Офистің жетінші эпизоды: Клиент және жаңа қарым-қатынас

"The Client" is the seventh episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's thirteenth episode overall. Written by Paul Lieberstein, who also acts in the show as Toby Flenderson, and directed by Greg Daniels, the episode first aired in the United States on November 8, 2005, 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, Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) and Michael Scott (Steve Carell) begin a relationship after landing an important client (Tim Meadows). Meanwhile, the rest of the office finds a screenplay written by Michael and they decide to read it together. The idea for Jan and Michael to have a romantic relationship was conceived by Steve Carell as far back as the filming of the pilot episode. The kiss between the two was rehearsed and filmed "many, many, many times", according to B. J. Novak. While filming, Steve Carell and Tim Meadows improvised a good majority of their dinner scene, but most of it never made the final cut. During the production of the episode, the cast and crew were informed by NBC that the show would be picked up for a whole 22 episodes, a move that "surprised" them. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics and earned a Nielsen rating of 3.8 in the 18–49 demographic, being viewed by 7.5 million viewers.

Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) meet with Christian (Tim Meadows), a county government employee in charge of the government's office paper contract. Taking him on as a client could mean the branch will not have to downsize, a threat that has been looming for the past year. Jan is not happy that Michael changed the meeting location from a hotel meeting room to Chili's without permission and persists in jokes and personal discussion instead of getting down to business. However, she discovers at the end of the day that there is a method to his madness, as the bonding between Michael and Christian allows him to close the deal. Afterwards, in the parking lot, Michael and the recently divorced Jan kiss and leave together. During the meeting Michael calls Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) to read from one of the joke books in his desk, where she finds a screenplay written by Michael entitled Threat Level: Midnight, starring himself as "Agent Michael Scarn". The staff perform a read through of the script, in which the character sequence "Dwigt" appears. They realize Michael based his incompetent sidekick on Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), but later changed the name with a search and replace, which did not affect the single misspelling of Dwight's name. Dwight is upset and shuts down the exercise to invite everyone to set off fireworks outside, but only Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) follows. When the staff discuss their worst first dates, Pam astounds them with a story of how her date forgot about her and left her behind at a minor league hockey game. Their astonishment increases when they realize the date was her now fiancé, Roy. Later, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam break off their respective evening plans to enjoy an impromptu dinner on the roof and watch Dwight and Kevin fool around with fireworks. The next day Jim half jokingly remarks to Pam that this was their first date. When Pam replies bluntly that it was not a date, Jim is caught by surprise and makes a snide comment about the hockey game date. Hurt, Pam breaks off the conversation. The following morning, Dwight, having spent the night in the office, sees Jan coming by to retrieve her car, igniting gossip that she had sex with Michael. Michael reveals to the documentary crew that they made out and talked long into the night before falling asleep. Jan calls and says she regrets what happened, even accusing Michael of deliberately getting her drunk to initiate a romantic encounter with her, but Michael refuses to accept her change of heart. He and Jim share a moment of confusion at their (apparently) unrequited loves.

This episode was the third episode of the series directed by Greg Daniels. Daniels had previously directed the episodes "Basketball" and "The Dundies". "The Client" was written by Paul Lieberstein, who acts on the show as human resources director Toby Flenderson. Writer and actor Paul Lieberstein said that the first idea that anybody came up for the episode was the final shot, where Jim and Michael look at each other and shake their heads, suggesting that they had been through similar experiences. The rest of the episode was written to lead to that scene. The scene where Oscar tells a story about a date getting a background check on him was based on an actual date that Paul Lieberstein went on. One improvised scene that did make the final cut was the "Baby Back Ribs" song. In an interview, Jenna Fischer said that the rooftop scene was her favorite to shoot. Fischer recalled that "there was a very small crew up on the roof and they had the cameras really far away." After the main shooting ended, producers decided to do a re shoot to explain the "Dwigt" situation clearly and concisely.

Michael tells Jan that he moved their meeting from a Radisson to a Chili's, per advice—that he sent in—to the magazine Small Businessman. During their meeting, Michael tells Christian and Jan the Lighthouse and naval vessel joke. Dwight reveals to the camera that he was once in a production of Oklahoma!, and played the part of "Mutie The Mailman". He explains that the production had too many kids, so they made up extra roles. Michael's screenplay was eventually turned into a home movie, and is viewed by the entire office in the seventh season episode "Threat Level Midnight."

"The Client" originally aired on NBC in the United States on November 8, 2005. The episode was viewed by 7.5 million viewers and received a 3.8 rating/9% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 3.8% of all 18 to 49 year olds, and 9% of all 18 to 49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. The episode retained 73 percent of its lead in "My Name is Earl" audience, the best the show had done up until that point. An encore presentation of the episode, on April 25, 2006, received 2.4 rating/7% share was viewed by over 4.8 million viewers. The episode received mostly positive reviews from television critics. TV Squad's Michael Sciannamea gave the episode a largely positive review wrote that Michael is "totally taken with himself", but still "has shown us his vulnerabilities". "Miss Alli" of Television Without Pity graded the episode with a "B+". Rolling Stone named the scene wherein the employees read Threat Level: Midnight as the tenth funniest in The Office's first three seasons. Erik Adams of The A. V. Club awarded the episode an "A" and called it "a series best episode of The Office whose series best status sneaks up on you".