Tallahassee

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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.

Hello, hi there.

Today, we're talking about Tallahassee, not the city, but the episode.

The episode, and maybe we'll also talk about the city.

Maybe we will. Mm-hmm. You have a look on your face like you're planning to talk about the city.

I looked up Tallahassee.

Okay, well, this was Season 8, episode 15, written by Dani Chun and directed by Matt Sohn. Here is your summary. The Dunder Mifflin Scranton Special Projects team has arrived in Florida and are introduced to Nellie Bertram, President of Special Projects.

Dunder Mifflin Scranton Special Projects Team. That's not easy to say, it's not put it on a hat.

It's going to barely fit.

I know.

Dwight is determined to take over as leader of the Special Projects Group, or at least vice president. And not even appendicitis is going to stop him in a cringy, upsetting way for me, as we know that I don't like it when people do not attend to their injuries.

And you also don't like it when people get re-injured in like an open wound.

No, I do not.

Yeah.

So this was difficult for me.

Not that I enjoy it, but I just know it's something that really, you know, makes you go. ugh.

Yeah, it's a soft spot for me. But also in this episode, Jim is going to take a page from Stanley's book and he's going to try to teach himself how to lean into fun mode. He's really seeing Stanley as a bit of a mentor here in Tallahassee.

Who knew?

And finally, Andy is surprised by how much he loves sitting in for Erin at reception.

Andy is a very good receptionist.

Talk about the Peter principle.

Exactly.

He should have maybe just stayed right there. Well, fast. Fact number one We shot this episode after a two week Thanksgiving hiatus. So if I look like I'm moving more comfortably, that's because I was I'd had this nice two week break. However, I was thinking back to this Thanksgiving, Angela over this Thanksgiving with my eight week old son. After coming off of being back at work and my C-section, I hosted my husband's family for Thanksgiving and insisted on making a pie from scratch, like a homemade pie crust.

You lost me at hosted Thanksgiving.

I know.

With a newborn.

With an eight week old, but it was my mother-in-law, Ginger's opportunity to come visit the baby, so we kind of bundled it. And you know, I wasn't working for this two weeks, so it made it a little easier, but.

Those were all the things you said to yourself at the time. But then here you are with a newborn trying to make a pie crust, and you have a bunch of people coming over.

And then, when my son was 12 weeks old, we had my whole family in for Christmas.

At your house, you hosted again? Yes, oh my gosh.

But listen, you know, people pitched in. My husband's sister made a bunch of dishes for Thanksgiving, my mom and sister made a bunch of stuff for Christmas. Yeah, and it felt easier than packing up the baby and going on the road.

Well, there's that.

Yeah, but I remembered this when I was watching the episode. And I went back and I looked at a bunch of pictures and then I googled, What did you do over this Thanksgiving?

Which I don't know why.

I know.

You emailed me that you googled Thanksgiving 2011.

Yeah.

And then put in my name, and what came up was this interview I did on Conan O'Brien, which was so good.

And Angela, you had the most amazing hair, you had an incredible center part. I never see you do center part.

I know I was trying to do Elizabeth Shue, remember, like Elizabeth Shue, like Cocktail era.

Do it more. No, no, it becomes you, yes.

It was so good.

And you talked about your Thanksgiving with your family. I did.

And you guys, I have a little clip and it just made me smile so big because I had forgotten this. I mean, obviously, you know, when I heard it, I remembered. But my mom and dad had come out to visit, and my mom and dad and I took Isabel to the Santa Barbara Zoo and I talked about it.

Tell me about your Thanksgiving. You have a nice Thanksgiving, I did.

My mom and dad, Bill and Bertie Kinsey of Archer City, Texas. Nothing.

No, that's okay.

They came out and we took my daughter to the Santa Barbara Zoo. It's like, so nice up there, it's a great zoo.

It's a great zoo, right?

And this happened. So a helicopter goes over and my dad is like, he's the guy that informs people, so a helicopter goes over and my dad goes. We got a chopper.

And I'm like, okay.

And my mom, it's like, throws this away, goes probably Angelina Jolie going somewhere?

But they do that.

They think that if there's any traffic anywhere we are, she's like, probably Brad Pitt and those kids.

Anytime they see a helicopter, they assume it's Brad and Angelina going somewhere, yes.

I'm like, Mom, I don't think their lives are that fancy. I don't know. no, they probably are.

It's them.

Yeah, it's probably her.

It's probably her.

They've often taunted me from the helicopter. Look at us. Irish. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, totally.

Oh, I love that you have that memory now and it's preserved.

I know I actually showed my daughter the clip and she was like, mom, and she also commented on the middle part.

Because it looks so good.

And it's also very in fashion now. The middle part and she's like, Mom, I never knew you did a middle part, and I was like, Well, once or twice.

Isn't there a whole like Gen Z millennial thing where it's like, side part means one thing, and then, like, middle part is something else?

That you're younger, basically.

Oh, it is, yes.

I forget what we are, but we're side part, we're side part people.

We're side part. Wait, Cassie, do you have a middle part?

I always switch it, but Gen Z say, if you don't do a middle part, you're old. Oh so, we're old.

So middle part is where it's useful, but what happens if you are old and you do a center part? Are you trying too hard?

I mean, I think Gen Z wants you to do a middle part, but maybe to mock us. That's what I'm afraid of. Well, I rocked a middle part and maybe I'll try it again.

I think you should. Are you ready for fast? Fact number two? Because it's all about one of our favorite people, Catherine Tate as Nellie Bertram.

Catherine Tate One of the funniest women I've ever been in a room with.

I love her so much.

And she's so kind and nice. Okay, go.

Here is what everyone needs to know. Catherine Tate is a superstar. She was on Doctor Who? she was on the Catherine Tate show in England. But she was relatively unknown in the United States when she came to do the office.

From the beginning, we wanted her, everyone wanted her.

Now I was reading a lot about what the writers had to say about her coming in and her character in Andy Green's book About the Office. And basically, all the writers kind of apologized for not using her enough. As her arc went on, I'll be very curious to watch that because in this episode she is absolutely fantastic and I want to track her arc. But that was the general consensus was we got an absolute comedic superstar in this woman. And in the end, they felt like they didn't write to her enough, that they didn't give her storyline enough of the spotlight.

You know, I ran into Catherine a few years ago. Total coincidence. We saw each other, we got to talking and it was just so great. Catching up with her. And I really want to have her on the podcast.

Oh, for sure, I think she gets her whole own episode.

Oh, yes.

Right?

All right.

Moving on now to Fast Fact number three. Angela, you told me you have a share and you know I love it when you take over Fast Fact number three, so I can't wait.

Yes, did you know, Jenna, that there is a really big the office mural being painted in Scranton?

Right now, right now.

Oh, yes, according to the news station WNEP. Listen to this title, Ain't no mural like an office mural?

What is on the office mural?

This says everyone stay calm. The new mural coming to Lackawanna Avenue, will feature some fan favorite characters and in parentheses. And also Toby.

That's clever.

Scranton is well known for being the setting of the popular television show The Office. And that's why a new mural is coming to Lackawanna Avenue. When it's finished, it will be 86 feet wide.

That seems large, I know.

And 27 feet tall, the mural will feature portraits of your favorite Dunder Mifflin employees, local landmarks referenced in the series, and famous quotes from the show.

And famous quotes Yes, wow, that's a lot of stuff, but I mean, it's a large billboard.

A formal dedication of the mural is set for October 6th.

That's like next week.

I know we've got to go, I mean, I know we can't. How are we going to get there? We have plans next week.

Well, of course, I'm taking a picture of myself in front of this mural.

In front of yourself, on a mural.

I want to imagine that Pam painted it, Oh, just going to pretend she did.

Oh, I like that, Pam painted it, Angela looked on judging. But anyway, we're super excited to check out this mural in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and oh my goodness how wonderful the city of Scranton has been to us as a cast.

So true.

We love you guys.

Well, before we head to break, just a quick reminder that we will be in Toronto next Thursday, September 21st, as part of the Just For Laughs Festival. There are still tickets available and we would love to see you there.

Yes, you can find tickets at Toronto.

It's a really fun night of friendship and embarrassing stories. Yeah, lots of those. Bring your best friend, go with your mom, go with your dad.

Go with your partner in life, we can't wait to see you.

Well, that's all I got. Should we take a break and then come back and we can discuss how Dwight wakes people up in the morning?

It's not pleasant.

No, it's not.

You better wake up because Dwight is coming around.

Yes, he goes one by one and he wakes up everybody in different ways.

He's got it perfectly timed out. It's all starting at 510 in the morning.

Well, yeah, he gives a breakdown of how long it's going to take to get everyone moving in the morning.

As he has this monologue where he breaks down how he has to wake everyone up at different times. Did you notice how Dwight gets dressed? Please tell me there was a fan mail flurry, No, what?

How he gets dressed.

He's getting dressed as he does this monologue, he puts his shirt and blazer on at the same time, he has his shirt tucked into his blazer. I did not notice any of this.

Sock, it automatically goes in his shoe. What was I doing during this talking head? That, by the way, I watched three times because I watched this episode three times to prep and I never noticed this.

I was mesmerized, I thought, Oh my gosh, Dwight is efficient, everything he puts on is attached to something else.

Wow, I can't believe I missed it.

I thought it was brilliant, I love this little piece of detail. Well, Dwight's going to wake up Kathy by yelling in her ear and scaring her. Then he tries to do the same thing to Aaron, but Aaron is sleeping with her feet on her pillow and whacks him in the head. Then they try to wake up Stanley because now Aaron's helping him, but Stanley won't wake up, so Dwight basically holds his nose and closes his mouth.

I cannot.

Then they go in to wake up Ryan, and Aaron kind of is like, Hey, want to wake up? Ryan is so excited. Apparently he went to her door twice the night before. Then he realizes it's just Dwight trying to wake him up, and he's like, not cool. Last person they go to wake up is Jim, but Jim's been up for a long time.

I would like to play a bullshit card real quick. In Dwight's talking head, he says that Jim takes 50 minutes to style his hair. Shouldn't he have woken Jim up first? According to his talking head, Jim needs the most time in the morning. Why is he the last room they go to? Dwight?

I accept your bullshit card.

Thank you.

I was curious about this scene, Jim's elaborate prank of how he's trying to fake his own death, and they walk into the room.

Yes, and frame Dwight for it.

Exactly, I was curious how it was described in the script. This is what it said. Camera turns to reveal that Jim has set up the room to look like an insane crime scene. There's an open briefcase with money spilling out of it, a blood-soaked towel in the corner, the mattress is overturned, the TV is set to static. The balcony door is open. There are sheets tied into a rope going over the balcony's edge.

Now, here's something that I found really interesting about this scene, which is that, in reality, when Dwight and Erin walk into the room. They would have taken in all of these details, probably at the same time, for example, the sign on the wall that says Dwight did it. They might have seen that first, but they wait to react until the camera has panned around the room and ends on. Dwight did it and then they react to it. Which I just thought was really interesting. Because we are assuming that they saw the room the way the camera saw the room. But really, if you walk in a room, you see it all at once, right? I just thought that was an interesting storytelling maneuver.

I feel like you're calling bullshit on a few things today. You're like, I call bullshit on the camera work.

No, it's just, I guess it would be like, on the delayed reaction of Dwight and Erin, I feel like they would have reacted much sooner. But they had to wait for the camera to get to the sign. Well, this whole cold open Angela took me down a road that is very random. I got curious about, how early do you need to wake up in the morning before you can walk out the door?

Oh, let's hear it.

Does this interest you?

It does because just this morning, I sort of shared that I am done maintaining the back of my head.

Okay, I'm done.

And how much time will this save you?

I'm hoping quite a bit because I have a cowlick in the back of my head and I have to backcomb and I have to hairspray. I have to do things. So the Red Sea doesn't part back there every day.

Right?

And I'm done, you're done, you know what? If you see me out and about and you see the back of my head looking like a hot mess? Just know that I'm done, It's because you're done.

Okay, good to know. The back of my head looks quite wonky lately because of my shoulder, so we're quite a pair.

That would be our paparazzi photo, like no one's taking pictures of us, like, who cares? But what I'd love to see out there is just a photo of the back of our heads.

Just looking horrible, ah, one can dream well. According to this article by Glamour magazine, the average time that a woman spends on grooming in the morning is 22.5 minutes, and men average 20 minutes. However, they pointed to a study that said that the longer someone spends getting ready in the morning, the more likely they are to feel negative about their appearance. Oh.

I think for me, it changed as I aged, you know, because here I am, 52, and I'm like, I'm done taking care of the back of my head.

Right?

When I was younger, I spent more time trying to look nice, mm-hmm.

Same, we've given up. I don't know. Well, I think for me, in terms of grooming, I need 12 minutes to pull myself together, 20 if I'm trying hard. But in general, as I get older, I like a real long runway in the morning.

Yeah, Dwight doesn't want to come wake me up, he doesn't, no.

Oh boy.

Don't come at me, Dwight, not in the morning. I do want to say the way that John is. Jim fell out of the closet I thought was so good.

We got a fan question about that, Olga in Spain said. Was it really John? or was it a doll like he? It was John, It was John, but he fell so convincingly.

It looked like it hurt, it looked perfect. He went noodle.

He did, it was very well done, it was John.

Yeah, the episode is going to start now with Jim. He's in the lobby gift shop it looks like of the hotel he is, and Dwight's trying to get everyone you know out the door into the van.

Is it puppets?

She said Puppets because they're stuffed animals that can actually do something. I was curious about this Tallahassee gift shop at the hotel. I love a gift shop, I know I love it.

Okay.

This made me very curious about what Tallahassee has to offer.

Should I settle in for a Tallahassee breakdown?

I found so many interesting things about Tallahassee that I'm actually going to sprinkle them throughout the episode.

Okay.

But first up, Tallahassee is the state capital of Florida. It has two L's, two S's and two E's, which also got me curious about what other double letter U.S state capitals there are. Can you name any, Sam?

Well, I mean, I just thought of Mississippi, but that is a state, state.

State, state capital double letters.

Buffalo has two f's in it. Is it the state capital of New York?

Albany is, I'll say little rock, Yes, Sam.

Very good.

Ready?

What are you going to say more, or do I have to keep showing off my lack of geographic knowledge?

I'll just read what, please, I'll read what the internet said. Nashville, Little Rock, Harrisburg, Annapolis, Cheyenne, Pierre and Jefferson City. Oh my gosh.

I'm ashamed. Jefferson City is the capital of Missouri.

Oh, lady.

I mean, I knew that, but I wasn't thinking of the double f, double letters.

I know, yeah. Also, did you know that? The distance from Tallahassee to the Georgia state line is about 17 miles?

I didn't.

And 58 miles from the Alabama state line.

Well, those are very good facts, Angela. There's more to come. Oh good, I will wait for them, just so everyone knows. We did not film this in Tallahassee.

I remember that conference room.

You do.

I do because I always love to go see what they were building. You know, I do my walks with Oscar and then we would just go kind of pop in.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, but he also is like, you know, I work with her, I like her, but I also hate her.

Yeah, because of this one thing that happened on the first day.

There was a must-shoot alt for this Dwight talking head, and I want to share it with you.

Okay.

The first day is when group dynamics are set. I had a bad first day of kindergarten and for the next 13 years, I was seen as some weird outcast. So if I don't show Nellie today that I'm the natural leader, I might as well stick my penis in the finger paints.

Oh my goodness, okay, okay, obviously, we cannot use that talking head, obviously.

Yeah, I know.

But that is not going on the air.

It made me laugh, though, because everything was normal about it to the last few words, and then I was like, What?

I know well. Dwight's going to head to the gift shop, he needs to pick up some antacids, and he wants to buy a gift for baby Phillip. And he's going to have a chat with Heather. The gift shop worker, who was played by Trish Surr. Now Trish, is one of the co-hosts of the show Clean House, where every week a team of people comes and declutters a house.

Oh, I need them.

She was the yard sale diva. She won a daytime Emmy for this show, yeah.

Wow.

And she was really good in this episode, too. But yes, Dwight is really taking his paternity of Phillip very seriously.

Next up is a very funny beat, where Ryan is having Aaron take pictures of him for Facebook. There was more to this. It's in deleted scenes where he does poses around the parking lot. Oh, it's really funny.

Yep.

And Stanley requests Kenny Loggins. This is one of my favorite couplets of dialogue in the whole entire episode because it is so subtle and I loved it, Stanley says. You're a nice guy, Jim, but you have no idea how to vacation? Find some Kenny Loggins, Jim says, Loggins and Messina.

Okay, I didn't get it because I don't know what Loggins and Messina is, okay, what is it?

Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina were a singer-songwriter duo. Okay, they had tons of hits, you probably know, I mean, I know, you know them.

We ain't got money. I'm so in love with you honey. Oh, I love that song, okay?

That one.

That's Loggins and Messina.

That's Loggins and Messina, also your mama don't dance and your daddy don't rock and roll. that's Loggins and Messina.

That's Loggins and Messina, they had so many hits.

Oh, I love them.

But clearly, Stanley does not want Loggins and Messina, he wants just straight up solo Loggins, you know, Kenny Loggins. He did a bunch of songs, I mean.-.

What's Solo Loggins?

Oh, you know what? Top gun? What's the top gun song?

I am, too, and I didn't even know it.

I didn't even know who this Messina fellow was, it just cracked me up. Like, I don't know which writer in the writer's room pitched this very small, subtle joke that Stanley would not like Messina and only want solo loggins. But it really cracked me up. You guys, I'm a total dork for little tiny jokes like that.

Well, I noticed something about this scene, which is that it was very windy outside. Did you see the wind so windy?

No, I think I was so fixated on that couplet of dialogue.

Well, I noticed it because that's kind of unusual for L.A. but I thought it really sold it as Florida.

Oh, yeah, yeah, made it look very tropical.

Yeah, well, these guys are all going to head to their meeting and in the meantime, we're going to head to Scranton. Andy's going to walk out of his office and notice how incredibly quiet it is.

Yeah, Creed likes it, he's already written 12 plays. Yeah, can we please, please have an episode somewhere where we just watch one of Creed's plays?

Because it would be utter nonsense, I know it would make no sense. Pam wonders. Wait, why is it so quiet? She realizes that it's because no one took the phone off voicemail.

All of a sudden there's this front reception standoff between Andy and Pam, and Kelly's freaking out. She's like, someone just answer it. Neither of them want to budge. There was a Pam-deleted talking head that would have gone here and I want to read it to you.

I remember it.

Here's what Pam said I just got back from maternity leave. I can't let them make me the receptionist. I've worked way too hard for way too long to get to this place, of them thinking I'm the office administrator.

Yes, we got a piece of mail about this scene from Charlotte E. in Canada, but who is living in the UK? Charlotte said. I just want to say how much I appreciate the scene where Pam does not pick up the phone in the end because that's not her job anymore. There's so much underlying expectations, sometimes in an office environment.

I mean, yes, yes, I think so. I support Pam's stance of not answering the phones because it will set a precedent. But yeah, it is her department.

And if she's not going to answer the phone, I believe she's responsible for finding someone to answer the phone.

There it is, right, yes.

Next up, Jim tells Kathy that Stanley drives fast, and Stanley explains that life is short and one of his mottos is drive fast. Leave a sexy corpse. We had a fan question from Charlotte M. in Washington, D.C. who said I have been waiting for so long to send in this question. This is my top Stanley line in the whole series.

I went to the candy bag.

I did, too.

I didn't see any no alts, and this line was scripted exactly the way he said it.

Yes, but it did make me want to know if Stanley had any other mottos. I wish that there was just a writer's pitch sheet of Stanley mottos.

I'm sure it exists somewhere. I was actually going to ask you about the show Bible if it said anything in the show Bible.

If there was a page called Stanley's Mottos, I believe there is not. I wish there was. Guess who else is at this conference?

The pac-man is back. Jim and Dwight tried to get him fired, but he landed on his feet. In Florida, yeah.

He's got nine lives and a nine inch, nine inches of other things.

Yep, mm-hmm.

Now we get to introduce Nellie Bertram, one of my favorite introductions ever.

I love how she just selects Ryan and just starts whispering to him, and also Ryan doesn't question it. He just starts saying what she's telling him to say.

Yes, what does she get Ryan to say?

She says, Say, So, who's leading this thing anyway?

Yes.

And then she stands up and says him, you say, don't think a woman could be a leader, you poor simple boy.

Yes, and then she launches into a speech. And I want to ask you, Angela, if I'm ever asked to do like a commencement speech at my college or at college, can I start my speech like this? Can I do this? Expected a man, did you?

That would be amazing.

Can I I really want to know?

I want you to do it.

There is going to be an event and I'm going to start it that way and we'll see how it goes.

There's going to be a whole ton of people that don't get it and think you've lost it. And then there'll be like a few people in the corner that are like, Woohoo, season eight.

Tell us.

So Nellie, yes, is now running the meeting. She's going to explain the origin of this project, which is that she interviewed to be the potential branch manager in Scranton. She points right at Jim and says, But I didn't get the job. And apparently she got really upset about this and went on a shopping spree. She bought 13 pianos.

So all of this when she's explaining her breakdown and how she bought the pianos, and then how she had this epiphany about selling things. And she went and talked to Joe, and then she got this job. It was so well done that I went to the script because I wanted to know how much of it was scripted. And maybe did Katherine improvise? It was scripted word for word? That is how good she is.

Watching Katherine in this scene, I totally lost where I was. And if I had been in that conference room, I would have forgotten to act. Because I was just so enthralled with her performance.

I wish it would have gone on another five minutes, like I could have watched even more of that. Well, lady, I think we should take a break before we get too deep into Dwight's appendicitis and Andy's obsession with reception. And when we come back, I actually have some interesting details on how this episode was received by fans and critics. There was a lot of hubbub.

Did Miles McNutt write about it?

He did, and I'm going to tell you what he said.

Okay.

All right, we are back and before we keep breaking down this episode, I thought maybe you might be interested to know how this episode Tallahassee was received.

I am so interested.

All right, it was very mixed, but it was sort of everybody versus Miles McNutt.

Oh yeah.

Okay, so. TV Equals did a review of this episode and said it was one of the best episodes of the season and maybe even of the last couple of seasons. Among Office tally fans, Tallahassee was ranked number one for season eight, the number one episode most favorite.

Of all of season eight.

Of all of Season eight, however, Miles McNutt, not a fan, gave it a c-.

Oh god.

And you can imagine the rest of the review from there.

Yeah.

Well, he got some pushback. A fan named Steve B wrote on the comment board quote I think you need to recuse yourself from reviewing this show. Each week you find a new reason to hate a particular episode. When the show gives you what you want, you find another reason.

What?

In his review for After Hours, which is next week's episode, Miles McNutt said this.

Did he address Steve B?

Well, sort of, Miles said. Quote Last week's episode probably should have been above a C minus. Oh, but I went with my gut and I have to stand by that decision.

Go miles. I support him, standing by his first reaction.

Yes, that was his first reaction, I'll tell you. Among fans generally, they loved this episode, but the Cold Open was hotly debated. There was a huge lover hate of the Cold Open. We got a letter from Dennis D.

Wow.

But then other people said it was the funniest cold open in a long time. They agreed with Dennis.

You can't make everybody happy.

You can't, you especially can't make Miles McNutt happy very easily.

I have to wonder, and I'm sure it's not. Is Steve B. Steve Burgess?

Wait.

Wait, that is so funny.

Did Steve Burgess go on Miles McNutt's review?

I'm sure he did it because he's busy and he would probably never would have done that. But it is kind of funny that it's Steve B.

I didn't even think of that. Angela I kind of want to ask Steve, I know I do, too.

Did you ever write on Miles McNutt's comment board?

Oh, I love that so much.

And ask him to recuse himself.

He is.

And Nellie is going to ask someone to help with the projection screen to pull it down. She points out that Ryan couldn't reach it.

It would be so funny if he tried my balloon.

And it's in this moment that Dwight's, like, I must appear like a strong, tall leader, especially because she asked Jim to do it right. I have to say, Rainn Wilson completely crushed it the way he sold his pain as he reaches up for that screen to pull it down. I thought he was brilliant in this whole episode.

Wow, this has taken a turn. This speech, it's turned into a we deserve Emmys speech because of the pulling down of the screen. I love it, but there's so many other moments.

You were sitting right by me when Steve didn't win and it was his last time nominated. And I couldn't control myself. And I said, a curse word you did with the camera right by me. I just thought Rainn should have won an Emmy.

Well, you know, who agrees with you is Kelly M. from Woodbridge, Virginia. Kelly M wrote in and said I have been waiting for so long to submit this to you. Ladies. I thought I would save you some time on a deep dive. I am a pediatric RN in Minnesota and I work with kids with appendicitis nearly every shift.

Oh, wow.

The most distinct symptom is when we as medical personnel push slightly on someone's abdomen. And the most pain is actually when we release the pressure, not when we apply the pressure. We call this rebound tenderness. Appendicitis is a serious medical issue. And there were a few moments that stuck out to me in this episode. That shows how well Rainn Wilson performed first is the way he walks and stands through the whole episode.

Kellyanne, thank you for writing in. You're clearly an expert on appendicitis, and I'm so glad we did a good portrayal of this.

Me too, from the writing to Rainn's performance, which deserved an Emmy.

Dwight has finally had enough with the pain and he has called, I guess, 911.

I don't know who he's called.

He's called someone in the medical profession and he's saying he has symptoms that might mimic being poisoned or appendicitis. Jim's like, Dwight, I didn't poison you.

Yeah.

And that's when Dwight's like, get me an ambulance right away.

Until he discovers that Nellie needs someone in the position of vice president of special projects, and then he gets off the phone.

Yeah, Dwight has a phrase I am now going to adopt into my life, and I'm going to say it whenever I want, especially if I'm agitated. What is it? Send it to the freaking moon idiot.

Okay, oh my goodness, that's how he cancels the ambulance.

Yeah, they say, Where should I send the ambulance? and he says, send it to the freaking moon idiot. That's what I'm going to say now, that's going to be my new phrase.

After canceling the ambulance, he's going to saddle up to Nellie, who's having a conversation with Todd Packer about hunting. And this is when Dwight is going to explain that he is a master hunter, but only a decent baiter.

Yes, because Todd Packer's trying to mess with him. He says. Did you say master baiter? and he goes, No, I'm a decent baiter, but my cousin Moe's, that's a master baiter.

Next up, for some reason, Nellie is going to suggest everyone make a human pyramid.

This is very Michael Scott.

It is, but guess what, Florida? Stanley is up for it, which means then Jim is up for it. Aaron's like, Sure, I'll do it. Steve Burgess said that our stunt coordinator, Brett Jones, had to plan this whole pyramid.

For him to crawl up to the top.

Yes, but they can take out in post, you know, and I don't know if you noticed. But Leslie is not on the bottom of that pyramid. We had a stunt person dressed as Stanley who stood in.

Well, this scene was actually bigger. There was a moment where Aaron makes some small talk with a woman named Stacy, who is from Tallahassee, who's at this meeting. And Stacy says to Aaron, Wow, you're moving here for good? Aaron says. Yeah, I've never lived in a state capital before.

It seems super exciting.

Stacy says Well, Tallahassee's glad to have you. So what are your main priorities in a place? Cheap rent, artsy, neighborhood, big yard? Aaron says. I'd like to be close enough to the zoo that I can stand on my roof and throw a banana and watch a monkey catch it in its mouth.

I am speechless.

I am speechless. This is her hope for Tallahassee.

Well, this is her criteria for living anywhere.

I guess so, living in a state capital.

Yeah.

So I was curious, does Tallahassee have a zoo? Aaron is out of luck, but it does have 17 museums.

Oh.

You can go to WhichMuseum?

Maybe so.

Yeah.

I'm a big museum person, I know when I go to cities, I love a museum. One of my favorite places in the United States is Santa Fe, New Mexico. They have so much history stuff.

I feel like Tallahassee has a lot of cool things to see.

I think Aaron's going to do well there. She will, if she can give up the weird monkey banana dream.

Yeah, because she's not going to find that.

She's not going to get that well back to the episode. This human pyramid is not going to go well for Dwight, he's going to end up on a stretcher. It's an emergency.

Back at Dunder, Mifflin Scranton, Andy is really leveling up his reception game. He's made mini pizzas.

They're very popular.

And he's faxing up a storm.

He's shredding and faxing at the same time. Yeah, he says, Daryl, Awesome news.

Your fax went through, and Daryl says, Oh, yeah.

I had to know.

I had to know if this was scripted and it was verbatim. Wow. This also brings me to the question, why is getting a fax through such a big deal? Has Aaron not been able to get faxes through?

I feel like we have learned that she has trouble with the fax machine. That is a thing.

It is, and did you catch the pin display at Andy's reception area?

Yeah.

A tier of pins all layered, a row of green pins, blue, yellow and one red one. At the top. There was an extended scene. It's in the deleted scenes of Andy making this.

Really, yes, we watch him make the pen tower.

Yes.

Wow, back in Tallahassee, Dwight has called Aaron, I guess, from the hospital post-surgery, and he wants to know what's going on. And she says, we're giving presentations.

Let me tell you, the last person you want to give you information about anything is Aaron.

I mean, she doesn't do a bad job here.

I know, but then she goes, let me see. What else have you missed? Ryan switched his name tag to his pants. So now it's like, if you wear yours on your shirt, you're a total dip, but if you switch, you're a copycat. But I think I figured out a solution.

Where do you wear your name tag? When you put a name tag on? do you put it on your chest? Yeah, every time.

Yeah, where do you put yours?

If it says my name, I put it on my chest, but if it's some weird pass in order to get into a building or go to a meeting or something. I put it down low, I put it maybe on my hip or on the lower part of my shirt.

What is your thinking there?

I mean, I think I'm annoyed that I have to wear it.

And I don't want it, I don't know.

I don't want it up if I'm wearing it because I'm part of a group setting. And it's like, Hello, my name is. I'll put it up high so you can read it. But if it's just a pass, I don't know. It's funny because I go to physical therapy a couple of times a week, and in order to go to physical therapy, I have to stop at the visitor's desk of the hospital.

Yeah.

I don't put it up high, I put it down low. This is such a wild piece of information to learn about you. And when I go to, for example, the Natural History Museum in New York, they give me a little. I put it down low, I put it down low.

What is that?

I don't know, it's a weird act of rebellion against the system. You're not going to tell me I'm allowed to come in here, I'll show you. Is that what it is?

I don't know.

Why won't I display it up high? It's hilarious. I'm like, you're messing up my outfit, an outfit that I've spent no time putting together. It's not like I'm a fashionista or something.

Sometimes, well, Dwight is going to find out that Packer is giving a presentation and that's it. He leaves the hospital.

And he walks into the conference room with his IV drip, and this is where I start to unravel. I really hate it in movies when people leave the hospital too soon, too early, and it really bothers me when they drag their IV drip with them. I don't like it.

I know Rain is so good in this scene. He's in so much pain and he's doing such a shitty job at giving this presentation. He's getting everything wrong. And he has Aaron whispering him the details, like the three pillars of retail, Aaron says, convenience.

Well, one of the things that happens in that speech is that the team had a slide where they were going to talk about consumer habits. But of course, he doesn't know what they planned to say. So he says something about how women shop more when they're on their periods because they're depressed that they didn't procreate. I wanted to know, is there any correlation? Remember how we're always like, sometimes.

Yeah.

We're like, sometimes he says some crazy thing and then he ends up right.

You're absolutely right.

He's done it many times.

He had that whole thing about pheromones.

So what do you think, is Dwight right about women spending more or shopping more during their periods? Is this just a purely sexist rant, or is there any science behind it?

I don't feel like shopping when I'm on my period.

I don't know. I'm like, I feel like you're like, I don't want to leave the house exactly. I want to be on the couch with a hot pad on my stomach.

Yeah, I want to take it easy.

Well, Glamour Magazine published an article, Glamour Magazine again, on the subject of shopping and women's menstrual cycles. They cited a study that claimed women do exhibit less control over their spending habits, but not during their period during the 10 days leading up to their period, known as the Lutel phase.

This was a what happens in the Lutel phase?

Well, the Lutel phase happens in the second part of your menstrual cycle, it starts around day 15 and then it ends when you get your period. The Lutel phase is what is preparing your uterus for pregnancy by thickening your uterine lining.

That's what I was going to say. Is this sort of like, when you're like, let's make a baby?

Yes, it is the phase that happens right after ovulation, right after your ovary releases the egg, you go into the Lutel phase.

That's when you want to spend money, you want to prepare. It's like this natural instinct, you're like, I've released an egg. Anything can happen.

Well, this recently published study, it examined 443 women. It was conducted by a woman, Professor Karen Pine, in the UK. And they found that women in the Lutel phase were two-thirds more likely to do impulse buying during this phase. And that 57 said that they often overspent. And I guess Professor Karen Pine decided that the spending behavior tends to be a reaction to the intense emotions that flood in during this phase of our menstrual cycles.

Yeah.

In which case, Dwight is a little bit right, but Dwight is actually wrong. Dwight says that you overspend while having your period, right? No, we're done spending. when the period hits, we're done.

But he always has something in this sort of topic about women and their bodies. It's like Dwight is very attuned some way to what makes a woman function in his own way.

Yes, and I don't know how I feel about this study. I have to say. Part of me is like, do we need more of these stereotypes about women and their emotions and the way they deal with them during their periods? Or is it comforting? Because you're maybe going through these ups and downs and you're like, Oh, good, I'm not the only person experiencing these intense highs and lows.

I think it's a combo platter.

It's a combo platter.

Well, Dwight ultimately wins Nellie over with his presentation and Jim points out he's bleeding through his shirt and then....

I can't even talk about it.

Nellie has to see Dwight's wound, and then Todd Packer tries to poke it.

That was so gross. And then Dwight swats his finger away, but just the suggestion that his wound was going to be poked.

I didn't even think about the pain of having an open wound poked. All I could think about was I can't. It's making me feel okay, okay, okay.

God wait.

That's all I can think about. I don't want Todd Packer's nasty finger me, I can't, I can't.

Okay, okay.

I'm training for me.

I'm switching.

What is it?

It is Trailahassee, what? That's right, because Tallahassee has 700 miles of trails winding through its rolling hills, towering pines and crystal clear rivers and springs.

I have to say something.

Yeah.

Tallahassee sounds awesome, I know, I mean the museums, the hiking, it's probably good weather.

I did not look up the weather.

Well, there was the person who wrote in the other week about how like it has nice weather.

Oh yeah.

Should we go there?

I mean.

I'm really interested after all of these facts you've told me today.

Listen, you had me at bird watching.

Okay, I want to go to Tallahassee.

Did I pivot enough for you?

Yeah, I'm coming, I'm getting back.

Are you coming out of it? Yeah, okay, let's go back to Dunder Mifflin.

Let's do fan catch from Brandon R in Illinois. I'm sure everyone will point this out, but it's the mail cart, oh.

Never moves.