Thank you, Michael.

She was the one.

Three years of will-they-won't-they that nobody saw coming. Holly Flax arrived in May 2008 to replace Toby. By March 2011, she was the reason Michael left Scranton forever. He proposed inside the office, in the annex by the kitchen, with every colleague holding a candle along a path on the floor. The sprinklers triggered from the heat and soaked everyone. She said yes anyway. A month later he flew to Colorado with her.

"Holly is sweet and simple, like a lady baker."Michael · Goodbye, Toby · S04E18

Assistant (to the) Regional Manager.

Dwight idolized Michael with the unblinking love of a man who had no other friends. They shared more lines of dialogue together than any other pair on the show. On Michael's last day, Dwight read aloud the recommendation letter Michael had written him. He started enthusiastically ("To whom it may concern. Good, real personal. Thanks Michael"), then trailed off into silence as the words landed. He never finished the sentence on camera.

"Through concentration, I can raise and lower my cholesterol at will."Dwight · Health Care · S01E03

She believed in him first.

Pam Beesly worked across the reception desk from Michael Scott for seven years. He came to her art show alone, in his suit, after work, and bought one of her watercolors. After weeks of Charles Miner undermining him at every turn, Michael drove to New York and quit on the spot. Pam was the only person who quit with him to join the Michael Scott Paper Company. The MSPC office was a 165-square-foot storage closet in the same building, directly below Dunder Mifflin's Suite 200. You could hear the toilets flush from the floor above. When Michael flew to Colorado, Pam was the one who caught him at the airport.

"You're in the right building, you're with the right people."Pam · Two Weeks · S05E21

The reluctant mentorship.

Jim Halpert spent six and a half seasons rolling his eyes at Michael Scott. Then in Season 6, episode 2, David Wallace promoted Jim to co-manager alongside Michael, without warning. Michael had to share the title. Over the rest of the season, Jim realized that the man he had been making fun of for years had taught him almost everything he knew about being a boss. They shared 15,673 lines of proximity in the corpus. Second only to Dwight.

"There's a 30% chance it's already raining."Jim · Diversity Day · S01E02

Toxic. Chaotic. Iconic.

Jan Levinson was Michael's boss for four years and his girlfriend for two. After corporate fired her at the end of Season 3, she moved into his condo and renovated it around him, pushing his bedroom into a small corner. She started a candle business out of his guest room and Michael invested in it heavily. She conceived a baby via sperm donor while still living with him and named her Astrid. The dinner party (S04E13) rates 9.3 on IMDb, the highest of any episode in the entire season. People rewatch it the way people rewatch a horror film.

"AND I'M A CANDLE MAKER, BUT YOU DON'T HEAR ME BRAGGING ABOUT IT!"Jan · Dinner Party · S04E13

"Why are you the way that you are?"

For seven seasons, Michael Scott hated Toby Flenderson. For no real reason. Toby was the HR rep. Michael called him a "registered sex offender" to corporate. Threw him a "Goodbye, Toby" party. Said the words "Why are you the way that you are" to his face in Casino Night. Once. In the entire show. We have quoted them ever since.

"Why are you the way that you are? Honestly, every time I try to do something fun or exciting, you make it not that way."Michael · Casino Night · S02E22

He started his own company.

After David Wallace went back on a promised raise and Charles Miner pushed him out, Michael quit. He started the Michael Scott Paper Company in a 165-square-foot broom closet directly beneath Dunder Mifflin's Suite 200. Pam joined him. Ryan joined him. He undercut Dunder Mifflin on every Scranton account and forced David Wallace to buy him back at a premium. The whole arc ran four episodes. He won.

"Hey! I have assembled what I think to be a very impressive team."Michael · Dream Team · S05E22

He closed the biggest sale of his career at Chili's.

Jan drove down to Scranton for a meeting with the Lackawanna County purchasing officer, who controlled the entire county's paper contract. Michael moved the meeting to Chili's. Jan was furious. Michael ordered an Awesome Blossom for the table and they all picked at it while he bought round after round of Mai Tais. He never pitched. He just talked about growing up on Kenneth Road in Lackawanna County. After three hours, the buyer signed. It was the largest single sale in Dunder Mifflin Scranton's history. Jan kissed him in the parking lot. Her car stayed in the office lot overnight, and that is how the office figured out they had slept together.

"Kenneth Road, born and raised. Spent my whole life right here in Lackawanna County and I do not intend on movin'."Michael · The Client · S02E07

The day Dunder Mifflin almost went bankrupt.

In Season 6, the company is on the verge of bankruptcy. Everyone is panicking. Michael Scott organizes a murder-mystery party called "Belles, Bourbon and Bullets" to distract the office. He plays Caleb Crawdad. He uses a southern accent. He saves morale for a single afternoon. Nobody is fooled. Everyone plays along anyway.

"Belles, Bourbon and Bullets, a murder mystery dinner party game."Meredith · Murder · S06E10

He told Jim "never give up" about Pam.

On a corporate cruise around Lake Wallenpaupack, drunk, in February, Jim confessed to Michael that he was in love with an engaged woman. Michael, who was supposed to be the worst boss in television, looked at Jim, paused, and gave him the most useful piece of advice anyone had ever given him. Don't give up. Don't ever, ever, ever give up. Jim didn't. Four seasons later, they got married. Without that thirty seconds on the deck of the Princess, no Jim and Pam.

"Never, ever, ever give up."Michael · Booze Cruise · S02E11

He wrote, directed, and starred in his own movie.

For eleven years, Michael Scott worked on a screenplay titled Threat Level Midnight. He wrote it. He cast every coworker in it. He filmed it on weekends across multiple seasons. He played the lead, Michael Scarn, a retired secret agent forced back into action after Goldenface threatens to blow up the NHL All-Star Game. In Season 7, he held a premiere in the conference room. Everyone clapped. The episode rates 9.3 on IMDb. The movie itself was eventually released in full on YouTube by NBC. Sixteen million views and counting.

"Sometimes I'll start a sentence, and I don't even know where it's going. I just hope I find it along the way."Michael · The Duel · S05E12

He went to Pam's art show.

Pam Beesly had her first art show in Season 3. Her parents didn't come. Most of the office didn't come. Roy came late with his brother, looked around for two minutes, said "Your art was the prettiest art of all art," and left. Michael Scott came alone, in his suit, after work. He looked at every single piece. He told her, "My God, these could be tracings. You nailed it." He asked how much. He bought her watercolor of the Dunder Mifflin building and hung it in the office.

"How much?"Michael · Business School · S03E17

He hosted the Dundies every year.

Every year, Michael Scott rented out the Chili's on Routes 6 and 11, wrote a fresh batch of awards, and hosted an evening-length variety show for his employees called the Dundies. Most of them didn't want to be there. He gave Kevin "Smelliest Bowel Movement." He gave Stanley "Fine Work." He made Pam laugh so hard one year she fell out of her chair. The Dundies were always about him, and they were also always about them.

"I made Pam laugh so hard that she fell out of her chair, and she almost broke her neck. So I killed, almost."Michael · The Dundies · S02E01

He pushed Phyllis's father down the aisle.

Phyllis's father was in a wheelchair and unable to walk her down the aisle. She asked Michael, who had been her high school classmate, to push the wheelchair down the aisle so her father could still give her away. Michael took the assignment too seriously. Her father stood up and walked the last few steps under his own power, and Michael was peeved at being upstaged. Michael then hijacked the toast and made it about himself. And somewhere underneath all of it, he was honored to be asked.

"She has asked me to push her father's wheelchair down the aisle. So, basically, I am co-giving away the bride."Michael · Phyllis's Wedding · S03E16

He organized his own roast.

After Stanley's heart attack, Michael learned the office found him stressful. His response was to invite every employee into the warehouse and let them roast him to his face. Andy sang a song called "What I Hate About You." Pam compared his penis to an iPod Shuffle. Oscar made a joke about him being slow. Michael took it. Then he stood up, returned the fire, and hit every single one of them with a perfectly aimed one-liner ending in "Boom! Roasted." He left a winner.

"Boom! Roasted."Michael · Stress Relief · S05E15

He was at the hospital when Pam had the baby.

Pam and Jim had Cece. The whole office crowded into the hospital. Michael arrived early and immediately told the nurses he was the father. He stayed for hours just to hold the baby for a few seconds. For all his chaos, he loved them like family.

"Erin, call an ambulance, please!"Michael · The Delivery · S06E17

He went into the woods alone.

Toby got invited on Ryan's corporate camping trip. Michael wasn't. Michael responded by making Dwight blindfold him and drive him deep into the Pennsylvania wilderness so he could "survive" alone. He cut his slacks into cargo shorts. He was hungry after three hours. He found a patch of wild mushrooms and was about to eat them when Dwight came running back through the trees screaming "STOP! NO! NO MICHAEL!" and dragged him home. He was back at the office the same day.

"Stop! No, no Michael! Nooo! Get, get them out."Dwight, saving Michael · Survivor Man · S04E11

He came back for Dwight's wedding.

Two years after he left for Colorado with Holly, Michael came back to Scranton for Dwight's wedding. He was Dwight's best man. He had two phones now, because he had so many pictures of his kids. Steve Carell only agreed to film the scene on the condition that his appearance was not released in the press in advance. Greg Daniels personally edited it. It is the only time Steve Carell appeared on the show after his departure, and we saw him only briefly.

"That's what she said."Michael · Finale · S09E23

He stood and looked.

After Erin asked him to stay one more hour, he stood at the door of his office and looked across the bullpen. The break room. The conference room. The reception desk where Pam Beesly was about to look up. The annex where Toby never figured out he was loved.

He said goodbye to each of them, one by one.

In private. Quietly. With a hug or a hand on the shoulder. He gave Andy his old chair. He gave Erin the manager's calendar. He gave Phyllis a glass paperweight. He gave Stanley nothing because Stanley wanted nothing. He gave Dwight a recommendation letter long enough to be its own document.

"Dear future manager. If you're reading this…"

Michael left a letter for whoever would replace him. He gave a copy to Dwight in private, in the parking lot. The letter is two pages long. Dwight reads it sitting on the curb after Michael leaves. The contents are never fully shown. We only know Dwight cried.

Pam caught him.

Michael took his microphone off as he reached the gate. He gave it to the documentary crew. He was about to walk through. Then Pam ran up. They hugged twice. They exchanged words the audience never hears because Michael is no longer wearing a microphone. Jenna Fischer revealed years later that she was speaking to Steve Carell, not to Michael Scott. She was telling him all the ways she would miss him.

"That was me talking to Steve. I told him all the ways I was going to miss him when he left our show. Those were real tears and a real goodbye."Jenna Fischer · Instagram · May 2018