The Secret (The Office)

"The Secret" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's nineteenth episode overall. It was written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Dennie Gordon. The episode first aired on January 19, 2006 on NBC.

The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) is forced into spending time with Michael Scott (Steve Carell) so that Michael will not reveal Jim's feelings for Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer). Meanwhile, Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) takes a sick day and Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) investigates whether he is actually sick.

"The Secret" was written in roughly 26 hours and was the fastest episode written for the series at the time. The title for the episode is purposely vague and refers to Jim's hidden feelings for Pam, Dwight and Angela's relationship, and Oscar's homosexuality. "The Secret" is also the first episode where many of the actors not credited in the opening sequence are credited directly afterwards instead of as guest appearances. The scenes at the Hooters restaurant were filmed relatively early in the day, and a majority of the scenes were improvised by Carell. "The Secret" received largely positive reviews from television critics and was watched by 8.7 million viewers, ranking as the forty-fourth most-watched television episode of the week.