Frame Toby
| "Frame Toby" | |
|---|---|
| The Office episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 9 |
| Directed by | Jason Reitman |
| Written by | Mindy Kaling |
| Production code | 508 |
| Original air date | November 20, 2008 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Frame Toby" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the show's eighty-first episode overall. The episode aired in the United States on November 20, 2008 on NBC.
On November 25, 2008, a producer's cut of "Frame Toby" was posted on NBC.com. This cut ran approximately four minutes longer than the original airing. After nearly a two-year absence, this is the first producer's cut since season three's "The Return".
In this episode, Michael has trouble accepting the fact that his least favorite employee, HR rep Toby, has returned to the office and enlists Dwight's help to frame him for using drugs so he will be fired. Meanwhile, Pam is disgusted over a mess left in the microwave that no one bothers to clean up, and Jim buys his parents' house – without telling Pam.
Michael is upset when he learns that Toby (Paul Lieberstein) is back as their HR representative, particularly because he is in essence replacing Holly. He tries to get CFO David Wallace (Andy Buckley) to get rid of Toby, but Wallace refuses. Michael says he has been unaware of Toby's return, which happened a week before, as he has not gone back to the annex since Holly was transferred. Michael tries to pretend to be friends with Toby, but he finds himself unable to do so. He then schemes with Dwight (Rainn Wilson) to frame Toby for violating company policy. They attempt to set him up for sexual harassment by using Pam (Jenna Fischer) as bait, but Pam quickly defuses the scheme. Michael tries to provoke Toby into punching him, which proves fruitless. Finally, Michael decides to plant drugs in Toby's desk, and purchases what he believes to be marijuana for $500 from two Vance Refrigeration employees. Dwight calls the police, who arrive shortly afterward (much to the concern of Creed (Creed Bratton), who steps forward with hands upraised when they head towards Toby's desk, and hides in the conference room pretending to talk with the camera crew until the cops leave). The police search Toby's desk. Michael, starting to feel guilty, tries to take the blame, but the police discover that the planted "marijuana" is really a bag of Caprese salad. After the police leave, Toby calmly scolds Michael for wasting the cops' time when they could have been catching real criminals. Michael is disgusted that Toby is more worried about the cops' time than about possibly being framed, and hates Toby more than ever.
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