The Office’s now-famous season 4 episode “Dinner Party” is already known as one of the show’s most hilarious, and simultaneously difficult to watch, but one small detail makes Michael and Jan’s event even worse. “Dinner Party” is widely regarded as The Office’s best episode, with the installment featuring a hilarious premise that combines the show’s greatest strengths. It began with Michael tricking Jim and Pam into finally spending time with him outside of work, set the episode outside of Dunder Mifflin's office space, shed light on a few hilariously sad details of Michael's personal life, and increasingly escalated extremely uncomfortable situations for all involved.
The episode sees Michael and Jan throw a couples-only dinner party at their condo, featuring Jim and Pam, Angela and Andy, and later on the incredibly awkward combo of Dwight and his aging childhood babysitter. The dinner becomes a personal hell for Jim and Pam, who try to escape several times to no avail, and becomes all the more torturous when Michael and his girlfriend Jan fight the entire night. Featuring frustrating games of charades, multiple tours of the condo, the possibility of Jan poisoning Pam, and an osso buco that requires several seemingly never-ending hours to braise, it’s hard to believe The Office’s “Dinner Party” could possibly get worse.
One should never underestimate The Office’s ability to make a horrible situation more painful. When Pam and Jim first arrive at Michael’s condo, they mention that it’s only been an hour since they left Dunder Mifflin, meaning the party begins at about 6:00 pm. After the tour, Jan tells Pam that the osso buco will take at least three more hours to braise, with her later checking the meal and confirming it to not even be close to done. The Office's season 4 episode then explains that the guests played a few games of charades, drank wine in the living room, and were even propositioned to invest in Jan's candle company, with the dinner portion of the event finally happening within the last five-or-so minutes of the episode. When Michael is first served his food, his watch says that it’s midnight, meaning Jim and Pam have experienced this torture for over six hours.
While this detail makes it clear that The Office’s dinner party was even worse than originally thought, the exhausting time frame was already hinted at by Jan earlier in the episode. When Pam first questioned Jan about the osso buco needing three more hours to cook, Jan’s face turned sinister and she remarked, “You know, Pam, in Spain, they often don’t start eating until midnight.” It appears Jan, who The Office soon revealed to be pregnant, was intent on hosting a Spanish dinner party, but it instead ended with little to no food eaten and the cops arriving because of a domestic disturbance. No matter how many times Jim and Pam tried to escape Michael and Jan’s bizarre event, The Office illustrated that the characters were in it for the long haul.
“Dinner Party” also included various symbolic details for The Office’s characters to elevate the notion that this was the dinner party from hell. For instance, The Office intentionally made Jan wear red and sit right next to the fire when Michael compares his life with her to hell and calls her the devil. It’s no surprise that The Office’s cast often recalls “Dinner Party” as being the most difficult episode to film, as it became a grueling process of its own due to the actors continuously breaking character by laughing. Thankfully, the characters got out of The Office’s dinner party shortly after Michael’s watch revealed it to be after midnight.