17 Years Ago, The Office’s Only Super Bowl Episode Was Also One of the Funniest of the Series

There aren’t many spots in a calendar year more sought after than the 30 minutes or hour after the Super Bowl. It is the most watched event in the United States year after year, so the program that comes on directly after it is usually very special. The respective show also typically gets an even higher number of viewers than it usually does. For instance, the market share for Super Bowl LIV in 2020 was 69%, meaning 69% of all homes with TVs in use were watching the game. Directly after that The Masked Singer aired on Fox and it was watched by 27.33 million people. This year the game will be on NBC (it rotates between either CBS, NBC, Fox, or ABC every year) and directly following it will be the “2026 Winter Olympics Primetime Show,” so expect that to retain an even bigger market share than Masked Singer.

Also performing well was The Office back in 2009. The one Super Bowl lead-out episode the brilliant mockumentary ever had, Season 5’s “Stress Relief,” was watched by 22.9 million U.S. viewers (the highest in the series’ history), and fortunately it was one of the show’s all-timers. The show was already extremely popular, but it likely got a few more on the boat.

What Makes “Stress Relief” One of The Office‘s Best Two-Part Episodes?

The Office had some top-notch two-part episodes. Season 4 was the king of them because the 2008 Writers Guild of America strike cut the season’s production, and the result was fewer episodes, but they were longer. For instance, “Fun Run,” “Goodbye, Toby,” “Money,” “Launch Party,” they were all under the same season roof. But as “Stress Relief” proved, Season 5 saw the show continuing to realize that it could really thrive with dual-length narratives.

In this episode, a particularly over-zealous Dwight starts a fire at Dunder Mifflin to see how his coworkers would respond in such a situation. They don’t do well. Everyone panics and runs around screaming. And, in one of the funniest moments in sitcom history, Oscar attempts to climb into the ceiling, failing to realize that the tiles aren’t nearly thick enough to support the weight of an adult human being. But before his feet burst through and flail, Angela begs him to “Save Bandit!” She throws up her precious cat which then immediately bursts through one of the panels.

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Much of the rest of the episode focuses on Stanley, who has a heart attack during Dwight’s ill thought-out safety drill. Now he’s back at Dunder Mifflin, trying to follow his doctor’s orders to keep that heart rate down. No avoidable stress whatsoever.

His coworkers understand this and try to keep the mood cool throughout the day. But Michael Scott, desperate to show all of his employees how much he cares, goes overboard with relaxation methods just as Dwight went overboard with his safety measures.

Dwight is also the only one who doesn’t seem remotely interested in supporting Stanley, instead making a crack about scarfing down butter for multiple decades and delivering an apology that he immediately declares to be insincere. Worse yet, when Michael brings in a CPR training official, Dwight cuts the face off of her CPR dummy to extract its organs for harvesting (organs which it, of course, does not have) and cuts off its face for a Hannibal Lecter reference. As one might imagine, this stresses Stanley out even more than he already was.

Michael eventually comes to realize the obvious: he’s the primary source of his employees’ stress day in and day out. So, he does what any other boss disconnected from reality would do and he sets up a chance for his employees to roast him. Unfortunately, he also has paper-thin skin and ends up running off.

The episode is filled with non-stop laughs. And as for deeper material, there’s a subplot with Pam and Jim watching a romantic drama with Andy. They discuss the deteriorating relationship between Pam’s parents, which Andy confuses for them discussing the film’s characters (the only joke of the episode that doesn’t really work). And while the humorous part of this subplot is the weakest aspect of the episode, it ends on a very sweet note when it’s revealed what Jim said to Pam’s dad that made him want to leave his wife: that he loves Pam with all his heart and Pam’s father realized that was not a strength of emotion he ever felt for his wife.

“Stress Relief” is one of Season 5’s best episodes, with only “Moroccan Christmas,” “The Surplus,” and “Café Disco” really challenging it for that position. What a great mid-season winner, and what a great way to follow up the Super Bowl.

What is your favorite episode of The Office? Furthermore, can you think of any The Office cold open that beats the one seen in this episode? Let us know in the comments.