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Revision as of 21:26, 23 May 2013

"Whistleblower" is the twenty-sixth episode of the sixth season and the 126th episode of The Office overall. It was written by Warren Lieberstein and Halsted Sullivan It was directed by Paul Feig. The episode aired on May 20th, 2010. It was the last episode of Season 6. It was viewed by 6.60 million people.

Synopsis

The press finds out that Sabre's printers catch on fire, and CEO Jo Bennett shows up to the office to find out who the whistleblower is. Andy Bernard is made the prime suspect out of suspicion, who denies he leaked the information, despite the fact he was the first in the office to learn of it. Jo has Nick, the IT specialist, inspect everyone's computer to find evidence for a potential leak, and is constantly harassed while trying to do so. Jo and Gabe Louis interview everyone to find the potential leak, starting with Michael Scott. Although Michael suggests some very harsh punishment of the offender, which proves his innocence to Jo, he insists that no one in the office would have leaked the information.

During the interviews, Dwight Schrute comes in and offers Jo a long list of people she should fire in order to convince her the leak did not come from him. Jo believes him, and recommends to him that he should invest the money he made this year in real estate. After a lot of consideration, Dwight attempts to buy the Scranton Business Park, and suggests in a conversation with Hank the security guard that he will implement sweeping changes to the place.

Meanwhile, Michael tries to get Andy to confess he told the press. Andy suggests that Darryl Philbin is more nervous about the situation than anyone else because he knew about the printers catching on fire too. Michael confronts Darryl to get him to confess. Darryl admits that he accidentally told a female reporter about how Sabre printers catch fire. Pam confesses to her husband, Jim Halpert, that she leaked the info about the scandal to a mother at their day-care center, whose husband happened to be a news journalist. When she tells Michael, he asks her and Darryl to meet him in Meredith Palmer's van. Kelly Kapoor joins them as she revealed the news on Twitter out of boredom. The three suggest to Michael that he should try to talk to Jo about the situation so that they can confess without losing their jobs.

Michael goes back on his word and instead tries to convince Jo to let the offenders off lightly, which causes her to suspect that he knows the identity of the whistleblower. Michael refuses to say anything, so Jo takes him into her private jet to talk with him about his problems. Michael admits many of the stresses he's had throughout the year, namely missing Holly Flax. Jo states that she doesn't want to be remembered as someone who made a mistake, even though she will have to do a recall on the printers. Michael offers to "fall on his sword" and announce the public apology for her.

Back at the office, Gabe finishes interviewing everyone and deduces that Andy is the one who talked with the press. Everyone tries to suggest that it could be someone else, perhaps even Gabe. At that moment, Nick suddenly announces that he is quitting to go teach inner city children in Detroit how to use computers. When Dwight and others mock and ignore him, Nick reveals personal computer information about many of the employees. He concludes that Andy is the leak due to the Quicktime video he shot with Darryl, as well as a letter/email he sent to a local newspaper.

At the end of the day, Andy finds himself harassed by the other employees. However, Erin Hannon commends Andy's bravery, and he leaves smiling.

Michael is shown giving a public apology to a news crew, after which Jo tells him she will owe him a favor. When Michael jokingly asks to bring Holly back to Scranton, Jo responds by telling him that she will look into it, leaving him at a loss of words as the episode ends.

Trivia

  • During the cold opening, Michael announces that the office is at "DEFCON 5." Amusingly, this is actually the lowest level of DEFCON, meaning the office is at peace and not in a crisis.
  • "Whistleblower" is one of the only episodes where Michael is shown in a semi-serious light.
  • Dwight says that the office building is on 1725 Slough Avenue, a reference to the city of Slough, where Wernam-Hogg is located in the British series.
  • Ryan creates a messaging-like application for the iPhone called the "WUPHF." A service similar to this already exists, known as ping.fm.
  • This is probably Nick's (The IT Guy) last episode as he announces that he is leaving to teach kids about computers. It is revealed that no one remembers his name and brushes him off as he attempts to get a goodbye from Scranton Branch.
  • Holly may make an appearance in Season 7, which is hinted in the final lines of the episode. This is confirmed as she, along with all of Michael's ex-girlfriends, will make return appearances (in the same episode).
  • While on Jo's private jet, one of the walls is obviously made of OSB (oriented strand board). Considering it is presumed to be an expensive private jet, one would think the internal walls would be made of a higher-quality material, since OSB is a material used for low-budget projects where quality materials are not needed.

Connections to previous episodes

  • In this episode, David Wallace makes an appearance on the show during an interview. He is supposed to discuss his feelings towards the Sabre printer controversy. However, he instead takes the time to promote his invention "Suck-It," an idea that he shared in the episode "Sabre."

Cultural references

  • There is a reference to the movie Airplane! during Michael's conversation in the private jet.
  • When Jo asks for the whistleblower to confess, Phyllis quietly says to Andy "Raise your hand Norma Rae," a reference to the 1979 movie Norma Rae.
  • Michael make a reference to "Montego Bay," which is part of the Sandals resort (in Jamaica) to which he took Jan earlier in the series. He means to refer to "Guantanamo Bay," which is located in Cuba.
  • The scene where Jo is suggesting to Toby how to write his mystery novel is a reference to the movie Misery where Kathy Bates (Jo) is an obsessive fan of a mystery writer, and tries to get him to write his novels the way she wants.

Cast

Main cast

Supporting cast

Special guest star

Recurring cast