Gettysburg

"Gettysburg" is the eighth episode of the eighth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 160th episode overall. It was written by Robert Padnick and directed by Jeffrey Blitz. The episode aired on NBC in the United States on November 17, 2011. "Gettysburg" guest stars Lindsey Broad as Cathy Simms. The series—presented as if it were a real documentary—depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) takes some of the office staff on a field trip to Gettysburg for inspiration. Meanwhile, the rest of the office, under orders from Robert California (James Spader), are tasked with coming up with a new business idea for Dunder Mifflin. Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) proposes several vending machine ideas that capture California's imagination. "Gettysburg" is the last episode to feature Jenna Fischer before her maternity leave. The episode received mixed reviews, with commentators mainly criticizing the episode for recycling jokes. According to the Nielsen Media Research, "Gettysburg" drew 5.50 million viewers, and ranked first in its time slot and was the highest-rated NBC show of the night. Synopsis Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) thinks that a field trip to Gettysburg will boost the office morale. Andy is unhappy at Gettysburg with the lack of morale and belief in his leadership and attempts to make an analogy between running a paper company and fighting in the Civil War. Andy starts to lead a haphazard tour, and eventually most of the office members sit down to rest. Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) follow Andy after he presses on, and eventually tell him to stop trying to impress the office. They explain that no one is responding to his analogies because they are not true, and reinforce the fact that his co-workers like him the way he is.