Free Family Portrait Studio
| "Free Family Portrait Studio" | |
|---|---|
| The Office episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 8 Episode 24 |
| Directed by | B. J. Novak |
| Written by | B. J. Novak |
| Production code | 824 |
| Original air date | May 10, 2012 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Free Family Portrait Studio" is the twenty-fourth episode and season finale of the eighth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 176th episode overall. The episode originally aired on NBC on May 10, 2012. "Free Family Portrait Studio" was written and directed by B. J. Novak, who also wrote and directed the season premiere "The List". The episode guest stars Andy Buckley, Jack Coleman, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Jerry Minor, and Michael Schur.
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, David Wallace (Andy Buckley) helps Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) go undercover and stage a coup, and a new opportunity arises for Robert California (James Spader).
"Free Family Portrait Studio" received mixed reviews from critics, with many noting that the episode did not feel like a proper season finale. It was viewed by 4.49 million viewers and received a 2.3 rating/6% share among adults between the age of 18 and 49. The episode ranked third in its timeslot and was also the highest-rated NBC series of the night.
Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) offers free family portraits in the office, and many members of the office take advantage of the opportunity, including Creed Bratton (Creed Bratton) with his very elderly parents, Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) with his teenaged daughter Sasha, Meredith Palmer (Kate Flannery) with her teenaged son, Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) with Ravi (Sendhil Ramamurthy), a desperate Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) trying to win back Kelly's affection yet again, and Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) with a reluctant Jim (John Krasinski) and their children Cecelia and Philip. Senator Robert Lipton (Jack Coleman) later comes by with his and Angela Martin's (Angela Kinsey) son Philip to also get a family portrait. Jim suspects that Dwight's motive for giving away family portraits was to get revenge on Jim for a prank involving a fake Velcro suit, but Dwight's real motive was to try to get some of Philip Lipton's DNA to run a test to determine who Philip's actual father is. Angela is very much against this idea and tries to ensure that Dwight does not get the opportunity. After taking the pictures, Robert notices that Philip's diaper is full, so he goes to change him. After doing so Dwight goes into the bathroom to retrieve the diaper, but Angela chases after him as he makes a break for the hospital to run the DNA test. Dwight and Angela then take part in a high-speed car chase until Dwight calls his cousin Mose (Michael Schur) to take her off his trail with a duplicate Trans Am. Angela later finds him in the waiting area, where he confirms he's going to be there for the entire 72-hour waiting period for the DNA results. After she sits down, holding his hand, Dwight begins kissing her and Angela briefly demurs before passionately kissing him in return.
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