The Convict
"The Convict" is the ninth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 37th overall. It first aired on November 30, 2006 in the United States on NBC. The episode was the series' only original script written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who are the creators of the original British comedy series of the same name. It was directed by Jeffrey Blitz, his first such credit of the series.
For other uses, see Convict (disambiguation).
The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton and Stamford branches of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) discovers that an employee named Martin Nash (Wayne Wilderson), who came with the branches' recent merger, was previously in prison. Michael becomes frustrated when Martin's stories of prison sound better than working in the office. Meanwhile, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) plays a prank on Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) by giving incorrect information to Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) on how to impress her.
According to Nielsen Media Research, an estimated 9.07 million viewers watched "The Convict" on its first broadcast, making it up to that point the largest audience of the season. Among adults aged 18 to 49, it earned a 4.4/11 ratings share, finishing in eighteenth place for the week among all the major networks. Television critics were largely positive towards the episode, particularly Carell's "Prison Mike" sequence as well as Helms' performance as Andy Bernard.
Synopsis[edit]
Michael Scott (Steve Carell) learns that black employee Martin Nash (Wayne Wilderson) is a former criminal, and tells the entire office. During this time, in a misguided effort to avoid issues of stereotyping and racism Michael asks the employees to name a white person that they trust and he will name a black person he trusts even more. The name Jesus pops up and Michael replies with Apollo Creed. Meanwhile, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) encourages Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) to pursue Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer), and intentionally gives him information about her strong dislikes. Later, Andy strums "Rainbow Connection" on his banjo while singing falsetto. Pam smiles politely and silently shares the joke with Jim.
Martin tells the others he was incarcerated for insider trading, and that he enjoyed certain perks of prison, including outside time and art classes. Pam comments that prison sounds better than their current work situation. Attempting to convince his employees that the office is better than prison, Michael sends everyone to "outside time" in the bitter cold. He then calls a meeting in which he adopts the persona of "Prison Mike", who attempts to persuade the workers to know why prison is much worse than they think. Martin comments that Michael's performance did not remind him of his time in prison. This further infuriates Michael, who then locks all of the staff inside the conference room. In order to have his co-workers released, Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) tells Michael the staff is simply teasing him. After letting the agitated workers go, a relieved Michael relents, but Martin chooses to quit.