Murder

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Murder
Season	6
Episode	10
Production Code	610
Airdate	November 12, 2009
Written by	Danny Chun
Directed by	Greg Daniels
Episodes timeline
Previous	Double Date
Previous	Double Date
Next	Shareholder Meeting
Next	Shareholder Meeting

Murder was the tenth episode of the sixth season of The Office and the show's 110th episode. It was written by Danny Chun and directed by Greg Daniels. It first aired on November 12th, 2009. It was viewed by 7.76 million people.

Synopsis

The day gets off to a rocky start when rumors from The Wall Street Journal point to financial troubles for Dunder Mifflin. In an attempt to get the worried staff under control, Michael and Jim call the monthly staff meeting to provide what few assurances and optimistic viewpoints they can on the steadily worsening news. In a moment of quick thinking, Michael pulls out a party game, Belles, Bourbon, and Bullets, and forces the rest of the staff to play along. Jim tries to stop him, saying they cannot afford to play around that day. Michael gets his way, saying Jim owes him 'one' after earlier insisting that Michael abandon his idea to run hamster tubes throughout the office, called "Tube City".

The staff slowly warms up to the game, which is a murder mystery. It is set in Savannah, Georgia, and everyone has to adopt a Southern accent (with varying degrees of success). Thanks to Pam, Andy, and Phyllis, the game quickly becomes a hit. Almost everyone present starts to play along, except for Oscar (who tries to get updates on the situation from corporate) and Creed (who shows up late to work and flees after being told he is a suspect in a murder). Jim continues to believe the entire exercise is pointless.

Throughout the game, Andy is trying his hardest to make a move on Erin, and with the possible impending closure of Dunder Mifflin, decides he needs to make a move now. While 'in character,' he asks Erin out for a weekend date, but becomes unsure if he really asked her out, or if he just simply asked out her murder mystery character, "Naughty Nelly." He is worried that Erin only said yes because Naughty Nelly, a promiscuous, flirtatious, and scandalous woman, "says yes to everyone and might be a murderer."

Just as the game seems to get interesting, Oscar returns and reveals even more bad news from corporate. Accounting has been notified to stop payments to vendors, which is in Oscar's words "unprecedented and should be a cause for concern." This brings the staff out of the game and back to the scary reality of losing their jobs. Michael tries to win them back, but accidentally skips to the game's conclusion, revealing the murder to be Beatrix Bourbon (Phyllis). Michael refuses to give up and continues playing the game with Dwight.

After the game, Andy and Erin meet at the receptionist desk, where Erin asks him about their upcoming date. Andy chickens out and indicates that the "date" was just part of the game, although that was not his original intention. Silence follows, and Erin leaves Andy at reception in embarrassment. She later reveals she thought the date was real and was excited about the idea.

In a vain attempt to salvage the day, Michael tries to introduce another murder and other twists to the story to pull his staff back into the party. This infuriates Jim to his breaking point, and they hold a private talk in Michael's office. Michael stands his ground and points out to Jim "they need this game" or they might cave in under the impending bad news and possible closure of Dunder Mifflin. CFO David Wallace (Andy Buckley) finally returns the phone calls to Jim, and reveals that while nothing has been officially decided yet, Dunder Mifflin is expected to be insolvent by year-end. Knowing how damaging this could be to his staff, Jim deliberately hides this news from them and nudges them back into the party. At the end of the day, Jim is "happy that we have two co-managers today," realizing it helps having someone to distract people from pressing issues.

Michael, Dwight, Andy, and Pam find themselves in a fake Mexican standoff lasting until 6:00 at night. Jim pulls Pam out so they can go home, and the others pretend to shoot each other to death.

Cultural references

• Dwight proposes a martial arts scenario that takes place in the Lackawanna Trolley Museum. There is no such museum, although there is The Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton.
• The Swedish Chef is a character from the 1970s television show The Muppet Show.
• The Wall Street Journal is a popular business journal.
• When Jim goes to purchase the rest of the article, Andy offers to pay although it is clear that Jim is in the process of completing the transaction, a common social faux-pas.

Characters of the Murder mystery game

• Voodoo Mama Juju = Angela
• Beatrix Bourbon = Phyils
• Deb U. Taunt = Pam
• The Butler = Dwight
• Caleb Crawdad = Michael
• Naughty Nellie Nutmeg = Erin
• Nathaniel Nutmeg = Andy
• Jim Halpert (time-traveling co-manager)= Jim (deleted scene)

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

Supporting cast

• Ed Helms as Andy Bernard
• Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson
• Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone
• Creed Bratton (actor) as Creed Bratton
• Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor
• Ellie Kemper as Erin Hannon
• Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin
• Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez
• Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Vance

Recurring cast

• Andy Buckley as David Wallace (Voice Only)

Guest cast

• Suzanne Watson as Stephanie