The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.
Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) and Phyllis Vance (Phyllis Smith) take advantage of Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) when he needs a favor, and Pete (Jake Lacy) distracts Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) as she begins painting her mural.
The episode was viewed by 3.88 million viewers and received 1.9/5 rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, ranking fourth in its timeslot.
She goes to Dwight Schrute for help, without telling him the details, and he calls a fellow former volunteer sheriff's deputy named Trevor for assistance.
Jim Halpert asks Dunder Mifflin CEO David Wallace if he can work part-time so he can go to Philadelphia to help with his sports marketing job.
David Wallace says that he might be needed in the office if there is a crisis with one of his clients, to which he responds that Stanley Hudson and Phyllis Vance have agreed to cover for him, though he in fact has not asked them yet.
Stanley and Phyllis order extra side dishes and help themselves to an excess of wine, annoying Jim with drunken behavior and silencing him whenever he brings up the subject of their covering for him.
After celebrating the completion of the card tower, Pam finally starts painting the mural, saying artists should not care too much in what others think, further asserting this by telling off Hide when he insults her artwork.
This is due to the fact that they were both written out of several episodes of the season in order to film The Hangover Part III and Kick-Ass 2, respectively.
[6] In the second 60-second clip, The Senator comes by the office, Jim pretends to beg to Stanley and Phyllis while they are sleeping, and Pam talks more about her mural.
[12] In its original American broadcast, the episode was viewed by 3.88 million viewers and received a 1.9 rating/5% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.
[14] "The Target" received mostly positive reviews from critics, with many praising the performances of Oscar Nunez and Angela Kinsey.
[10] Cindy White of IGN commented that the episode proved the series did not need a character in the role of the boss.
[15] Michael Tedder of New York praised the writers’ work and for giving "nice character moments" to the cast, particularly Kinsey.
He also praised them for giving Kinsey "more to work with", comparing her role in previous episodes which featured her character being "exaggerated to cartoon levels for the sake of a laugh".