July 2, 2024
EP. 211 — Moving On, Pt 2
This week we’re breaking down “Moving On, Pt 2”. Andy brings in the exes of Erin and Pete to work at the office and this includes the one and only Gabe Lewis (Zach Woods). Pam breaks it to Jim that she’s not excited about moving her life to Philadelphia and Dwight pours his heart to Angela Martin. Angela reads from her journal, Jenna breaks down the dinner scene between Jim and Pam, and we hear from Oscar Nuñez, Rainn Wilson and Creed Bratton! This is a fun episode that can be enjoyed with or without skunk stew.
Link to Creed’s new song “Corner of the Universe”: https://onerpm.link/corneroftheuniverse
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Transcript
Jenna [00:00:04] I’m Jenna Fischer.
Angela [00:00:05] And I’m Angela Kinsey.
Jenna [00:00:06] We were on The Office together.
Angela [00:00:08] And we’re best friends.
Jenna [00:00:08] And now we’re doing the ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you.
Angela [00:00:12] Each week, we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind the scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you.
Jenna [00:00:19] We’re the Office Ladies. Hi!
Angela [00:00:24] Hello, miss. How are you?
Jenna [00:00:26] I’m good!
Angela [00:00:28] I’m good too.
Jenna [00:00:30] I didn’t sleep great last night, but I have a weird amount of energy.
Angela [00:00:34] I think we’re in the loopy zone because I have the same thing.
Jenna [00:00:37] All right, well, today we’re going to be talking about Moving On, Part Two. It is season nine, episode 17, written by Graham Wagner and directed by Jon Favreau. Here is your summary: Andy retaliates against Erin and Pete by summoning their access to the office under false pretenses. Toby is going to finally confront the convicted Scranton Strangler. He wants to tell him I think you’re innocent. Pam makes a decision about her future in Philly, and Dwight and Angela have a special moment of connection while caring for Aunt Shirley. And now I have some news that I could not be more excited to share.
Angela [00:01:18] I’m telling you, if you filled it up too much is going to disappoint.
Jenna [00:01:25] Everybody, Angela is doing our top of show today.
Angela [00:01:28] Yes, because last week we talked all about Moving On Part One. We did our fast facts.
Jenna [00:01:33] We did.
Angela [00:01:34] We did some of our call sheet tidbits. So Jenna was like, Ange, you want to you want to have a go at top of show? And you guys… Okay.
Jenna [00:01:43] I think it’s going to be a really fun, fresh energy for you to do top of show.
Angela [00:01:46] Okay, well, I have a surprise for you.
Jenna [00:01:49] What is it?
Angela [00:01:49] I will lead with this. I have two surprises. First of all, did you know that there was a card on the writers room wall- remember their wall of ideas? That said ski trip?
Jenna [00:02:01] No, I did not.
Angela [00:02:03] Yes there was. I did confer with Warren about this. And, you know, Jenna, we have been so fortunate from our writers assistants to get all of the scripts. I did find a pitch for Ski Trip.
Jenna [00:02:18] You did not.
Angela [00:02:19] I did. Apparently, Andy can’t stand being inside all day and announces he wants to go on a staff ski trip at the end of the week. Dwight thinks it’s a waste of time. Andy says that they have enough discretionary funds for ski lift passes. There’s a deal online and the whole bullpen is very excited about it. And apparently Angela used to be a competitive skier. Question mark. And then the other thing in the outline said simply this: Kevin in a ski school class.
Jenna [00:02:54] Oh, so Kevin’s going to take ski school during this episode?
Angela [00:02:57] Possibly. There were so many ideas pitched off of this one card that just said ski trip. It just cracked me up thinking about the possibilities if our show ever really traveled anywhere.
Jenna [00:03:08] I think they should not put us all on skis. I mean, how many of us even know how to ski? I didn’t know how to ski then.
Angela [00:03:17] I mean, also look at what happened on Work Bus.
Jenna [00:03:20] Exactly.
Angela [00:03:21] What, you’re gonna put us on a mountain? No way. Anyway, it got me so tickled. And then surprise number two is this ski storyline made me think of how I only journal when I travel. And guess what?
Jenna [00:03:35] What?
Angela [00:03:36] I’m going to read you some travel journal entries from my journal from 2004, and it includes a ski trip.
Jenna [00:03:45] Oh my gosh, you need to do top of show more often.
Angela [00:03:49] I don’t know about that.
Jenna [00:03:50] This is what I’m saying. These are delicious, delicious, delicious nuggets.
Angela [00:03:55] Okay, I’m getting my journal. Look at all my post-it notes. Look at them where I’ve marked these entries. Okay. Here goes. I apologize in advance. October 19th, 2004, 4:10 p.m. Tuesday.
Jenna [00:04:13] I love how you put the time.
Angela [00:04:14] I know. This journal entry is from the set of The Office. I’m in the background of a scene. This is our last-
Jenna [00:04:22] By the way. I want to say, that’s not you setting up this journal. That’s what you wrote.
Angela [00:04:25] Yes.
Jenna [00:04:25] Right? This journal entry. Oh…
Angela [00:04:28] This journal entry is from the set of The Office. I’m in the background of a scene. This is our last week of work. At least for now. I so -underline- hope we get picked up. Lord, please let us get picked up. NBC was maybe going to pay for an extra episode and we were going to shoot it next week, but they decided not to at the last minute. We’re all pretty bummed. I’m sad, but at the same time I’m happy because I’m going to go see my mom and dad in Texas. Oh, Oscar, just drew a post-it note. And then I added on to it. Here it is.
Jenna [00:05:00] And then you put the post-it in your journal.
Angela [00:05:03] I did. It’s like me if I was a monkey dressed as Angela Martin. And then I added the monkey pooping. And then Oscar wrote, Touche. Well played.
Jenna [00:05:13] Was that season 1? 2004?
Angela [00:05:16] Yes.
Jenna [00:05:16] Oh my gosh.
Angela [00:05:17] Okay, now is my trip.
Jenna [00:05:20] Okay.
Angela [00:05:21] Next entry. October 25th, 2004 Monday, 1:15 p.m.. On American Airlines headed to Dallas, then on to Wichita Falls. It is an international plane, so I have my own TV with ten channels of stuff to watch; five movie channels, and then ESPN News Channel, Cartoon Network and the BBC.
Jenna [00:05:48] Oh boy.
Angela [00:05:48] Just bought headsets. $2, but worth it. No movie’s on yet, so I’m listening to classical music. Very soothing. Boeing 777.
Jenna [00:05:59] These are. What are these details? What is this?
[00:06:03] Who do I become when I travel? This is so ridiculous.
Jenna [00:06:06] You start just describing, like your literal surroundings.
Angela [00:06:10] Okay. Ready?
Jenna [00:06:10] Yes.
Angela [00:06:12] Watched Chronicles of Riddick. Little stupid, but okay, I guess for an in-flight movie. So I think I’m going to miss my connecting flight to Wichita Falls. We’ll see. It’s going to be super tight. And then I say we land at 6 p.m. and my flight leaves at 6:49 p.m. I get in at gate 821 and have to go all the way to A2. Ugh.
Jenna [00:06:35] Did you write that?
Angela [00:06:38] UGH. And then my next entry says, Midnight in Archer City, Texas. I’m in the guest room. Unbelievable I made my connecting flight, and so did my luggage. Amazing, really.
Jenna [00:06:48] Here’s what I want everybody out there to know, is that that journal entry that you just read, could very easily be an audio memo that you left me. Like, those are the details that I get. I get the nitty gritty. You would in your audio memo to me, you would probably list out all of the different channels that are available.
Angela [00:07:09] But then now I’m in Texas, right? And I wrote, We surprised grandmother with a new stove, and she showed us the 250 foot Sprint cell tower that they built behind her house. She’s oddly and sweetly very proud of it. She took a ton of pictures of it. I’m frightened by it. Oh my God. And now the last one is the ski story. Ready? January 1st. Salt Lake City to San Francisco to LAX. Ahhhhhh!
Jenna [00:07:40] Oh my gosh. Why? Why were you so upset about this? So many connections.
Angela [00:07:43] So many connections. Very tired. I have a crick in my neck and I’m so ready for my bed. I miss my home. And of course, Lucy and Otter, my cats. The cabin was very cozy. We got in at midnight on the 28th and it was snowing. And it didn’t stop the whole time we were there. It was literally a snowstorm. It even made the national news.
Jenna [00:08:04] Okay.
Angela [00:08:05] I took a snowboarding class on the worst day of the storm. Typical! Frowny face.
Jenna [00:08:11] Aw. Just your luck.
Angela [00:08:14] Whomp whomp. It was a blizzard out there. I quit half an hour. I quit with half an hour left. Everyone else met me in the cafe at 12:30 p.m.. I was on my second cup of Earl gray. No regrets. I was miserably cold and you couldn’t see three feet down the mountain for the gusts of wind and snow, and it just burned through me. I didn’t dress warm enough. Ick. Now I’m in the window seat of a three seat row flying home. The flight is pretty packed and the guy in front of me has his seat back, and I seriously feel trapped. Of course, everyone else has put their seat up because we are landing, but not this jackoff in front of me. I wonder why I keep a journal. I mean, I only write in it when we travel. It’s almost just a way for me to kill time on a plane, I guess.
Jenna [00:09:12] Oh, I think, yes, I think yes.
Angela [00:09:15] Here are things I’d like to do. Semicolon. Write a book or screenplay. Edit my pilot presentation for the show I’m writing about my hometown in Texas. Do another one woman show. Learn to cook. Learn to speak Spanish more fluently. Work on my tennis game.
Jenna [00:09:30] I like this like all of a sudden you turn your journal into like a journal, like processing and goal making.
Angela [00:09:37] Last entry.
Jenna [00:09:37] Not that your other journal wasn’t awesome.
Angela [00:09:40] The lady next to the guy who won’t pull his seat up is now telling him a story about her New Year’s Eve in London. Apparently there was a mob scene. Very festive and scary. Things I’d like to do, continued. Just go straight into it. Get in shape. Seriously though, I say that all the time. Oh my god, she’s still talking to him about London! Hahaha. Oh my god, she’s still talking. Gotta run. Although writing in this is protecting me from chatty Patty.
Jenna [00:10:07] Wow.
Angela [00:10:08] There you go.
Jenna [00:10:08] I loved it and I want to say something. Those things that you wrote down in your journal, almost all of them have manifested now. I mean, I know it’s been a long passage of time, but it’s- I feel like the only one is you never did another one woman show.
Angela [00:10:23] No. And that’s okay with me. Yeah.
Jenna [00:10:27] Yeah. But wow.
Angela [00:10:28] I mean, just goes to show you guys just hang in there for 40 years and the list you make you on an airplane… All right. I have no idea if that was interesting to you all, but there’s my top of show inspired by a card on the writer’s room wall.
Jenna [00:10:42] I beyond loved it. Everyone, please vote if you would like Angela to do more top of show.
Angela [00:10:47] No! Please don’t. Please don’t.
Jenna [00:10:50] All right, we’re going to take a break and we will be back to finish breaking down Moving On, Part Two. This episode is going to officially open with Dwight and Angela bathing Aunt Shirley.
Angela [00:11:13] Quote bathing in quotes.
Jenna [00:11:15] Yeah, I mean, Dwight shows Angela the bathing area, and it’s basically Aunt Shirley sitting in a chair, and Angela has a giant fire hose, and she ends up spraying Dwight with it. We had a fan question from Ludovica F from Zurich who said, When Angela hoses down Dwight, we see Rainn reaching down to protect his jewels. Did that hurt him? Can you tell us all about this scene and how many takes it took to do this? Angela?
Angela [00:11:45] Ludovica, thank you so much for that question because I have lots of stuff to share. First of all, we had a hose rehearsal earlier in the week.
Jenna [00:11:54] Yes, Steve Burgess told me you did that. That you did the rehearsal on Monday. You shot this on Thursday. I wasn’t clear if you were also at the hose rehearsal.
Angela [00:12:03] Yes, I was, because I had to hold the hose.
Jenna [00:12:05] Okay.
Angela [00:12:06] So they had these fellas that were showing me how to use it, and I was told that the hose was set to a much lower pressure than it would normally be on, because if it was turned all the way on, it would probably lift me off the ground.
Jenna [00:12:19] Oh my gosh.
Angela [00:12:21] They also told me that I really had to try to make sure not to aim at Rainn’s face. Because even at a lower setting, this water hose to the eyeball could result in a corneal abrasion or an eye contusion.
Jenna [00:12:34] Oh my gosh. So you’re you aim low, aim low.
Angela [00:12:37] Aim low. They told me aim low. They gave me like a area on Rainn’s body. It was basically like ribcage to knees to try to aim for. And it was a good thing he wore glasses. They thought that was helpful.
Jenna [00:12:53] I have a question. Was Rainn at the rehearsal or just you?
Angela [00:12:56] Rainn was at the rehearsal too, because I had to kind of practice a little bit.
Jenna [00:13:00] Okay.
Angela [00:13:01] And even at the lower pressure, it was a lot to handle. You sort of see me struggling with it. That’s a little bit of acting, but a little bit not. Like I, I didn’t have really great aim with it. So, I was glad Rainn was tall and I had a bigger target. Oh, Creed just tried to call me. I have a missed call from Creed.
Jenna [00:13:20] Oh, Creed has his new album out.
Angela [00:13:22] Oh, yes he does!
Jenna [00:13:23] Oh, my gosh.
Angela [00:13:24] And he’s going on tour. Should I call and ask what he wanted?
Jenna [00:13:27] Sure.
Angela [00:13:27] Okay.
Creed Bratton [00:13:32] Hello, Pumpkin.
Angela [00:13:33] Hey, Creedo. I’m here with Jenna. We were doing our podcast when you called.
Creed Bratton [00:13:38] Oh, you’re on the show right now or you stopped it?
Jenna [00:13:39] No, no. You’re on!
Angela [00:13:41] You’re on! We’re excited about your new album. You’re hitting the road, aren’t you?
Creed Bratton [00:13:50] I’m going to Europe in October, but the album comes out September 27th.
Angela [00:13:58] Oh, fun.
Creed Bratton [00:13:59] Shameless promotion, Ladies. Thank you so much.
Angela [00:14:01] There you go. Well, I miss you. Were you just calling to say hey?
Creed Bratton [00:14:06] Yeah, I was, I was calling to say hey. I actually was going to ask you what season you’re on. I was just curious.
Angela [00:14:11] Oh, we’re on season nine, Creed.
Creed Bratton [00:14:14] Oh, my God, you’re getting close to the finale.
Jenna [00:14:17] We are.
Angela [00:14:18] We are. You’ll have to come on. I want everyone to come on for the finale.
Jenna [00:14:21] Me too.
Creed Bratton [00:14:22] I should come on and actually bring my guitar and hit all the bases.
Angela [00:14:26] Come on. Creed, I would love that. We would love it.
Creed Bratton [00:14:32] Not a dry eye in the house.
Angela [00:14:32] Nope.
Creed Bratton [00:14:34] It was so good to see you on the AT&T thing. That was. It had been so long.
Jenna [00:14:39] I know! We got to work together again. It was so amazing!
Angela [00:14:42] How cute is that? Well, I missed you so much. We need to go for our neighborhood walk.
Creed Bratton [00:14:47] We need to do that. Let- call me later.
Angela [00:14:50] And now, Creed, tell us when you’re single comes out.
Creed Bratton [00:14:53] June 24th, Corner of the Universe. I wrote it with Vance Degeneres. You know, who used to run Steve’s company.
Angela [00:15:01] That is amazing.
Jenna [00:15:02] Creed, this is crazy. You’re calling today. We’re recording this episode, and it’s, like, perfect timing. Your single is out right now!
Angela [00:15:11] When this airs!
Creed Bratton [00:15:12] The single will be out when this airs. Yes.
Angela [00:15:14] Yes! Everyone check out Creed’s new single. Creed, tell us the name of it again.
Creed Bratton [00:15:19] Corner of the Universe.
Angela [00:15:21] Corner of the Universe. I can’t wait to hear it.
Jenna [00:15:23] We’re going to play a little of it at the end of this episode.
Angela [00:15:26] And then, Creed, we’ll put little swipe ups and stuff so folks can find it. And I’m so glad you called. I miss you.
Creed Bratton [00:15:32] Oh my now that’s perfect. Well, my ears were burning. I just got back from having a gluten free muffin. And all of a sudden, I was going, call Angela and Jen. I really I just picked up the phone and said, well, all right. My voice says, call them, I will. There you go. That’s how it works.
Jenna [00:15:46] We love you Creed.
Angela [00:15:47] Love you Creed. I’ll see you soon in the neighborhood.
Creed Bratton [00:15:50] All right. Bye! Bye bye, girls. Thank you so much.
Angela [00:15:52] Yeah. Bye.
Jenna [00:15:54] That’s crazy.
Angela [00:15:55] That is crazy.
Jenna [00:15:57] Like that is just serendipity right there. You know what that is? That’s that thing that you talked about that we have as a cast. That like group mind.
Angela [00:16:05] The group mind.
Jenna [00:16:06] We are connected as- we just really are connected.
Angela [00:16:08] We are. You know, it’s I just I’m so thankful for it. I feel like I hear from someone in the cast or from you just at that moment when I needed it. And I just love that Creed called. I had my ringer off. I wouldn’t have seen it, but I had just picked up my phone to play Rainn’s audio clip and saw that Creed had called.
Jenna [00:16:27] Well, you know, when we did the commercial together, he said he had his new album coming out and I said, Will you call us and let us know when that single drops? Because we want to talk about it on Office Ladies. And then he just called like…
Angela [00:16:40] While we’re recording.
Jenna [00:16:41] I just can’t get over it. The universe is a beautiful place.
Angela [00:16:45] Okay, well, now where was I?
Jenna [00:16:47] You were about to play the Rainn audio clip.
Angela [00:16:49] I was about to play a Rainn audio clip. So yesterday I texted Rainn and I said, hey, tall fella, random question for you. Did it hurt you when I sprayed you with that fire hose in Moving On? A few people noted I hit your crotch. I mean, it was a fire hose. I’m so sorry. And then I filmed the scene, and I sent him the scene, and I told him, I said, I did remember they told me not to spray your face. And here is Rainn’s response.
Rainn Wilson [00:17:17] Hey, Angela. Thank you for sending that. Oh, my God, I that is one of the scenes I had completely forgotten that we had shot. And I forgot that that had existed. And I was just laughing so hard watching it cuz now I remember filming it. It didn’t hurt at all. I don’t know, I maybe that giant plastic apron I had on, it didn’t hurt my crotch or anything, but I imagine if you had blasted me in the face… That’s what she said- that it would have hurt a great deal. But, I remember that being very super fun and and, and funny now, and thank you for the little reminder. But I have no other memories other than it was fun and we were near the end of our show. Crazy.
Jenna [00:18:15] All right.
Angela [00:18:16] Well, there you have it. It did not hurt him. I did, by accident, get the side of his ear one time. I do remember that. And I remember him after the next take saying, don’t get my ear. And I was like, I didn’t mean to get your ear. But the other thing I want to tell you is that several crew members came up to me and said that was the best part of their day.
Jenna [00:18:40] Was watching you hose Rainn?
Angela [00:18:42] Yes.
Jenna [00:18:44] Well, Steve Burgess said that he doesn’t remember how many takes you had to do, but it was more than one.
Angela [00:18:49] Oh, it was. Yeah.
Jenna [00:18:51] He also said that all of that Shirley’s house for this episode was at the Warner Brothers Ranch, which you shared last week. But he said this barn where you did the hosing was the barn from The Waltons.
Angela [00:19:05] Yes. The Warner Brothers Ranch is huge. So where we filmed the house, which was near the Friends fountain, you know, we talked about that last week, was a totally different part of this ranch. And the barn is, like, kind of back where they had more of the old West stuff.
Jenna [00:19:20] Okay.
Angela [00:19:21] And I do want you guys to know, of course, Rainn told me to go for it because I was like, I don’t know. I’m scared. He was like, just hose me. I was like, okay. And this scene was longer in the shooting draft, and we did shoot it. It had one extra beat after I yell at them and say, do you have a bathtub? And Dwight’s like, yes. And then I’m like, good. It would have continued one more beat. In the shooting draft it read like this: Angela drops the hose and marches inside. Aunt Shirley says to Dwight, feisty one. And Dwight, titillated, says, yes she is.
Jenna [00:19:59] Well, that leads me into this fan question from Joann M from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who said, I love the side of Angela that we get to see in these episodes. She might be intolerant and bitchy, but she is a strong woman. She does not put up with crap, and I want to know how Angela felt about this new side of her character being highlighted. She’s awesome in this one.
Angela [00:20:23] Oh, Joanne. Thank you. I just had so much fun. You know, we’d all been playing these characters for a long time, and whenever we got to show a new side of them or a new layer, it was like the first day all over again, that kind of excitement. So I was so tickled.
Jenna [00:20:41] I don’t know. I liked her so much in this.
Angela [00:20:43] Yeah, I did too. I did too.
Jenna [00:20:46] So next up, Toby’s at the watercooler and he is still talking to Nellie, rehashing details of the Scranton Strangler case.
Angela [00:20:53] Yeah, he’s kind of trying to flirt with her. And if I had a Dundee for Toby, it would be called, worst pickup line goes too Toby Flenderson! You have to hear this.
Toby [00:21:07] Hey, Nellie. I am so sick of February. It’s the shortest month, but it sure doesn’t feel that way. We should catch up.
Jenna [00:21:21] Wow.
Angela [00:21:22] Why? He takes a sip of water, then goes, mmm. Like, really? What is happening? Oh, man. February, huh? Like what?
Jenna [00:21:34] Well, this storyline of Toby still investigating the Scranton Strangler case was originally shot for Couple’s Discount. We had cut this whole Toby runner from Couples Discount, and we had to put it in this episode to help make it an hour long. And Dave Rogers told us that this fit perfectly. There was one thing that we had to shoot. We had to do a little pick up, because Toby originally started this conversation with Nellie by asking if she wanted to go to the nail salon with him. But obviously that wouldn’t work here, so they shot your fancy pick up line instead, Angela. And Dave said, you can tell if you look really closely, you can see that in the reshoot footage, Toby’s hair is a little shorter because he had gotten a haircut between these two episodes. And when I looked at it, I think it switched to the old footage at three minutes and four seconds.
Angela [00:22:28] Okay.
Jenna [00:22:28] You can tell just by his hair. Otherwise it is completely seamless. And by the way, I wouldn’t even thought- I wouldn’t have thought anything if Dave hadn’t told me.
Angela [00:22:36] Pete is now going to go into Andy’s office to try to encourage him to move on. Pete. Pete, Pete, Pete, what are you thinking?
Jenna [00:22:44] Yeah.
Angela [00:22:44] What are you thinking? He’s like, hey, you got a sec to talk? And Andy says, kind of painful to chat with you, Pete. Ever since the old one two punch to my scrotum pole- translation: penis- translation: my manhood.
Jenna [00:22:57] Yeah.
Angela [00:22:58] This is the moment I’m like, Pete, if someone says that to you, just do a 180 and walk out.
Jenna [00:23:04] Bail.
Angela [00:23:05] If they bring up their scrotum pole I’m out.
Jenna [00:23:08] Yeah. Well instead Pete’s going to double down and he’s going to try to share a story about his own past breakup with his ex-girlfriend Alice. And he’s going to say, listen, it was hard at first, but now we’re Facebook friends, and I think maybe we could all be friends, you know, if you could, you know, kind of get over it.
Angela [00:23:27] Just get over it. And Erin comes in and it’s like, listen, he’s trying to tell you something here.
Jenna [00:23:31] Yeah.
Angela [00:23:32] Oh, Andy is not having it. He has a talking head where he says, if life gives you lemons, you just got to eat them, rinds and all. And if you don’t want to eat them, your ex-girlfriend will shove them down your throat with the help of her hunky new boyfriend.
Jenna [00:23:44] Ange, we got a fan question, aka a hot take.
Angela [00:23:48] Is this from Jenna in Los Angeles?
Jenna [00:23:50] It’s not. It’s from Riawna B, and we got a lot of mail like this for this episode, so I thought we should discuss, Riawna said, did you both find this really frustrating to watch? Andy is so unhinged in these episodes. The fact that he was a terrible partner to Erin, and it was his own behavior that resulted in the breakup, but then he goes and takes it out on her and Pete. Unfortunately, as women were often made to feel responsible for our ex-partners behaviors, and I found it harder to watch than Scott’s Tots.
Angela [00:24:24] Wow. That’s a real level of cringe if it’s harder than Scott’s Tots.
Jenna [00:24:30] I know. So Riawna, I thought about this. I think I was so delighted by Ed Helms’ performance in this episode that I sort of enjoyed his unraveling.
Angela [00:24:42] Yeah. You know, I mean, I get what she’s saying. For sure. But I think for me, starting with Moving On Part One, when Andy’s trying to figure out, and it’s just plain as day, and he doesn’t know that Plop is Pete, and then all of those scenes and how it builds. I just was so tickled.
Jenna [00:25:01] Same. And I do hear what she’s saying, which I think is actually what we’re calling out in this episode, which is that here’s Andy, whose behavior resulted in this breakup, but now we’re taking care of Andy. Right? We’re having to deal with his spin out because he’s not able to sort of reflect and take responsibility for what got him there, which makes him a frustrating person.
Angela [00:25:26] Yeah. But it’s easier to spin out about other people’s (BLEEP) than really address your own.
Jenna [00:25:32] Always.
Angela [00:25:33] Always. Well, now we go back to Philly because Pam’s tour of the real estate office is continuing. Mark is showing her the front desk where she’ll be sitting.
Jenna [00:25:43] Yes. And Pam is like, what is it? Like, it’s clearly a receptionist desk. And she thought the job was office manager.
Angela [00:25:50] Yeah. And he says, yeah, you’d manage the office, maybe answer the phones, forward some calls, maybe go get coffee for people now and again. And Pam’s like, so kind of like a receptionist.
Jenna [00:26:02] Yeah. And he’s like, yeah, but we call you the office manager because, you know, it’s less demeaning. She’s like, great.
Angela [00:26:08] Calls it out. Then he’s like, by the way, how long are these cameras going to be around following you? Because I think it’s pretty cool. Pretty pretty cool. So. The pretty, pretty cool was an improv. When he brings up Larry David’s show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, do you like that show? All of that was improvised. The scene would have stopped at just one pretty cool.
Jenna [00:26:31] Interesting. Well, Pam’s going to have a talking head and she just says she was Michael’s receptionist for ten years and she has kids now and she can’t do it. She’s out.
Angela [00:26:44] She’s out. There are a few things left over from this real estate office I want to share.
Jenna [00:26:50] Okay.
Angela [00:26:51] One is, did you notice the phone number listed on Pam’s resume?
Jenna [00:26:55] No.
Angela [00:26:56] Should we call it?
Jenna [00:26:57] Is it real?
Angela [00:26:58] I don’t know.
Jenna [00:26:59] It’s not a 555?
Angela [00:27:01] No.
Jenna [00:27:02] All right, dial it. Don’t say what it is, but dial it.
Angela [00:27:04] I’m not. I’m not going to say what it is.
[00:27:06] Oh my gosh. What if someone answers?
[00:27:08] Oh my gosh.
[00:27:09] It is five five five. I can see it.
[00:27:10] It is not!
Jenna [00:27:11] Yes, it’s an area code and then five, five, five. No one has five, five, five.
Angela [00:27:15] Oh, I thought the five, five, five was the area code.
Jenna [00:27:17] No. It’s the first three numbers.
Angela [00:27:19] So nothing will happen?
Jenna [00:27:20] Well no, it’s not real. You’re doing it anyway? You don’t believe me?
Angela [00:27:28] Okay.
Operator [00:27:29] Your call cannot be completed at this time. Please try again later.
Jenna [00:27:32] Yeah. It’ll never be completed at any time.
Angela [00:27:35] Who knew? I didn’t know that.
[00:27:37] You didn’t know that?
[00:27:38] If you see a 555, it’s not a real number.
Jenna [00:27:40] No, that is for all of time.
Angela [00:27:42] For all of time? Who decided this?
Jenna [00:27:43] In movies and television, you do a five five five. And then here’s the thing. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this. In movies, sometimes instead of saying five, five, five because people have become wise- other people have become wise-
Angela [00:27:58] Not me, but everyone else knows for all of time, five, five, five is a baloney number.
Jenna [00:28:03] That’s right. So what they’ll do if like you see it written down in some movies, like I’m throwing this out there. I don’t know if it’s true, but like All the President’s Men, they’ll get like a hot tip, like a phone number they have to call, and it’ll say like JL- five and then the rest of the phone number, because J and L are fives. You know how sometimes people replace, you know where it’s like one 800 help.
Angela [00:28:26] Yeah.
Jenna [00:28:27] You know, like how businesses have numbers like 1-800 call help or something. I don’t know, that’s more numbers than you need, but you got it. So yeah, they’ll be like JL five, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. As a way to try to disguise it.
Angela [00:28:42] Well, okay. My other thing about the real estate office is we have talked about the fact that Greg Daniels loved the episode that Jon Favreau turned in so much he didn’t want to cut anything.
Jenna [00:28:54] And we had to even add stuff.
Angela [00:28:56] That’s right. Yeah. There were two talking heads, one by Mark, played by Bob, and then one by Michael Weston, who played sort of the Jim esque character. And they are on the deleted scenes and I thought you might want to hear them.
Jenna [00:29:10] Let’s listen.
Mark Franks [00:29:11] Yeah I’m in real estate. Yeah. I mean you ever see the movie Glengarry Glen Ross? Well, I’m Ross. I’ve never seen that movie. But- And that’s not how we do business. I know the general gist. We’re on the up and up. But it is exciting. I mean, I don’t know what you guys have been doing following this lady around, but, this is the real estate game. Look at that. Look at that. You feel that energy? There! Coiled springs.
Jenna [00:29:42] Following this lady around.
Angela [00:29:45] Also, when he goes, look at that, it’s just everyone ignoring him, just doing, like, their mundane tasks. And then here’s the talking head by the Jim-esque character.
Roger [00:29:55] My best friends in this office are Cut the Rope, Angry Birds, Minesweeper. Still playing Minesweeper. But as far as human contact around here, nah. I do my best to avoid it.
Jenna [00:30:11] I love both of those.
Angela [00:30:13] I know right?
Jenna [00:30:14] Oh my goodness. I get cutting them because if we give those characters talking heads, it’s like we’re starting to get, I think a little too down the rabbit hole with that business.
Angela [00:30:24] Yeah. I just don’t think it needed it. Yeah.
Jenna [00:30:26] Well, Pam is going to leave this real estate office forever now, but before we leave this real estate office, Angela and I need to give a shout out to Kristen S from Philly.
Angela [00:30:37] Yes, we do. Talk about a heck of a background catch.
Jenna [00:30:41] In this office there is a big whiteboard. And it has a bunch of writing on it. Angela, I know you paused on it.
Angela [00:30:48] I did.
Jenna [00:30:49] Of course.
Angela [00:30:50] And then I saw what Kristen wrote in and I thought, oh my gosh, she covered it all.
Jenna [00:30:55] She sure did. Here’s what’s on that whiteboard. It’s a bunch of street names, basically. Addresses. You know, this is a real estate office. Here’s what Kristen had to say. While there are a handful of streets that don’t track with real addresses like Jonesburg Place and Rhinehurst Lane, many of the streets are real. They are well known center city streets like Delancey, Pine Street, South Street, Locust, Gerard Avenue, and even Penn Square, as well as smaller streets like Woodbine and Gravers Lane. But what’s really brilliant is that in many cases, the unit numbers track with the property type. And then she says, for example, commercial real estate in center city has unit numbers that match for a tall office building that would be in that location. 1420 Market Street isn’t a real address, but it would be in the heart of downtown and would likely have a 20th floor unit, as noted. While others in more apartment dense neighborhoods track like apartment units like 1842 Pine Street number ten. And areas that are dense with single family homes like 8412 Gerard track just as well. What I think is brilliant about this is that none of these are real addresses you could find by walking. For example, so while there is a Penn Square, there isn’t a 1224 South Penn Square, but kudos to the team for inventing realistic places that also aren’t real.
Angela [00:32:27] That’s pretty amazing.
Jenna [00:32:28] I mean, I love that attention to detail. They could have just scribbled anything up there, but the time that they took to make that track for real is just kudos to our set dec.
Angela [00:32:40] I’m always impressed by all the amounts of detail, even in Aunt Shirley’s home. I was going to break down everything in Aunt Shirley’s home, but there’s so much clutter. But Kristen, I loved your background catch of everything on the whiteboard. That was fantastic.
Jenna [00:32:57] And you know what? If there was a whiteboard that was supposedly representing my hometown of Saint Louis.
Angela [00:33:03] I’d be curious.
Jenna [00:33:05] It would be, like, glaringly obvious to me if it was all fakey. And so I love that someone from Philly was like, yes!
Angela [00:33:13] Yeah. Up next Dwight is going to walk in on Angela braiding Aunt Shirley’s hair.
Jenna [00:33:19] Yes, I love her snarky remark that a woman of her age shouldn’t have hair this long.
Angela [00:33:23] That was an improv by me.
Jenna [00:33:25] What?
Angela [00:33:25] Yes.
Jenna [00:33:26] No, Angela, it’s so funny.
Angela [00:33:28] It’s true. It’s an improv by me. The scene would have ended with Angela Martin saying, loose braids reflect a loose character. Now stay still. And Shirley would have said yes, ma’am. That’s the end of the scene. And then I improvised, I think your hair is much too long for your age, by the way. And Shirley says, okay. And I say, there. And she goes, thank you, Angela.
Jenna [00:33:49] I love that bit of improv. That’s so good. All right, so now Toby is going to enter the kitchen. Nellie and Darryl are sitting reading their newspapers, and Toby’s going to announce he’s going to the prison to visit the Scranton Strangler. I had a fan catch.
Angela [00:34:07] Okay.
Jenna [00:34:08] That was also seen by Judy and Westerville, Ohio and Catherine S in Nolensville, Tennessee. If you watch the shots of Nellie, her newspaper is, like, always in a different position.
Angela [00:34:20] Oh no.
Jenna [00:34:21] They shot- they so clearly use different takes because, like in one, she has it totally open and then another it’s folded in half. In one she’s reading the comics and then in another she’s reading an article. And I have to say, I feel like maybe she was really reading the newspaper.
Angela [00:34:37] Because she was turning pages.
Jenna [00:34:39] Yes. Like between takes.
Angela [00:34:41] Pam has now left the real estate office. She’s back at Jim’s apartment in Philly, and he calls to ask her how the interview went. But before she can really get into it, he’s like, you know what? Tell me everything about it at 8:00 dinner. He’s going to have dinner for her. And she’s like, okay.
Jenna [00:34:55] Yeah. He says, dinner at 8. Pam’s a little bit like oh eight. Okay. Yeah, I guess I can kill four hours. It’s Philly after all. You know, I’ll find something to do. But this scene was important because it’s very clear to Pam, oh, at this job, Jim’s going to work till eight.
Angela [00:35:13] I also thought too, as a mother of young children, actually still, even though I have teenagers, we eat at like 5:30.
Jenna [00:35:20] Of course.
Angela [00:35:21] So 8:00 if I get invited to a dinner party and they’re like, food is going to be served at eight, I’m like, Josh, we’re packing snacks.
Jenna [00:35:28] I don’t go to dinners that start at eight.
Angela [00:35:30] I mean, we don’t really either, but you know, if I did, I would pack snacks.
Jenna [00:35:35] Yeah. If I text someone about dinner, I put it out there right away. I say, hey, would you be up for an early dinner on Tuesday like 5:30, 6:00?
Angela [00:35:44] Although that’s not early for you, that’s just when you eat.
Jenna [00:35:46] That’s just my dinner time. Yeah, but I don’t want to just say, do you want to go to dinner? Because I don’t want them to text me back and say, how’s 7:30 because I’m not going to like it. But here’s the thing. This is planting the seed for Pam for where we’re going to get in the next episode. She’s realizing that this new life in Philly includes a husband who works at the office until eight and is probably missing their kids’ bath, dinner, and bedtime. All of it. And I also want to say, while it’s going to be romantic that she’s eating at Athlead, he should have taken her out to a nice restaurant in Philly, don’t you think? I don’t know, it’s like they don’t even get to go out. They’re going to eat at his job. Am I wrong? Like, I know it’s sweet, but I don’t know.
Angela [00:36:32] Yeah, it’s true. I can see that. Yeah.
Jenna [00:36:34] I don’t know. Her whole life is his job is what I’m getting at. They even have to have dinner at his job.
Angela [00:36:39] Dinner at his job. Yeah. No, I see that. I see that. Like, how often does she get to Philly? They can’t go to a restaurant?
Jenna [00:36:45] That’s what I’m saying. I think we didn’t want to pay for a restaurant set. But I also think it’s going to be important because when they have this conversation, it’s like literally this business is breathing down her neck. It’s all around her. It’s consuming their whole lives.
Angela [00:36:58] It’s very cinematic in that way. It’s great from a story point of view. And also I think they’re able to talk about things that they wouldn’t at a restaurant. The conversation goes to a place that’s very real.
Jenna [00:37:11] Yeah.
Angela [00:37:11] And you usually don’t let that happen in a public place. That’s what I call the car ride home when it all comes out.
Jenna [00:37:19] That’s right. Well, listen, I think we should take a break because some crazy shiitake is going to go down at Dunder Mifflin.
Angela [00:37:28] Yes. Andy is bringing back Erin and Pete’s exes to see how they just move on and get over things.
Jenna [00:37:35] That’s right. How’s that medicine taste. Your own flavored?
Angela [00:37:40] Yeah. We’ll be back. We are back and there is a new employee that arrives from BCI consultants. Her name is Alice and she says she’s here to meet with Andy. Erin starts to show her through the bullpen. Meredith yells fresh meat and makes kissing noises. Way to go, Meredith. And then as Erin and Alice walk by Kevin, who’s at the water cooler, he says, I’m Kevin. And they just keep walking right past him.
Jenna [00:38:16] They do.
Angela [00:38:17] That was an improved line by Brian Baumgartner.
Jenna [00:38:20] It was? Amazing, Brian. Well, let me tell you, Alice was played by Colette Wolf. And there’s a very big crossover connection here because Colette had been in Hot Tub Time Machine with Craig Robinson and Clark Duke. She went on to appear in Hot Tub Time Machine two. You might recognize her from her recurring role on Cougar Town. She was most recently on Quantum Leap, and she had a starring role in the movie The Foot Fist Way with Danny McBride. Do you remember when that came out?
Angela [00:38:48] No.
Jenna [00:38:49] Oh my gosh. It was like when I was looking up her credits and I saw that I was like, oh, I remember that movie. It just it launched Danny McBride’s career. It’s very Office like in its tone and style. And he’s a taekwondo instructor and kind of like goes on a pilgrimage to find a hero. Yeah. And it’s very, very funny. And she starred in that.
Angela [00:39:13] While she was also in Interstellar, which is such a good movie.
Jenna [00:39:16] Yes.
Angela [00:39:17] She’s just been in everything, though. If you look at her resume, she’s done so much work.
Jenna [00:39:23] Well, when Erin gets to the annex, Alice immediately recognizes Pete.
Angela [00:39:28] Pete’s like, oh no. And she goes, is this random? And he’s like, no. Pete knows right away what’s up. And then Erin realizes Andy also hired a management consultant. She’s like, oh no. She runs out to reception and sure enough, there’s Gabe. Creed says, hey, Erin, look who’s back. The bird man. Gabe says, hello, beautiful. Kevin says, didn’t you two used to do it? And Gabe said, we absolutely did. Thank you for remembering that.
Jenna [00:39:55] Yeah.
Angela [00:39:56] Andy’s watching from his office. He is delighted.
Jenna [00:39:59] Well, now Toby is going to arrive to the prison. Guess what? It wasn’t a prison.
Angela [00:40:06] I wouldn’t think so.
Jenna [00:40:07] Well, they actually scouted several prisons.
Angela [00:40:10] Really?
Jenna [00:40:11] Yes. And they didn’t like any of them.
Angela [00:40:14] Okay.
Jenna [00:40:15] They got some actual exterior photos of Pitchess Detention Center in California. And then they use those photos to make their own prison. The actual location was Van Nuys High School. So that’s where they shot this. And you notice we never went inside. It stays all exterior.
Angela [00:40:35] Toby’s talking head is so ridiculous. I mean, what does he think is going to happen?
Jenna [00:40:41] Well, he says he thinks it’s going to be the start of my first friendship.
Angela [00:40:44] I know. He’s going to meet George Howard Scubb and tell him he believes he is innocent.
Jenna [00:40:50] Yeah.
Angela [00:40:50] And he would understand if George feels moved to hug him. Well, he feels moved to do something.
Jenna [00:40:55] We’ll get there. Back in the annex, Clark is sort of loving this awkward moment between Pete and Alice. Andy enters and it becomes very clear that he is also reveling in this awkward tension that he’s created. And, this is when Alice is going to realize there is no marketing department.
Angela [00:41:17] Yeah.
Jenna [00:41:18] I just want to say, shouldn’t Dunder Mifflin have a marketing department? Like, we have three accountants, but no marketing department?
Angela [00:41:26] We have three accountants. And what does Creed do?
Jenna [00:41:29] I don’t know.
Angela [00:41:30] There surely should be a marketing department.
Jenna [00:41:32] Well, there isn’t one, but there are some lines in this that I just loved from Andy. When Pete is saying like, this is really awkward, Andy, like- and then he says, oh, is it professor lecture much? And he says, how’s that medicine taste? Your own flavored? Is it just me or have these tables turned?
Angela [00:41:53] He’s got so many.
Jenna [00:41:55] There was another one in the script where instead of saying, is it just me, have these tables turned? At the end of the scene, he would have said, turned table for one?
Angela [00:42:05] Well, back at reception, Gabe is telling Erin how he’s been coping since their breakup. He says, you know, times were tough. I was unemployed, I was still heartbroken over you. I lost a good 50 pounds, but as you can see, I put all that weight right back on, feel how fat my buttocks are. And then Zach Woods improvised thi: yeah. It’s crazy. Touch it. It’s like a warm pumpkin.
Jenna [00:42:29] Yeah. Because of our interview with Jake where he said that Zach improvised so much, I did the same thing. I went to the script while I was watching the episode and I saw “like a warm pumpkin”.
Angela [00:42:39] How about in the conference room?
Jenna [00:42:41] So much.
Angela [00:42:41] So many lines improvised in the conference room.
Jenna [00:42:43] And probably more takes that didn’t even make it into the episode.
Angela [00:42:48] We cut back to the prison and this must have been the shortest visit ever, because Toby is now being wheeled out on a stretcher. He’s clasping his neck.
Jenna [00:42:59] Yeah. Then we cut to a car ride home. Nellie has picked Toby up, and he’s wearing a what do you call a neck brace.
Angela [00:43:05] Neck brace.
Jenna [00:43:06] He can’t speak because his vocal cords have been damaged when George Scubb strangled him at the end of their visit.
Angela [00:43:15] I have to say something.
Jenna [00:43:16] What is it?
Angela [00:43:17] I got so tickled at Paul’s neck acting.
Jenna [00:43:22] Yes.
Angela [00:43:23] Because it is very broad.
Jenna [00:43:26] Okay.
Angela [00:43:26] When she’s like, nod yes or no. He’s like, oh. He’s like moving his whole body.
Jenna [00:43:31] Yes. It’s true.
Angela [00:43:32] It was very funny to me.
Jenna [00:43:34] Well, we got this fan question from Robert S in Colorado Springs, California, and it says, fan theory. I believe the scene after the prison visit further proves Toby was the strangler all along.
Angela [00:43:48] How so?
Jenna [00:43:49] Here’s what Robin said. I think Toby was trying to prove George Howard Scubb innocent solely out of his own guilt, because he never fully explains why he is so sure Scubb is innocent. Toby went to the prison and off camera, told scrub the truth; that he knew all along that he was innocent. And I’m sure he had to admit to Scubb why he was so sure, because it was him. And then, out of anger, George Scubb retaliated. Because if the prison or the prison guards truly thought George Scubb was capable of harming someone, they would have taken more precautions with visitations. If anything, just to avoid a lawsuit. Scubb was likely a model prisoner behind bars. Therefore, the prison had no concerns about him becoming violent. But after hearing that someone on the jury who was actually the strangler got him falsely imprisoned, he acted accordingly. Why else would he attack someone trying to prove his innocence?
Angela [00:44:48] So I think with this theory, you’re basically saying Toby’s a sociopath.
Jenna [00:44:52] Yes. That Toby went in there and whispered in his ear- because it’s true, they did not allow the cameras in the prison. So he whispered something really diabolical, like, I know you’re innocent because I did it.
Angela [00:45:08] That same guy is the same guy who took a sip of water and went mmm. I am so tired of February. That’s diabolical.
Jenna [00:45:17] Yeah. I don’t know.
Angela [00:45:19] I don’t know. Well, Robin, thank you for writing that in because I love a good fan theory.
Jenna [00:45:24] I do too.
Angela [00:45:24] There is debate about Toby.
Jenna [00:45:26] People are determined for him to be the Scranton Strangler.
Angela [00:45:29] I know. We are back at dinner now at Aunt Shirley’s house. Angela is serving a dinner stew with a roasted skunk. Dwight offers her the stink sack, which is, I guess, like a wishing bone. And Aunt Shirley is like, when’s the wedding? And this snaps Angela out of it.
Jenna [00:45:49] Yeah.
Angela [00:45:50] She’s like oh no no no. We’re just friends.
Jenna [00:45:52] We got so much fan mail about this scene, Angela.
Angela [00:45:55] Is it about the skunk?
Jenna [00:45:56] Yes. It’s about your character being a vegetarian. And yet you have prepared a meal. A stew that includes skunk. And talk about fan theories. Some people said maybe the skunk was like roadkill and so you had no problem preparing something that had died by accident. That was one of the theories. But in general, you know, we don’t see you eating it. But people were curious that you had prepared a meal that included meat as a non-meat eater.
Angela [00:46:33] I actually have two friends who are vegetarians, but their husbands and children are not. Two separate families. And both of these women, when they prepare food, prepare meat for their families, even though they themselves are vegetarians. So that isn’t a huge jump for me.
Jenna [00:46:50] Okay.
Angela [00:46:50] That she helped make this meal, probably with Dwight alongside Dwight or Shirley. There is no food on Angela’s plate. And there are roasted vegetables. And I could see her kind of being in this moment of like family and togetherness. You know, she’s not going to go sit at another table and be like, ew.
Jenna [00:47:10] Okay.
Angela [00:47:11] But I also think she loves Dwight. And maybe if Kevin had prepared skunk she would have been bitchy to him. But this is Dwight.
Jenna [00:47:19] Yeah.
Angela [00:47:20] She’s in the moment.
Jenna [00:47:21] You know I think some people were confused by the stink sack. I think they thought he was offering it to you to eat it. But when he says it’s like the wishbone, I felt like there’s some other thing you’re going to do to it.
Angela [00:47:33] Like you fling it or something.
Jenna [00:47:34] Yes. And if it breaks open, then your wish comes true? We don’t know.
Angela [00:47:38] We don’t know. It did lead me down a Google search hole of do people actually eat skunk?
Jenna [00:47:44] I googled it too.
Angela [00:47:45] The first thing that came up was a video of me and Rainn and Mary from this scene.
Jenna [00:47:51] Really?
Angela [00:47:52] Yes. I did a Google video search like on YouTube. You know how they have like people that share about like how they hunt or prepare food or game. Yes. The first thing that came up was the scene from The Office. Isn’t that crazy?
Jenna [00:48:08] That’s not the first thing that came up for me.
Angela [00:48:10] Oh no.
Jenna [00:48:11] The first thing that came up for me was a video of like how to prepare your skunk to eat. I did not watch it, but in the comments I was able to discern that removing the stink sack is an important element.
Angela [00:48:29] Oh, yeah.
Jenna [00:48:30] Of preparing the skunk.
Angela [00:48:32] Because it will taint the meat.
Jenna [00:48:34] I’m sure.
Angela [00:48:35] The smell. The odor. I read that as well.
Jenna [00:48:39] But people do eat skunk. And, it’s said that indigenous people ate skunk.
Angela [00:48:46] Yeah. I saw the same thing.
Jenna [00:48:47] You know, and that it it is an edible thing if you know how to prepare it correctly.
Angela [00:48:52] That seems very important.
Jenna [00:48:53] I would not trust myself. I know that you can eat the stuff off a cactus. You know the cactus fruit. And I tried to do that because we have a big cactus in our yard, and we got the cactus fruit on it, and I tried to prepare it, and I, I didn’t trust that I’d gotten the prickles out. I didn’t trust it. I guess I’m just saying I don’t trust myself to prepare…
Angela [00:49:17] Cactus, let alone a skunk.
Jenna [00:49:19] Right? So.
Angela [00:49:22] I did see one comment that said, There’s also plenty of squirrels and rabbits, so I would rather eat that. Like, if you’re somewhere where you’re hunting skunk, there’s probably a squirrel or a rabbit. Anyway. Pam is now going to arrive at Athlead for her romantic dinner. No skunk involved here. Jim has champagne.
Jenna [00:49:46] He assumes she got the job. And then Pam says, I didn’t get it. She doesn’t say I chose not to take it.
Angela [00:49:56] That’s right.
Jenna [00:49:56] She says I didn’t get it.
Angela [00:49:58] Jim says, you know what? Hey, you’re in Philly. That’s still something to celebrate.
Jenna [00:50:03] Yeah, and Pam’s ready to settle in to this lovely dinner moment with Jim. And I just want to say that I absolutely loved filming these scenes at Athlead. We got Jon Favreau all to ourselves. He was so invested in the Jim and Pam storyline, particularly the beats of this dinner and how it was all going to go. He asked me tons of questions. He was very, very interested in making the scenes with us very layered, very natural. Dave Rogers sent me some pictures of this day that I had no idea existed, and there are like three pictures of me and Jon Favreau talking that someone took without my knowledge.
Angela [00:50:43] That’s great.
Jenna [00:50:44] And you can just see how concentrated you are. There’s one picture where we’re shooting, and Jon Favreau is just looking at me because I’m the one talking, you know, in the scene… Oh my God, I’m going to blow it up and put it on my wall.
Angela [00:50:57] Frame it.
Jenna [00:50:58] Yes, because there’s just this brilliant director and it just looks like he’s like hanging on my every word. And I’m like, this is amazing. This is amazing. So I’ll give them to you, Angela, so you can share them.
Angela [00:51:09] Okay. Dang it. No one was there when Rainn and I filmed our scene on the front porch, but I had the same experience with Jon. Rainn and I having him all to ourselves for this very intimate moment between Dwight and Angela on the front porch.
Jenna [00:51:25] Well, we’re about to get to it right now. Yeah. Dwight walks Angela out to the porch. It’s night. I can just I can feel through the screen that it’s one of those just, like, warm summer evenings, you know? And he thanks her.
Angela [00:51:39] And she says it was not an unpleasant way to spend an afternoon. And then they have that moment of silence, which between two people who love each other, can very easily end in embrace. It’s that moment.
Jenna [00:51:56] He kisses her.
Angela [00:51:57] And she kisses him back. And then Angela stops him and says, no, I can’t betray the senator. And Dwight says, this isn’t about just like a one time thing. This is about us having a life together. We’ve already wasted so much time. We belong together. He says he wants to spend his last 80 or 90 years with her.
Jenna [00:52:16] I’m getting goosebumps as you say it, because it’s so emotional and vulnerable for Dwight, the character. And this is how the character of Angela Martin moves him. And it’s I just loved it. I loved it so much.
Angela [00:52:33] I did too. And you know, Angela tells him, no, I can’t do this. I took a vow. I gave my word. And Dwight said, he understands. Stand by your man. That’s what he would want if she were his. Is and she says goodbye, D. And she leaves.
Jenna [00:52:51] I’m getting goosebumps again.
Angela [00:52:53] I know. And in the shooting draft it said this: Angela leaves Dwight alone under the porch light. He watches her go, frustrated, but not without admiration.
Jenna [00:53:05] Well, I have gushed about how much I love this scene, but we got a letter from Derek D in Ontario, Canada, and I thought that Derek said it perfectly. Here’s what Derek said: I thought this was a beautiful episode that explored both Jam and Dw’Angela at very different crossroads in their respective relationships. They were confronted with what they wanted from each other and what the future could possibly hold, and there were no easy answers. The writing was top notch and your performances were absolutely wonderful.
Angela [00:53:37] Oh thank you.
Jenna [00:53:38] And I thought that was absolutely true. You both should win an award just for this porch scene in my opinion. It was beautiful.
Angela [00:53:45] Jenna, thank you so much. Well, you know, I mean, my gosh, this Jim and Pam scene that’s coming up just broke me. It felt so real. You guys really just did such a great job with it.
Jenna [00:53:59] I feel like we have Jon Favreau to thank for that, I really do. I’m really proud of it. We’ll get to it. Let’s talk about this conference room scene.
Angela [00:54:08] Yeah, Andy is going to summon Erin and Pete. They’re over by the watercooler talking, and he’s going to say, hey, love turds. Into the conference room. Why do they go?
Jenna [00:54:16] I don’t know. Why is Alice still there?
Angela [00:54:20] I know! Like, at this point, just say, okay, something weird is happening here. It’s not about me. I’m not going.
Jenna [00:54:26] It’s true. There’s no marketing department. There’s no job for her to consult on here.
Angela [00:54:30] Maybe she’s just along for the ride at this point. She’s like, well, I’m here. Let’s see how this plays out.
Jenna [00:54:35] She does seem to revel in her-
Angela [00:54:38] Digs at Pete?
Jenna [00:54:39] Yeah. So maybe she’s like, I’m here for it at this point.
Angela [00:54:42] Well, all four exes are going to sit across from each other and discuss their relationship history. There’s a lot of animosity.
Jenna [00:54:50] Oh, yes. Alice is going to attack Pete’s manhood by making fun of his inability to use chopsticks. And then Gabe is going to beg Erin for one last night together. We had a fan question from Rachel S in Bloomington, Indiana, who said, I absolutely love this scene in the conference room with all the exes. I specifically love Gabe’s line about wearing Erin’s button downs around the apartment. I would love to know if this line was improvised or scripted. And Maria B from Montreal said, I was curious how much of Gabe’s dialogue was improvised in this meeting between Andy, Pete, Alice and Erin. Well, I’ll tell you, Rachel and Maria, in our interview with Jake, he mentioned, first of all, that he had a terrible stomach flu when they shot this scene.
Angela [00:55:34] I know! That he was literally going to his trailer and puking. And then coming back to set.
Jenna [00:55:40] Yeah, he didn’t know he could call in sick.
Angela [00:55:42] Oh my gosh.
Jenna [00:55:43] And then he also shared that so many of these lines were improvised by Zach Woods. He did improvise the line about wearing Erin’s button downs because the scripted line was, I still have a lock of her hair in my glove compartment, so you could say we still have a relationship of sorts.
Angela [00:56:00] Yes. Apparently Zach did a lot of improvising and did a lot of one off lines, like the one where he said he shaved his body as smooth as a porpoise.
Jenna [00:56:09] Well, what’s really amazing is how if you follow the script while you’re watching the scene, you see the pops that come from Zach Woods, but then the other people take it back to the script.
Angela [00:56:21] Yeah.
Jenna [00:56:22] It’s so seamless.
Angela [00:56:23] It’s brilliant. Especially when I think about Collette being new on our set. And she just rolled with it. She had lines in and around Zach’s improv. I thought they all did a great job. At the end of this conference room scene, Andy has a talking head and he says, Does making Erin and Pete feel bad make him feel better? Yeah it does.
Jenna [00:56:44] My gosh Andy.
Angela [00:56:45] So snarky, Andy. This is Andy at his snarkiness.
Jenna [00:56:50] At his snarkiest?
Angela [00:56:51] What did I say?
Jenna [00:56:52] Ness. Snarkiness.
Angela [00:56:57] Oh, God. I did not have enough tea this morning. All right, here we go. Buckle in because this scene just wrecked me. Pam and Jim are back at Athlead, and Pam is actually really going to share her real feelings about coming to Philly.
Jenna [00:57:13] Yeah, she’s talking about Mark, and they’re having a nice dinner. They’re eating their Chinese food.
Angela [00:57:19] It’s kind of flirty. They’re reconnecting.
Jenna [00:57:22] Yeah. And then Jim sort of says, you know what? It’s all right. The next interview will be better.
Angela [00:57:28] Yeah.
Jenna [00:57:29] And that’s when Pam pauses and says, yeah, I don’t want there to be another interview.
Angela [00:57:35] And then she says she liked their life in Scranton. And Jim is like, well, I started a business in Philly.
Jenna [00:57:42] Yeah. And Pam’s like, I’m not sure I want this.
Both [00:57:47] Oh, boy.
Jenna [00:57:50] We got a lot of fan mail about this. I’m going to start with some practical stuff. Fan question from Andrea F in Massachusetts, and many others, pointed out that in the scene that precedes this one, Alice makes that dig about how Pete can’t use chopsticks, and that shows the measure of a man. And then we cut to a scene with Jim expertly using chopsticks.
Angela [00:58:13] I didn’t even think of that.
Jenna [00:58:14] People really liked that. Then we got a fan question from Leighton R in Folsom, California, who just wanted to know how was the Chinese food? Where’d you get it? You know what? I don’t know where we got it, but I can tell you this. It was delicious. And it timed out perfectly with lunch. We shot all of the Athlead scenes on the same day. We started first thing in the morning with those two scenes that happened in the first part of the episode of Pam, you know, before her interview. And then we had a little break, and then they reset the stage for these dinner moments. And so we were shooting this in the late morning until about 1 p.m.. I just, I remember I was very hungry and the food was very good. I ate a lot of it.
Angela [00:58:58] I have noticed that your hunger really dictates how fresh your memories are about things.
Jenna [00:59:03] My personal hunger? Oh, you know what? I really do have a lot of food memories. Yeah. It’s true.
Angela [00:59:12] Yeah. I’ve noticed.
Jenna [00:59:13] I was really enjoying those chocolates.
Angela [00:59:16] I know. In our friendship you’ll be like, oh, I’ll remember that day because we had gone for a walk and I was so hungry.
Jenna [00:59:22] It’s probably true.
Angela [00:59:25] Then we found that Italian food place. Remember?
Jenna [00:59:28] Oh it’s probably true. So I’ll tell you when we finished shooting this scene, on this day, we had a big visit from the Television Critics Association.
Angela [00:59:38] That’s right. We talked about it last week. It was on the call sheet.
Jenna [00:59:41] It was. And we all gathered in the warehouse, and Ed and Brian and Craig formed a band and they played music. And then we had this big Q&A session with them. And Greg was there. And this was all our way of kind of schmoozing the television critics about the final episodes of The Office. We wanted to give them kind of like the inside scoop.
Angela [01:00:05] A sneak peek.
Jenna [01:00:06] I don’t think it hurt that Jon Favreau was there that day.
Angela [01:00:09] Probably didn’t.
Jenna [01:00:10] And Angela, I saw on the call sheet that you were off that day, but you had to come in and do your hair and makeup for the TCAs. That was true for pretty much everyone, because Jon and I were the only ones shooting that day.
Angela [01:00:20] Yeah. And I had to come in for the table read.
Jenna [01:00:22] Which was after that.
Angela [01:00:23] Yeah.
Jenna [01:00:24] There were a lot of moving parts that day.
Angela [01:00:26] I would like to also share with you all that in the shooting draft of Moving On, the episode would have ended with this Jim and Pam final scene.
Jenna [01:00:36] This would have been like the cliffhanger.
Angela [01:00:38] Yes. And I am glad that it didn’t, because it is really sad and tense, and I’m glad we end with a more uplifting moment. And then also such a big tease.
Jenna [01:00:53] Yes. Well, let’s get into it. This is something that we shot again for Couples Discount.
Angela [01:00:59] Yeah.
Jenna [01:00:59] This would have been the cold open of Couples Discount, but it has now become the tag of Moving On.
Angela [01:01:05] That’s right.
Jenna [01:01:06] Oscar’s at his computer. He’s watching Hobbies of the East. And when a commercial break comes on, he goes over to this chin up bar that he has installed.
Angela [01:01:15] It looks like he was watching women play mahjong. And we find something out. That really cracks me up, Gena. Especially with everything you shared last week about your online purchases. It’s that Oscar. He watches too many online ads, and he doesn’t do enough sit ups. So we bought ankle braces, which, by the way, he bought from an online ad, so he can get 30s of ab blasting whenever an ad pops up. Ads for abs.
Jenna [01:01:42] Well, this contraption is real. And Oscar did it. He goes over and he hooks himself in upside down and starts doing some crunches. Meanwhile, Angela and Phyllis are pushing him aside to get in and out of the kitchen.
Angela [01:02:00] Yes, it was really fun to walk past him with just like my cup of coffee, like scuse me.
Jenna [01:02:06] Well, we got a few fan questions. One from Ivy K in Harrisonburg, Virginia, who said, how long did Oscar have to hang from the sit up contraption? And were there any safety meetings involved? And another one from Sage L in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, who said in the button with Oscar, is that really him doing the sit ups?
Angela [01:02:25] Well, we knew we would have to ask Oscar about this, and he sent in an audio clip. Here’s what he had to say.
Oscar Nunez [01:02:31] Hi, Angela. Hi, Jenna. Let’s see. Was that me really hanging? And did we have safety meetings? And was that me doing sit ups? Yes to all of that. I don’t remember- I remember doing the scene. I don’t remember exactly what happened before and after because it was just a regular day. It was a day on the set, which is a kind of a normal day. It was a long time ago. And so I’m sure we had a safety meeting and they said, Oscar, do you think you can do this? I remember thinking, oh, this is like that scene in American Gigolo when Richard Gere hangs upside down. This is a movie from the 80s, I think. Had that song Call Me with Blondie. But anyway, so I’m sure they said, hey, can you do this? And I said, yes. I don’t think there was a stunt person there. They probably offered one to me. So I hung. And at the beginning it was easier to do the sit ups. As it went on the scene, more takes, you get more and more tired. But I think it was okay. Maybe towards the end I needed help getting up towards the bar. I think that might have happened towards the end, but I remember there were a lot of funny takes. My wife first reminded me of the moment cuz she just looked at it, where Angela walks by and like, pushes me aside like I’m a curtain hanging there. But that was me. There were no stunt people used for that. It wasn’t that dangerous. It was just a weird scene that we did at the office.
Angela [01:04:00] I remember his face getting red.
Jenna [01:04:03] Well, it’s funny you say that because Steve Burgess sent me the test videos, and it was Tim from construction and John from Special Effects. They put in the bar and they tested it, and Tim hooked himself in and John hooked himself in. And he’s hanging upside down and they’re like, hey, man, is the blood rushing to your head? And he’s like, it is! And he was like, it’s pretty easy to get in and out of. But it was really hard to do the crunches. But Ange, they even practice the bit where they kind of like push him aside to be like you or Phyllis. So yeah, they did an extensive test.
Angela [01:04:43] I did notice that Phyllis is like, I have hot coffee here, but she was holding her hand around the mug, not using the handles.
Jenna [01:04:51] Yes. And then when she hands it to Stanley, he reacts as if it’s super hot.
Angela [01:04:55] Yeah, I know.
Jenna [01:04:58] Well, after all this business of hanging upside down, the camera goes back to Oscar’s computer and we see an ad pop up.
Angela [01:05:06] And it says, Coming this May. The Office: An American Workplace. Ten years in the making. A look at the lives and loves of an average American small business office. And that’s what the episode ends with.
Jenna [01:05:20] My gosh.
Angela [01:05:22] Well I remember after that aired, all of our phones blowing up. People were like oh my gosh!
Jenna [01:05:27] Yeah. Well listen before we go today I wanted to read a letter that we got from Aimee A in Bakersfield, California. It’s very emotional, but, I was very moved by it, and, and I wanted to read it. Yeah. So here we go. Angela and Jenna. I don’t have a question, but just some words of gratitude. On November 22nd, 2023, I lost my husband, Zach, suddenly at the age of 38. For the next few months, I sulked and cried and couldn’t really get out of bed. We spent 15 years together and I didn’t know what adult life was like without him guiding our ship. On Valentine’s Day this year, I decided to watch our office anniversary episode, Moving On. This was the first episode of The Office we ever watched together, and we found it by accident because we were both sick February 14th, 2013 when the episode first aired, and all we wanted to do was have soup in bed. Sorry. After that episode, we were hooked. We were Office fans together and often quizzed each other during our lunch breaks and quoted lines to each other constantly. Because of his passing, I fell behind on your podcast episodes, and began listening again last Monday after returning to work. I bawled on my drive home because your voices, your stories, and just memories of the show took me right back to my time with him. The days are still very hard, but having your podcast on in my home where my husband’s presence is still very strong, gives me so much peace. Watching The Office and remembering all of our inside jokes together makes me smile. I will carry our mutual love of The Office with me forever, and I will laugh and probably also cry every time I watch an episode. Thank you both for bringing some laughter back into my life. Zach would be grateful too. With so much gratitude, Amy.
Angela [01:07:31] Amy, thank you so much for writing in. You know, it’s really just hard to put into words how much it means to us that The Office as a show helps people through times like this, or helps people connect or heal. And then on top of it, that in any way that Jenna and I are a part of that now with the podcast to be there for you. We just want to give you our love. And we just hold you in our hearts.
Jenna [01:08:00] Yeah. Thanks for letting us be there with you.
Angela [01:08:03] Yeah.
Jenna [01:08:04] We love you.
Angela [01:08:05] We love you. We love you guys. We love doing this. And I do want you all to know that Creed texted us one last time since we spoke to him earlier in the episode and I wanted to read you the text he just sent us.
Jenna [01:08:22] It’s a beautiful poem.
Angela [01:08:24] It is. Creed wrote: Since this morning has been so serendipitous, I thought I’d send you my favorite cat quote from Alan Watts. “When a cat falls out of a tree, it lets go of itself. The cat becomes completely relaxed and lands lightly on the ground. But if a cat were about to fall out of a tree and suddenly make up its mind that it didn’t want to fall, it would become tense and rigid and would be just a bag of broken bones upon landing. In the same way, it is the philosophy of the Tao that we are all falling off a tree at every moment of our lives. As a matter of fact, the moment we were born, we were kicked off a precipice and we are falling and there is nothing that can stop it. So instead of living in a state of chronic tension and clinging to all sorts of things that are actually falling with us, because the whole world is impermanent, be like a cat.”
Jenna [01:09:21] I love it. Well, a big thank you to Rainn Wilson, Oscar Nunez, Dave Rogers, Steve Burgess, and Creed Bratton. For brightening up this episode. And to all of you.
Angela [01:09:33] For writing in, sending your questions, your comments and letters. We love you so much.
Jenna [01:09:38] And now we are going to play a little bit of Creed’s new single out now, Turn the Corner of the Universe, and we’ll see you next week with our interview with Bob Odenkirk.
Creed Bratton [01:09:55] (SINGS) Another day, just like the others. Or so it seemed to me. I daydream about tomorrow. How it might turn out to be. Our doubt is in remission. We don’t buy into the hype. No stealing from each other. We keep our family tight. When we turn the corner of the universe. The planet’s cooling down. All the hard work is paying off. We won’t go down. We won’t go down. We won’t go down this round.
Jenna [01:10:48] Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.
Angela [01:10:50] Office ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey.
Jenna [01:10:54] Our senior producer is Cassi Jerkins. Our audio engineer is Jordan Duffy, and our associate producer is Aynsley Bubbico.
Angela [01:11:02] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.
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