"Classy Christmas" eleventh/twelfth episode of Season 7 and the 137th/138th episode overall. It was played in two separate "parts". It was written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Rainn Wilson. It originally aired on December 9, 2010. It was viewed by 7.18 million people.
Summary
Michael Scott finds out that Holly Flax will be replacing Toby Flenderson, and demands that Pam Halpert throw a new Christmas party to celebrate Holly's return. Michael wants the Christmas party to be "classy", and is resistant to doing any typical Christmas stuff that would be too childish or unsophisticated. He is under the impression that Holly will be single when she arrives, even though last time he saw her, she was dating A.J., her boyfriend from her last job. Pam Halpert gives Jim a homemade comic book for Christmas (The Adventures Of JImmy Halpert), and worries that Jim may not like it.
Meanwhile, Darryl Philbin is worried that his daughter doesn't want to spend Christmas with him. He decides that he will try and convince her to spend Christmas with him by bringing her to the office Christmas party. He is dismayed when he finds out that Michael has decided to make the party "classy", thus making it no fun for kids.
Dwight Schrute challenges Jim to a snowball fight, which at first is all in good fun, but eventually gets intense. Jim is haunted constantly by the threat of getting hit with a snowball, and Dwight uses fear as his main weapon.
When Holly arrives, it turns out she is still dating her boyfriend, despite living far away from him. It is clear that she is somewhat disappointed that he hasn't proposed yet. Michael is so annoyed about her feelings for A.J. that he takes it upon himself to vandalize a Toy Story doll of Woody that A.J. gave her, which she keeps at her desk. When she discovers that he did it, he agrees to wash Woody, but he realizes her opinion of him is tainted by the incident.
Meanwhile, the employees of the office team up to give Darryl's daughter a fun scavenger hunt so she will be more interested in spending Christmas with her father. In the end she chooses to spend Christmas with Darryl.
Cultural references
- A comptroller is a management level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. Kevin, an accountant himself, doesn't know what a comptroller is.
- Michael's does a little scat singing when talking about how boring he finds jazz.
- Holly's doll is Woody from Toy Story.
- Nora Ephron was a writer best known for her romantic comedies When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless In Seattle.
- The Grinch is a fictional character created by Dr. Seuss.
Trivia
- Pam gets a fake Christmas tree for the office. In "Secret Santa", however, she seems disappointed when Jim and Dwight reveal a fake Christmas tree.
- When Jim throws a snowball at Dwight, Pam seems to be the only one that doesn't find it funny, which is very uncharacteristic of her.
- Dwight has a Zippo lighter in his desk, an unusual item for someone who doesn't smoke, since it has to be recharged from time to time even if not used regularly.
- The story Michael makes up to make Holly jealous is ridiculously ill-conceived, as would be expected of Michael. He mentions going to JFK Airport to go back to Scranton, which is 2 1/2 hours from New York by car, as established in "Casino Night". Also, the airport that serves Scranton doesn't have flights to or from JFK.
- Even though Phyllis was very set on being Santa in the previous Christmas episode, she seems very happy to see Michael in his Santa suit.
- When Michael gives Kelly the fast food receipt in lieu of a mall receipt, she asks him how many Number Nines he ordered. This appears to be a reference to Big Smoke’s Order from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,
Goofs
- Erin states that she does not know who Holly is, despite the fact that Erin was at the company picnic in season 5 in which Holly performed in front of the whole company.
Connections to previous episodes
- This is the second time one of the employees breaks a window in the conference room. Michael used a projector to break a window in "Stress Relief". Ironically, both of these episodes were the first part of a two-part episode.
Cast
Main Cast
- Steve Carell as Michael Scott
- Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute
- John Krasinski as Jim Halpert
- Jenna Fischer as Pam Halpert
- B.J. Novak as Ryan Howard
- Ed Helms as Andy Bernard
Supporting Cast
- Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson
- Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone
- Creed Bratton (actor) as Creed Bratton
- Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer
- Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor
- Ellie Kemper as Erin Hannon
- Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin
- Paul Lieberstein as Toby Flenderson
- Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez
- Craig Robinson as Darryl Philbin
- Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Vance
- Zach Woods as Gabe Lewis
- Amy Ryan as Holly Flax
Recurring Cast
- Mark Proksch as Nate
Guest Cast
- Rob Huebel as A.J.
- Jack Coleman as State Senator Robert Lipton
- Taylar Holloman as Jada
- Jonathan Pintoff as Bassist
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