Golden Ticket (The Office) - Reception

Reception

In its original American broadcast on March 12, 2009, "Golden Ticket" was watched by 7.7 million overall viewers and received a Nielsen rating of 4.1 among adults aged between 18 and 49, despite directly competing with ABC's Grey's Anatomy and CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. For the week of March 9–15, the episode ranked number 10 among adults 18–49, within two shares of the time-period lead in that age group. "Golden Ticket" was number four among all programs in adults 18–34, behind Grey's Anatomy and the Tuesday and Wednesday editions of American Idol. In the 9 to 9:30 p.m. time-slot, the episode also ranked number one among men 18–34 and men 18–49, tied with Grey's Anatomy for number one among the broadcast networks in adults 18–34, and tied with CSI for number two among adults 18–49.

"What’s the worst thing Michael Scott has ever done? Not the most embarrassing, dumbest, most offensive, or most self-defeating action. We mean the cruelest, most selfish, most venal thing he’s ever done. ... Michael has always been vain and deluded, but we've never been asked to think of him as truly bad. But this episode comes awfully close to doing that."

"Golden Ticket" received mixed reviews, with several reviewers commenting on the selfishness and mean behavior of Michael in the episode. In a New York magazine article entitled "Michael Finally Goes Too Far", Will Leitch describes it as "one of the funnier recent episodes", but found Michael's willingness to sell out Dwight unsettling: "Usually, when he’s about to do something over-the-top (like plant drugs on Toby), he backs off at the last second. This time, he's willing to go all the way and sell out Dwight, his most loyal friend. It's a little jarring." Leitch, however, said the sweetness of the subplot involving Kevin and Lynne offset some of the darker aspects of the episode, and praised several of the jokes including Michael's "Shoe-La-La" shoe store idea, Dwight's idea for a "Horse Boat" invention and the KGB knock knock jokes.

Kona Gallagher, of TV Squad, praised "Golden Ticket", especially the final act: "Between Michael's face and Dwight's conference call, the last ten minutes of this episode were absolutely golden." Gallagher said the episode returned to "season one levels of Michael Scott stupidity", and particularly liked the way Dwight so readily accepted credit once the golden ticket promotion proved to be a success. Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club gave "Golden Ticket" an A- grade and particularly praised Steve Carell's Willy Wonka impression and the way Michael tried to distance himself after the promotional idea went bad. Rabin said, "Tonight’s episode lacked a certain gravity but it delivered the goods, comedy-wise." He also pointed out that the script was technically illogical in that Michael pretended he did not come up with the golden ticket idea despite the documentary camera crew filming his earlier discussions about it.

Entertainment Weekly writer Whitney Pastorek described the episode as "kind of cute tonight, and kind of flat in places, and kind of sad." Pastorek said one of the most interesting aspects of "Golden Ticket" was the relationship between Michael and Dwight: "After their respective failed romances with Holly and Angela, Michael and Dwight may be coming to the awkward realization that the most successful relationship in either of their lives is with one another, and that may be causing a little tension." Travis Fickett of IGN said "Golden Ticket" was a "solid offering", but felt it lacked any big moments and fit too much of a status quo mold he feels other recent episodes had fallen into. Fickett said it was "fun to watch Michael squirm" both when he thought he was in trouble, and when he was robbed credit for his good idea; he also liked when Jim encouraged Dwight not to take the fall for Michael, and when the others in the office rallied around Dwight when David Wallace gave Dwight credit for the success.

Alan Sepinwall, television writer for The Star-Ledger, said Michael acted so "nakedly selfish and unfeeling" that it made the episode unpleasant to watch: "If last week's 'Blood Drive' gave us Michael at his most human and sympathetic, then 'Golden Ticket' showed how a human Michael could also be a monster." However, Sepinwall said he did think the subplot involving Kevin receiving romantic advice was funny and sweet: "Brian Baumgartner's just been aces the last two weeks, and if it hadn't been for this story, I might have found 'Golden Ticket' unbearable." Dan Hopper of VH1's Best Week Ever strongly criticized the episode and the behavior of the characters: "Why was every single character on last night’s Willy Wonka episode acting like a complete idiot? Not 'idiot' in the sense that the characters are always dumb and goofy in an amusing way, but 'idiot' as in 'none of these human beings would ever act this way and this is really frustrating to watch?'"

"Golden Ticket" was voted the eleventh highest-rated episode out of 26 from the fifth season, according to an episode poll at the fansite OfficeTally; the episode was rated 8.33 out of 10.