Turf War

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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.

We're recording from our closets again. This is a real throwback today.

A little bit, right?

Well, it's that time of year, things are going around, we're just trying to keep everyone healthy going into the holidays.

Don't bring me that flu bug.

Today, we don't need it, we don't need your flu, cold, Covid business.

We don't need it.

We are here today to discuss turf war. It is season 8, episode 23. We are really getting to the end of the line here.

I know lady, I know.

Yeah.

I'm on the last disc, you know of Season 8 DVD, last disc.

You're going to be opening up a whole new DVD set soon.

I know.

The last one.

Oh my gosh, I'm not ready.

I'm not ready.

I'm not ready to say goodbye to the office.

Me either. I see why people start over.

We might have to.

We might well. Turf War was written by Warren Lieberstein and Halstead Sullivan and directed by Danny Chun. Here's your summary. In this episode, we find out that Robert California got really drunk the night before and decided to close the Binghamton branch. Jim and Dwight start poaching their clients, which angers a salesman from the Syracuse branch.

I loved that storyline, I loved girl talk in the break room.

I loved how Robert brought Angela in.

As a backup.

Because he just did not trust Pam to get this job done.

I have a little tidbit, lady.

What's your tidbit?

This episode's original air date was May 3rd, 2012, which happened to be my daughter's fourth birthday.

Oh, I know a happy birthday episode.

Yeah, and of course, it made me go back in my digital clutter of all these adorable photos of her when she was four. Oh my gosh.

That's a cute age.

Oh, cute.

Are you ready for fast fact number one?

So ready.

Our writer Danny Chun directed this episode. it was his directing debut, and we reached out to Danny about this episode. He sent in some really fun tidbits for us to share.

He sure did, Danny, thank you so much.

We started by asking him what it was like to move from writer to director, and he said it was so much fun. But it really misled him for future directing jobs, because every other directing experience he's had since the office has been way harder and way less fun. Oh, sorry, Danny.

Veda was the best.

She really was the best. So, in addition to tracking all the continuity, she also kept track of the director's shot list and made sure that the director got every angle and everything that he would need to turn over to the editor. She was a tracker, a major tracker.

She was a major tracker and hyper-focused, like her little podium, I mean, she was so focused.

I don't think there was anyone as focused all day as Veda.

Yeah.

Danny also shared that in terms of directing, he was most intimidated whenever he had to give James Spader a note.

Oh, I would be, too. Forget it, I know.

He said that he would give him a little note, like an example would be, Hey, why don't you try to play this next one with a little more confusion? And that James would just pause and stare at him and say why?

Oh, no.

And Danny said quote It was so withering. He said he would try to scramble and kind of articulate his reasoning in some long-winded way, even though the real answer was just because it's funnier. And he said James Spader would just stare at him and he wouldn't give any reaction. But then he would always take the direction and it would be great because he's such an incredible actor.

I imagine it's gotta be really intimidating to give anyone a note, you know, it's just gotta be ah ah.

Well, in his description of giving James Spader a note, reminded me of every theater actor getting a note, because theater actors, we need to know why. What are you thinking, what's my motivation? I can't just be confused.

Am I a person that gets confused easily?

Yes, exactly, you got it, Anne. Where? It's like, I feel like I have both brains because I can overanalyze a note, but I can also understand I don't need to know why. It's just funnier if I act confused, so I'll just do it. That I feel like, is a real comedic sketch comics approach to a note like that?

Yeah, next move on, yeah, yeah.

Are you ready for fast fact number two?

Yes.

Fast fact number two. We got a ton of mail, notably from Zach M. in Venice, Center, New York, and Tom C. from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Who would like to know? How did you guys get Dan Castellaneta as a guest star? I grew up watching the Simpsons, so it always makes me smile to get to actually see the voice actors in another show, especially Dan Castellaneta. Well, guys, if you didn't know, Dan is the voice of Homer Simpson.

He was fantastic. I imagine Greg was really excited about this as well, since Greg had written some Simpsons episodes.

Yeah.

And we had remember we had the homer doll on set the whole time.

Yeah, we got some fan mail from people asking if Dan knew about that or if he saw it. But he never came to our stages. That's true. We didn't get to meet him. I'll get to it. But all of the prestige stuff was shot on location.

Oh, yeah, that's right.

All right, moving right along fast. Fact number three is another guest star in this episode, Chris Bauer as Harry Janerone. You might recognize Chris from The Wire, Third Watch and True Blood. He has also appeared in Law Order three different times, playing three different people.

That's the law order way.

They bring you back.

It's like a soap opera.

Weren't you the Mailman?

No, now I'm a detective.

Well, in 1992 he played Homeless David, in 1993 he played Mickey Scott, and by 2002 he made his way up to Sergeant.

There you go.

So he went from homeless David to sergeant. Good job. He's also been in Law Order, Criminal Intent and Law Order Special Victims Unit. He's really mostly done dramas, not comedies. And Danny Chun said casting Chris Bauer is an example of something they did a lot.

I was so excited when he was cast because I was watching True Blood at the time and I was like, Oh, my God.

Oh, that's right, you had a big, true blood face.

I remember this and I wanted, like, all the details, but I didn't bug him.

You should have bugged him.

I know now this version of me, 52-year-old me, would be like, Okay, let's talk for a second.

I'm gonna be 50 next year and I really feel that Angela, I feel like 50 is an opening of a sort of floodgate.

It is, yeah.

Of confidence and not giving a shit about a lot of things that used to make me anxious.

Yeah, I don't fix the back of my hair anymore. That's what you can do in your 50s because you don't give a shit.

It's so freeing, I'm really excited to cross this line.

Yeah, and I would say this also. There's something about the 50s for me, that is just a world of new curiosities. I get very curious about things that I think in the past, I was like, too busy to look at, too busy to give time to.

Yeah, maybe I'll learn all of the different varieties of roses and when they bloom best and in what condition.

Sure.

Now you know that you didn't care about that when you were 26..

I didn't, or all my hummingbirds. I mean, the 50s are very. It's a wild time, you guys.

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

Let's take a break, and when we come back, I have a coffee mug callback.

Ooh, I like it.

You didn't see that coming, did you?

I didn't.

I saw the expression on your face, you're like, what?

I love my coffee mugs, so I love tracking coffee mugs on this show.

I do, I do. Oh my gosh, we are everyone's old aunt. All right, we'll be right back.

Well, we are back and I can't wait any longer. Angela, please.

Oh, it's right away, at 0.01 seconds. We have a coffee mug callback sitting on top of the toaster oven in the kitchen. In this opening shot is the Coney Island, Texas, lunch mug from that eatery in Scranton, Texas, Scranton, Pennsylvania.

You did a whole deep dive on their hot dogs.

I sure did.

And their rivalry with the other place?

There's two. It's a long story, but when we go to Scranton, they're on my list. This first scene is so hilarious. In this episode, we have Gabe and Dwight in the kitchen, and Jim is sort of reluctantly caught in the middle. They're sort of having one of those Jim, bro.

It should be, if it isn't, it should be.

Okay, Gabe is saying, Oh man, my delts are blasted. I wish they had a chart for how much protein powder to scoop for 180 pound man with no fat, Dwight says, Protein powder, huh? You cut it with water and then he just takes a whole spoonful of dry protein powder and puts it in his mouth. And basically chokes on it and blows a whole bunch of it onto Jim's side of his face.

We got so much mail about this cold open Angela.

I bet.

Allison F, from Seattle, Washington, said This is my favorite cold open ever. How much of this scene was scripted and how much was improvised? Zack and Rain seem like they are having a blast. Tell me everything.

Lady, if you watch the Bloopers because they do so many cuts of it, you see like more and more protein powder. On his face, in his teeth, in his gums, it was like, so, all over his face. And you know what, a lot of what happens in the Bloopers is so physical. But I definitely feel like you should hear it, too. Here they are.

I am all about pilates, okay, there are four tenets of it, by one lengthen, two elongate, I can do that.

When he ran for governor, though.

He just announced his candidacy for governor.

The thing that really cracks me up, too, is you can't hear John at all in those bloopers. It's because the guy was noodle, laughing, shaking, crying, where you make no noise, because you could not keep it together. I believe it.

Well, after this scene in the kitchen, they move to the gym and there is going to be a hamstring curl contest. They are just like pumping, pumping their legs on these machines that Jim has placed side by side.

Yeah, they're the ones where you lay face down and then you pull the weights up with your legs.

Yeah, and Jim's gonna run over and give them each a pillow, and then he's gonna run over and give them each a telephone. And Pam takes a picture, and this gets turned into a little sleepover party. We gossiped all night. Meme Yeah, it was a prank. And then, of course, later, when Robert California arrives and calls everyone in the conference room. Dwight and Gabe can barely walk because they have blown out their hamstrings.

They did too much well. We talked to Warren and Halstead about this scene and they shared with us their inspiration for this cold open. They said they had always thought Guys in Battles of strength and manliness was a really fun area. When they worked on the TV show Carpoolers, they had written a scene where two guys challenged each other to see who could chug a large cup of steaming hot coffee the fastest. And they also shared with us. In the writer's room, they had a few pieces of random exercise equipment, and the writers would challenge each other to see who could do what.

Well, I remember this, I sort of vaguely remember this Saticoy mile. And I asked Halstead if he remembered who had the fastest time, and he said he couldn't remember. But that they definitely had a bulletin board where they ranked people, and that's what I remember being in the writer's room and seeing this like ranking.

I never did it. I remember when Ellie did it, and I remember Brent being like, Ange, you gotta do it. And I was like, No, I don't, you know, I don't run, okay?

You would power walk this sort of similar route with Oscar.

I would.

I'm not running the Saticoy Mile.

No, you are not. I was also curious why the competition they picked was thigh curls. I know that's kind of what Jim put out there, sure, but Halstead said one of the reasons they picked thigh curls is they thought it would look ridiculous.

It did.

They're just kind of clenching their butts and kicking their feet in the air, Halstead said. He's pretty sure the weights were fake because they did multiple takes and rain and Zach really would have had sore thighs. And you know, I love the part where at the end, like, they try to walk in the conference room, like you mentioned, and they can't. They can't really do it.

Yeah.

Halstead said when he went to law school in Boston, some of his classmates ran the Boston Marathon. And the ones that hadn't trained properly really afterwards hobbled around for days because they were in so much pain.

Well, listen, I asked Zach and Rain about doing those leg curls, and Rain confirmed they were fake weights, however, they were still so sore, Rain said. He loved shooting this cold open, He loved working with Zach, but he was sore for days after shooting this, and Zach said quote Doing the weight scene was literal hell.

Where he was just standing and doing vocal exercises.

Yes.

Oh my gosh.

But I guess those guys were really sore because they were really clenching. Even if you clench without a weight, you're working out those muscles.

You're doing that repetitive motion. I have a shout out to Kate Flannery in this scene as well. I mean, talk about a lady that knows Meredith, knows her character so well.

I love that.

So did I.

Well, now the episode is gonna start, and it begins with Andy arriving to the office. He still doesn't work there, everyone, but he's coming in. He's really just there to give Erin her socks back. But he announces he's gonna prepare a feast for everyone while he's there. Yeah, and Erin says, That's great, but I just need you to sign in first.

Yeah, the water guy, it's just a domino effect.

Yeah.

Well, we always ask Warren and Halstead what their real life inspiration was for different scenes they shared with us for the Cold Open. They also had one for this scene, Halstead said. When Andy is signing in at the beginning of the show. It was inspired by the fact that whenever anyone goes on a meeting at a studio, you have to sign in. And they give you a visitor badge to wear around, no one ever checks the badge, or if you don't wear it. But they stop you and they make you sign in, and they make you wear this lanyard around your neck.

Yeah, I thought it was really creative. I loved. Later, when Andy is at the sink washing dishes and Harry Janarone is gonna confront Dwight and Jim. Very funny. We'll get to it. But like you said, Angela, something crazy has happened. The Binghamton branch closed overnight and all their clients are up for grabs.

A lot of hubbub. Here is my favorite couplet of dialogue from this episode, Jim says. Binghamton Branch closed last night and their clients are up for grabs. Andy says. That was a fine branch. Things are really bad under Robert, California, I guess.

Lady, I'm gonna tell you that Kimber P, from Virginia Beach, is so happy that you just read that dialogue. Because Kimber wrote in to say, Tell him where he can put his sour grapes, Jim in the fridge. This is my favorite line in the entire series. My husband and I quote this day in and day out, it's that good in the fridge.

I also just love Festival of Poo.

There's some very clever dialogue in this episode. Overall, I have to say, for example, Robert is now going to enter. He shushes everyone, and then he vomits violently into Jim's trash can.

Oh yeah, it's super gross.

We had a fan mail flurry about it. Caleb in Omaha, Nebraska, and many others wrote I have waited so long to send this in. In season six, episode four, Niagara The Cold Open shows Pam vomiting just a little tiny bit, and then everyone loses it, and everyone's vomiting everywhere. But in this episode, Robert, full on gross, vomits and everyone acts like nothing happened. I hear you, Caleb.

You know what? I was curious about this scene, too. I have a few things to point out. First of all, Angela Martin is grossed out. She has a face of like EW Gross.

True.

She doesn't get sick. I also want you to know. I found in my digital clutter that I had had a costume fitting and that was a new outfit. Angela Martin is wearing, so just a new snazzy Angela Martin outfit. But yes, I was very curious about this scene, too.

What?

Robert looks at her wondering. he picks a reaction and then says, Ha, ha, then says, Okay, what is this about Binghamton? Kevin said The branch closed forever. Oscar told me it went to heaven.

Interesting, very interesting.

Was anyone else curious what a Saturnalia was? Because I didn't know what it was? Did you know what it was?

I mean, I deduced what it was, I guess, a big old party.

Yeah, but I was like, why is it called that? so lady? I'm like, So I'm such an old lady that googles.

I'm like, So lady, lay it on me.

Look what I found when I googled. It's an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honor of the God Saturn. It was held on December 17th in the Julian calendar, and later the festivities expanded all the way until December 23rd. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, and then a public banquet, followed by private gift giving and lots and lots of partying. A very carnival atmosphere that overturned even Roman social norms.

That's what I thought. It sounds a little bit like a Yankee swap holiday party.

On the level that the Romans could party.

Right, and then, plus the sacrifice of some kind at the beginning.

Well, there's that.

Wow.

But there you go, that's what Robert had, all by himself.

Those Romans, they really, really lived a life, didn't they?

You're so ready to be 50.

That I am right, you don't say that in your 20s, that is nothing that comes out of your mouth in your 20s.

I tell you what, those Romans.

They lived a life the Romans did.

They knew how to plan a party.

Something we haven't mentioned in all of this is that Phyllis and Stanley warn everybody, Hey, you're going after these Binghamton clients. But I don't think the Syracuse branch is gonna like this very much because they're gonna say these are New York clients. Stay out of New York. We got a very passionate fan question from Rob L in Syracuse, New York, about this.

Four question marks.

Little Utica, which is almost like one of our suburbs, had a branch and representation. And yet Syracuse didn't exist until this episode. Come on. Then Rob says, Sorry for my angry typing. It's just something that's bothered Syracuse Office fans for years. And I think we deserve some answers. P...S.

I want to go to postabilities so bad.

Rob, I loved your letter. I really loved it. I loved the multiple question marks and the all caps and the multiple parentheses. It stole my heart. Thank you for your letter, your angry letter about Syracuse.

Yes, Rob, I was right there with you. I actually wrote in my document if you could see it, Rob, I put Syracuse Branch. Two question marks, one exclamation point.

Oh, you and Rob are friends.

We're friends, so I got to digging because I was curious, what are all the dendromyphlin branches that have ever been mentioned on the show? Here's what I found. If I missed one, please let me know. Okay, we have Akron, Albany, Nashua, New York, which was the corporate office, Rochester, Utica, Binghamton, Buffalo, Camden, Pittsfield, Stanford, Yonkers and, of course, Scranton.

I don't even know it sounded good.

Okay, well, Rob, thank you for writing in. I was thrown as well.

You know, Angela Rob was not the only person from Syracuse that wrote us about this episode. We also got mail from Kim M in Syracuse, New York, who said Quote As someone who was born and raised in Syracuse. We are very peculiar about its pronunciation. Oh, most people I've met in the area pronounce it Syracuse, which is the same way that Harry Gennarone from Syracuse pronounces it. At six minutes and one second and 15 minutes and 33 seconds.

Oh.

I say Syracuse, like Phyllis, I guess people from St. Louis say Syracuse.

Syracuse.

But Syracuse is correct, like the name Sarah Syracuse.

Syracuse noted Thank you Kim. Well, Robert is now gonna have a talking head. He says. Closing the Binghamton branch never occurred to him before, or I guess last night. But in vino veritas, as they say.

I didn't know what in Vino veritas meant, so I looked it up, did you know?

I had an idea it probably meant with wine comes truth, or something like that.

That is it. Oh, really, it's latin. Yeah, it's latin. For in wine, there is truth.

Oh, I was so close with my guess.

And there's also an extended saying in vino veritas, in aqua sanitas, which means in wine there is truth, in water there is good sense.

That's smart. Yeah, yeah, that's true.

It is true. Speaking of water, Robert is chugging water in the kitchen. When Nellie approaches him. She wants him to know that. She got his voicemail last night, and her answer is yes, yes, yes, yes, and never.

I thought the way Katherine Tate delivered that was so rich. Like, I don't know what she was thinking of. But you saw her brain go through it. And I just thought it was such a great moment, the way she delivered it.

The specificity.

Yeah, made it very funny. it made me really curious, yeah.

We had a fan question from Tally S in Austin, Texas, who wanted to know if there were any deleted scenes or script notes that tell us exactly what Robert left on Nellie's voicemail. Ang.

Okay, Tally. I was super curious, too, and I went through the shooting draft, I couldn't find it anywhere. They never share. It's up to our imagination, which is probably how it should be, right, yeah.

Well, after Nellie leaves the kitchen, Robert is gonna ask Pam, when did you live so intensely that your brain couldn't hold the memories?

And Pam starts to share, and basically, Robert's just like, I need you to find out what's on Nellie's voicemail, okay?

Yes, and Pam says, I'm kind of busy.

Yeah.

And I want you to know this scene was longer and it was very hard to get through. I did not have a lot of one-on-one scenes with James Spader. This is one of the only ones and I was so delighted to get to do it. But he is a very intense person as an actor, especially, he can zone in on you and it was very funny to me. Because, you know, Pam says, Oh, I just have a lot of things to do, and he says, why don't you make a list?

Yeah.

And then in the episode, she just says, You know what, why don't I find out? He's like, Yeah, that's great, but there would have been a little bit more. Where she starts trying to list things, she's like, Well, I have some voicemails and I have some emails, and she's really trying. And he's just staring at her. And it was so funny to me.

I would have been so intimidated and just probably forgotten my lines when he locked that intense gaze at you, you know?

It was one of my favorite shoot days because I got him one-on-one and he was an actor that I admired so much.

Oh, yeah, I mean, anytime. Angela Martin even had a line exchange with him from across the room, I was excited that I got to briefly act with him. Mm-hmm, well, up next, a very angry man is about to storm into the office. But before this scene starts with Harry, there was a little couplet of dialogue that got deleted.

Yes.

It says Andy has a pan on a hot plate. he flambes some cherries. Jubilee. A large flame shoots out of the pan. The camera pushes to Kevin for reaction. Kevin says, Can I have any?

Isn't that funny? Well, when Harry storms into the office, he says, Who the hell are Jim Halpert and Dwight Schrute? and Erin says, Jim Dwight? What are your last names? And then we have this great detail that I just loved at five minutes and 55 seconds.

For one of his, like nunchucks or something, Yes, yes, I had to go to the script.

To see if this was scripted and it was, and I also found a very fun couplet of dialogue that got cut out. So after Erin would have said, Jim, Dwight, what are your last names? Jim was gonna turn to Stanley and say, Jim, run. And then Stanley would have pointed to Jim and said, That's Halpert, pointed to Dwight and said, That's Schrute.

Yeah, I love it.

And I feel like I remember that moment, Angela of Shooting of you shouting State Senator.

It's like the one time.

Not that big of a deal exactly. You don't claim him as a full senator. Don't come for me, yeah.

All the while this is going on, Andy is still making his Cherries Jubilee right by front reception.

Yes, and there actually was a giant flame in this scene. We got a fan question from Victoria Kaye in Wisconsin, who said, Was the fire real? and if so, I need details on that safety meeting. Victoria Yes, the fire was real. But Steve Burgess says we did not use booze to make the flame like you would in a traditional Cherries Jubilee. Our special effects team wanted a more controlled fire.

Safety meeting open flame by front reception.

That's right, and you know, this scene is gonna end with Harry saying I wanna talk with Jim and Dwight. O and Lloyd Gross right now. Where's Lloyd Gross?

Who is Lloyd Gross? Just one of my absolute favorite details of this whole episode.

I know you loved Lloyd.

I loved Lloyd, so Jim and Dwight are gonna have a joint talking head and they're gonna share that. They figured out a way around the commission cap imposed on salesmen at Dunder Mifflin, they invented a fake salesman to steal money from the company. Basically, they're kind of embezzling.

What is it?

Number one Pam, once again has drawn someone in the office. This just further proves my theory that she has a drawer full of sketches of everyone in the office.

So strange.

Number two, Rain's bangs are so long. Yeah, they are the longest I have seen them this whole season. I think he's due for a haircut, the guy's always got a haircut at the beginning of the season and we're coming to the end of season eight.

I always have to wonder if he was growing them out for some project that was coming up on our summer break. I'm gonna look into it.

Look into it.

I need to say something about this information in the Jim and Dwight Talking Head, where they reveal that they have invented a whole person to which they are funneling sales.

Yeah.

To get around a commission cap. And then I guess they're cashing these checks and splitting the money. You know what? When people come for PAM, and you know, there's a group of people who come for PAM.

Yeah, a lot.

One of their big complaints is that she invented a job for herself. You know, that wasn't reception and that wasn't sales. She's like this administrative coordinator, and people are just like, she is a liar, she is a cheat, I hate her.

Someone's hot to trot over this topic, I can tell.

I am hot to trot over the men who come for Pam with their laundry list of ways. That she is not an obedient woman, ooh, and isn't all working as they want her to. But then it's crickets when Jim and Dwight steal money from the company. I'm done.

Do you feel better?

A little.

Okay, it's the beginning.

We'll wait till season nine.

Oh my gosh, I've been thinking about it. Listen, I think we should take a break because when we come back, I've got some stuff to share about Lloyd Gross.

Yeah, we've got a big conference room meeting and it's delicious. We'll be back and I need to calm down.

Well, we are back and we are gonna find out who the heck Lloyd Gross is. Dwight points to Toby and says, That's Lloyd. Well, this is gonna lead to a conference room scene and Harry is upset. He is saying that Binghamton. Those clients should go to Syracuse because that's more in their sort of district or region.

Well, he says, they shouldn't be crossing the state lines. But then Lloyd points out that Scranton is actually closer to Binghamton than Syracuse is.

Mm-hmm, yeah, Toby's gonna have a talking head now where he says, I like to think Lloyd Gross is a no-nonsense guy who doesn't back down from anybody. Well, I loved the storyline of Toby as Lloyd, I saw in deleted scenes. He even took it one step further. Toby has a full length leather coat made with the initials LG monogrammed on the lapel.

Well, I have a lot of questions about how and when Toby got this jacket made. I'm assuming that he just ran with this new character after today.

Or possibly Lloyd, you know, this sort of scam of how they make money has been around for a while, but they're just now sharing it.

Hmm, true.

He might've had a long time to get that jacket ordered and made.

Well, this conference room gets very heated. But I have to say, Toby is far more confident as Lloyd than he is as Toby.

I know, I know it's so hilarious. He pretends to get a text from the wife, he's gotta take that.

Yeah.

I love Toby as Lloyd.

I could have used a webisode all about his alter ego, Lloyd.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm, true.

Like, did he have to go to the DMV, does he have a Lloyd Gross driver's license? Like, how far did this go?

You know what, there's a lot of things we don't know about Toby, I think.

Oh yeah.

He might be actually more mysterious than Creed, you know, because Creed really lays it all out there, but Toby has some secret identities, I think.

Yeah, he's got some secrets.

Mm-hmm.

Well, ultimately, in this conference room scene, they're gonna decide, you know what? Let's let Robert settle this. Harry said. he didn't realize Robert was there. Yeah, it made me think.

Like, why only Scranton? Why does Robert only camp out at Scranton? at the Scranton Branch? why does he own a home in Scranton? I'm so baffled by that. My voice went into seven different octaves to say that sentence.

I mean, I would say he likes the Scranton Branch because Nellie's there, but I kinda think Robert probably has someone in every port, right? The sailor. What's that phrase?

I don't know, is that that song? Brandy, you're a fine girl. What a good wife you would be.

No, i no.

That's not.

Okay, it's some phrase about Nellie is not Robert's Brandy.

Yes, but I thought you were asking me if there was a song about having a ship in every port, you know, the sailor has a place to land everywhere.

Yeah, he has a lady in every stop of the ship.

Yes.

Right?

Where are we? I don't know.

We don't know.

Here we go.

Listen, here's where we are. Andy is at the sink and he's washing dishes. I don't know why I loved that so much, but it was very funny to me. I thought Ed was very funny. And he's gonna be caught in the middle of this conversation between Harry and Robert, where Harry says, Listen, Binghamton is closed. And I want prestige direct mail solutions. They're a big client, but Dwight says he already put a call into them and they say, Robert, you have to decide who gets this client, who gets this client.

This is gonna give Andy an idea and he is gonna run out of the office straight to the elevator. I have to tell you. My favorite line in this scene, though, was when he went to stop washing the dishes. Maybe to get out of the way. And Harry goes, No, buddy, you finished your dishes. I loved it, too.

Well, you know what, Robert is not even gonna make a decision, he said. Nobody can have that client, he needs a second, he has to think about it.

Yep, Harry's gonna have the same idea, He's gonna say, You know, Robert's kind of a weirdo. I'm gonna go outside and get some air. That's when Jim realizes, uh-oh, he goes to the window.

I had to ask Steve Burgess, where did we do these driving scenes? and Steve said, we did them on Chandler Boulevard, which is very close to our studio, he said. We started with these scenes on a Friday morning and then after they were done, we moved back to the stages.

We talked to Danny about doing these driving scenes, about directing them, and he said they can always be a bit stressful and the resets take a long time. But that our crew was so amazing, they made it easy and allowed him to really focus on the creative. And then he did share one thing, he said. Also, sometimes, as we would be filming these scenes, a random person would drive by, look over and realize it was Jim and Dwight in the car. And then they'd freak out.

I remember that happening when we would do driving scenes.

Yeah, and you can't have people being like, like in the scene.

Totally, we had a fan catch from this scene, Ange.

Oh, I have my own catch. What do you got?

Well, Taylor R, from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said when Jim jumps out of his car and opens up Harry Janarone's car door to slow him down. The car Harry is driving looks like a 2012 Cadillac CTS-V. And its doors should automatically lock when Harry drives over eight miles per hour. So unless Harry was driving really slowly, his door should have been locked.

That's such a good catch.

Yeah.

That's a car catch.

So what was your catch, Angela?

Well, mine happens at 11 minutes and 30 seconds. I'm gonna call Bull here, guys, I'm playing a card.

I'm leaning forward. What is it?

Okay, Jim looks directly to camera and gives one of his Jim quote looks, you know, the look that Jim gives to camera.

We know it.

Right after he hits the NOz, you know, Dwight's like, Can you put this into overdrive here? he's like, Oh, yeah, I'll put it in the NOZ. The windshield wipers are going. Jim looks right to the camera and gives a look like, Mer, I'm sorry. Does Jim know that? The camera crew is in front of him with, like, maybe a camera on the dash or the hood, or like, he's a follow car?

I think it does beg the question, what is the budget for this documentary film crew, and how are they gathering this footage? This sudden car chase race to this client's office. They were not expecting to hop in a car and film this sequence today for this documentary.

No, so they had to have a crew at Dunder Mifflin Scranton. That catches Jim's reaction to Harry pulling out of the parking lot, and then they had to have a crew already on the road. But I thought Jim, looking at camera in this moment, kind of broke the fourth wall.

I don't think it breaks the fourth wall. Because we know that they are camera aware, we know that they know they're being filmed. But I think it does make you think too hard about the documentary crew.

That's what it did. Okay, fine, it made me think too hard.

We did get some mail from people that's been stuck in my head, where they pointed out. How does this documentary still have a budget after all of these eight years that they've been filming? Because they haven't aired a single piece of footage?

Like, who is funding this?

PBs.

Yeah, I don't know.

They are so committed to something happening at this paper company of value. There's must be an annual meeting where they're like, What do we think, do we keep filming them? They're like, Yes, but I'm gonna need to add to the budget. I need to have a flatbed on call in case one of them jumps in their car because we're gonna wanna get that.

Also, I need a whole bunch of lipstick cameras and I need someone that can install them inside the dash of their vehicles.

Correct.

All right, maybe I rescind my bull card, but it did make me think real hard.

It was a hard thinking card.

It was a hard thinking card. Well, Andy is now gonna arrive at Prestige. He asked to see the CEO, even though he doesn't have an appointment. He definitely doesn't think he's gonna be able to see the CEO that easily. And the receptionist is like, no problem.

I loved her. She was played by Amy Shin. Her credits include Arrested Development, Hello Ladies and Just Add Magic. Danny said that Amy Shin was a suggestion from Alison Jones and they just loved her, he said. She just had this really funny attitude and she was able to take a role that could have just been played straightforward. Somewhat forgettable, maybe.

Yes.

Danny said that they always spark to those kinds of auditions, the ones that really surprised them. And he said, this was hard to do by the time you got to season eight of a show. So he really, really loved her.

I loved her, too. I was curious, I wanted to know more about her. By the way, she has a nameplate on her desk. I could only make out the last name of Fogarty.

Well, you know, the CEO is gonna walk out of his office and he's gonna be like, Yeah, happy to see you right now. Danny said that Dan Castellaneta has this same sort of unbothered kind of blissful energy that the character of Mr. Ramesh has. You know, in the way that he's just totally happy to meet with Andy on a whim. Danny said that that is Dan's real life energy, he is just the most laid back, content person in the world.

I wanted to work at Prestige. Everyone there is so chill, same up. Next, we have some girl talk in the break room.

Oh, that's a song, that is a song.

Girl talk In the break room, Pam is chatting up Nellie, trying to get her to spill the tea about Robert's voicemails, and Nellie is about to tell her. When Angela interrupts, she comes in the break room saying Hello my clucking hens.

Yes.

Well, I think Zach did some improv here because it was scripted in the shooting draft and there were no candy bag alts for it. That. Gabe said I am great at Girl Talk, period, but it aired with Gabe saying Sometimes I wonder if I have ovaries in my scrotum because I'm great at girl talk.

That sounds like Zach to me, doesn't it? It really does, yes.

That's my theory is that he improvised the top part.

My question is, did he improvise anything about Korean soap operas?

No, that was all scripted.

Wow.

Yeah.

Well, none of this girl talk is helping Pam get to the bottom of things. No, it's been completely derailed.

This girl talk in the break room scene actually was extended, it had a whole second beat. It's in the shooting draft, it's also in deleted scenes. Daryl is gonna join the party, but it's not why you think.

I keep asking myself, What is my skinny girl, Margarita?

I think we should all go around in a circle and each tell one secret, except for Gabe. Let's go around here. What is everyone just hanging out?

No, we're letting it all hang out. Nellie was gonna tell a story.

Oh, great, sounds good. Break room's busy today. Nobody knows there's a mouse who lives in the wall behind the vending machine.

He's trying to put a top hat on a little mouse named Squeaker.

Yes, and he holds up the top hat, and, you know, Craig Robinson has big hands, and he holds up a tiny top hat. It's so cute.

A tiny top hat for a little mouse.

Yes, and then there was a whole other scene where we find out that Erin has also been feeding a mouse in the break room. She doesn't call it squeaker, she says. It's like multiple generations in a family. She's been feeding for a while, and then Daryl's like, how many of these mice are there?

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Well, speaking of creatures, we're heading-.

What is this segue?

Yeah, well, we're heading back to prestige because Andy is speaking to Mr. Romish.

Oh yeah.

And I realized I have not done a location breakdown of prestige direct mail solutions.

How does a creature come into this location breakdown?

I will tell you. Danny shared that they did a big location scout for this episode because they wanted to find one location. That could be used for the interior offices of prestige, but also for the lobby and elevator scenes and the exterior scenes, including the coffee cart. All of that is coming up, he said. They had to look at a few different office buildings, one of them was a vacant office in the valley, but in the middle of the lobby. There was this big, sort of seemingly abandoned fish tank in there, it was really super cloudy and the glass had algae on it. But inside the tank there was an arowana fish. I guess it's a pretty large fish that lives in the Amazon.

I feel bad for it.

I know, you know, Danny wondered, like, who was caring for this? was anyone caring for it? Ultimately, they didn't pick that location. Incidentally, the United States banned the ownership of arowanas because they're an endangered species.

Yeah, I was gonna say, Is that even legal?

I don't think so.

What does an arowana look like?

They're very big.

Okay, big check.

They're sort of some of them. When I looked at pictures, they have like, they can have sort of like an orangey glow. Others are kind of a yellowy glow. God, what do they look like? They have sort of like a mouth, that-.

Does it come up from under?

It comes up. Is that why you're doing that? Yes, it comes up from under, like a big old mouth.

I couldn't see your face just in that one moment because I was googling what they look like. But I could tell from your character what you were doing.

Yeah, and then their eyes look kind of-.

Okay, listen, we don't have to describe this fish anymore, we can let it go, but we'll put a picture in stories.

Sure, so, anyway, that was my segue about strange creatures. Steve Burgess told me that ultimately, we filmed at the Borax building in Valencia.

Minus the fish.

Yeah, there was no fish at this location and they spent all day shooting at this location, which Angela means we had a day off.

Oh, Andy's about to win a big old client for his new company, Big Red. He tells Mr Ramesh that prestige will get 100 of his attention. He can save him 25 on his costs. He's gonna give him his personal phone number and a key to his house.

Where's Andy getting this paper from? that he's now gonna give to-?

He's gonna figure that out later, he's faking it till he can make it right, but he wins over Mr. Ramesh.

Well, meanwhile, Jim and Dwight arrive at the Prestige headquarters. They run in, They try to lock the door. Yeah, they don't want Harry to come in.

Dwight takes off his belt. You know, he's thinking in the moment and kind of makes some kind of not ties the door shut, but now his pants won't stay up.

I made a mental note of this moment because I thought, if I'm ever being chased, or maybe during the zombie apocalypse, that I prep for all the time. That the belt around the door, it was smart. I mean, I know that they can smash the glass and get the belt off, but it's definitely gonna slow them down. But then the big problem I had was I don't ever wear a belt.

Yeah, well, there's the problem.

And it made me wonder if I should be wearing take your oh oh, take your bra off, yes.

Tie that sucker around there a few times.

Yes, when am I gonna see that in a zombie movie? That's brilliant.

And you know what gals, we can take that off so fast through the armpit of your shirt. we've all done it, don't even have to take your shirt off.

No, mm-mm, that's so smart. Someone please file that away as a plot point.-.

I'm ready.

I'm ready in a future film, or for your real life. So, anyway, Dwight's pants are falling down. He runs into the elevator, but guess what? Clearly there are other doors to this building because Harry runs into the elevator with them.

And Dwight starts jumping up and down as hard as he can in the elevator to what? Maybe make it not go.

He wants to activate the seismic fail safe.

There it is, well, we asked our director, Danny, which scenes from this episode were special to him, and this was one of them. Here's what he said. The sequence where they are racing up to the prestige office was the most fun to shoot. It was as close as the office gets to an action sequence.

Yeah, Warren and Halstead also shared about this elevator scene. You know? Warren pointed out that the camera goes into the elevator and then it stays with Dwight and Harry.

Yeah, it's in the corner.

Warren said This was one continuous shot in a real elevator. There was no Fakie elevator here that John really did have to run up a flight of stairs in order to be at the elevator doors. When they opened again, there was no special timing to that.

Oh my gosh.

He said the stairs were not close either. He said. John had to sprint and run up a flight of stairs numerous times, but Warren said John never complained. But all that sweat and him being out of breath, he said, that was real.

It seemed very real when Warren and Halstead shared that with us. I was like, Oh my gosh, I had no idea.

This is the thing.

When you don't work on the same day as your fellow actors. I had no idea this whole time that John was running up a flight of stairs for every take.

I know.

Well, Dwight, Jim and Harry are all gonna stumble into the prestige offices and they're gonna find out it's too late. Mr. Ramesh has already signed with Big Red Paper Company.

We got a really fun piece of fan mail about this scene. It's from Stacey B. in Wisconsin, who says My 11-year-old daughter has been waiting to submit a fan catch. When Jim and Dwight get to the prestige offices, Mr. Ramesh is holding an orange ball, but later in the scene it's blue.

Great catch, I would like to throw this out there.

Yeah.

Syracuse University. Their colors are orange and blue.

Hey, hey. It looked like a ball, but it also looked like maybe a little football. It didn't look spherical to me. It looked whatever the shape of a football is.

That shape, a football shape. It looked sporty to me, and I think it's a little nod to Syracuse University.

It probably was.

Back at Dunder, Mifflin Scranton. Pam is going to go in the conference room and tell Robert that she stole Nellie's phone and they're going to listen to the messages together.

Yes.

And they don't paint a great picture of Nellie's life. It really starts to affect Pam.

Yeah, there's a message from her mom who's just trying to cheer her up. The credit card company says she's over her limit. Her brother asks if her boss is still hitting on her, and then there's a call from an adoption agency rejecting her application to adopt a child.

Pam's heard enough, she deletes all the messages. Robert's like, Ah, you just messed it all up.