Plot
In the opening scene, Michael has arranged a meeting to discuss making the Quarterly Report more exciting, unaware that the office workers are all more interested in the DVD screensaver, and believes their disappointment whenever the bouncing box on the screensaver doesn't make it into a corner are reactions to his statements. Eventually, the box does make it into a corner, and the cheering employees all leave, to his confusion.
Dunder Mifflin is preparing a party for the launch of their new website "Dunder Mifflin Infinity". Since Jan Levenson (Melora Hardin) doesn't want to go to the launch party, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) invites Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer), who makes Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) take her place. Only after they reach New Jersey does Jim realize that Michael received an "invitation" to a chat room, not the actual party. Jim also reveals that he turned down the Corporate job that Ryan accepted. Michael returns to Scranton dejected and attempts to plan a better party. This irritates party planner Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey), who has already been in an exceptionally irritable mood. She viciously and patronizingly takes out her frustrations on fellow Party Planning Committee member Phyllis, who quits the committee in frustration.
Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) decides to compete against the website to see who can make more sales. Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) keeps a running tally of reams sold, blowing an airhorn each time Dwight makes a sale. Irritated by the distraction, Jim and Pam plot a prank. They send Dwight instant messages pretending to be the company's computer system, taunting Dwight when he believes it has achieved self-awareness. Dwight wins the challenge, but when he gloats to Angela about his victory, she rejects him outright and makes it clear that they are broken up for good. She also asks Pam to set her up with a single friend of hers. Pam, feeling sorry for Dwight, sends another message as the computer acknowledging him as a superior being. Andy later sets up a conference call with some of his old Cornell friends to serenade Angela with Take a Chance on Me; she doesn't agree to date him, but appears to be somewhat charmed by the spectacle.
Michael finally realizes that Ryan doesn't respect him, and once he gets online for the party's chat room he snaps that Dwight single-handedly outsold DMI and curses at Ryan. But his emotional reactions haven't stopped for the night: he had ordered pizza from two places, one outstanding (Alfredo's Pizza Cafe, which is a real restaurant in Scranton) and one terrible (Pizza by Alfredo, which is fictional). The latter store refused to honor a coupon Michael had, and he ends up taking the teenaged delivery driver hostage (Kevin McHale), with both he and Dwight acting out their frustrations about Ryan and Angela, respectively. After some time, Michael regains his senses and lets the kid go, and then heads up to crash the party in NYC and get some sushi, with Dwight joining him. They get to enjoy a little leftover food, but Michael's most cheered when one of the younger Corporate workers says they liked his rant against Ryan and "It was funny to see Ryan embarrassed by all that", and heads home in good spirits.
Read more about this topic: Launch Party
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