'The Office' recap: Wuphf Riders

Wuphf, there it is. Ryan's cockamamie website was the ostensible center of this week's episode, but Dwight's ridiculous Hay Place -- "a place for hay" -- was about 20 times funnier and more Office-like. How long until the Social Network humor runs its course?

We opened with the Dunder Mifflinites trying to guess the server password that had been set eight years ago -- when "everyone was getting their driver's license," according to Erin. Heh.

Pam confessionalized that she indeed had invested in Wuphf, which seemed kind of nuts. Though not as nuts as Stanley's dream: "I wanna own a decommisioned light house. And I want to live at the top. And nobody knows I live there. And there's a button that I can press that'll launch that lighthouse into space," he admitted. Okay, then.

As the Wuphf investors implored Ryan to sell the site so they could recoup even a little of their money, Dwight was outside making a goldmine on children's apparently insatiable enthusiasm for all things hay. I spent the whole episode convinced that the two businesses were going to merge in some capacity, and I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed that they didn't. The world does indeed shine on Mose, I guess.

Jim reached his commission cap, which eliminated any incentive he had to work, so he spent the day looking for ways to goof off, eventually settling on screwing with Gabe by editing Jo's audiobook. Again, why didn't this story intersect with the Wuphf plot or Hay Place? Kevin managed to be a Wuphf investor and a hay-maze participant. Why wasn't Jim in the running for Hay King? Or couldn't Jim and Angela have bonded at Hay Place, where she instead picked up a hot dad love interest? So much for Dunder-Mifflinites sticking together.

Pam, Kevin, Darryl, Andy, and Stanley cornered Ryan in the kitchen, but Michael stepped in and tried to give a rousing speech. He said he'd rather "get rich on my people" than all by himself, and that he believed in Ryan, "just like I believe in all of you." It was actually a pretty terrific little speech, as was Michael's monologue about the hand he was dealt. "Ryan's probably a two. But sometimes, twos are wild." It was sort of charming and insightful in that way that Michael accidentally is -- and when Ryan finally did decide to sell, it was pretty clear that what got through to him wasn't everyone else's insistence but rather Michael's misplaced trust.

NEXT: The best moments of "Wuphf.com"

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