“There are lots of different versions of Michael Scott,” Stupnitsky explained. “Some writers would write him as childish, others would write him as incompetent, some would write for the version of Michael Scott when he was at his best. We were trying to get him at his most pathetic.”

Sure enough, “Dinner Party” finds Michael in one of the saddest periods of his life. He’s so desperate to have Jim and Pam over that he pulls an elaborate scheme to trick them into it. Then he spends half the evening pretending to be happy, bragging about his tiny TV or how Jan makes him sleep on the foot of his own bed. It’s also strongly implied that Jan took her young male assistant’s virginity at some point, and she flaunts that affair in Michael’s face as a passive aggressive revenge tactic. All of this would be sad on its own, but the fact that Michael’s trying to portray it all as relationship bliss takes it to another level. As Eisenberg explained:

“Michael so wants to be friends with Jim and Pam, and the idea of having people over at his house for a dinner party is something I feel like he’s dreamt about for years, with having a girlfriend and being proud of her and all that. He still tries to push through in spite of the fact that Jan is clearly on the edge and in spite of the fact that their relationship is crumbling. He’s trying to put on this facade.”