and Pam return from their honeymoon in Puerto Rico and Michael tells Jim that he has been dating Pam's mother, Helene, after spending the night with her at their wedding in Niagara. Jim is shocked and tells Michael not to mention anything to Pam and to break it off with Helene immediately. However, when Jim and Pam give Michael a gift from Puerto Rico, Michael asks if Pam thinks he should date who he wants. He then lets it slip he is dating Helene, and Pam storms out of the office and into the parking lot, screaming all the way down. She calls her mother and angrily asks her why she started dating him after she continuously complained to her about Michael's behavior over the past several years. During a conference room meeting about an overseas crisis involving a D-M plant, Pam maintains a hostile attitude toward Michael and openly defies him in response to the news. Michael then gets a call from Helene, who wants him to tell Pam to calm down. Pam then announces that he has been dating Helene to the rest of the office. Everyone is initially disgusted by this, but Michael appeals to them with his human need for companionship, and they agree that Pam is overreacting. In response, Pam becomes hostile towards the rest of the office. Michael complains to Toby about Pam's behavior, but when Toby tries to coax Pam into discussing the issue, she becomes angry with Toby as well. Pam brings Michael into the kitchen and orders him to stop dating Helene, and Michael responds by saying he will date her "even harder". At the end of the day, Michael feels bad and says goodnight to Pam, without response. Meanwhile, Dwight apologizes to Jim for their feuds, and offers him a token of his desire for peace with a wooden mallard, actually a concealed recording device which he means to use to gather damaging information about Jim. Jim quickly finds the device and starts using it to prank Dwight. He brings Andy into his office and plays "M'Appari" from the opera Martha loudly while he talks to Andy so Dwight will not hear their conversation, while using gestures to make it clear that they are discussing Dwight. He then gives the mallard to Ryan and Kelly in the annex, meaning Dwight can hear the couple's bickering, and is forced to pay $10 to get it back. Jim finally summons Dwight to his office and tells him he knew about the recording device all along. Dwight admits to being jealous of Jim's promotion. Jim tells Dwight to wash his car as punishment. Jim then brings Pam into the conference room and cheers her up by saying Dwight is washing their car out of sympathy for what she has been through and recounting stories from their honeymoon. At the end of the episode, Dwight reveals that that recording device underneath the mallard was a decoy, and his primary recording device was installed on the tip of a pen that he claimed Jim left on his desk earlier, along with the mallard.
Reception
This episode was watched by 8.5 million viewers, with a 4.2 rating and an 11 share in the 18–49 demographic.
