| “ | Holly is sweet and simple, like a lady baker. I would not be surprised to find out that she had worked in a bakery before coming here. She has that kind of warmth. I’m pretty sure she’s baked on a professional level. | ” | |
—Michael Scott, Goodbye, Toby | |||
Hollis Partridge "Holly" Scott (née Flax) is a fictional character played by Amy Ryan in the television series The Office. She married Michael Scott at some point in the series after the characters left for Colorado and had four unnamed children. Holly also made her only Season 6 appearance, in archived footage, in The Banker.
Quick Answers
Who does Holly Flax replace when she joins the Scranton branch of The Office?
Who does Holly Flax marry in The Office?
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Season 4[]
When Toby is preparing to move to Costa Rica, Holly is hired as his replacement. Holly undergoes training from Toby to become the HR representative at the Scranton branch. Dwight is instructed to haze Holly, which Dwight takes too far by putting a raccoon in her car and convincing her that Kevin Malone has special needs. Michael likes her and is angry at Dwight for doing that. Holly is shown to be similar to Michael. ("Goodbye, Toby")
Season 5[]
Holly's full name is given by the nameplate on her desk, which reads Hollis "Holly" P. Flax. Michael had been courting Holly in the first episode of the season; Holly continues to be a "major dork" (in the words of Jim Halpert) just like Michael. Holly learns that Kevin is not actually mentally challenged, as she had been duped into believing during season 4 by Dwight. Holly practices yoga, so Oscar refers Holly to a yoga class (with an attractive teacher). Holly agrees to a date with him, much to Michael's dismay. Holly buys tickets for Counting Crows, but the yoga instructor goes back on his word and doesn't call her after he promised he would. Michael, who does not pick up on several hints that Holly has given him (about attending the concert with her), purchases the tickets from her and rips them to pieces.("Weight Loss") While Holly appears to have a higher sense of morality than Michael (and has shown disapproval toward some of his ideas and schemes), she ultimately considers him to be her best friend in the office. It is also revealed that she was picked on as a child just like Michael and that she grew up in Des Moines, Iowa.("Business Ethics")
Michael tells Holly he will treat her poorly in front of Jan during her baby shower because he has a vested interest in Jan's baby, which is not his (Sperm Donor). He expected Jan to still be pregnant, but she arrives with the baby already born. Nevertheless, Michael still treats Holly poorly. Despite being told of this, she is shown to be uncomfortable with Michael's attitude toward her. In a deleted scene, when Michael is treating her poorly, she tells the camera crew she sees what life was like in the office for Toby, who is on speakerphone agreeing with her. However, despite witnessing Michael's treatment of Holly throughout the day, Jan notices the two of them have a lot in common after Holly makes jokes in front of her. Jan then orders Michael not to date Holly before driving away. This, in addition to feeling no connection with Jan's baby, prompts Michael to hug Holly for treating her poorly and ask her out on a date, which she accepts, visibly moved.("Baby Shower")
Holly and Michael date, and on their third date, they have sexual relations in the office (inadvertently leading to the break-in at the office). She helps Michael organize a fundraiser (offering yoga lessons) and displeases CFO David Wallace, who sees them kissing, thus noticing a relationship.("Crime Aid") In response, she is transferred back to Nashua. She and Michael plan to continue dating, but realize on the trip that the distance is
insurmountable. Thus, they are forced to end their relationship, sharing one last embrace before saying goodbye. Michael tells everyone that they are engaged upon his return but later admits this is not true. Later, David is called out on the transfer by Michael, who chastises him on the phone before hanging up. ("Business Trip")
When Michael comes to Nashua with Pam Beesly to give his lecture and find closure with Holly, she is not there because she is on an HR retreat. It is also revealed that she is dating one of the salesmen there, A.J., which deeply upsets Michael and makes him unable to do his presentation. He makes an attempt to but he ultimately breaks down and asks her boyfriend about Holly in front of everyone before leaving. He goes to her desk and smells her sweater, cutting a sleeve off to take with him. Doing so he hits her mouse and her computer awakens from sleep mode. Michael finds a file on her computer titled "Dear Michael" and copies it to his flash drive. He tells Pam about it, and Pam claims it wasn't a good idea and that he shouldn't read it because it is a violation of her trust. Pam volunteers to read it herself and deletes it afterward, telling Michael it said she still has feelings for him and that it isn't over, which makes Michael happy. It is unclear whether Pam was telling the truth.("Lecture Circuit")
Holly and Michael reunite at the Dunder Mifflin company picnic for the first time since she was transferred. She is still seeing A.J., who arrives with her. Holly and A.J. have apparently started living together, though Michael holds himself together. Michael makes a number of tongue-in-cheek jabs at A.J., though Holly and A.J. don't respond to it. David Wallace lets Holly and Michael do a skit about the history of Dunder Mifflin, and the two spend time in the woods by themselves trying to think of ideas. Michael wants to find a time to talk about a possible reconciliation but restrains himself. The two decide to do a skit that spoofs Slumdog Millionaire, renamed as "Slumdunder-Mifflinaire." The presentation goes horribly and gets worse when they reveal that the Buffalo branch is closing down, much to everyone's surprise. Michael and Holly reminisce about the presentation and talk about one in the future. Holly leaves with A.J., with Michael noting that it wasn't the right time to talk to her and that they will eventually find each other again someday.("Company Picnic")
Season 6[]
Holly Flax is mentioned by Michael several times through several episodes. In "Double Date," Michael says that he wants to be with Holly and dumps Pam's mom, Helene, causing major problems, and causing Pam to eventually slap Michael.
In "The Banker," Holly briefly appears in a video segment during the flashbacks of the office.
Since Dunder Mifflin Scranton was the only branch that was "working right", this suggested that all the other former Dunder Mifflin branches, including Holly's, were shut down by the new owners Sabre.("Sabre") However, at the end of "The Whistleblower", Michael asks Jo to transfer Holly back to Scranton. Jo replies that she'll see what she can do.
Season 7[]
Holly later returns in the form of a speakerphone call in "Sex Ed", when Michael calls her in fear that he may have contracted herpes and infected Holly with it. The two start joking with each other before their discussion turns serious, with Holly claiming that Michael romanticizes things too much, such as their relationship which she characterizes as "just a fling", and says her relationship with A.J. is now at one and a half years and counting. Upset, Michael hangs up on her but later calls her voicemail, stating that he doesn't think it was just a fling and that he still thinks about her, before finally telling Holly she should get herself checked for possible herpes.
Holly returns to the Scranton office to fill in for Toby, who is serving jury duty on the Scranton Strangler trial. Under pressure from Kelly Kapoor and Phyllis Vance, Holly agrees to make her boyfriend an ultimatum: Propose marriage by the end of the year, or they are through. Michael is at first discouraged that she chose to have a long-distance relationship with this other boyfriend until he learns from Pam that there was an ultimatum. When the show resumed after the new year, it is revealed that Holly was not engaged. At first, Michael is excited, until he learns that she never broke up with AJ. By the end of the episode, however, she does end things with him.
In the meantime, Michael is eager to get back with his former lover and, a few episodes later, Michael Scott gets left at a gas station by Jim Halpert who leaves for a baby emergency. Dwight, Erin and Holly search for Michael and Holly seems to be the only one to know where he went. She finds Michael on the top of a tall building, they greet each other and kiss. They have been in a relationship through the past few episodes to date. When Michael fears their relationship will have to end when Holly has to go back to Nashua, Holly says they should not let the company decide their future and they resolve to move in together. Holly then helps Michael mature as he realizes that his home movie Threat Level Midnight is actually very bad and that his best friend Todd Packer is really a jerk.
Holly during the engagement
In "Garage Sale," Holly learns that her parents aren't doing so well and wants to go home to Boulder, Colorado. Wanting Michael to come with her, she tries to propose to Michael in the break room and gets turned down, with Michael saying "I won't be proposed to in a break room. That's not what my grandkids want to hear." He had already been planning an elaborate proposal. With the help of Pam, Jim, Oscar, and Ryan, he decides to propose in the annex. After taking Holly on a tour around the office reminding her of important moments of their courtship, he takes her into the kitchen where all the employees are waiting holding candles and facetiously ask Holly to marry them, to which she turns all of them down. When they reach the annex, multiple candles are lit on the filing cabinets and Holly's desk. As they get down on their knees by Holly's desk, the candles cause the fire alarms and sprinklers to go off. They laugh together as he proposes and she says yes. After being congratulated by everyone, he says, "We're going to Colorado." Kevin gets confused and thinks everyone in the office is leaving. Michael clarifies that it is just him and Holly that are leaving. Holly leaves for Colorado before Michael does and is heard over the phone talking to Michael on his last day.
Employment history[]
Prior to joining Dunder Mifflin, Holly worked at an unnamed company, which she left because it was easy to get hired but difficult to get promoted. ("Goodbye, Toby")
She worked at Dunder Mifflin Nashua at some point before being transferred to Dunder Mifflin Scranton in "Goodbye, Toby".
After David Wallace discovers that she and Michael are in a relationship, she is transferred back to Dunder Mifflin Nashua. ("Employee Transfer")
Holly once again transfers to Dunder Mifflin Scranton to replace Toby, who has been called away for jury duty. ("Classy Christmas")
Holly's employment at Dunder Mifflin Scranton ends when she leaves her job to return to Colorado to take care of her father. ("Garage Sale")
Recurring jokes[]
Holly is the female version of Michael:
- She makes a lot of sexual jokes.
- She enjoys making bad impressions of Yoda, Master Thespian, and E.T.
- She "quotes then cites": She quietly mutters "Lovitz" after doing a Master Thespian impression.
- She drives a convertible, the same impractical car that Michael drove for the first three seasons.
- She dislikes Toby somewhat, as she jokingly expresses disdain for him in "Goodbye Toby", however, she does not appear to be aware of the extent to which Michael mistreats him and Michael even attempted to hide this from her in the same episode.
Behind the scenes[]
- Holly was introduced to be the first person who actually liked Michael, allowing his character to mature and move past Jan. She was not intended to be his life partner, and was planned to be in only six episodes.[1]
- Before she was cast as Holly, Amy Ryan had just been nominated for an Oscar for playing a drug-addicted mother in the thriller Gone Baby Gone (2008). She wanted to play a completely different type of character next to avoid being pigeonholed, and mentioned to her agent, half-joking, that she would love to be on The Office. At the same time, the writers of The Office, who were big fans of The Wire (which she appeared in) asked her if she would consider joining the show. Both of these factors made her an easy hire.
- Holly's screensaver at Nashua is a picture of Martin Short. Amy Ryan would co-star with Short 10 years later in Hulu's Only Murders in the Building.
Appearances[]
| Episodes | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Season 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| Season 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ✔ | ||||||||||||||
| Season 5 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | M | M | M | — | — | — | — | — | M | M | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ✔ | |||
| Season 6 | — | — | — | M | — | — | — | M | M | — | — | — | A | — | — | M | — | — | — | — | — | M | — | M | ||||
| Season 7 | — | — | — | V | — | — | — | — | — | — | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | — | — | V | — | — | — | ||||
| Season 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Season 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | M | |||||
| * - deleted scene • V - voice only • M - mentioned only • C - credit only • P - photo only • A - archive footage | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References[]
- ↑ Baumgartner, Brian. When We Said Goodbye To Steve, An Oral History of the Office, Episode 9. August 25, 2020.
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