A Look Back on Double Date

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And I'm Angela Kinsey.

We were on the office together and we're best friends, and now we're doing the ultimate office rewatch podcast just for you.

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.

We're the office ladies.

Hi.

All right, we are sitting across from each other, you guys. This is very exciting because 2022 we couldn't do this until now.

Until now, I'm tearing up a little. It's so good to be back.

It's so good to be back, Lady aww.

Today we're talking about Double Date. It is season 6, episode 9. It's written by Charlie Grandy, who is the writer famous for Boom Roasted, and directed by Seth Gordon. Here's your summary. Jim, Pam, Michael and Pam's mom Helene all go out to lunch to celebrate Helene's birthday.

Ah.

Meanwhile, Dwight does nice things for everyone in the office in an attempt to get each of them to owe him a favor. Then he's going to cash in his favors to get Jim fired, but unfortunately for Dwight, Andy is also very good at favors.

Andy will not owe you anything.

I love it. When he's like, You send me a wedding invitation, I respond.

Yes.

Invite me to your birthday. Boom. Accepted?

Yes, yeah, I would like that. Mm-hmm. It's good quality.

I mean, you know, you probably get a handwritten thank you card from Andy.

You probably do.

All right, let's get into fast facts.

Fast fact number one is all about our director, Seth Gordon. You know, we said last week we're going to get into some of these, like heavy hitter directors. And Seth is another one. Yeah, I loved Seth because he directed one of my favorite movies of all time, the documentary King of Kong. A Fistful of Quarters.

It's so flippin good.

It's so good and we rewatched it as a family. Did you with the kids? If you do not know this documentary, you need to watch it immediately. It is about the world of competitive arcade gaming.

Sweet guy.

Named Steve Wiebe and his attempt to beat the Donkey Kong high score, which was held for like 20 years by this guy. Billy Mitchell Billy Mitchell is like the ultimate documentary villain. The story of these two guys battling it out to have the high score on Donkey Kong. I couldn't love him more.

When he would go in his garage and practice-.

Yes.

And his wife would like check in. I know, oh my gosh, you guys. It is such a wonderful story.

You can find it on Prime Video and Apple TV. We watched it on Prime, we had to buy it. I'm so glad we did so.

I looked through my digital clutter lady. And I actually emailed a friend of mine saying how excited I was to have Seth on set and that we were all really excited. And then I also said, And I have a day off because-.

Because of the double date storyline.

The double date story and guess what I did with my day off, what I did an episode of Yo Gabba, Gabba. Oh, I remember that, Ange.

Time for a show and tell, Time for a show and tell, Show us what you can do.

Oh my gosh.

Well done, Angela, time for a show and tell.

I had to sing and dance. You know, these are things I do not do, but it's what you do for your kids. Isabel is so excited. They gave me this great picture of her and I on set with all of the characters. And I have it in my office.

It's so cute.

And everyone there was so nice, they were so much fun. It was one of the most fun days of work I've ever had. Every day on Yo Gabba, Gabba was a theme day, and that day was birthday day. And you would come dressed as whatever your interpretation of that was. And this one gal came dressed as a cake, like fully a cake like a hat and a skirt, but she was a tiered cake.

You would wear that you love a birthday.

I do love a birthday.

Should we start having theme days on our tape days here at Office ladies?

Is that a lot of pressure? It feels like a lot of pressure.

Okay, we won't do it, maybe once we'll do one theme day.

We'll do one, Sam, you have to participate, everyone participates. I would love to, okay.

Well, before we move to fast fact number two. Let me also add that Seth Gordon has gone on to direct huge movies Four Christmases, Horrible Bosses, Identity Theft and Baywatch. He's also directed a ton of television. I loved working with him.

I loved him.

So now fast. Fact number two is a location breakdown.

Is it of the restaurant?

Yes, I mean, so much of this episode takes place at this restaurant. Paparazzo's not a real restaurant. We made it up, we filmed it in Los Angeles, at this place called Bistro Garden in Studio City.

I was going to say, Wait, I've driven past that.

Yeah, I've eaten there. It's at the corner of Coldwater and Ventura. Oh yeah, with the big awning and the steps. Yes, yes.

All the businesses along that street flooded and had to be closed, and some of them had to be renovated. And some didn't even come back because it was too much damage. And do you know what? I remember? I remember, right on Coldwater, a few days after the flood, there was a sinkhole.

Yes, and they had a giant hole in the ground, lady, I found a picture of it. This was in the L.A. Times.

Yes, it was crazy. And then they had to fix the sinkhole by laying these big metal plate things on the ground.

And when you drove over them, it was like, ka-chunk, ka-chunk, it was scary. And then later they had to fix this water main. And you had to have a special pass to even drive on this road, you had to prove that you were a resident with only this road to access your home, so we got the special car passes.

The traffic was a son of a boot.

It was amazingly enough, the bistro where we were shooting did not flood and they found a way that we could access it from this back road. And we still shot that day. Wow, yeah, all right.

So he asked John to help him to set up his BlackBerry on set, because John was the voice.

Of Blackberry. Oh yeah, John had one.

And he had to know how to use it because he was, like, part of a campaign.

Yeah, I found an audio clip, Oh, what's this? The new Blackberry?

He has a really good voice for that.

He's done tons of voiceovers.

I know.

So, anyway, I loved that. Charlie had a memory that during different setups, he'd be like getting John to set up his new BlackBerry for him.

It's so funny because when you're talking to someone and they all of a sudden tell you something and all of these memories fled back. Yeah, so that's now happened twice today. First of all, the sinkhole, I remember the sinkhole.

Yeah.

Rain got so frustrated with me because he was like, Angela, you're not listening.

Yeah, because Rain was the first one to get one, yeah.

But I just remember rain helped me set up my BlackBerry.

Well, that's all I got for Fast Facts.

Well, I loved your fast facts. They took me down memory lane and this is such a fun episode. I was so delighted by it. I can't wait for us to just get right into it.

I had forgotten about so much of it, so I loved it too.

Well, how about this? Let's go to break, because when we come back, Lady, I brought in one of my journals.

Oh oh, this day is awesome.

Things are going to get spicy.

Yeah, I'll have, you know. H&H Bagels is a real place in New York, It's very famous for having the best bagels. And this is also not the first time that H&H Bagels has been featured on a television show.

What was the other show?

SeinFeLD Oh, yeah, and I have an audio clip. Oh my gosh, great news.

You worked.

Bagels Yeah, look, see, I still have my business card, yeah.

I remember seeing those guys picketing out there, but I haven't seen them in a long time.

Well, H&H wouldn't let us use their bathroom while we were picketing. What a cramp in our solidarity.

Your demands?

$5.

I believe that's the new minimum wage.

Now, you know who to thank for that.

All right, I gotta go.

Why didn't you ever mention this? Well, Jerry, I didn't want you to know I was out of work.

It's embarrassing.

It was very funny.

But I'll have you know that. The bagels that Dwight is passing out were not actually H&H bagels from New York, they were from a place called Western Bagel in Vinay's.

Western Bagel's very good, too. I've been there, I have a little something to share about H&H.

What is it? Why are you reaching in a bag?

I'm reaching for my journal.

What?

Get ready, okay. The first bagel I ever had was an H&H bagel, and it was when I was interning on Late night with Conan O'Brien.

Stop it right now. This journal, it's a flower journal, it has many post-it notes sticking out of it. Pages are falling out, and there is a late night with Conan O'Brien sticker.

I got the sticker when I got the internship and I put it on my journal.

I mean, I'm taking a picture of you, obviously.

All right, before we turn to the page where I talk about my first bagel experience. I interned on Conan O'Brien years later, over a decade later, I was asked to be a guest. It was a full circle life moment because I went from the person who was getting everyone's coffee to actually being a guest. And I brought my journal when I was a guest, and I read this on Late Night with Conan.

Yes, I cannot wait, all right.

Turning to the page, Here we Go. Tomorrow night is Conan's first-year anniversary party at the Museum of Modern Art. Lots of important people, stars, NBC folks and the interns get to go, wow.

What am I? Details later to myself. This is my journal.

I go on to say, and there are serious food perks to interning here. I get a free meal with the writers, and I had my first bagel. It's basically bread that looks like a donut.

No, you did not just describe what a bagel is in your journal to myself.

Just in case you forget later, just in case I forget.

Just in case someone finds this journal someday and they're curious, what is a bagel?

Yeah, okay, oh yeah.

Guys, keep going, please. No, that's it, that's it.

Okay.

No, please, okay.

Please.

Let's see, did you ever write the details later?

I did.

I don't know if I can read them, okay?

Let's see this is when the journal becomes just for you, yeah.

Okay, in a nutshell, Conan's party. The interns had to work the front door. Oh so, you got to go. But also-.

I had to work.

We had a list of names of people who could come in. After working the party. We got to come inside at the end and we got to have drinks, we all got tooted.

Oh my gosh.

Wait.

Can you go back and read your description of what a bagel is? One more time? I just want to hear it again.

Yes, and there's some serious food perks to interning here. I get a free meal with the writers, and I had my first bagel. It's basically bread that looks like a donut, okay?

I'm sorry, I need a mug that has a picture of a bagel, and underneath, it says it's basically bread that's shaped like a donut.

There you guys go.

My first H&H bagel and now you know how lame I was in my 20s. Your journal reads like how they write Michael Scott's journal, It does, Lady.

It's amazing, it's amazing.

Oh my gosh.

You guys, please bring it back again some other time, please just keep reading it.

Oh my gosh.

Oh boy, okay, all right, all right back to the episode.

Right? But his lady friend declined.

Yes, Dwight says something like, you're thinking of deer penis.

I was thinking of oysters.

There are many things that are aphrodisiacs. Oh, no.

I sense a deep dive, but I was most curious, No, you did not type deer penis.

I did type is deer penis an aphrodisiac?

Oh, Lord Jesus.

It is.

What?

It's real. Come on, yeah. It goes all the way back to. Hippocrates recommended deer penis as a solution to quote, resolving sexual difficulties.

No.

Yep.

Nope.

You can get it for about $12 a glass.

Get away from me with your deer penis wine.

It supposedly can help heal athletic injuries.

Well, I'm not athletic, so.

But if you don't want deer penis wine, you could have three penis wine.

What?

Three penises? Who's three penises?

In the wine.

A seal penis stop it, a deer penis and a dog penis come on.

Who is making wine out of a bunch of penises?

I don't know, but you can get it, and since I was in studio today, no, no, no.

I'm not drinking it, I'm not drinking it. You did not bring deer penis wine? No, I didn't.

I didn't, I was just kidding.

Oh my god.

But I did find a website called Ale Sessions and this person did drink three penis wine, and I thought I'd read you the description.

Okay.

Here's what they said. Quote It's something along the lines of an expired port, with a pungent vinegar taste and some prune juice. And if you thought you'd get away with not tasting the three different penis profiles, you thought wrong.

You think the multiple penises overpower the other flavors?

The writer said No one should consume more than just a sip of this concoction if you truly are interested in tasting. The weirdest of the weird three. Penis wine can generally be found in select Chinese grocers. It is sold on the shelves as it is classified as more of a natural herbal drink than alcohol. But honestly, don't drink this, it's not good. But that should be fairly obvious already.

I don't even know what to say, I am just thinking about these poor animals, how are they getting the penises? I can't.

I didn't want to know, but what they do is they like, soak the penises in something. There's also something called baby mouse wine, it's like a jar of baby mice, and then it ferments and then you drink it.

For what?

I don't know, but you know, when you're googling three penis wine, all these weird wines come up, just weird drinks, you know, there's articles about the weirdest drinks.

Okay, note to self Do not google about penis wine. A sentence I never thought I would say out loud.

Well, just like we weren't the first show to feature H&H bagels, we aren't the first show to mention deer. Penis three penis. Wine was also a plot line of an episode of the league where they drink it.

Well, I don't know what you thought you were going to hear today. On office, ladies, a bagel looks like a donut, there's penis wine, anything can happen, guys, anything.

I don't have much else for the rest of the episode, so the scale is tipped to here at the top of the show, just with the cold open.

I have two more things about this cold open. Oh my gosh.

We're not done with the cold open.

We're not.

At 19 seconds, I got a coffee mug callback. What's that? I love? A coffee mug callback. Andy has his mug from Kelly's America's Got Talent viewing party sitting on his desk. Also, this was not the cold open in the shooting draft.

Really, yeah, there was a whole different cold open.

Here's what it said. Cold open interior Michael's office Michael sits at his desk, flipping through a small stack of pictures, he sees Jim walking by Jim, Jim. You have to see this.

I'm surprised Michael doesn't think that's an alias.

It is a really funny scene and we shot it, and it also includes Michael's impression of Jack Sparrow that exists somewhere.

You know, this is crazy. This is unlocking a memory for me. When we read that at the table read, we all thought that was so funny. Yeah, amazing.

We're done with the cold open, all right.

Let's move in to the episode. Dwight goes up to Pam's desk and offers her a bagel she doesn't want one because she's having an early lunch. And this is when we find out the information that she's going on this double date for her mom's birthday. We had a fan question from Genevieve B. in Omaha, Nebraska.

What?

I see what she's saying.

The color palette is very shrewdy, but I also noticed that everything about it was there was no color. I think Pam is in mourning, I think she is going on this double date and when she looked in her closet, this is what spoke to her.

I have noticed since Pam has become a salesman that her whole outfit has become more muted, there's less pop of color.

Yeah, I've noticed that, too. We're going to get it back.

Okay, Ryan is continuing to evolve. Who is Ryan? He's the hat-wearing glasses guy. Now he's a photographer.

Do tell.

One looks like some drains on the side of the building, another one is clearly the Dunder Mifflin parking lot. You can see the top of Meredith's van, the hedge and the sign. And then, of course, we have Kelly Nudie from the waist up at her desk.

We had a fan question from Cecelia P in Minnesota who would like to know What is this photo book? How did we take the photo of Mindy? I want to know everything.

Let's hear it.

Well, Randy Cordray told us that all of the photos were shot by our production designer, Michael Gallenberg. He would do that for the show. For example, you mentioned that coffee mug. Michael took the pictures of all the cast members that then Phil Shea put on the coffee mugs. He's actually a very talented real-life still photographer.

Like a tube top.

Yes, because they knew that it would be pixelated later in post, so that's how we did it. You know, I'm going to bring out this story. I wasn't planning on it, but this episode feels like I don't know, it feels like it would be on theme. I wrote about this in my book, The Actor's Life, A Survival Guide.

Uh-huh.

Have I ever told you the story of how? I almost joined, like an international Spice girls singing group that was actually a front for a call girl service?

What?

Yeah.

You thought you were auditioning to be in a band?

Yeah, a singing group.

That's how they hoodwinked the girls.

Yeah, ah, yeah. I've also told this story on Conan. Oh my gosh.

Sure.

My friend was a really talented singer, and she saw a listing in the newspaper, The Free Newspaper.

Okay, red flag number one.

Correct for singing auditions for a new international Spice Girls type singing band in this guy's condo.

Red flag number two Yeah, audition in a condo. red flag two.

She asked if I would go with her, I said, Sure, I'll go with you, so I stood in line with her. Big group of people went in. She sang, and the guy's like, Do you sing to me? and I'm like, Not really, no.

What you know, this song rocky top, like good old Rocky top, rocky top.

Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee, That's what came. Yeah, that's what came to my mind, so I sang Rocky Top.

With your rocky top song, I'm the American Girl red flag number three, I get a call.

It's me, imagine, my friend, my friend who's like a professional level singer.

Yeah, she didn't get the gig.

I got it, I'm going to be the American girl. This guy gives me a tape, I'm supposed to listen to it, I'm supposed to learn my song.

Red flag

And then he calls me and he's like, Listen, we have a gig coming up. I'm like, we have a gig coming up.

I've never met the other girls in the group.

How are we going to do our dance moves? how are we going to harmonize?

What are our outfits?

And he's, like, come by the condo.

Red flag

And, you know, let me just see how your song is doing.

You'll just do your song.

You'll do just a solo. I'm like, Oh my gosh, okay. Meanwhile, by the way, I've basically told everyone back in Missouri, buckle in, I'm about to be a big star.

A huge pop star.

Oh my gosh, so just I don't know if I'm going to be able to come home for Thanksgiving this year.

I'm sharing rocky top, I am now going to be a pop star.

I had a whole new country name star for myself, Ginny Lee. my name was going to be Ginny Lee.

Oh my God, you are giving me shit about my journal about like getting tooted at a party, you're Ginny Lee singing rocky top I am.

So I go to the guy's condo and I've got my whole bit. I just want to say that when I got there, there were girls walking around in lingerie. You guys, none of this is penetrating the stars in my eyes, none of this is like, I'm taking in none of this information. So I sing the song so earnestly, my truck stop song.

I sing it and I'm like, Oh, what do you think you sang your country and Western song about a truck stop?

Yeah.

Okay.

I'm like, Do you think I'm ready? He's like, I do, I do. Then he says to me, You know what you need.

Some lingerie?

Well, I guess I skipped the part where he offered to take my photo. He had mentioned that my headshots, they weren't very dazzling, and he said that he takes headshots. And he offered to take some new headshots for me. And I said, I can't afford that, he said. It's fine.

Which never happens, never happens. Red flag.

But you know what my answer was?

What?

I was like, you know what, I'm not going to want to do parts with nudity, so I won't need those photos again. Why am I impenetrable?

You're just sweet and innocent, I know, and this person is a monster. Okay, so what happened after you danced and sang your heart out about the truck stop?

I said, Am I ready? Do you think I should do the show on Friday?

I'm so nervous.

And he goes, I think you should, he goes. Now. Here's the thing I also want you to know. It's going to be for a group of international businessmen. Oh, gosh.

Here we go.

This is when suddenly everything comes into focus for me, suddenly. I'm very aware of the people in lingerie. I'm very aware of the fact that I've never rehearsed with any of the other girls that offer to take nude photographs. The fact that my friend, who's an actual talented singer, didn't get the gig.

I'm like, Oh my god.

This is a call girl ring. I'm not going to be a famous pop star. And I left. I changed my phone numbers, I never spoke to him again.

What did you tell everyone back in Missouri?

The truth?

You did.

I just did, I mean, what am I going to do? I told my parents.

Were they, like, get on a plane home.

How did my parents not fly out and bring me home? I don't know. That was a very long tangent, but it sprung to mind when Ryan was like, I could take photos of you.

Creeper.

Creeper So guys, if you're an aspiring actor and you want to come to Los Angeles or New York, maybe buy my book, The Actor's Life. A survival guide where I lay out a lot of things that you should and shouldn't do, based on my experience.

While this photo display is happening, Pam's mom walks in.

Yes.

And we're going to have a little bit of Angela's ass coming up.

Oh yeah, Pam, aren't you going to introduce us to Michael's girlfriend?

Angela Martin enjoyed saying that so much.

I know how about the story about the necklace that Michael slipped onto Helene's neck this morning.

While she was sleeping, Mm-hmm, Kelly's like, It's beautiful. No, it's not.

I loved that.

I'm going to break down all the gifts that Helene got in a little bit. Oh so, remember the necklace?

We got a piece of mail from Genevieve B. in Omaha, Nebraska, who said this. I found this fascinating. I worked as a manager for Claire's in the Late Aughts early 2010s, and I am 90 sure that Helene's necklace was from the Icing's Dressy special occasion collection.

Claire's Boutique in the Mall.

Yeah.

That's where I got my ears pierced me, too.

Really.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

It's still where you get your ears pierced. Yeah, it's what they're known for, Genevieve goes on to say. If so, the piece in question appears to be a cubic zirconia necklace. And in 2009 2010-ish, they were marked down to $5. Okay.

I think it's a great catch.

Well, Pam's going to try to get out of going to lunch by having Aaron transfer a Fakie phone call. This was very funny to me, along with Creed's talking head.

I thought all of it was really funny. I also loved John's performances, Jim, where he's like, Nope, hardly ever, and he like, hangs up.

Also, he doesn't say anything like when he's like, I'll handle it, he takes the phone, he goes, Okay, great.

Yeah.

It's there they found it.

And then Creed's worried, he's like, that paper was never supposed to arrive. What is Creed running on the side?

I don't know. Is Creed the reason they're going bankrupt?

I think so, probably.

Pam doesn't get out of it, she's got to go to this birthday double date. The car ride was so cringy, but guess what, the car ride home is going to be even worse.

Pam's mom calls her Pammy. Did you notice?

I did notice. And it's like Colleen and Michael are like talking to Pam about making good choices and being a good salesperson. And they're being so parental. And you can just see like, Pam is like, Oh my god, what is happening?

So next, we're going to go into the kitchen, and Dwight is continuing his favors for the office. He's cleaning out the freezer.

Oh, I have some catches here.

Oh, tell.

Four minutes, 42 seconds. Did you guys see what all Dwight had taken out of the freezer and put on the counter?

I did, I paused it.

Took a screen grab.

Let's see if we clocked the same stuff.

Seven tubs of ice cream.

Seven tubs of ice cream, all of which still have the plastic thing on them, like none of them have been opened, yeah.

Six frozen microwave dinners. Mm-hmm, some mixed veggies.

Mm-hmm.

A whole thing of butter, a bag of what is that? six small baguettes.

Yes.

And then two enormous bags of what looks like to be raw chicken sitting on top of the microwave.

Which we'll get called back later.

So much raw chicken.

We had a fan question from Hepsi from Cuernavaca, Mexico. I noticed Dwight cleaning the fridge in this scene, and I'm wondering if you guys ever used the fridge or freezer or cabinets to actually store your real snacks? We did not, it was just props, we never ate any of that.

Sometimes Mindy would eat prop food. We know this Mindy and Ed were notorious for eating prop food, but we kept all of our snacks in our dust drawer.

Yes, my perishable snacks we kept in the fridge, that was backstage.

Yeah, but I had like a bag of potato chips in my drawer.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

I had Gum.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, but I would never—I would not trust eating something I found in that fridge. No, because maybe it was from like, who knows when.

Oh yeah.

Unless it was a new item made for that episode, the other stuff in there just sort of stayed.

I remember one time a few of us, I don't know why, ate some of those cheese balls.

Oh, yeah, I was there, I was part of that, yeah, and then it was like a dare near the end.

All of a sudden, I remember Phil Shea being like, guys, guys, we spray those with the stuff so they don't go bad and we're like, ugh.

Yeah, with like a lacquer.

Well, you know, we're fine.

We're here. Well. While Dwight's cleaning out the freezer, Andy comes in to give him his newly polished briefcase. Mm-hmm, because he's returning the favor of the bagels. And this leads to this favor competition, basically, as they're walking back to their desks.

It's really funny, these two guys cracked me up.

Me too, you know? At 5 minutes 36 seconds, Dwight says. If you clench your buttocks together while walking, you can really take the pressure off your knees.

Little tip there, just a little tip.

Well, I looked it up.

Does it work? I was going to try it.

Well, I read an article called Getting to the bottom of knee Pain in Women EW.

Okay, okay.

Knee pain in women caused by their butts, the article asks. It says If you're experiencing knee pain and you go to a physical therapist, they might ask you, are you using your butt? If the pain is not from like an obvious injury, you know, this physical therapist says, I always start with the glutes.

What's a perma-clench?

That's, I think, where you're just clenching for no reason. why would you clench for no reason?

To take the pressure off your knees.

She said it can lead to other problems. It can lead to wear and tear on your lumbar discs. You can get too tight of a pelvic floor, I guess that's bad. Instead of clenching, just do good glute workouts to build up the whole muscle.

Okay.

I know that we have not gotten very far into this episode. Should we take a break, though, and then we'll come back and we'll break down the rest?

Yeah, because when we come back, the Scott family is checking in at the restaurant.

Yes.

The Scott Family table is ready.

But which one is it? I mean, there's just a bunch of boring tables, yeah.

Oh wait, one has a ton of balloons and nice of the restaurant to let them hang a banner and their potted plants.

I know it is so sweet. Michael has completely decorated this table for Helene's birthday, Pam notices. I think this is the first moment where she's kind of softening to this.

Also because Helene is so delighted, she's so happy. They start the birthday lunch, sort of talking about how, like, Oh, they're at this great Italian restaurant. Michael's like, You know, I'd love to go to Italy. Helene's like, Oh, you can have all my travel books.

Yeah, the flights are too long. Yeah, not interested. And he's like, Great, I guess I'll take your books.

And then Pam and her mom have this like, fun little banter. Pam's like, So mom, which birthday are we celebrating this year? Jenna? I used to do this with my mom. What do you mean? I would be like, Okay, mom, what birthday is it?

That is so funny.

So Helene says, I'm sticking with 49.

But then he's going to need to take pencil to paper.

And still get it wrong, right?

Michael realizes that Helene is 58.

And you can tell this hits him pretty hard.

We had a fan catch, though, from Allison H. in Louisville, Kentucky, and many others. By the way, who said? I think there's a math error? Helene says she's 49..

Nice catch.

Yeah.

So, when I was trading messages with Charlie Grandy about this episode, he said that. What he remembers most about working with Seth Gordon was the fact that me, John, Steve and Linda were going to be locked at this same table for, like, four big scenes in a row. And it became this big question.

Right?

And Charlie said If you re-watch it, you can really see what a great job he did. He added multiple angles, he keeps flipping sides to keep it interesting, and by mostly framing out the other tables.

Oh, that's so artsy, I know.

And it's really true. I started re-watching these scenes and we only used two cameras, but in each of the scenes, they set them up a little differently. So you didn't feel like you were coming back to the same table.

It's really cool. Well, we're going to go from this talk of being 49 nine years in a row, but actually being 58 with more sexy talk. What name should she be called?

He is. I noticed something at 9 minutes and 6 seconds in this scene. What do you notice? How Steve eats his food as Michael Scott?

Well, he kind of scrapes the fork with his teeth.

Yes, he eats tiny amounts of food off the tip of the fork with his very front teeth. He doesn't put the fork all the way in his mouth. He, like, bites it off the tip of the fork.

It's either a Michael Scott eating choice, or it's Steve, the actor not wanting to eat the prop food and making the best of it. Because I would do something similar, I would just put the tiniest amount on the end of the fork or spoon.

Well, now I guess I'd have to watch Steve's other films and see if he's eating in any of them. And see if this is just his actor way of eating. Or if it was a character choice, I'll investigate.

Investigate. Because with prop food, when you start out, it's usually really fresh and warm, and they've made it ready for you to eat. But as each take goes, it gets colder and colder, and a little bit more wilty, depending what you're eating.

True.

It's also lunchtime back at Dunder Mifflin, and oh my gosh, Andy has set up a whole taco buffet in the conference room.

Yes, but Dwight is going to volunteer to serve everyone.

Yes, did you notice at 9 minutes 26 seconds when Angela Martin enters?

Yes.

Her face, she makes, and she does a 180 out of the room.

Well, because she's vegetarian.

So I went to the script because I was like, what did it say in the script about this moment in the script? It just says. Angela Martin enters the room and immediately walks back out.

Oh.

So the face I made was just me like, probably playing around in the moment.

I have a question, did you guys actually eat those tacos that day? They looked good.

We did not just because it had to sit there for a bit, oh, but we wanted to. When they first brought them out, we're like, woohoo tacos, and they're like, No, no, no guys.

And so then it cuts back to the scene.

And Dwight's making his taco, Dwight hands it to Kevin, and Kevin's so excited he crushes it in his hand.

Oh, Kevin.

It doesn't stop, Jenna. I'd like to break down all the gifts that Michael got, Helene.

Oh.

And really show how all out he went for her until he broke up with her, he went all out. He got her. The necklace and then also the lunch reservation, right? mm-hmm, where he decorated the table.

I assume she can take that with her.

Yes, as well as a scrapbook of their courtship, the wrapping paper says love in several different languages. Here are a few things that were in the scrapbook, per the shooting draft. Some made it in the episode, some did not.

Which doesn't exist.

Right, the fountain that doesn't exist. Also a ticket stub to a movie they went to together. Love happens. Oh, I looked up, love happens.

I mean, it's beautiful.

It might be in my journal.

We had a fan question about the scrapbook from Carla B. in Gardena, California. The cover page of the scrapbook at the very bottom where it says, love. Copyright Michael. We also see the letters XXLR, Any idea what those letters stand for?

I do, what is it? It's in the shooting draft. Oh, tell us.

Because I thought they were Roman numerals, but when I looked it up, there's no R in Roman numerals.

Yes, so Helene reads that out loud, kind of like curious, and Michael goes, Those are Roman numerals. I made them up. Oh my gosh, I did not know that you knew the answer to that question when I asked it.

Oh, the shooting draft. It unlocks so many mysteries.

So many mysteries. I have a few other things to share from the shooting draft as well. Did you notice that? Jim and Pam left Dunder Mifflin with a box? a gift box wrapped in green wrapping paper? Jim is carrying it? Oh, yes.

Yes, yes.

And they bring it in to the restaurant. It's their gift to Helene. Oh, do you know what they got? Helene?

What?

In the shooting draft, it says Helene is holding a sweater that Jim and Pam gave her. MICHAEL Oh, what a nice gift.

Oh yes, a cozy sweater on his 58-year-old girlfriend. It's not sexy, it's not sexy to him. I mean, Michael is really spiraling so much so that he's going to go hide.

Pam has to go find him.

He's like, hiding in the bar, yeah.

She's like, Come on, weirdo, it's time for cake. This scene was amazing. Start to finish the fact that it starts off with Michael saying, Finish your cake, Helene.

First of all, the thing that made us laugh the most was the waitress interrupting us to pour the water.

That was so brilliant, I thought that was brilliant. It is scripted exactly in the shooting draft, the way you guys shot it.

Yeah.

Because this is what you really do. You have these conversations and sometimes someone walks up to your table and you have to stop mid-sentence.

Yes, I do it all the time, all the time. What is that like from the waiter's point of view?

I mean, you know, I walked in a restaurant, you know, people like you walk up, sometimes you hear stuff, sometimes they don't stop, but this was hilarious.

It was so difficult to get through.

I would have completely lost it. So Michael's clearly breaking up with Helene and he uses Pam as the excuse. He's like, You know, I've thought about it, this isn't fair to Pam.

Okay.

My mom used to call me every night to cry about the divorce, then she started dating Michael and she stopped calling. And I thought it was because she knew how mad I was, but now I think it was because she stopped crying. And that's what I should want for her, right?