The Coup (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, Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) becomes unimpressed with how Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is controlling his branch, so Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) tries to take his job and an office power play ensues.

Meanwhile, Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) conducts a lunchtime fashion show, and the Stamford branch plays Call of Duty as a team-building exercise, something Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) does not do well in.

Jan Levinson berates Michael Scott when she discovers that he calls the entire office into the conference room every Monday to watch a movie.

[2] Lady Macbeth was depicted as an ambitious woman who "exerted an evil influence over her husband,"[3] characteristics that fit with Angela attempting to push her lover, Dwight, into power.

[1][2] In her weekly blog for TV Guide, actress Kate Flannery previewed the episode, "Behind every great man is a pushy woman.

Also in the audio commentary, Jones suggested that Dwight's punishment – being forced to wear a "liar" sign and stand silently on some boxes in the middle of the office – was reminiscent of the iconic photo of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse.

Dwight being shamed and groveling for mercy on Michael's floor was funny (and disturbing) but not as satisfying as when Pam & Jim pull an elaborate prank on Mr. Schrute.

Here's hoping the series kick-starts the Pam-Jim storyline again soon, before we start wondering why those documentary cameras are still following Jim way over in the Stamford branch.

He felt that after the "brilliant" episode from the previous week, "The Coup" was "somewhat anticlimactic, as Jim doesn't interact at all with the Scranton branch and the Pam-Jim storyline is pretty much ignored."

Despite his disappointment with Jim's storyline, Zoromski commented that the "best moments of the episode were the completely random ones, such as Dwight knowing that Jan wears blouses from Liz Claiborne and earrings from Ann Taylor.

"[8] Kath Skerry of Give Me My Remote called Dwight's groveling "hilarious," but was unsure about Jim and Karen's ending scene, explaining that it "was adorable.