Andy's Ancestry
"Andy's Ancestry" is the third episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office.
The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.
In this episode, Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) brags about his discovery that he is related to First Lady Michelle Obama.
Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) attempts to teach Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) the Dothraki language from HBO series Game of Thrones so that she can impress Andy's educated family.
In the cold open, an Asian man arrives at the office and sits at Jim Halpert's desk, saying good morning to Dwight.
In order to get back at his co-workers, Andy asks Nellie to "dig up dirt" on the rest of the office.
Darryl Philbin has been promoted to Assistant Regional Manager and as a result is inspired to find ways to be more productive, for himself and the office.
However, his ideas for the office are ignored by Andy, leading to a discussion with Jim in the warehouse about their increasing dissatisfaction with Dunder Mifflin.
"Andy's Ancestry" was written by co-executive producers Jonathan Green and Gabe Miller, making it their first joint writing credit for the series.
[2] After the release of the episode's plot synopsis, Geni.com, a genealogy and social networking website, claimed that Ed Helms is in fact Michelle Obama's 18th cousin once removed.
[5] Dwight attempts to teach the Dothraki language from the popular book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin.
[13] Bonnie Stiernberg of Paste magazine noted that, despite Andy's regression to "his old ways", it was beneficial for the episode and allowed for many jokes to be played out.
Furthermore, Stiernberg applauded the subtle drama that ran throughout the entry, writing Darryl, Erin, and Pete's interactions with Andy were important to the overall storyline.
[8] Mark Trammell of TV Equals named it "the best episode of the final season of The Office to date" because it "played to the show's strengths".
Furthermore, he complimented the character development of Nellie, writing that she "really started to grow on me this week" and that his favorite line was Darryl's "words of wisdom" to Jim: "It's not real until your wife is on board.
"[14] Michael Tedder of New York magazine gave the episode a positive review and noted that "It's been a while since The Office was this surprising and moving."
He wrote that the main plot allowed for "overdue development" in regards to other characters and applauded the continued drama involving Pam and Jim; he called the last shot "quietly heartbreaking".
"[18] Brett Harrison Davinger of the California Literary Review, despite enjoying the tension between Pam and Jim, felt that the main story never went anywhere.
