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"Garden Party" is the fourth episode of the eighth season of the American comedy television series ''The Office'', and the show's 156th episode overall. The episode originally aired on NBC in the United States on October 13, 2011. It was written by co-executive producer Justin Spitzer and was directed by David Rogers and marks Mindy Kaling's first credit as executive producer. "Garden Party" features a guest appearance from Josh Groban, Dee Wallace and Stephen Collins. The series—presented as if it were a real documentary—depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In the episode, Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) throws a garden party at Schrute Farms to impress Robert California (James Spader), with his parents and brother in attendance. Meanwhile, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) works to make it a classy event. "Garden Party" features a substantial appearance by Josh Groban; Kaling had asked Groban if he could guest star in the series, through Twitter. The episode received mixed reviews from critics, with criticism towards its repetition of plot ideas. According to Nielsen Media Research, "Garden Party" drew more than 6 million viewers and received a 3.2 rating/8% share in the 18–49 demographic, staying even with the previous episode, "Lotto". It ranked third in its timeslot, and ranked as the highest-rated NBC series on Thursday. ==Plot== Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) decides to throw a garden party at Schrute Farms to impress his parents and Robert California (James Spader). Andy is noticeably jealous at the amount of attention his younger brother Walter Bernard, Jr. (Josh Groban) receives from his father, and he thinks that by throwing an elaborate party he can ensure his father's blessings. Gabe Lewis (Zach Woods) is jealous that he didn't do it himself, calling it a total 'Gabe' move. At first, the party goes along smoothly. Andy decides to make a toast to Robert in order to get his fellow employees to toast him, as if to show to his parents and California that he is a respected individual among his employees. His plan backfires, however, and instead many people end up praising Robert. To get everybody's mind off of Robert, Andy decides to sing "More Than Words" as a duet with his father. This too goes awry as his visibly annoyed father corrects his playing and singing, and ultimately decides to sing a duet with Walter Jr. instead of Andy. Visibly upset, Andy stops their singing and storms off. Soon thereafter, Andy is confronted by his father for his "obnoxious attitude", which he turns into a browbeating on Andy as "manager of some rinky dink branch". This conversation is overheard by the other staff on the baby monitor Jim and Pam brought for their daughter, and Pam quickly turns off the monitor to let Andy save face. Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) and Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) later confide to the camera that they now understand why Andy feels he needs to prove himself to everyone. After his family leaves, a dejected Andy, feeling unwanted by his family and co-workers, says goodbye to the office staff as they turn the garden party into a barbecue. Darryl and Oscar, however, manage to convince Andy to stay with a cheeseburger and a beer, and they all watch, satisfied, as Dwight performs the closing ceremonies to the garden party. Meanwhile, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) works to make the garden party a classy event. Dwight thoroughly reads a book called ''Throwing A Garden Party'' that he bought online, thinking it was a great buy. However, the book is revealed to be an elaborate prank, secretly written by Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) under the pseudonym "James Trickington". The book gives outlandish advice such as announcing each guest's name as they arrive in an extremely loud manner among other absurd "duties" (imitating The Last Supper in the middle of a meal, randomly dancing with his party staff, etc.). Near the end of the episode, Andy and the staff look on in delight as Dwight and his workers perform a fire court dance (as part of the Trickington book) as a closing ceremonies. The episode then ends with footage of Jim abusing Dwight's announcing duties by walking past him and then walking back again, prompting Dwight to shout Jim's name each time Jim walks by and eventually shouting Jim's name when asked who the best salesman at Dunder Mifflin is. Also, Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) feuds with co-worker Angela Lipton (Angela Kinsey) over baby names. Pam and Angela learn they've both chosen the name Phillip for their soon-to-be-born sons, with Pam choosing to name her child after her deceased grandfather and Angela after the name of her favorite cat. Angela, visibly annoyed that Pam doesn't relinquish the name right away, later makes a toast to "my son Phillip" at the garden party—only to have Pam make the same toast but describe in great detail how the name honors her now-dead grandfather. Angela, unwilling to reveal her feline-centric reasons for the name, grouses to the camera that Pam is always copying her. Elsewhere, Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) loses her hat to a crow, and Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) keeps hinting how cold she is, hoping Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak) will offer his jacket. However, Ryan instantly offers his jacket to Robert, who isn't even cold. Gabe also offers his, hinting at a rivalry between them in terms of sucking up to Robert, later evidenced in Pool Party. Dwight's cousin Mose (Michael Schur) has fun being a valet, even swiping Toby Flenderson's (Paul Lieberstein) car and pretending he's a daredevil. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Garden Party (The Office)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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