Like most of The Office's eighth season, "Special Project" wasn't all that hilarious. Unlike most of The Office's eighth season, though, it showed some purpose, which kept things interesting.

Said purpose begins and ends with the titular project and what it did to focus Dwight Kurt Schrute. The beet farmer has been funny all year long, but it wasn't until he took the reins of this project, and got his team into the conference room, that things really started to fall into place.

It was just fun. It was fun watching Dwight finally managing. And not only managing, but managing a team that took him seriously as their leader. Even Jim, who didn't fail to mess with Dwight about showering together in Florida earlier in the episode, couldn't help but jump on board the Dwight train once the former Assistant to the Regional Manager started appreciating his team's ideas.

So now the group will be split, with Dwight and his minions enjoying the fun and the sun of Florida, while the rest of the crew stays in chilly Scranton, Pennsylvania. Seriously, though, with Dwight, Jim, Stanley, Erin and Ryan away from the office, I can foresee a problem.

How are the scenes not dealing with the special project going to be any good at all? Is Kevin going to have to steal the show week in and week out to make it watchable?

The future can wait. For now, there was just a lot to enjoy about "Special Project." Like I said earlier, none of it was really laugh-out-loud funny, but most of it made you smile.

Between all of Nate's reactions to Darryl's gift, Jim and Pam suffering through the text message response to Robert California, Stanley's white jacket, pink shirt and fedora, and Dwight's original plan to scare off his team by screaming like a drill sergeant, releasing mosquitoes into the conference room, and showing Erin a picture of an old man, The Office was a lot more charming overall in comparison to the past few weeks.

What did you think of the half hour? Is it a good idea to split up the group? Who would you want on your team in Florida? And is Pam's replacement going to succeed at replacing Pam again... this time as Jim's lover?

Before sounding off in the comments, check out some of the best lines from the episode below, and then head to our The Office quotes page for all the best quotes from the show.

Nate: Oh Darryl. I'm glad to be in your life too. Your card is more beautiful than the gloves. | permalink

Dwight: Have you ever tried to use a chain with three weak links? I have, and now I no longer own an arctic wolf. | permalink

Kevin: I do deserve a vacation. Sometimes Batman's gotta take off his cape. | permalink

Jim (to Dwight): Do you shower at night? Or do you shower in the morning? 'Cause I wanna shower when you're showering...save some water. | permalink

Dan Forcella is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.