Andy's Ancestry

"Andy's Ancestry" originally aired on NBC on October 4, 2012.[1] The episode was viewed by 4.14 million viewers and received a 2.2/6 percent share in the 18–49 demographic.[11] This means that it was seen by 2.2 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 6 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast.[11] The episode marked a slight increase when compared to the previous episode, "Roy's Wedding".[11][12] The Office finished fourth in its time slot, being beaten by an episode of the ABC series Grey's Anatomy which received a 3.8/10 percent rating; an entry of the CBS drama Person of Interest, which received a 3.0/8 percent rating; and an installment Fox series Glee, which received a 2.6/7 percent rating.[11] Despite this, The Office was the highest-rated NBC television program of the night.[11]

Erik Adams of The A.V. Club gave the episode a moderately positive review and awarded it a "B". Adams highlighted the serious discussion between Darryl and Jim in the warehouse, noting that "Jim's extrication is something to root for", and that it honored "Craig Robinson's dedication to the show". While feeling that some of the episode's subplots were forced, he complimented the Pam and Nellie pairing due to "Pam's past ability to break through [people like] Angela and Dwight's defenses".[13] Bonnie Stiernberg of Paste magazine noted that, despite Andy's regression to "his old ways", it was beneficial for the episode and allowed for many jokes to be played out. Furthermore, Stiernberg applauded the subtle drama that ran throughout the entry, writing Darryl, Erin, and Pete's interactions with Andy were important to the overall storyline.[8] Mark Trammell of TV Equals named it "the best episode of the final season of The Office to date" because it "played to the show's strengths". Furthermore, he complimented the character development of Nellie, writing that she "really started to grow on me this week" and that his favorite line was Darryl's "words of wisdom" to Jim: "It's not real until your wife is on board."[14] Michael Tedder of New York magazine gave the episode a positive review and noted that "It's been a while since The Office was this surprising and moving." He wrote that the main plot allowed for "overdue development" in regards to other characters and applauded the continued drama involving Pam and Jim; he called the last shot "quietly heartbreaking". He did, however, call it a "particularly overstuffed episode", and felt that Erin's subplot should have been moved to a different episode in the season.[15]

The conversation between John Krasinski (left) and Craig Robinson's (right) characters received critical praise.

E! Online called Pete "especially charming" after "Andy's Ancestry", and named him one of the "Best Things in Pop Culture".[16] Joseph Kratzer of WhatCulture! awarded the episode four out of five stars and said "The triumphant return of The Office continues with another enjoyable episode." He explained that the success of the first episodes of the ninth season "comes from a fluidity not seen in recent years, an organic component that helped make the series such a success in its second and third seasons". He argued it was not "the tightest plotted episode" but that it was "better than 90% of last season".[17] IGN writer Cindy White awarded the episode an 8.2, designating a "great" episode. She applauded the fact that "the show is returning to its roots" as well as the fact that the actors themselves "seem more invested" in the series. She also called the conversation between Darryl and Jim a "nice change of pace". She concluded that the plot allowed for a "good source of laughs in the smartly written" episode.[9]

Dan Forcella of TV Fanatic awarded the episode three and a half stars out of five and called it "another decent episode". He wrote that Pam and Nellie's bonding was the subplot that "worked best".[10] Nick Campbell of TV.com wrote that "the writers [are] trying to shove Andy Bernard in a Michael Scott-shaped hole." Furthermore, he called Nellie "the greatest square peg of them all."[18] Brett Harrison Davinger of the California Literary Review, despite enjoying the tension between Pam and Jim, felt that the main story never went anywhere. He called the main action of the episode "lifeless", but wrote that the entry as a whole set up the conclusion of the series. Davinger also applauded Darryl's sound byte call back.[6]

The episode's cold open attracted particular praise. Adams called it a "killer cold open".[13] Stierngerg referred to the sequence as "one of the funniest in a long time".[8] Kratzer called Steve's remark to Dwight about "not seeing race" one of his "favorite moments" from the episode.[17] Forcella called it "hilarious" and "one of the best openings we've seen in a long, long time."[10] Trammell called the prank "classic Office".[14]