Classy Christmas
Encyclopedia
"Classy Christmas" is the eleventh and twelfth episodes of the seventh season of the American comedy
television series
The Office, and the show's 137th and 138th episodes overall. Written by Mindy Kaling
and directed by Rainn Wilson
, the episode originally aired on December 9, 2010 on NBC
.
In the episode, Michael couldn't be happier when Toby takes a leave of absence, leaving corporate to send Holly Flax (Amy Ryan
) to cover for him. Michael forces Pam to plan a second Christmas party on the day Holly returns to Scranton while Darryl convinces his daughter to attend the party in hopes of meeting Santa Claus. Jim agrees to a snowball fight with Dwight, which he later regrets.
couldn't be happier when Toby
takes a leave of absence to go on jury duty for the Scranton Strangler trial, leaving corporate to send Holly
(Amy Ryan
) to cover for him. Michael forces Pam to plan a second, classier Christmas party on the day Holly returns to Scranton. Michael welcomes Holly back with open arms, but becomes upset when she tells him that she and A.J. have settled in together. Holly then tells the women of the office that she's giving A.J. an ultimatum: that he either proposes by year's end or their relationship is over. Michael lies to Holly and tells her that he's seeing a woman named Tara from New York, and Holly shows curiosity, but Michael interprets this as potential jealousy.
When Michael gets further upset over hearing about Holly's relationship with A.J., he takes her toy Woody
from Toy Story
, a present from A.J., throws it in the trash, and pours his coffee on it. When Holly demands to know who did it, Michael comes forward and admits that he's upset that she didn't want to try a long distance relationship with him yet she's willing to try one with A.J. He also confesses that he planned the (second) Christmas party just for her and then goes back to his office, heartbroken. Holly tries to follow Michael and explain, but Erin prevents her because of Michael's hurt feelings. The rest of the staff (notably Erin and Kevin) look down on her. A.J. arrives in Scranton to surprise her, and Michael welcomes him politely even though he claims to be "dead inside". After cleaning Holly's Woody, he leaves the office and Pam follows him out, where he breaks down. Pam lifts his spirits when she mentions Holly's ultimatum, suggesting their relationship is not going to last very long. He returns to the party where he overhears Holly and A.J. talking about her dirty toy, with Holly fabricating a story to cover for Michael's actions. In addition, when A.J. asked why the office was acting so mean to them, Holly said that it was because of the whole Scranton Strangler incident, which made the office edgy.
Darryl
is upset that his daughter Jada would rather spend Christmas with her mother than Darryl. Darryl says that she can sit on Santa's lap if she comes to the office party, but Michael had dressed as his own alternative, "classy" version of Santa to impress Holly. Pam and Andy
try to find fun activities for Jada but Andy ends up ruining most of them. Darryl then takes her to the break room, where she is impressed with the snacks in the vending machines. They take out the snacks and hand them to employees. When she hands one to Michael, he decides to dress up as Santa again so she can tell him what she wants for Christmas as Holly looks on with admiration.
Pam says that Jim
always gets her great Christmas gifts so she wants to give him one from her. She creates a hand-drawn comic book about Jim who gets attacked by a radioactive bear and takes its powers. She asks for others' opinions before giving it to Jim, but most of them give her pretty harsh critiques. Jim gives Pam a beautiful bracelet and he is equally amazed at the comic book she gives him.
Angela
brings her new boyfriend, State Senator Robert Lipton, to the party. Oscar
is immediately interested in him and identifies him as gay (but only in a talking-head interview). Later on, Oscar catches Robert casting a furtive glance at Ryan
's butt, and looks at the camera knowingly.
Erin
, continuing with the trend of seeing Michael as her father figure, is not impressed with Holly in person after Michael spoke so highly of her. She tells the cameras that she does not understand why Holly is considered attractive and angrily stands in Holly's way when Holly tries to chase after Michael following his breakdown.
Jim agrees to a snowball fight with Dwight
after Dwight's dismissive comment about the "dusting" of snow leads Jim to peg him with a snowball. When he is first challenged outside, he eventually finds the doors chained and Dwight emerging from a snowman, throwing multiple snowballs at him and leaving him with a bloody nose. Jim is later caught off guard when Dwight disguises himself as Pam at her desk and hits him with another barrage of snowballs (Dwight reveals he has wigs to impersonate everyone in the office, including Meredith, Kevin and Stanley). Jim tries to get him back by hurling one at Dwight with a lacrosse stick, but ends up breaking a window, after which he is reprimanded by Michael and Holly with Dwight present. After getting tricked again by Dwight with a gift trap (Jim supposedly thought the gift was from Pam), he waves a white flag, but Dwight refuses his surrender unless Jim throws a snowball at Pam's face with Dwight watching, which Jim refuses to do. At the end of the day, Jim is too afraid to go outside, but Pam walks with him. They go out to find multiple snowmen, and Jim attacks them all hoping to find Dwight. Dwight, however, is on the roof of the building, claiming that the most powerful snowball in a snowball fight is fear, and smilingly wishes the camera "Merry Christmas" before the show ends.
, her eighteenth writing on the series. Rainn Wilson
, who portrays Dwight Schrute on the series, directed the episode, his second directing credit of the series after the sixth-season episode "The Cover-Up
". The episode is also the first of an upcoming eight episodes featuring Amy Ryan
returning as Holly Flax
who is credited among the main cast.
. This means that 3.7 percent of all households with an 18- to 49-year-old living in it watched the episode, and ten percent had their televisions tuned to the channel at any point. The episode was watched by 7.18 million viewers, dropping in viewers from the previous week, although ratings were adjusted down for NBC due to NFL game local broadcasts in Indianapolis and Nashville.
This episode received mostly positive reviews. James Poniewozik
of Time said, "'Classy Christmas' may not have been one of the show's most hilarious episodes ever, but it did recall the best era of the show, when it was able to deliver with storylines that were as much drama as comedy." He also said, "It was an initially good payment". TV Fanatic's Dan Forcella said that "Classy Christmas" was an enjoyable episode and "watching Jim suffer as Dwight jumped out of a snowman and pummeled him with snow ball after snow ball was absolutely hilarious." Despite this, he also said he wasn't as good as Season 2's "Christmas Party". IGN
writer Matt Fowler named it the third best Christmas
episode of the series calling it a "Good episode, with a sweet ending". Myles McNutt of The A.V. Club gave it a "B" grade, saying the episode "struggles greatly if you have no emotional connection to Holly and Michael. It isn't funny, by any real stretch of the term, nor is it really intended to be funny." He went on to say "I like episodes like this one in general and don't necessarily need the show to make me laugh, but I would say that I wanted this hour to be slightly more...pleasant."
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
The Office, and the show's 137th and 138th episodes overall. Written by Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam , better known as Mindy Kaling, is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer who plays Kelly Kapoor on the NBC sitcom The Office. Kaling is also a co-executive producer and writer of several of the show's episodes.-Early life:Kaling was born Vera Chokalingam in...
and directed by Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
, the episode originally aired on December 9, 2010 on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
.
In the episode, Michael couldn't be happier when Toby takes a leave of absence, leaving corporate to send Holly Flax (Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone and is also known for her roles in the HBO series The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and The...
) to cover for him. Michael forces Pam to plan a second Christmas party on the day Holly returns to Scranton while Darryl convinces his daughter to attend the party in hopes of meeting Santa Claus. Jim agrees to a snowball fight with Dwight, which he later regrets.
Synopsis
MichaelMichael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
couldn't be happier when Toby
Toby Flenderson
Toby Wyatt Flenderson, M.S.W. born 1971 is a character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Paul Lieberstein. He is an original character and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
takes a leave of absence to go on jury duty for the Scranton Strangler trial, leaving corporate to send Holly
Holly Flax
Hollis "Holly" Partridge Flax is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by Amy Ryan. She was an original character, and not based on a character from the British version of the show...
(Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone and is also known for her roles in the HBO series The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and The...
) to cover for him. Michael forces Pam to plan a second, classier Christmas party on the day Holly returns to Scranton. Michael welcomes Holly back with open arms, but becomes upset when she tells him that she and A.J. have settled in together. Holly then tells the women of the office that she's giving A.J. an ultimatum: that he either proposes by year's end or their relationship is over. Michael lies to Holly and tells her that he's seeing a woman named Tara from New York, and Holly shows curiosity, but Michael interprets this as potential jealousy.
When Michael gets further upset over hearing about Holly's relationship with A.J., he takes her toy Woody
Sheriff Woody
Sheriff Woody Pride, or simply Woody, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Toy Story franchise . He is voiced by Tom Hanks in the films, and by Jim Hanks in most other media.-Toy Story:...
from Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
, a present from A.J., throws it in the trash, and pours his coffee on it. When Holly demands to know who did it, Michael comes forward and admits that he's upset that she didn't want to try a long distance relationship with him yet she's willing to try one with A.J. He also confesses that he planned the (second) Christmas party just for her and then goes back to his office, heartbroken. Holly tries to follow Michael and explain, but Erin prevents her because of Michael's hurt feelings. The rest of the staff (notably Erin and Kevin) look down on her. A.J. arrives in Scranton to surprise her, and Michael welcomes him politely even though he claims to be "dead inside". After cleaning Holly's Woody, he leaves the office and Pam follows him out, where he breaks down. Pam lifts his spirits when she mentions Holly's ultimatum, suggesting their relationship is not going to last very long. He returns to the party where he overhears Holly and A.J. talking about her dirty toy, with Holly fabricating a story to cover for Michael's actions. In addition, when A.J. asked why the office was acting so mean to them, Holly said that it was because of the whole Scranton Strangler incident, which made the office edgy.
Darryl
Darryl Philbin
Darryl Mathias Philbin is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Craig Robinson.-Overview:Darryl Philbin is the foreman of the warehouse of the Scranton branch of fictitious paper distributor Dunder Mifflin....
is upset that his daughter Jada would rather spend Christmas with her mother than Darryl. Darryl says that she can sit on Santa's lap if she comes to the office party, but Michael had dressed as his own alternative, "classy" version of Santa to impress Holly. Pam and Andy
Andy Bernard
Andrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...
try to find fun activities for Jada but Andy ends up ruining most of them. Darryl then takes her to the break room, where she is impressed with the snacks in the vending machines. They take out the snacks and hand them to employees. When she hands one to Michael, he decides to dress up as Santa again so she can tell him what she wants for Christmas as Holly looks on with admiration.
Pam says that Jim
Jim Halpert
James Duncan "Jim" Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office...
always gets her great Christmas gifts so she wants to give him one from her. She creates a hand-drawn comic book about Jim who gets attacked by a radioactive bear and takes its powers. She asks for others' opinions before giving it to Jim, but most of them give her pretty harsh critiques. Jim gives Pam a beautiful bracelet and he is equally amazed at the comic book she gives him.
Angela
Angela Martin
Angela Noelle Martin is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by American actress Angela Kinsey. She is an original character, and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
brings her new boyfriend, State Senator Robert Lipton, to the party. Oscar
Oscar Martinez
Oscar Jual Paul Martinez is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Oscar Nunez.-Overview:Oscar Martinez is an accountant at the paper distributor Dunder Mifflin. He is a first generation Mexican-American. Oscar is also openly homosexual after being...
is immediately interested in him and identifies him as gay (but only in a talking-head interview). Later on, Oscar catches Robert casting a furtive glance at Ryan
Ryan Howard (The Office)
Ryan Bailey Howard , played by B. J. Novak, is a fictional character on the US television sitcom The Office. He is based upon Ricky Howard from the original version of The Office , but his role is significantly expanded and he is a main character.-Character profile:Little is known about Ryan's...
's butt, and looks at the camera knowingly.
Erin
Erin Hannon
Kelly Erin Hannon is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. She is the office receptionist for the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, a position previously held by Pam Halpert before she left the company. Erin is played by Ellie Kemper...
, continuing with the trend of seeing Michael as her father figure, is not impressed with Holly in person after Michael spoke so highly of her. She tells the cameras that she does not understand why Holly is considered attractive and angrily stands in Holly's way when Holly tries to chase after Michael following his breakdown.
Jim agrees to a snowball fight with Dwight
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. He originally exactly resembled Gareth Keenan from the original UK version of The Office. Dwight is the top salesman and former acting manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for...
after Dwight's dismissive comment about the "dusting" of snow leads Jim to peg him with a snowball. When he is first challenged outside, he eventually finds the doors chained and Dwight emerging from a snowman, throwing multiple snowballs at him and leaving him with a bloody nose. Jim is later caught off guard when Dwight disguises himself as Pam at her desk and hits him with another barrage of snowballs (Dwight reveals he has wigs to impersonate everyone in the office, including Meredith, Kevin and Stanley). Jim tries to get him back by hurling one at Dwight with a lacrosse stick, but ends up breaking a window, after which he is reprimanded by Michael and Holly with Dwight present. After getting tricked again by Dwight with a gift trap (Jim supposedly thought the gift was from Pam), he waves a white flag, but Dwight refuses his surrender unless Jim throws a snowball at Pam's face with Dwight watching, which Jim refuses to do. At the end of the day, Jim is too afraid to go outside, but Pam walks with him. They go out to find multiple snowmen, and Jim attacks them all hoping to find Dwight. Dwight, however, is on the roof of the building, claiming that the most powerful snowball in a snowball fight is fear, and smilingly wishes the camera "Merry Christmas" before the show ends.
Production
The episode was written by co-executive producer Mindy KalingMindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam , better known as Mindy Kaling, is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer who plays Kelly Kapoor on the NBC sitcom The Office. Kaling is also a co-executive producer and writer of several of the show's episodes.-Early life:Kaling was born Vera Chokalingam in...
, her eighteenth writing on the series. Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
, who portrays Dwight Schrute on the series, directed the episode, his second directing credit of the series after the sixth-season episode "The Cover-Up
The Cover-Up (The Office)
"The Cover-Up" is the 24th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 124th episode overall. It aired May 6, 2010 on NBC.In the episode, Michael suspects Donna is cheating on him, and he pays Dwight $50 to investigate...
". The episode is also the first of an upcoming eight episodes featuring Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone and is also known for her roles in the HBO series The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and The...
returning as Holly Flax
Holly Flax
Hollis "Holly" Partridge Flax is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by Amy Ryan. She was an original character, and not based on a character from the British version of the show...
who is credited among the main cast.
Reception
"Classy Christmas" received 3.7/10% in the ages 18–49 demographic in the Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
. This means that 3.7 percent of all households with an 18- to 49-year-old living in it watched the episode, and ten percent had their televisions tuned to the channel at any point. The episode was watched by 7.18 million viewers, dropping in viewers from the previous week, although ratings were adjusted down for NBC due to NFL game local broadcasts in Indianapolis and Nashville.
This episode received mostly positive reviews. James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik is an American journalist and television critic. He writes Times Tuned In column and has a blog with the same name.Originally from Monroe, MI, Poniewozik attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating with a BA in English. He subsequently attended the graduate program...
of Time said, "'Classy Christmas' may not have been one of the show's most hilarious episodes ever, but it did recall the best era of the show, when it was able to deliver with storylines that were as much drama as comedy." He also said, "It was an initially good payment". TV Fanatic's Dan Forcella said that "Classy Christmas" was an enjoyable episode and "watching Jim suffer as Dwight jumped out of a snowman and pummeled him with snow ball after snow ball was absolutely hilarious." Despite this, he also said he wasn't as good as Season 2's "Christmas Party". IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
writer Matt Fowler named it the third best Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
episode of the series calling it a "Good episode, with a sweet ending". Myles McNutt of The A.V. Club gave it a "B" grade, saying the episode "struggles greatly if you have no emotional connection to Holly and Michael. It isn't funny, by any real stretch of the term, nor is it really intended to be funny." He went on to say "I like episodes like this one in general and don't necessarily need the show to make me laugh, but I would say that I wanted this hour to be slightly more...pleasant."
External links
- "Classy Christmas" at NBC.comNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...