Moving On, Pt 2

I'm Jenna Fisher 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 Miss, how are you? I'm good, I'm good too.

I didn't sleep great last night, but I have a weird amount of energy.

I think we're in the loopy zone because I have the same thing.

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 Aaron and Pete by summoning their exes to the office under false pretenses.

Mm-hmm.

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.

I'm telling you, if you build it up too much, it's going to disappoint.

Everybody, Angela is doing our top of show today.

Yes, because last week we talked all about moving on part one. We did our fast facts, we did, we did some of our call sheet tidbits. So Jenna was like, Ange, you want to have a go at top of show?

I think it's going to be a really fun, fresh energy for you to do top of show.

Well, I have a surprise for you. What is it? I will lead with this. I have two surprises. First of all, did you know that there was a card on the writer's room wall?

No, I did not.

Yes, there was. I did confer with Warren about this. And you know, Jenna, we've been so fortunate from our writer's assistance to get all of the scripts. Mm-hmm. I did find a pitch for ski trip.

You did not.

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.

Oh so, Kevin's going to take ski school during this episode.

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.

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. I mean. Also, look at what happened on work bus.

Exactly what you're going to 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.

What?

I'm going to read you some travel journal entries from my journal from 2004, and it includes a ski trip.

Oh my gosh, you need to do top of show more often.

I don't know about that, this is what I'm saying.

These are delicious, delicious, delicious nuggets.

Okay, I'm getting my journal, look at all my post-it notes, look at them where I've marked these entries, okay?

I love how you put the time.

This journal entry is from the set of the office. I'm in the background of a scene. This is our last-.

By the way, I want to say, that's not you setting up this journal, that's what you wrote, Yes, right, this journal entry.

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.

And then you put the post-it in your journal.

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.

Was that season one? yes.

Yes, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Okay, now is my trip.

Okay.

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 10 channels of stuff to watch, five movie channels, and then ESPN, News Channel, Cartoon Network and the BBC. Oh boy.

What is this?

Who do I become when I travel?

This is so ridiculous, you start just describing your literal surroundings, ridiculous.

Okay, ready?

Yes.

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.

Did you write that?

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.

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. Those are the details that I get, I know I get the nitty gritty in your audio memo to me. You would probably list out all of the different channels that are available.

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 gosh.

I know why.

Why were you so upset about this? So many connections.

So many connections, very tired, 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.

Okay.

I took a snowboarding class on the worst day of the storm. Typical frowny face.

Oh, just your luck.

Womp, womp, it was a blizzard out there. I quit half an hour.

Oh, I think yes.

Here are things I'd like to do semi-colon 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.

I like that, like, all of a sudden you turned your journal into like a journal like processing and goal-making last entry, not that your other journal wasn't awesome.

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.

Wow.

There you go.

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.

No, and that's okay with me. Yeah, yeah.

But wow.

I mean, just goes to show you guys, just hang in there for 40 years and the list you make.

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.

I beyond loved it. Everyone. Please vote if you would like Angela to do more top of shows.

Please don't, please don't, please don't, all right.

We're going to take a break and we will be back to finish breaking down, moving on part two.

Quote bathing in quotes.

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 rain reaching down to protect his jewels. Did that hurt him?

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. 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.

Yes, I was because I had to hold the hose, okay, 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. Oh my gosh, yeah.

So you aim low, aim low.

Aim low, they told me. Aim low, they gave me. Like a area on Rain's body. It was basically like ribcage to knees to try to aim for, and it was a good thing. He wore glasses.

I have a question, was rain at the rehearsal or just you?

Rain was at the rehearsal, too, because I had to kind of practice a little bit.

Okay.

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. I didn't have really great aim with it, so I was glad rain was tall and I had a bigger target. Oh, Creed just tried to call me.

Oh.

I have a missed call from Creed.

Oh, Creed has his new album out. Oh yes, he does. Oh my gosh, and he's going on tour.

Should I call and ask what he wanted? Sure, okay.

Hello Pumpkin, Hey Creed-o.

I'm here with Jenna. We were doing our podcast when you called.

You're on the show right now, you stopped it.

No, no, you're on, you're on.

You're hitting the road, aren't you?

I'm going to Europe in October, but the album comes out September 27th.

Oh, fun.

And a shameless promotion. Ladies, thank you so much.

There you go.

Well, I miss you.

Were you just calling to say hey?

Yeah, I was calling to say, Hey, I actually was going to ask you, what season are you on? I was just curious.

Oh, we're on season nine, creed.

Oh my god, you're getting close to the finale.

We are.

You'll have to come on, I want everyone to come on for the finale.

Me too.

I should come on and actually bring my guitar and all the basses.

Come on, creed, I would love that, we would love it. Not a dry eye in the house, nope.

It was so good to see you on the AT&T thing. that was, it was. I've been so excited to see you on the AT&T thing, I know.

We got to work together again, it was so amazing.

How cute is that? Well, I miss you so much. We need to go for our neighborhood walk.

We need to do that.

Call me later.

And now, creed, tell us when your single comes out.

June 24th Corner of the Universe. I wrote it with Vance DeGeneres, you know, who used to run Steve's company.

That is amazing.

Creed This is crazy, you're calling. Today. We're recording this episode and it's on June 24th. It's like, perfect timing. Your single is out right now when this airs.

The single will be out when this airs. Yes, yes.

Everyone, check out Creed's new single, Creed Tell Us The Name of It Again.

Corner of the Universe.

Corner of the universe. I can't wait to hear it.

We're going to play a little of it at the end of this episode.

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.

Oh my god, that's perfect. Well, I. My ears were burning and I just got back from having a gluten-free muffin. And all of a sudden I was going call Angela and Jen. And I don't really. I just picked up the phone and said, Well, all right. My voice says, call and I will, and there you go.

Oh, we love you, creed.

Love you Creed. I'll see you soon in the neighborhood.

All right bye.

Bye.

Bye, thank you so much.

Yep, bye, bye.

That's crazy, that is crazy, that's so 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.

The group mind.

We are connected, as we just really are connected, we are.

You know, I just am 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.

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, while we're recording, I just can't get over it. The universe is a beautiful place.

Okay, well, now where was I?

You were about to play the Rainn audio clip.

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 and moving on? A few people noted I hit your crotch.

Hey Angela, thank you for sending that. Oh my God, that is one of the scenes I had completely forgotten that we had shot.

It didn't hurt at all.

I don't know, 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 funny now. And thank you for the little reminder.

All right.

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.

Was watching you hose? RAinn? Yes, well. Steve Burgess said that he doesn't remember how many takes you had to do, but it was more than one.

Oh, it was, yeah.

He also said that all of Aunt 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.

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. 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.

Well, that leads me into this fan question from Joanne 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's 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.

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, I don't know.

I liked her so much in this.

Yeah, I did too, I did too.

So next up, Toby's at the water cooler, and he is still talking to Nellie, rehashing details of the Scranton strangler case.

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 to Toby Flinderson. You have to hear this.

Hey Nellie, Mmm. I am so sick of February. it's the shortest month, but it sure doesn't feel that way.

We should catch up. Wow, what?

Why?

He takes a sip of water and then goes, Mmm, like, really, what is happening? Oh man, February, huh?

Well, this storyline of Toby still investigating the Scranton Strangler case was originally shot for couples 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 pickup. Because Toby originally started this conversation with Nellie by asking if she wanted to go to the nail salon with him.

Okay.

You can tell just by his hair, otherwise, it is completely seamless. And by the way, I wouldn't have thought anything if Dave hadn't told me.

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? Yeah, what are you thinking? He's like, Hey, you got a sec to talk.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

This is the moment I'm like, Pete, if someone says that to you, just do a 180 and walk out.

Fail.

If they bring up their scrotum pole, I'm out.

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.

Just get over it and Aaron comes in and he's like, Listen, he's trying to tell you something here.

Yeah.

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.

And we got a fan. Question a.

Is this from Jenna in Los Angeles?

It's not, it's from Brianna B. And we got a lot of mail like this, okay for this episode.

Wow, that's a real level of cringe if it's harder than Scott's Tots.

I know so Brianna, I thought about this. I think I was so delighted by Ed Helms's performance in this episode that I sort of enjoyed his unraveling.

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.

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? Yeah? And 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.

But it's easier to spin out about other people's than really address your own.

Always.

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.

Yes, and Pam is like, what is it like? It's clearly a receptionist desk, and she thought the job was office manager. Yep.

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.

Yeah, and he's like, Yeah, but we call you the office manager because it's less demeaning.

She's like, great, he just like, 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.

Interesting, Well, Pam's going to have a talking head. And she just says she was Michael's receptionist for 10 years and she has kids now and she can't do it, she's out.

She's out. There are a few things left over from this real estate office I want to share.

Okay.

One is, Did you notice the phone number listed on Pam's resume?

No.

Should we call it?

Is it real?

I don't know.

It's not a 555.

I'm not going to say what it is. Oh my gosh.

What if someone answers, Oh my gosh, it is 555, I can see it.

It is not, yes.

It's an area code, and then 555.

I thought the 555 was the area code.

No, it's the first three numbers.

So nothing will happen.

Well, no, it's not real. You're doing it anyway. I know you don't believe me.

I didn't know that, you didn't know that if you see a 555, it's not a real number, no.

For all of time, for all of time, who decided this? In movies and television, you do a 555 and then here's the thing.

Not me, but everyone else knows for all of time, 555 is a baloney number.

That's right, so what they'll do? If you see it written down in some movies? I'm throwing this out there. I don't know if it's true, but all the president's men. They'll get a hot tip, a phone number they have to call, and it'll say JL5, and then the rest of the phone number. Because J and L are fives.

Yeah.

You know how businesses have numbers like 1-800-.

Blah, blah, blah.

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, JL5, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah as a way to try to disguise it.

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.

And we had to even add.

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.

Let's listen.

Yeah, I'm in real estate. Yeah, I mean, you ever see the movie? Glen Gary, Glen Ross? Well, I'm Ross.

Following this lady around.

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.

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.

I love both of those.

I know, right?

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, yeah.

I just don't think it needed it.

No.

Yeah.

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.

Yes, we do talk about a heck of a background catch.

In this office, there is a big whiteboard, yep, and it has a bunch of writing on it. Angela, I know you paused on it.

I did.

Of course.

And then I saw what Kristen wrote in, and I thought, Oh my gosh, she covered it all.

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.

That's pretty amazing.

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 deck.

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.

And you know, what if there was a whiteboard that was supposedly representing my hometown of St. Louis...?

I'd be curious.

It would be glaringly obvious to me if it was all Fakie, and so I love that someone from Philly was like, Yes, yeah.

Up next, Dwight is going to walk in on Angela, braiding aunt Shirley's hair.

Yes, I love her snarky remark that a woman of her age shouldn't have hair this long.

That was an improv by me. What, yes?

No, Angela, it's so funny.

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.

I love that bit of improv, that's so good.

All right.

So now Toby is going to enter the kitchen, Nellie and Daryl 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.

Okay.

That was also seen by Judy in Westerville, Ohio, and Catherine S. in Nolensville, Tennessee. If you watch the shots of Nellie, her newspaper is, like, always in a different position. Oh, no, every shot.

Turning pages, yes.

Like between takes.

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.

Yeah, he says, dinner at 8, pam's a little bit like, Oh, 8, Okay, yeah.

I also thought, too, as a mother of young children, actually, still, even though I have teenagers, we eat at like 5.

I don't go to dinners that start at 8.

Well, I mean, we don't really either, but you know, if I did, I would pack snacks.

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 o'clock?

Although that's not early for you, that's just when you eat.

That's just my dinner time, I know, 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??

No.

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 8 and is probably missing their kids bath and dinner and bedtime.

Yep.

All of it. And I also want to say, while it's going to be romantic that she's eating at Athlete, 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.

Yeah, I can see that, right, yeah.

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.

Yeah, no, I see that, I see that, like, how often does she get to Philly? They can't go to a restaurant.

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.

It's very cinematic in that way, yeah, 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.

Yeah.

When it all comes out.

That's right. Well, listen, I think we should take a break because some crazy shiitake is going to go down a dunder mifflin.

Yes, Andy is bringing back Aaron and Pete's exes to see how they just move on and get over things.

That's right, how's that medicine? Taste your own flavored?

Yeah, we'll be back.

They do.

That was an improv line by Brian Baumgartner.

AMAZING BRIAN Well, let me tell you, Alice was played by Colette Wolfe, 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 2..

No.

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 launched Danny McBride's career. It's very office-like in its tone and style, and he's a taekwondo instructor.

Well, she was also in Interstellar, which is such a good movie. Yes, she's just been in everything, though, if you look at her resume, she's done so much work.

Well, when Aaron gets to the annex, Alice immediately recognizes Pete.

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 Aaron realizes. Andy also hired a management consultant.

Yeah.

And he's watching from his office, he is delighted.

Well, now Toby is going to arrive to the prison. Guess what, it wasn't a prison.

I wouldn't think so.

Well, they actually scouted several prisons, really, yes, and they didn't like any of them.

Okay.

They got some actual exterior photos of Pitch's detention center in California, and then they used those photos to make their own prison. And the actual location was Van Nuys High School. Oh yeah, so that's where they shot this, and you notice we never went inside.

Right, mm-hmm.

It stays all exterior.

Toby's talking head is so ridiculous. I mean, what does he think is going to happen?

Well, he says he thinks it's going to be the start of my first friendship, I know.

He's going to meet George Howard Scubb and tell him he believes he is innocent.

Yeah.

And he would understand if George feels moved to hug him. well, he feels moved to do something.

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.

Yeah.

I just want to say, shouldn't Dunder Mifflin have a marketing department, like we have three accountants, but no marketing department?

We have three accountants, and what does Creed do? I don't know. There surely should be a marketing department.

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, mm-hmm. And then he says, Oh, is it, professor? Lecture much?

He's got so many mm-hmm.

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.

Well, back at reception, Gabe is telling Aaron 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.

Yeah, because of our interview with Jake where he said that Zach improvised so much. Mm-hmm. I did the same thing. I went to the script while I was watching the episode, and I saw, like, a warm pumpkin.

How about in the conference room?

So much.

So many lines improvised in the conference room.

And probably more takes that didn't even make it into the episode.

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.

Yeah, then we cut to a car ride home. Nellie has picked Toby up and he's wearing a what do you call it? neck brace. He can't speak because his vocal cords have been damaged when George Scubb strangled him at the end of their visit.

I have to say something.

What is it?

I got so tickled at Paul's neck acting.

Yes.

Because it is very broad.

Okay.

When she's like, nod, yes or no, he's like, he's like moving his whole body.

Yes, it's true.

It was very funny to me.

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. How so?

So I think, with this theory, you're basically saying, Toby's a sociopath, yes.

That Toby went in there and whispered in his ear. Because it's true they did not allow the cameras in the prison.

Mm-hmm.

So he whispered something really diabolical, like.

I know you're innocent because I did it.

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.

Yeah, I don't know, I don't know.

Well, Robin, thank you for writing that in because I love a good fan theory.

I do, too.

There is debate about Toby.

People are determined for him to be the strangler I know.

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's like, When's the wedding?

Yeah.

She's like, Oh no, no, no, we're just friends.

We got so much fan mail about the scene, Angela.

Is it about the skunk?

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.

Mm-hmm.

But people were curious that you had prepared a meal that included meat as a non-meat eater.

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. Okay, so that isn't a huge jump for me, okay?

Right, okay.

But I also think she loves Dwight. Mm-hmm. And maybe if Kevin had prepared Skunk, she would have been bitchy to him.

Yeah.

But this is Dwight.

Yeah.

She's in the moment.

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 for good luck.

Like, you fling it or something.

Yes, and if it breaks open, then your wish comes true.

Yeah, we don't know, we don't know. It did lead me down a Google search hole of Do people actually eat skunk? I googled it too.

That's not the first thing that came up for me.

Oh, no.

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. -.

Oh yeah.

Of preparing the skunk.

Because it will taint the meat.

I'm sure.

The smell, yes, the odor. I read that as well, mm-hmm.

That people do eat skunk, and it said that Indigenous people ate skunk.

Yeah, I saw the same thing. Yes, you know, mm-hmm.

And that it is an edible thing if you know how to prepare it correctly.

That seems very important.

I would not trust myself. I know that you can eat the stuff off a cactus. mm-hmm. you know, the cactus fruit, yeah.

Right, yeah.

So.

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. Mm-hmm anyway.

Yeah.

Pam is now going to arrive at Athlead for her romantic dinner. No skunk involved here, Jim has champagne. He assumes she got the job, yeah.

And then Pam says, I didn't get it, she doesn't say I chose not to take it.

That's right.

She says I didn't get it.

Jim says, You know what? Hey, you're in Philly. That's still something to celebrate, 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.

Frame it.

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, Oh, this is amazing, this is amazing. So I'll give them to you, Angela, so you can share them.

Okay, dang it. No one was there when Rain and I filmed our scene on the front porch. But I had the same experience with Jon, Rain and I. Having him all to ourselves for this very intimate moment between Dwight and Angela on the front porch.

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.

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 an embrace. It's that moment and he kisses her, and she kisses him back, and then Angela stops him and says, No, I can't betray the senator.

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.

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.

I'm getting goosebumps again, 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.

Well, I have gushed about how much I love this scene. But we got a letter from Derek Dee in Ontario, Canada, and I thought that Derek said it perfectly okay. Here's what Derek said.

Oh, thank you.

And I thought that was absolutely true. You both should win an award just for this porch scene, in my opinion, it was beautiful.

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.

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.

Yeah, Andy's going to summon Aaron and Pete, they're over by the water, cooler talking, and he's going to say, Hey, love turds into the conference room. Why did they go?

I don't know why is Alice still there, I know.

Like, at this point, just say, Okay, something weird's happening here, it's not about me, I'm not going.

It's true, there's no marketing department, there's no job for her to consult on here.

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.

She does seem to revel in her digs at Pete. Yeah, so maybe she's like, I'm here for it at this point.

Well, all four exes are going to sit across from each other and discuss their relationship history. There's a lot of animosity.

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 Aaron for one last night together. Yeah, we had a fan question from Rachel S.

I know that he was literally going to his trailer and puking and then coming back to set.

Yeah, he didn't know he could call in sick.

Oh my gosh.

And then he also shared that so many of these lines were improvised by Zach Woods. He did improvise the line about wearing Aaron'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.

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.

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, and it's so seamless.

It's brilliant, especially when I think about Colette being new on our set and she just rolled with it. She headlines in and around Zach's improv. Yes, I thought they all did a great job. At the end of this conference room scene. Andy is a talking head, and he says, Does making Aaron and Pete feel bad make him feel better?

Oh my gosh, Andy.

So snarky, Andy. This is Andy at his snarkiness.