[A Dickinson](/columnists/A+Dickinson)  
3/13/2009

In this week's episode, "Golden Ticket," Michael comes up with a business plan that goes horribly wrong and tries to pin the blame on Dwight. Meanwhile, Toby gets conflicting advice from his coworkers on how to pursue a girl he's interested in.

This week's episode opens with Dunder-Mifflin Scranton branch Manager Michael Scott.pestering his receptionist, Pam, while she is on the phone with a customer. He is trying to tell her a Knock Knock joke ("Knock Knock/Who's There?/Buddha/Buddha who?/Buddha this bread for me won't you?") which he proclaims a classic. Salesman Dwight steps in with a Knock Knock joke of his own, one in which the "knocker" is "the KGB," and in which the answer to "the KGB who?" is a slap in the face and the response "Vee Vill ask the questions!" Angry over being hit in the face, Michael declares a moratorium on Knock Knock jokes, which office No. 2 Jim sidesteps by doing his own "Ding Dong" KGB joke, which Michael orders Dwight to answer, resulting in a slap in the face of his own.  
  
After the break, we find Michael prancing around the office in a top-hat and blazer, trying to do his best Willy Wonka impression. It turns out that he has stolen the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" plot device which five golden tickets being hidden in a company's products. In this case, it's a box of papers. This year's prize is a 10 percent discount off of purchasing paper for an entire year for the winners. Michael thinks this is the most brilliant marketing plan ever devised and challenges his staff to "profiligate" more "Golden Ticket" ideas. Salesman Andy Bernard has trouble with the concept, suggesting "Golden Girls" and "Golden Grahams," before mournfully complaining "I don't get this!" Michael becomes frustrated, asking his employee's the more-alarming-than-he-thinks question, "what will be the state of this company if I am the only one coming up with ideas?"  
  
While all of this is going on, tubby, slow-talking accountant Toby is trying to decide how to woo the woman he met at last episode's singles mixer. Jim and Pam try to give him advice, although Jim suggests a less aggressive approach than his fiancee does. Andy, on the other hand, tells Toby that he shouldn't call the girl, because then "she'll think he likes her as she is," and that Toby "can't let her feel good about herself... every compliment has to be backhanded." Jim acerbically points out that Andy, who recently had an extremely painful breakup with his two-timing fiancee, Angela, may not be the guy to take dating advice from. Andy, however, notes that "Two hot people with a perfect relationship wouldn't understand..."  
  
Toby gets a bit confused by all the conflicting advice, calling himself "a textbook over-thinker." In the end, he decides to tell the girl "everything he is thinking," and she agrees to go on a date with him, even though he finishes his monologue by yelling out "boobs."  
  
Meanwhile, Michael's plan has had some unfortunate consequences. It turns out that all five of the tickets were found in a shipment sent to Jim's, and the branch's, number one client. This means they will receive 50 percent off of all previously arranged paper purchases for a year, which is obviously financially disastrous for the Scranton office. Michael tries to pin the mistake on the warehouse manager, Daryl, but gets confused when Daryl uses words he doesn't understand, such as "pallet."  
  
Michael then tries to spread the blame around the office but the employees are having none of it. In marked contrast to last week's episode, in which they rallied around Michael in his quest for a little romance, they turn against their boss. Stanley even goes so far as to suggest Michael jump off the office's roof. Michael also has to deal with incoming calls from Dunder-Mifflin CFO David Wallace, who has caught wind of the fiasco and is not too happy about it. Pam puts him off with a list of fake-activities Michael has written in case the need to feign absence to avoid such a call ever comes up, a list which includes events like "a civil rights rally," "an Obama fashion show," and being "trapped in an oil painting."  
  
Eventually, Michael has to take the call and in a moment of panic, fingers Dwight as the brains behind the Golden Ticket plan. Michael then tries to trick Dwight into believing that he really did come up with the idea but Dwight brushes this off as impossible, given the fact that he was not allowed to watch movies or eat candies as a child. Michael uses a faked-diary entry to try and prove that it was Dwight that came up with the doomed marketing initiative, but Dwight counters by revealing a real diary he keeps himself, something he does to "keep secrets from his computer."  
  
Giving up on that approach, Michael decides to ask Dwight to just "fall on your sword for me." Even though Dwight admits that he has actually fallen on his sword once before, accidentally while running, he is not too keen on the idea. Michael tries to convince him by mentioning that leaving the office will give him more time to plow his own fields and work on his own land, possibly without a shirt. Jim on the other hand, implores Dwight not to take the fall for a man who would not do the same for him, which Dwight responds to by writing up Jim for insubordination.  
  
In the end, Michael seems to have won Dwight over as Dwight willingly allows Michael to fire him when David Wallace arrives in Scranton. Wallace cuts Michael off however, by excitedly telling Dwight that "his" idea has so impressed the client that won the tickets that they have awarded Dunder-Mifflin a lucrative contract that more than negates the cost of the 50 percent discount. Dwight, willing to accept the blame for the initial catastrophe, is also more than willing to take the credit for what has become a windfall.  
  
Wallace then praises Dwight in front of the entire office and Michael can barely suppress his anger and envy. Dwight even makes a "That's What She Said!" joke (after David Wallace says "This is huge!"), which earns far more laughter than Michael's usually do. The staff, angry in the first place that Michael would let Dwight take the fall for him, eagerly offers Dwight their congratulations. When Wallace and Dwight go into the conference room to make a call to the corporate marketing department, Michael can take it no longer, and he barges into the room, telling David Wallace exactly what happened, while appearing totally unaware that this makes him look far worse than it does Dwight.  
  
Dwight fights back, claming that he can come up with better business plans than Michael any time he wants to. A duel of ideas begins, Michael offering gems like "The Toilet Buddy," a net placed in a toilet bowl to catch people's change and wallets, while Dwight ripostes with his idea for a "Horseboat," a horse wrapped in a canoe so that it can be used on both land and sea. Wallace, having heard enough, asks Michael what he is supposed to do now. Michael gives him an honest answer. "I want the credit without any of the blame," He said.  
  
Wallace leaves the office, deciding that the incident will just be erased from Dunder-Mifflin's official history. Michael, however, believes that people will look back on the day and "all that will be remembered is he \[Michael\] had a good idea..." Dwight, however, points out that no matter what Michael chooses to remember, he can still write whatever he wants in his own diary.  
  
NEXT WEEK:  
Will Michael become a sympathetic character once again, or is he becoming more and more like his British counterpart, the detestable David Brent? Has Toby finally found a girl with the same, extremely simple, interests as his own? Will Jim be able to afford his mortgage now that one of his best commissions has been cut in half? And will the new company VP, (played by Idris Elba) put a stop to Michael's shenanigans when he visits the branch next week?