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"The Chump" is the twenty-fifth episode of the sixth season and the 125th episode of The Office overall. It was written by Aaron Shure, who also wrote "The Meeting", "Two Weeks" and "Baby Shower" and directed by Randall Einhorn, who directed "St. Patrick's Day" and "Secret Santa". It aired on May 13, 2010. It was viewed by 6.60 million people.

Cold open[]

Toby is conducting a meeting in the conference room about radon test kits that he will place around the office. He tells the office members not to throw them away, signaling Michael out. In a talking head, Michael reveals that Toby has been placing radon test kits around the office which he has been throwing away out of spite. Michael then makes farting noises with his mouth and says that everyone would die of boredom because of Toby before dying from radon, getting a laugh from everyone. Michael then adds that if Osama Bin Laden, Hitler and Toby were in a room while he had two bullets, he would shoot Toby twice, but everyone tells him he has gone too far. The branch then discuss the possible choices for the above scenario, before Dwight insists that there is a solution to kill all three. He asks Phyllis and Andy to help him demonstrate, and explains how they can all be killed by the same bullet by firing it through their heads while they are standing next to each other. The Scranton branch then applauds Dwight's solution as Toby looks to the camera with a dejected look.

Synopsis[]

The entire office braces for the emotional breakdown of Michael after his discovery that his girlfriend Donna is already married, but surprisingly, Michael appears unaffected. The office soon realizes that Michael is still seeing Donna. Michael defends himself by calling out Stanley and Phyllis as cheaters, though he quickly amends his remarks to suggest that Phyllis cheated on her diet. Andy, having been cheated on himself, steps up and makes Michael confront his girlfriend's husband. They both go to visit him while he's coaching a high school baseball team, and Andy manages to get the two of them to talk. However, this does little to sway Michael toward ending the affair, instead Michael is emboldened by the encounter.

Meanwhile, Dwight and Angela are dealing with fallout from the baby contract they signed a few months earlier. Instead of going to court, they have asked a mediator to sort out their issues. After studying the contract line by line, the mediator concludes that the contract is basically a valid surrogate parent contract. However, one cannot force two people to have sexual relations and produce a baby. Instead, Angela could sue Dwight for damages up to thirty thousand dollars for breach of contract. Knowing that Dwight would never want to pay her damages, she offers him a "settlement" that consists of five separate sessions of intercourse. He accepts, gloating that "thirty thousand for sex isn't bad at all." Before the first "session", Dwight subjects himself to various ordeals in order to sterilize himself.

Jim and Pam are both exhausted from the long nights with their new baby, and it's adversely affecting their work. Gabe catches them both sleeping at their desks and reprimands them privately. He also asks them what they would do about the rumors of printers catching fire, but they both nearly fall asleep listening to him. Darryl catches the couple discussing how to get enough energy to make it through the day and informs them of a secret sleeping place in the warehouse. From this location, Jim and Pam inadvertently overhear Dwight and Angela's first "session."

After returning from the baseball game, Michael shows no sincere change in attitude towards cheating with Donna, despite having talked with her husband. The rest of the office turns cold towards him. No one, not even Meredith or Creed, agrees with what Michael is doing. When he tries to defend his position in front of everyone, they snap back. Out of spite, he announces that he will now leave to secretly meet Donna at a motel for sex, but on the way there he has a change of heart and breaks up with her via text message instead. He consoles himself, alone, with his favorite ice cream after returning heartbroken.

At the end of the episode, Michael is ambushed by the media. He believes that they are confronting him with the affair, but they are really questioning him about how Sabre printers can catch on fire.

Deleted scenes[]

  • Dwight demands that Mr. Barr, the mediator, prove that he is not related to Angela. He explains that he was chosen out of the Yellow Pages at random. Dwight is unsatisfied because Angela chose which Yellow Pages. Mr. Barr asks about a clause which says that the child shall be taught the skills of "the raper." Dwight explains that it should read "the rapier" and attempts to have the contracted voided as a result of the typographical error. Angela counters that she agreed to the terms out of reluctance and that "guns are better." In a joint talking head interview, Dwight and Angela disagree over whether their agreement is a contract.
  • Jim and Pam walk away from a meeting with Gabe. Neither has any recollection of what happened or what they agreed to do.
  • Andy tells the office that he employed his "Trevor" persona to take Michael to confront Donna's husband. In a talking head interview, Andy describes his "Trevor" character in elaborate detail.
  • In a talking head interview, Michael explains that people don't like heroes any more. They root for the bad guy.
  • In a talking head interview, Darryl confesses that he used to be a cheater, but he reformed after watching the scene in Love, Actually in which Emma Thompson plays the Joni Mitchell song "Both Sides Now". He also confesses that he hasn't been in a relationship since then either.

Schrute/Martin Child Contract[]

SCHRUTE/MARTIN CHILD CONTRACT
This Agreement is made effective as of March 4, 2010 by and between Dwight Kurt Schrute ("Father"), on the one hand, and Angela Noelle Martin ("Mother"), on the other hand in connection with defining the rights and responsibilities surrounding the conception and birth of their child ("Child"), as more fully set forth herein.
1. Term. The term of this Agreement shall commence as of the Effective Date hereof and shall continue until the child becomes an adult at age 14 (the "Term") unless earlier terminated or renewed by mutual agreement.
2. Prenatal Provisions.
2.1 Prior to conception Mother will participate in a beet juice fertility cleanse, in a manner to be decided upon by the parties.
2.2  
 
2.3  
 
2.4  
 
2.5 Father and mother shall have joint custody of descendants of replicants from this union.
3. Delivery and Birth of Child.
3.1 If the Child is breeched, he must be turned around in the womb via mind-power.
3.2 No pain medicine shall be administered during labor. Mother agrees that she will only be able to use natural remedies, including but not limited to: castor oil, a hot bowl of curry, nipple stimulation, herbal teas, or swinging in a tire swing.
3.3  
 
 
3.4 Should the Child have mutant powers, parties agree to send the Child to a school that aids the Child in harnessing his talents for good.

Connections to previous episodes[]

  • Toby's desire to have the office tested for radon dates back to "Goodbye Toby* and was reiterated in "The Surplus."
  • Ryan's attempt to engage Erin in a threesome continues an effort begun in The Mentor: BFFs?. See Ryan-Erin Relationship for details.
  • Pam and Jim previously offered to have dinner with Michael in an attempt to get him to reveal something in "Money".
  • Angela previously threatened to sue Dwight for breaching the contract in "Happy Hour".
  • Michael scoffs at Meredith reprimanding him, saying "I think we all know what you are capable of." It is possible he is referring to Meredith sleeping with the sales rep from Hammermill in exchange for discounts, as revealed in "Business Ethics."
  • Michael references how long it took for Andy to discover Angela's infidelity during their engagement. While it is unknown when specifically Angela had her affair with Dwight, the entire office learnt of the affair during "Moroccan Christmas" while Andy only learnt about it in "The Duel" which takes place 17 days afterwards. The affair took place at least since "Goodbye, Toby."
  • Darryl tells Jim and Pam that the spot in the warehouse where they can be napped is accessible through the boom lift. In "The Meeting," it is revealed the warehouse staff frequently use the boom lift as a makeshift elevator.

Trivia[]

  • In the second deleted scene, Jim's notes read "Third quarter maximize check filet? Proscribernation?”[1]
  • There was no Billy Joel Rock Band at the time the episode aired; Joel had not allowed any of his music to be used in a video game. In a review of the episode on Entertainment Weekly, the reviewer responded to the concept of Billy Joel Rock Band with "let's hope [it] never actually exists ever." After reading the review, the singer told his people, "Get me on that Rock Band game." The Office was therefore ultimately responsible for making Billy Joel Rock Band a reality.[2]
  • This is the 6th season's 25th episode. Michael Jackson died on June 25. Michael Scott asks for a 10-minute moment of silence honoring Michael Jackson.
  • Toby does not appear for the rest of the episode after the office staff yell at him to leave in the beginning of the episode.

Amusing details[]

  • Even Angela and Stanley, who hate wasting time, give their input on how to shoot three people with two bullets
  • In the cold open, Andy is visibly excited to have been picked for the role of Osama Bin Laden.
  • Angela is wearing noticeably more make-up, presumably to appear more attractive to Dwight. This is most readily seen in their joint talking head interview near the start of the episode.
  • Michael's lips are stained with lipstick, specifically in his talking heads.
  • Andy's drinking container is labeled Nard-Dog, one of his most common nicknames.
  • When Erin explains that Mr. Bean is playing in the conference room, Kevin is seen already watching and laughing in the room.
  • Even Stanley is visibly concerned about Michael in the beginning of the episode, where Pam and Erin explain the measures taken to pacify Michael.
  • Jim shakes his head with dread while he and Pam are asking Michael to dinner.
  • In his talking head Andy begins with "My name is Andy Bernard and I am a cuckold," as though he is introducing himself in a rehabilitation meeting.
  • Pam is heard snoring while asleep at her desk.
  • Gabe asks Jim and Pam to see him in his office, but he doesn't have an office, so they have the meeting at his desk in the annex.
  • Dwight gives an amused look between Angela and the camera after she says that she is not a farm animal. In a previous talking head, Dwight compares their arrangement to that of horse insemination.
  • Michael shakes Coach Shane's hand by awkwardly squeezing his hand through a hole in the fence.
  • Kevin eats the orange slices that Michael brought back from the baseball game.
  • When Michael says that in the future he will eat whatever he wants when he wants, Kevin who is overweight himself, tells him that it is a dangerous game.
  • Stanley is openly against Michael's affair with Donna despite being in an affair himself.
  • While explaining to the reporters about what he assumed is about his affair with Donna, Michael says "I would like to publicly apologize to the coach and the players, and I vow to never listen to my bodily instincts again" which can be easily misinterpreted as Michael confessing to sexually assaulting a minor.
  • Aside from Toby, Darryl is the only member of the office unconcerned with Michael's affair with Donna. He is seen working in his office in several scenes where Michael discusses the affair with the rest of the office.

Cultural references[]

  • Creed's favorite James McAvoy movie is Wanted, an Academy-Award-nominated movie about an office worker who becomes an assassin. In the movie, McAvoy's character learns to fire bullets which curve around obstacles.
  • In the movie Obsessed, Ali Larter plays the woman who attempts to seduce the husband of the character played by Beyoncé Knowles. Michael says, "I am Beyoncé , always," refusing to accept his role in the love triangle. Incidentally, the husband in the movie is played by Idris Elba, who played Charles Miner on The Office.
  • Kelly confuses anthropology with Anthropologie, a chain of high-end women's clothing.
  • Michael lists a number of fictitious anti-heroes: Tony Soprano, Nurse Jackie, and the woman from Weeds (Nancy Botwin).
  • Darryl talks about the romantic comedy movie Love, Actually. In the scene he cites, Emma Thompson's character breaks down crying when she comes to the conclusion that her husband is having an affair.
  • Michael (when asked about still seeing Donna by Pam) says "You know what? I am declaring a moment of silence right now, ten minutes of silence honoring Michael Jackson. Just sit there and think about Michael Jackson" (Due to Michael Jackson's death).

Quotes[]

See: The Chump Quotes

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Supporting cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

  • Larkin Campbell as Shane
  • Bruno Oliver as Mr. Barr
  • Tina Huang as Reporter
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