13, 2008. It was viewed by 8.18 million people.

Synopsis
CFO David Wallace sends Michael on a foreign sales call to Winnipeg to help alleviate the stress of having Holly taken away from him. He brings along Andy as a foreign language translator and Oscar as the "numbers guy". David Wallace tells him to go to the concierge to find activities to do in the city. Michael finds himself attracted to the concierge, Marie. Thinking that the concierge is similar to a geisha, he mistakes her as some kind of prostitute.

Michael runs into Marie at a bar later that night. They have a few drinks and head back to her hotel room to have sex. After presumably brief and impersonal intercourse, Marie kicks Michael out of her room, and he walks away, depressed and barefoot. As he heads down the hall, she opens the door. Michael turns around expectantly, but she opened the door only to return his shoes.

Back at the bar, Oscar wishes to be left alone, but Andy attempts to set him up with a couple of guys. A few drinks later, Oscar asks Andy what he sees in Angela. Andy says he sees something behind her strict behavior before mentioning that they have not had sex yet. Oscar is shocked and tells Andy to call Angela about this. Andy, drunk, calls Angela, who is with Dwight. Andy tells her he does not like the fact they have not had sex yet. Angela berates him for calling her whilst drunk and hangs up on him.

The next morning, Andy and Oscar reminisce about the night before, with Oscar bringing up Andy's call to Angela. Andy, now sober, is horrified to find that he really did call Angela, for he had thought it was just a dream. He calls Angela to apologize. He says afterward that Angela has put them back on "first base", which for her means that Andy gets to "kiss her forehead". Andy tells Oscar he appreciated his company on the trip, and Oscar feels the same way about Andy.

Michael secures the sale with the client and calls David Wallace, who congratulates him. Michael then tells him he had a terrible time in Winnipeg and berates him for taking Holly away from him before abruptly hanging up. He then gets on the plane back to Scranton, mentioning he has stayed with the company for a long time because they give him enough respect that he could talk down his boss and nothing would happen to him.

Back in Scranton, Jim and the rest of the staff are eagerly counting down the days until Pam returns from art school, with the staff awkwardly and intrusively showing their excitement for Jim. Pam is upset that she failed a class and calls Jim to tell him that she would need to stay in New York for another three months to retake it. Pam is unsure if she wants to spend another three months away from Jim, but Jim reminds her that she went to New York for her own personal benefit and should only return to Scranton "the right way".

The rest of the staff finds out about her situation and feels sorry for the two of them, save Dwight who criticizes Pam's painting of the office building on the wall. At the end of the day, Jim finds Pam waiting in the parking lot. Pam tells Jim that she is coming back "the wrong way" not because of him, but because she ultimately did not like graphic design and that Scranton is her home. Jim welcomes her back and they kiss.

Meanwhile, Ryan moves back to the annex with Kelly in preparation for Pam's return and starts showing off by doing push ups in front of her. Kelly says she has no intention of breaking up with Darryl and restarting a relationship with Ryan, but the two begin making out passionately. Ryan tells Kelly to break up with Darryl via text message, and Darryl responds immediately saying merely "it's cool". Ryan is shocked at Darryl letting it go easily, and Darryl is shown happily walking to his truck.

At the end of the episode, Ryan and Kelly confirm they are back together, with Ryan visibly uncomfortable, like he was in their previous relationship.

Deleted scenes
NBC released some deleted scenes on its web site after the episode aired.
 * At the airport, Michael changes US$2000 into Canadian currency (for strippers). Oscar tells him that he shouldn't do that because the exchange rate provided by the credit card company will be better. Michael changes the money back. Andy points out that strippers don't take credit cards, so Michael changes into Canadian dollars again. This goes back and forth, with Michael ending up with $200 less than he started.
 * Pam shows Jim the assignment she failed because she couldn't get it to print. Jim discovers Pam's sketchbook of people she saw in New York. He is amazed by the drawings.

Trivia

 * While talking on the phone with David Wallace, Michael places his per-diem money on his airplane tickets for Butte Airlines. There is no such airline in real life.
 * Presumably, this is only Michael's second time out of the country, the first being his trip to Jamaica mentioned in "Back From Vacation".
 * It's not clear how the documentary film crew was able to film aboard the plane. There are a multitude of camera angles, some standing. One of the filming locations corresponds to a seat on camera which is shown as empty (the one in front of and to the right of Michael).
 * The office possibly runs on wireless internet as in the last scene, on Jim's desk is a linksys wusb54gs, a wireless internet adapter.
 * It is surprising that Andy is just as impressed by the concierge as Michael. One would have expected Andy's upper-class upbringing to have exposed him to hotels that provide such services.
 * Most of the Winnipeg information is fictitious. There is no sushi restaurant called Matsuki, a pub called "The Huntsman" in the Financial District (which is more commonly known as the Exchange district), or an Astro Cleaners, and the Number 17 bus runs until 1am, not 9pm.
 * According to "Weight Loss", Pam left for New York the week of July 7th. In this episode, David Wallace says its the middle of November. This would mean that Pam was in New York for 4 months instead of 3.
 * The flight attendant tells Michael "there are no meals on flights less than two hours." A direct flight from Scranton to Winnipeg would be roughly 2 hours and 20 minutes; however, there are no direct commercial flights between the two cities. With a layover, each flight would be about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
 * Dwight's comment about the office building being in the Andromeda galaxy makes no sense as the number of stars a planet has would be determined by its solar system, not its galaxy.

Amusing details

 * Dwight is taking notes during Michael's discussion of customs in various cultures.
 * When Phyllis tells Jim "One more week" before Pam returns, there are a lot of tissues on her desk. She must have had a cold.
 * Andy clearly does not speak fluent French; the French he speaks while saying goodbye to Angela is full of pronunciation mistakes. Nevertheless, he cheerfully mixes French words into his speech, such as "Follow moi, bro-sieur," (even blending the French word monsieur with the English term "bro", used as a slang form address to a man), and ordering "dos Long Island iced teas s’il vous plaît," mistakenly using a Spanish word instead of French.
 * The flight attendant almost bumps into the camera after she tells Andy to keep the aisle clear.
 * When Michael enters the hotel in Canada, his two large blue suitcases are being loaded onto a trolley by a bellhop in the background.
 * Oscar gestures to Andy to give some space as Michael approaches concierge Marie, particularly after his crude reference of " in your hand".
 * Michael thinks that concierge Marie does not speak English (even though she speaks exclusively in unaccented English), repeatedly starts his sentences with "It is how you say...?" This prompts Oscar to ask him, "Michael, why?"
 * Andy hears someone (Dwight) with Angela late at night, but because he is drunk he does not remember and so remains oblivious to Angela's infidelity.
 * Stanley audibly mutters "Oh my God" after Dwight insensitively criticizes Pam in front of Jim.
 * Oscar and Andy turn and look at Michael in confusion when he tells David Wallace that the trip was horrible for him.
 * Michael narrates how he has been loyal to Dunder Mifflin for years because he feels respected there.
 * When Jim says that he thought Pam was good at Flash, Pam replies that she was, but the art program switched to Acrobat just as she was learning Quark. The line doesn't make a lot of sense as Flash, Acrobat and Quark are three different programs for different purposes.

Connections to other episodes

 * Michael notes that in Italy, it is considered polite to wash one's hands after going to the bathroom. Michael's aversion to washing his hands after going to the bathroom was shown in a deleted scene from "Dinner Party".
 * Michael is intrigued by international pancakes, referring to the American restaurant chain. In "Goodbye, Toby", Jan points out that he likes to have breakfast there.
 * Andy learned French during his semester in France, as noted by Angela in a deleted scene from "Dinner Party".
 * Andy says "beer me" for getting drinks for the guys he's trying to hook Oscar up with. This is what Andy says to Jim when asking for something in "Product Recall".

Behind the scenes

 * Airplane scenes were filmed in nearby Pacoima at Air Hollywood, a location with numerous airplane and airport sets.
 * The scenes at the Canadian hotel were shot at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles.
 * Scenes at "The Huntsman" were shot at the Seven Grand Bar and Grill in Los Angeles.
 * The scenes at Winnipeg Airport were filmed at Terminal 2 of . There was an area in the terminal that was out of service, and the show was able to get permission to film there. Security was very tight, and only a small number of actors and crew were allowed into the area. The show had enough budget to digitally alter only one of the logos on the airplanes in the background to the Air Canada logo.
 * Writer Brent Forrester chose Winnipeg as the destination of Michael's trip because "It seemed like Montreal was maybe too exotic and Vancouver also a little maybe too conventionally sexy, and Winnipeg seemed to strike the right balance between exotic and obscure," and that Winnipeg is roughly analogous to Scranton.
 * Jody Tresoor of Destination Winnipeg (an economic and tourism development organization, renamed "Economic Development Winnipeg" in 2011) provided airport baggage tags, shopping bags from The Bay, Old Dutch potato chips, Fort Garry brewing company paraphernalia and other local items.
 * Wendi McLendon-Covey didn't have to audition for the role. She had just been fired from a movie in Michigan because the backer felt she was too ugly, and when she landed in Los Angeles, she found a message from her agent telling her the show wanted her, and she was suddenly available. She is still recognized in public for her role on the show, even though she appeared in only one episode.
 * At the very beginning of the episode, Meredith is staring at Angela. This is actually actor Kate Flannery staring at actor Angela Kinsey, trying to tell her that something is wrong with her costume. Angela Kinsey realizes that her microphone is visible and adjusts her collar.
 * In the script, Creed was supposed to punch Jim in the shoulder and then muss his hair. The creepy shoulder massage was developed during filming.
 * According to B.J. Novak, Mindy Kaling "definitely wrote the scene" in which Ryan does push-ups. At the time, the writers were engaged in push-up contests, and Novak himself was in training to appear in the movie  as a soldier, so he was always doing push-ups in the writers room.
 * Brent Forrester wrote Andy's line "You will thank me when they spank thee." Forrester says that he enjoyed writing rhyming punch lines for for Andy, perhaps a bit too much. One day in the writers room, he pitched the line "backup snack pack backpack", and the other writers banned him from writing any more rhyming punch lines for the rest of the year.
 * Jennifer Celotta came up with the story line that Pam would fail art school. Brent Forrester was opposed to the idea that Pam would give up on her dreams to be with a man, but Jen Celotta felt that the romance of the gesture outweighed that concern. Furthermore, she argued that the point of the story was not that Pam gave up on her dream, but rather that she realized what her real dreams were: To be a creative artist, not a graphic designer.

Cultural references

 * is a national problem and is actively discouraged by the government.
 * Michael talks about "all things international" including pancakes and the man of mystery, referring to, a national restaurant chain specializing in breakfast, and the movie .
 *  is the capital of the (not ). The Islamic dress code is widely adhered to (although not compulsory), and Western-style clothing is popular among young people.
 *  is the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way.
 * Michael plans to spend his  money on a sweater. The per diem is a monetary allowance given to an employee on business travel to cover daily expenses such as food and taxicab rides, not as money to be spent on gifts.
 * Dwight's "I wash my hands of this", meaning that he takes no responsibility. The line originates from Pontius Pilate in the Bible. Pilate washed his hands to show that he was not responsible for the execution of Jesus. Dwight says so to show that he is not responsible if Michael gets robbed.
 * David sends Michael to , the capital of the Canadian province Manitoba. It is a windy city, and although summers are quite warm, in November, the temperature typically remains below freezing all day.
 * Although is a bilingual nation, Winnipeg is in the English-speaking part of Canada. (Nevertheless, it does have a sizeable French-speaking community in the neighborhood of .)
 * Michael introduces the documentary crew to his airplane seat by calling it , business class edition, referring to the reality television program which provides tours of celebrity houses and mansions.
 * Andy plans to watch  during the flight, a comedy movie about a family's encounter with the legendary creature.
 * A  is a hotel employee who assists guests with local services, such as recommending restaurants or obtaining tickets to local events.
 * Michael believes the concierge is like a , a Japanese woman trained in the fine arts. Legitimate geisha flirt with their clients but do not have sex.
 * ' is a platform for presenting interactive content on the Web. ' is a program for creating and managing documents, and  is a desktop publishing program.
 * Andy takes it upon himself to serve as Oscar's , an informal term for somebody who helps a friend approach potential sexual partners.
 * On the bar at The Huntsman are two bags of potato chips. The company's Canadian head office is in Winnipeg.
 * One of the taps at the bar has the "FGB" logo of, a Winnipeg brewery.
 * Andy orders two . Andy later says, "it’s true what they say: Long Island iced teas are way stronger in Canada." There is no such saying. A Long Island iced tea by its nature contains a phenomenal amount of alcohol.
 * Andy says he gave Oscar "the whole nine 'nards", a pun on the phrase "the whole nine yards."
 * Andy says that Angela is "taking us back to first base", referring to the baseball-themed slang progression of intimacy (discussed in "Boys and Girls"). In Angela's version, however, first base consists of a kiss on the forehead, rather than the traditional definition of.
 * The potential client says that he can get a better price from , a Canadian paper company based in Vancouver.

Main cast

 * Steve Carell as Michael Scott
 * Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute
 * John Krasinski as Jim Halpert
 * Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesly
 * B.J. Novak as Ryan Howard

Supporting cast

 * Ed Helms as Andy Bernard
 * Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson
 * Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone
 * Creed Bratton as Creed Bratton
 * Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer
 * Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor
 * Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin
 * Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez
 * Craig Robinson as Darryl Philbin
 * Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Vance

Recurring cast

 * Andy Buckley as David Wallace

Guest cast

 * Wendi McLendon-Covey as Marie the Concierge
 * Deb Hiett as Beth the Flight Attendant
 * Tony Pasqualini as Potential Canadian Client
 * Frank Maharajh as Not Gay Businessman
 * Paul Sass as Not Gay Businessman
 * Danilo Di Julio as Plane Passenger