15 Episodes Of The Office To Skip On A Rewatch

"The Office" remains one of the most rewatchable shows of all time, rewarding repeat viewings with countless jokes, Easter eggs, memes, and quotes. And yet, even a sitcom as well made as "The Office" tends to hit a few speed bumps along the way. With seasons of up to 28 episodes, the writers occasionally churned out a story that failed to move the plot forward. That's nothing unusual for most sitcoms, but considering how much time "The Office" dedicates to its character and story arcs, it usually doesn't do it any favors. 

On first viewing, these episodes are frustrating, halting all momentum in favor of a side quest or standalone story that tends to feel like filler. Truth be told, we tend to forget these bumpier patches since the payoff for arcs like Jim and Pam's early relationship is so strong. On a rewatch, however, we can't help but yearn for a streamlined experience without the unnecessary fluff. Fortunately, we've got you covered with the 15 episodes of "The Office" to skip on a rewatch. While many episodes on this list are actually pretty great on their own, they interrupt the narrative flow, tread water, or get sandwiched in-between much stronger storylines. 

Starting way back at Season 2 — though, to be fair, you can more or less skip most of Season 1, but that's a completely different conversation — we get "The Carpet," a funny, crude, but ultimately pointless standalone episode.

Yes, there's a cute moment at the end where Jim (John Krasinski) checks his phone and listens to a handful of voice messages from Pam (Jenna Fischer), and we see the seeds that would later cement Ryan (B.J. Novak) and Kelly (Mindy Kaling) as TV's weirdest couple, but overall, nothing important happens in "The Carpet."

The plot follows Michael as he tries to figure out who left an unusual gift on his office floor. It's a long-winded mystery that amounts to little more than some additional insight into Michael's bizarre relationship with Todd Packer (David Koechner). It's certainly watchable, but not necessary, especially if you've seen it once.

There's nothing inherently wrong with "Dwight's Speech." It's a funny little episode with several great comedic beats that'll leave viewers in stitches. The cold open with the football is a classic example of Dwight taking even the most innocent of games far too seriously. Michael's speech, in which he tries to save a reeling Dwight, remains one of the show's cringiest moments, and Dwight's dictator-esque follow-up only amplifies the madness.

In other words, "Dwight's Speech" is far from bad television. The biggest issue is that nothing in the episode amounts to anything. Dwight gets an award for Salesman of the Year, an enormous accomplishment no one ever talks about again; Jim and Pam tread water; and Dwight and Michael's relationship essentially resets once the credits roll. It's your typical Season 2 episode, for better or worse. 

On first watch, the appeal of "Dwight's Speech" stems from wondering just how badly Dwight (or Michael) will screw up their big moment. Once you already know the result, you can catch a few highlights and move on.

"Ben Franklin" is interesting since it sets up a lot of juicy material, but ultimately does nothing with it. Ostensibly, it bridges "The Return," where Jim comes back to Scranton, and "Phyllis' Wedding," but it feels more like a random detour than a progression of the main story.

The episode introduces some genuine drama between Jim and Karen (Rashida Jones), who are going through a rough patch. Pam finds out and actually tries to help Jim sort through the problem. You'd think this would lead to something more profound — like giving Jim a legitimate reason to break up with Karen — but everything just reverts to the status quo. Jim and Karen continue their relationship without major issues, and Pam never brings it up again.

It also would have been fun to see Pam go on a date or two with the Ben Franklin impersonator (Andy Daly) before getting back together with Roy. Pam's storyline in Season 3 is all about finding herself, so some failed dates would have fleshed her character out perfectly while offering great comedic opportunities. Instead, he asks her out and then vanishes from the show. Overall, this is a silly episode with virtually no implications for the rest of the season.

Another early-season entry with no lingering effects on the overall storyline is "Safety Training." Debuting near the end of Season 3, the episode features nothing about the relationship between Jim, Pam, Karen, and Roy — the main driving force of the season's second half — and offers little beyond more insight into Michael's insecurities.

Granted, it's always hilarious to see Craig Robinson as the beleaguered Darryl. "Safety Training" is great on first watch, but it's just one of those episodes that you just sort of shrug at on a binge. From a plot perspective, it's a tad frustrating to see the show veer into a pointless endeavor despite everything that recently happened — Roy's confrontation with Jim and subsequent firing, for example. Again, you can watch the funny bits from the episode — Michael calling Dwight an "ignorant s***" is always hilarious — but you could also zip right by this one and not miss a beat.

Jumping ahead to Season 5, we get "Blood Drive," a solid episode in its own right that's basically the definition of skippable. 

First, the storyline feels like a carbon copy of Season 4's "Chair Model," in which Michael pursues a woman he sees in a catalog. Except here, Michael donates blood and has a meet-cute with another donor, but passes out before he can snag her name. He then spends the rest of the episode trying to find her, to no avail.

Secondly, Michael went to see Holly and discovered she has a boyfriend in "Lecture Circuit, Parts 1 and 2,". Rather than play up that emotional chord, "Blood Drive" goes in a completely different direction while simultaneously reminding us that Michael is, in fact, lonely. We get it.

Lastly, there's an entirely pointless subplot where Jim and Pam have lunch with Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) and Bob Vance (Robert R. Shafer) that ends when our star couple discovers their lunchmates making love in the bathroom. It's an odd moment that strangely never resurfaces, and feels out of place even for "The Office." Our advice? Skip it and get to the Michael Scott Paper Company episodes faster.

"Casual Friday" is a debatable entry, mostly because it serves as an epilogue to the Michael Scott Paper Company arc and explains how the show goes back to its status quo. Except, all the important stuff happens in the previous episode, "Broke," (one of the best episodes of "The Office").

The episode's most significant development is Pam staying in sales, a decision that affects her for a while. But really, that's it, and the fact that Pam being a salesman doesn't go anywhere major adds a sour taste to the episode in retrospect. Everything else feels like filler as the showrunners crawl toward the season finale.

Really, "Broke" should have ended Season 5, leaving all the unnecessary details to sort themselves out over the summer break. Yes, we get an all-time dress worn by a completely shameless Meredith (Kate Flannery), and it's always fun to see our gang bicker over trivial details. But you could simply jump ahead to the final stretch of the season and not miss anything that couldn't be explained in a throwaway line later on.

Which brings us to ...

"Cafe Disco," the very next episode after "Casual Friday." We could essentially write "ditto," as this episode operates as more filler following the series' best storyline in years. We won't knock it too hard, though, because it is genuinely fun. Michael turns the Michael Scott Paper Company office into a dance hall aptly named Cafe Disco, and the cast lets it rip. We get dance-offs, fun music, and plenty of colorful character moments.

Heck, Jim and Pam run off to elope!

By the very next episode, however, everything returns to normal. Jim and Pam opt to keep their original wedding plans, Cafe Disco is never referenced again, and that basically caps off the Michael Scott Paper Company. It's too bad, because the writers had plenty of juicy material to explore, from Ryan's newly developed (and more mature) persona to Michael being forced back into his old role. "Casual Friday" and "Cafe Disco" sidestep the most interesting stuff for character fluff, and leave far too much meat on the bone.

Coming on the heels of the landmark "Niagara" two-parter where Jim and Pam finally get married, "Mafia" lets us catch our breath for a spell before the main storyline kicks back into gear. In other words, it's shameless filler.

When Michael thinks an insurance salesman has ties to organized crime and gets paranoid, Dwight and Andy predictably follow suit. Eventually, they realize their mistake, and everyone simply moves on. There's also a B-plot involving Kevin accidentally canceling Jim's credit card while he's away on his honeymoon that's never mentioned again. 

"Mafia" is acceptable on paper. It's got a few funny beats that land, and Mike Starr is great as the would-be mob guy. But the episode is skippable for those eager to see how Jim and Pam's storyline shakes out following their marriage. While keeping them off-screen for their honeymoon makes sense, not following them right after their wedding is one of many momentum killers in Season 6. 

The mother of all skippable episodes, "The Banker" takes the cake since it's basically just a clip show. An investment banker arrives at Dunder Mifflin to assess the company ahead of the Sabre sale, a plot that gives Human Resources representative Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) an excuse to reminisce about past events. 

On a first watch, this is a fun look back at the series after six seasons — especially at a point where it's clear the show is about to change for good. In those days, streaming wasn't readily available, and the only way to rewatch past episodes was to buy DVDs or record the series on your DVR. 

On a rewatch, however, you already have the best moments of the show baked into your memory. A recap isn't necessary. This is an easy skip, even though it's fun to see "Breaking Bad" alum David Costabile bumping shoulders with our gang.

"The Office" always found random excuses to spend more time with Jim and Pam in later seasons, even (and especially) at the detriment of the story. For "Christening," the gang heads to church to watch Jim and Pam's daughter, Cece, get christened. The episode comes across as a half-baked remake of "Phyllis' Wedding," sans any of the robust comedy. 

Michael and Andy join a church ministry group that plans to head to Mexico to build a school, and then decide against it at the last minute. Jim and Pam introduce a bunch of extended family members who never appear again, and the christening itself doesn't amount to much more than a cute family moment. It doesn't help that the notion of the entire office attending a wedding is far more realistic than attending a christening. 

Nothing here sticks or carries over into later episodes, leaving this one completely disposable. And that's okay! Season 7 has plenty of juicy story beats on the horizon, including Holly's return and Michael's final episode. Eager viewers can safely put "Christening" in the rearview.

When we heard Will Ferrell was guest-starring on "The Office" after Carell left, we had sky-high expectations. And to be clear, his brief stint isn't bad; it just doesn't lead to anything meaningful. That's the sad story with "The Inner Circle," an episode designed primarily to get rid of Deangelo Vickers. Ultimately, the episode highlights just how pointless Ferrell's arc was, as he exits following a basketball injury and never returns.

The writers are clearly running in place, waiting for inspiration to strike as they grapple with a series without its main star. None of the subplots involving Jim and Pam or Dwight and Angela advance, and we don't get any meaningful character work, either. Funny enough, the show gets things moving again almost immediately: First with Dwight taking over as acting manager, and then with the "Search Committee" episode. That's probably the better place to focus your attention on a second watch, unless you were tickled by Ferrell's antics during your first viewing and desperately need to see him get written out. 

After Steve Carell left, "The Office" pivoted to Andy as its lead, featuring plots to showcase his leadership skills. Thus, you have "Gettysburg," in which the desperate manager takes his beleaguered employees to Gettysburg to draw parallels between the Civil War and their struggles at Dunder Mifflin ... Ugh. "Gettysburg" is one of the show's worst episodes.

There's a kernel of an idea here, but the writers don't exploit it nearly as well as they should. Instead, no one — including Andy — learns anything, and they head back to Scranton none the wiser. In the end, it feels like an excursion episode simply for the sake of having an excursion episode. Even the ending where Jim assures Andy that the office likes and respects him feels hollow coming off the heels of a  similar premise in "The Incentive."

As for Andy, the writers spend 30 minutes telling us something we've known since Season 3: He's desperate for respect, but has no idea how to earn it. Michael led the crew on plenty of silly excursions as well, but those adventures typically revealed something important about the character or the rest of the supporting cast. "Gettysburg" gives Andy plenty of chances to learn something important about himself, but he simply doesn't seize it the way Michael could.

Season 8 is one of the worst seasons of "The Office," consisting of disposable standalone episodes. Worse, many focus on a preposterous premise that completely clashes with the series' usually grounded office setting. These are supposed to be normal office employees working a tedious job and dealing with tedious situations. Instead, Season 8 gives us episodes like "Trivia," where our crew heads off to a trivia contest to win a $1,000 prize that would conveniently cover their quarterly sales target. Yeah, we're a long way from Chili's, folks.

Once again, the writers invent new characteristics for this episode that never come up again. Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) gets a big moment where he shows off his trivia skills, but that has little bearing on his character moving forward and is quickly subverted by the episode's ending. Meanwhile, Dwight heads to Florida to confront Robert California (James Spader) only to gain nothing. Not much happens with the main couples, either. "Trivia" sits in a notably skippable stretch of Season 8, and since it's not very funny, you might as well just discard it and move on to the next.

That brings us to "Pool Party," an episode designed to help us understand that Robert California is — well — weird. Going through a divorce, he decides to sell his house and invites the office gang over for a party. The episode offers some minor character development for Erin, who is working through her feelings for Andy, and some fun back-and-forth between Dwight and Erin. Other than that, however, "Pool Party" offers nothing significant to the series this late in its run. 

If anything, the episode doubles down on Season 8's transformation into a conventional ensemble sitcom where every character has a larger-than-life personality with extreme quirks. "Pool Party" is emblematic of Season 8's worst impulses. Just imagine if everyone was Michael Scott. That's the path "The Office" eventually takes, turning into less of a workplace comedy and more of a bizarre, sometimes entertaining series about the mishaps of a group of crazy people who happen to work at a paper company. "Pool Party" is certainly watchable and funny, but only so long as you buy into what Season 8 is selling.

Is there any episode more skippable than "The Farm?" Initially developed as a backdoor pilot for a Dwight spin-off, the episode introduces a handful of new Schrutes — Dwight's brother Jeb (Thomas Middleditch), sister Fannie (Majandra Delfino), and nephew Cameron (Blake Garrett Rosenthal) — who pop up and are never seen again.

NBC passed on "The Farm" and reworked the pilot into a standalone "Office" episode, rendering much of it pointless by design. We spend a great deal of time meeting new characters who play absolutely no role in the few remaining episodes. The only evidence Dwight's siblings exist outside of "The Farm" is a lone mention in the Superfan cut of the last episode. At this point in Season 9, we're so close to the series finale, and suddenly whisked away on an adventure that feels like it was ripped from a completely different sitcom (because it was).

"The Farm" doesn't even tonally feel like the same series and plays more like a rural family sitcom than a workplace mockumentary. At first glance, it was already an odd distraction that halted Season 9's momentum. On a rewatch, and knowing a Dwight spin-off was never going to happen, this episode is easily skippable for those ready to wrap this show up.