After Hours (The Office)

[1] "After Hours" was written by co-executive producers Halsted Sullivan and Warren Lieberstein and directed by Brian Baumgartner, who portrays Kevin Malone on the series, marking his directorial debut.

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, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Todd Packer (David Koechner) compete for a job.

Dwight Schrute and Todd Packer compete to become VP under Nellie Bertram by seducing her after work at the hotel bar.

Upon kissing her and realizing that what he is doing is wrong, Dwight secretly scratches off the magnetic strip on his hotel card before giving it to Nellie, stating the seduction was only to gain approval.

In Scranton, Andy Bernard has everyone stay late to cover for their co-workers in Florida, which turns into an awkward situation when Val's boyfriend, Brandon, arrives with Jamaican food Andy ordered and accuses Darryl Philbin of having an affair with her, after having read Darryl's text messages to her.

Upon hearing them, most of the staff agree that his text messages, particularly an extended ellipsis at the end of one, are suggestive of Darryl wanting to be with Val.

Ryan interprets this as an invitation to hook up with her, so he attempts to seduce her by taking her to the empty kitchen to help her make a waffle she unsuccessfully ordered.

After Ryan compliments Erin, she suggests that they could become roommates in Florida and possibly start dating in six months if things go well between them.

After ordering some desserts from room service and asking Jim to touch her legs, he finally comes out saying that he is happily married, and does not want to be with her.

Jim instead spends the night with Dwight in his room, eating Cathy's desserts and watching TV, while a drunken Nellie tries unsuccessfully to get in.

[5] The episode marks the tenth appearance of Lindsey Broad who plays Cathy, Pam's replacement during her maternity leave.

Club reviewer Myles McNutt wrote that the episode was too crowded and that while all four plotlines had "potential", they weren't given enough time to develop.

[13] He also complimented the Dwight-Nellie-Todd storyline, saying that his decision to not sleep with Nellie was a "nicely human moment" and also wrote that the character was more grounded when he was more self-aware.

[11][12][13] White noted that, "Jim did bumble it a bit in the face of Cathy taking insincere offense at his accusation, but the outcome wasn't hard to predict.