The Office 4/23/09 "Broke" Episode Recap  4/24/09

Michael buys a used van (which still has the lettering on it from when it belonged to a Korean church) to make early morning deliveries to clients. This routine, in addition to their regular duties at the Michael Scott Paper Company, takes such a toll on Michael, Pam, and Ryan that they decide to look into hiring a delivery person to take over that job. Unfortunately, as they go to their loan officer to see if they can afford to hire a fourth person, they discover that their low prices (which significantly undercut all of their competitors and are instrumental to the company's success in siphoning off some of Dunder Mifflin's biggest clients) have left their profit margin so razor thin that they not only cannot afford a delivery man, but that the company will never be able to be profitable in the long run and will only be able to stay open for another month or so. As they contemplate their future, Pam reveals she applied for multiple jobs at retail stores to make extra money for her upcoming expensive wedding, but they never called her back, not even for an interview. Ryan reveals he went not to Thailand, but Fort Lauderdale.

Meanwhile at Dunder Mifflin, Charles Miner announces that they have lost ten major clients to Michael's company. CFO David Wallace has taken note of the loss and visits the Scranton branch (the most profitable branch in the entire company) to see what can be done to stem their losses. Charles is shown sucking up to David, something that Jim starts making fun of. He calls a meeting with Charles and Jim, but is surprised to learn that Charles has considered Dwight to be his number two man around the office and all four of them meet to discuss the company's next move. Charles is embarrassed when Dwight suggests unleashing a hive of bees to solve their crisis. David Wallace hits upon the idea of buying out the Michael Scott Paper Company and sends Jim down to gauge whether they would be interested in accepting.

Michael, Pam, and Ryan come in to discuss the terms of the buyout, but they manage not to reveal that their company is essentially broke. Instead, they point out that Dunder Mifflin's best branch is bleeding, a major stockholder meeting is coming up, and that there will be questions that might lead to a new CFO (David Wallace's position). After rejecting an initial offer of $12,000, David gives a second offer of $60,000 to buy the company. The offer is strongly considered, but Michael thinks it is more important to have jobs than just money, to which Pam agrees. Michael requests to get his job back plus dental insurance, and take on both Ryan and Pam as members of the sales team. David is initially reluctant at the prospect of adding three people to the company, particularly Ryan who cost the company a lot of money, but Michael threatens to start up multiple paper companies under various names, so David ultimately gives in. Michael, Pam, and Ryan cheer in the conference room, and Charles leaves Scranton and returns to corporate.

"Broke" is the twenty-fifth episode of the fifth season television series The Office and the show's ninety-seventh overall. The episode aired in the United States on April 23, 2009, on NBC at 9 PM EDT. This will be the last episode with guest star Idris Elba, as he has only been signed for six episodes.

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