The Inner Circle (The Office)

The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

"The Inner Circle" received mixed reviews from critics, with many commenting on Ferrell's performance, with opinions ranging from positive to negative.

He is also favorable towards Ryan Howard, who he believes is the head of the customer service department and Kelly Kapoor's direct supervisor.

Andy Bernard desperately aspires to join the inner circle, while Deangelo repeatedly attempts to win over Dwight Schrute, who is still apathetic toward the new boss.

To prove to the staff that he's not sexist, Deangelo hires a woman named Jordan Garfield, who turns out to have no business experience (having previously worked at Anthropologie) over other qualified candidates, including a friend of Pam's.

Jim is kicked out of the inner circle after pointing out what the women of the office had said, and an enthusiastic Andy replaces him (despite having previously denounced Deangelo after deciding that he was sexist).

At the end of the episode, Deangelo makes it back to the office, still in his hospital gown, with an IV tube trailing from his arm.

[3] The episode is also the first appearance of Cody Horn as Jordan Garfield, Deangelo's executive assistant, and the first of three new roles since Carell's departure.

If this show didn't have seven years of history to back it up, this episode would have made you feel like you were watching Suddenly Susan without a laugh track.

[13] TV Squad writer Joel Keller wrote that while "the episode did have its funny moments", "overall, you can just feel that the show has changed in a very fundamental way".

[12] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix criticized the writers for still not finding Deangelo's character out commenting that "the fact that the writers so clearly had no idea what to do with Ferrell doesn't fill me with confidence for whatever guest stars turn up in the final episodes – nor do I feel especially great right now about the idea of an outside character coming in as the permanent new regional manager.

"[14] IGN reviewer Cindy White praised the writing for Deangelo's character saying that "Ferrell is much better carrying the show on his own than being second banana to Carell.

[6] New York's Phoebe Reilly wrote that "while it was nice to see the staff responding to someone new, it didn't feel like enough to make an audience antsy to come back after a long summer.