| "Paper Airplane" | |
|---|---|
| The Office episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 9 Episode 20 |
| Directed by | Jesse Peretz |
| Written by | |
| Cinematography by | Matt Sohn |
| Editing by |
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| Production code | 9020[1] |
| Original air date | April 25, 2013[1] |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
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"Paper Airplane" is the twentieth episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office. It originally aired on NBC on April 25, 2013. The episode features guest stars Roseanne Barr, Nora Kirkpatrick, Mark Proksch, Blake Robbins, and Bobby Ray Shafer. It was also the final half-hour episode of the series, being the fourth-to-last episode aired.
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 the episode, the office staff compete against each other in a paper airplane contest. Meanwhile, Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) prepares for a potential acting job, and Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) utilize new skills that they learned in couples' counseling.
The episode received mostly mixed reviews from critics; some felt that the episode was humorous, whereas others were critical of the main plot involving Pam and Jim. The episode was viewed by 3.25 million viewers and received a 1.7/5 rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, giving it the lowest viewership rating of any episode of The Office. "Paper Airplane" ranked fourth in its timeslot, but was nevertheless the highest-rated NBC series of the night.