Office Ladies - Free Family Portrait Studio

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

This week we’re breaking down “Free Family Portrait Studio” and it’s the last episode of Season 8! Dwight sets up a portrait studio at Dunder Mifflin for the employees to take pictures with their families. Angela Martin catches on quickly that this is a ploy to determine if Dwight is the father of her baby and unfortunately, Jim becomes a casualty in this mission. Jenna discusses the changes that were happening from Season 8 to 9, Angela breaks down the car chase with Mose and we have some duck catches! So please enjoy this episode while you mop the carpet. Check out Office Ladies Merch at Podswag: https://www.podswag.com/collections/office-ladies Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestionFollow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod

Hello, Office Ladies Family. Before we get started with today's episode, we have some sad news to share. We do. Our hearts are broken, and our dear Phil Shea has passed away. We just wanted to share that news with you because he was a part of our office family. He was a part of our office ladies family. I was just in touch with Phil recently. We were trading some text messages about Pam's chore wheel. And something I can tell you is just how much he loved sharing his passion, his work with everyone. And he loved that you all took such an interest. He really? All of his props and all of his work. Yeah. It was his pride and joy. And we're so happy that we got to share it with you. Yes.

When I ran into him a few months ago, he told me how much it meant to him that people, unoffice ladies, knew his name, knew what he did. So thank you for being part of our office family and we will miss Phil very much. We will. We love you Phil. Love you. I'm Jennifer. 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 scene stories that only two people who were there can tell you.

We're the office ladies. Hello! Hello, you guys, guess what I was just doing? As our theme song comes on, we listen to it every time we record. Is that dorky? It is? Dorky gets me in the mood. Me too. And it makes me excited to hop on here and talk about the office.

So we listened to our theme song with you guys. And this morning I decided to dance. I did a little dance. She did. I do that sometimes. Sometimes we mouth the words. Sometimes we do. My dance this morning was two fingers where you're like going, but do you, but do you? Yeah, I did a little shimmy. You did. You shimmy the ladies. I shimmy

the ladies today. And I'm glad we did it. Yeah, because. Oh boy. Uh oh. That's a big sigh. Today. We're completing season eight. Yeah, this is it. This is the last episode of season eight. It's season eight, episode 24. It's called Free Family Portrait Studio. It was written by BJ Novak and directed by BJ Novak. He was wearing a lot of hats.

On this last week of 24 episodes, poor BJ, he must have been so tired. I mean, we were all tired, but I think BJ must have been super tired. This was also my birthday week. Oh yeah. My birthday happened in this week. I bet you were tired on your birthday.

It was tired on my birthday. Oh, but we did the cutest thing for my birthday during this week. We were filming over March 7th, which is my birthday. And you guys got me a cake, which was really, really sweet. And Lee brought my son up to set for the cake and the singing, which was so adorable. And we were doing talking heads at that time. That's what we were set up to do. And so we put my son in the talking head chair.

That's adorable. And they filmed a little bit of him. Oh. I know. And I just wrote to Dave Rogers and asked him if there was any way that he could find that footage. Because that memory came back to me when I was watching this episode.

So he's going to look for it. Somebody has that footage. And somebody at NBC also has because that memory came back to me when I was watching this episode. So he's gonna look for it. Somebody has that footage and somebody at NBC also has when Creed and Ed sang Angela's baby to me. We want these things. Someone at NBC. I know. Get it to us. I just wanted to show them. You did. Get it to us.

Dying it. Are you ready for a summary? I am. Last summary of season eight. Are we gonna do this the whole episode? I'm gonna do it the whole season nine, so just get ready. Oh no, okay, here's your summary.

In an effort to prove his paternity once and for all, Dwight sets up a portrait studio in the office for all of the employees. He's hoping to steal some of Baby Phillips DNA for testing. Yeah. Andy pretends to be down and out, but he has a secret plan to become manager again thanks to David Wallace.

I loved when Nelly calls him like a drunken chimney sweep. Such a good description. Robert California reveals his true identity after Joe Bennett dissolves Saber and Darrell makes his intentions clear with Val. It's a lot happening. Yeah. I have lots to say about their impromptu photo shoot.

We'll get to it. Oh, we got a lot of mail about it, Anne. Uh-huh. Yeah. Are you ready for the last Fast fact number one of season eight? I mean, I guess so. Here it is. Like we said, this was our season eight finale and it marked a number of goodbyes.

We mentioned that BJ Novak wrote and directed this episode. This was his last episode as a writer on the office. He'd been with us since the very beginning. This was also Mindy Kaling's last episode as a writer on the office. He'd been with us since the very beginning. This was also Mindy Kaling's last episode as a writer. She left to start her own show, The Mindy Project. I remember just at the time being like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you guys can't go. It felt like we were losing our core team

that built and defined the whole show. I call them the originals, the OGs. Mm-hmm. That's what kids say. They say the OG. Oh, not the original. So, you know, Mindy and BJ are going to appear as actors a couple times in season nine, but this ended their time as writers and regulars on the show.

And then Paul Lieberstein was also stepping down as showrunner after this season. Yeah. There was a lot of discussion about who might step into the showrunner position. I dare say there was hubbub, lady. Oh, I think that is accurate. Yes.

Hubbub. Hubbub about the originals. Yes. Leaving. Well, I remember John and I went over to BJ's trailer, hubbub about the originals. Yes, leaving. Well, I remember John and I went over to BJ's trailer and we asked him to please consider taking the show runner position for season nine.

We told him nobody else knew the show as well as he did. We were very, what would you call it? Passionate. Yes, you guys wanted him to stay and he said, We were very what would you call it passionate? Yes, you guys wanted him to stay and he said No, he said no. Yeah, I could tell he was really touched But he said he felt really burnt out. He needed to move on well. I can understand that I know And when you're writing and creating you can't be in a space where you're burnt out. No Another goodbye James Spader. Yes. He was moving on. You know, he'd really just agreed to do the one season. Right. So we were

saying goodbye to him after this episode. We also say goodbye to Saber. Goodbye Saber? Yeah, Saber's no more. Sobre. So we had a lot of goodbyes, but we also had a lot of, oh, hello. Oh, okay. Hello. Oh, hello. Hello again, Senator Lipton. Yes. Hey there, David Wallace.

Yes. Oh, hi, Jerry Miner is Val's boyfriend, Brandon. Hi there, warehouse fellas. Now is this, and Calvin Tenor is Hiday and Glenn? I'm sorry, is this, oh, hello, or is it and Glenn? I'm sorry is this Oh Hello or is it Hi There? Because... Oh, you pivoted. It's all.

It's Oh Hello Hi There! It's Oh Hello Hi There! Hi There! Oh, good to see you again! Top of the morning to you! That's right! Good to see you again! Mike sure as mose who we haven't seen in a real long time.

Yes. Oh is that section done? That section's done. Oh Hello Hi There is done. Yes. And, is that section done? That section is done. Okay. Oh, hello. Hi, there is done. Yes. And the goodbyes are done. Okay. In fact, I'm moving on to fast fact number two. Oh, let's do it. I'm calling fast fact number two reflections. Oh gosh. And you did like the whisper voice.

Reflections. Reflections with office ladies. We got a fan question from Alice in W and Dallas, Texas, who asked, now that you've watched eight seasons of the show, what is your favorite episode so far? I thought that question might kick off our reflections. Well, it's a fantastic question from Alice in. What's up, Big D? Love Dallas.

Just thought I would just shout out Dallas. Shout out Dallas. Gosh, Jenna, that out Dallas. Shout out Dallas. Gosh, Jenna, that's one of those thinking questions. I gave it some thought. I sent it to you. We thought on it, Allison. We thought on it. We sure did. It has been a really wild ride watching this show again. I've just loved it. I've really gained a deeper appreciation as a fan. Yeah. And I have to say there are so many episodes that surprised me that I had completely forgotten about. Or there were some that I totally changed my opinion about.

Like we watched them. Give us an example. Mafia. Okay. I remember when we filmed it, I thought it was so broad and so silly. Right. I thought this is ridiculous.

As a viewer, I just absolutely loved it. It's one of my favorites now. Yeah. I have really enjoyed watching the show evolves. But if I have to be honest, and this is what you do when you're reflecting, you just did that thing where you kind of looked over the top of your glasses a little.

Well, that's my lawyer look. That's when you know I'm serious. Yes. Yes. Serious. I thought season eight was a little clunky. I did. Everyone. I know that we were trying to find our way after Steve left and I think you can tell. Well, you're doing that thing where you say something you don't think is 100% going to be received well in you whispering.

Yeah, I think here's your bless her heart. It's my blessing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean season eight plus it's heart. Plus it's heart. I think it started well. I would say I think it's ending

like feeling like strong. In strong. Yeah. turf war and free family portrait studio. We feel like we're back in the zone there. I think. But I think we took a real crazy detour around pool party. Oh yeah.

And then things got real kind of spotty. That said, I do think there are a lot of wonderful moments in season eight that are truly classic. Big Pregs, little Pregs. Love that. Josh Groban and Garden Party. Oh, yeah. Jerry Minor is Brandon.

Perfect. Need him to be a series regular. Sad that he's not. Also, we had unbelievable. Unbelievable bed bugs. Oh, bed bugs. We had smug bed bug. Yes, I thought Jim's presentation at Test the Store.

I had forgotten about that, loved it. But like I said last week, I really understand why people start over and rewatch. I think that the show has evolved very subtly over the many seasons, and I really wanna go back and see people from before. I wanna see Michael again. Yeah. I wanna see Old Jim.

I wanna see Dwight Nangela and their romance unfold again. Yeah, that's such a good point. You know, like you said, I have this new appreciation for the show in a way that I didn't when we were filming it, even though I was a big fan of the show when we filmed it. But now I have an appreciation of the fandom of the show. And what I mean by that is when we first started this rewatch, so many people would come

up to us and tell us how many times they'd watched the show all the way through. And it's many times. I mean, you guys have really watched the show all the way through. And it's many times. I mean, you guys have really watched the show. And I realized there were so many episodes, I mean, whole seasons that I hadn't seen since they aired. Yeah. So I have this new appreciation for the fandom because like what you were just saying,

we're coming to the end of this rewatch and I find myself just so desperately wanting to go back to season one. Me too. It's emotional and it's comforting the end of this rewatch and I find myself just so desperately wanting to go back to season one. Me too. It's emotional and it's comforting to go back to those seasons. And you know, I was thinking about which episodes were my favorite and I know I have my go-tos that I've always liked, like dinner party, things like that.

But in my rewatch, kind of like you with Mafia, a few that snuck up on me, that I just forgotten about with like the deposition, for example, love it. Every moment in that deposition when Michael's being cross-examined is just hilarious. I forgot about Scone's E-Sider. Oh, I forgot about Scone's E-Sider too! And the christening, you know, but I do. I find myself wanting to go back.

I want to see the first party planning committee meeting. I want to go back to all of that. Well, when we talked to Billie Eilish on the podcast, we asked her about rewatching. And I kind of think of her as a rewatch expert, because she's really has seen it so many times. And we asked her, do you ever skip anything? You know, do you have favorite seasons?

Will you just start with a certain thing? And she said no. She said she always goes back to the very beginning and she watches everything. Although she did say sometimes she skips Scott's thoughts. Well, you know, the only one that's okay. It's okay. I think I would have to skip the one about the family paper company. Oh, yeah.

That they closed down. They put out a business. Yeah. Prince Family Paper. Prince Family Paper. That one, I couldn't take it. Oh. But Allison, fantastic question.

It clearly made Jenna and I think a lot about this rewatch and what it's meant to us. And we both want to start back at the beginning. We do. But don't worry, we will cover season nine. Yes, yes, first. Not to get ahead of ourselves. All right, fast fact number three is a fan question

from Curtis G. and Seattle. I didn't think there was anything else that we could learn, Angela, about. I don't know, the origins of characters or anything, this long into our rewatch, but Curtis has found something that I didn't know. The origins of characters or anything this long into our rewatch, but Curtis has found something that I didn't know. What? Here's what Curtis said. When I was in grad school, one of my professors was named Andy Bernard. There was a rumor that he and Greg Daniels were friends in college and that Greg named Ed's character after him.

Is it true that Andy Bernard on the office is named after Professor Andy Bernard at Dartmouth? I would not be surprised at all because Greg liked to do that. Well, I asked Greg, what do you say? He said, you can tell Curtis G that it is completely true that Andy Bernard on the office is named after Professor Andy Bernard at Dartmouth.

However, Andy and I and our mutual friend Jim Halpert have been great friends since first grade. So Greg's two childhood friends are named Jim Halpert and Andy's son are. Yeah, I knew Jim Halpert same, but oh my gosh. Greg said that it was really fun for him to give the characters his old friends names. He never thought that people would still be asking about it 20 years later. Greg also said the real life Andy Bernard is at Dartmouth, which is Cornell's big rival,

and that the real Andy Bernard is not much like the character of Andy Bernard. Well, I should think not. He did say he thinks the real Andy Bernard might have had one of those preppy belts with whales on them at one time in the 80s. But besides that, nothing else. He said the real Andy would never punch his fist through a wall. However, Greg said the real-life Jim Houtpert is very sociable, athletic, and romantic. Oh!

Greg said he was at his wedding and his marriage was beautiful and his wife is completely pan-worthy. He has many of the qualities that he wanted the character of Jim to have as well. Greg said when he met John Krasinski, he reminded him of the real-life Jim helper. Greg said they're both incredibly admirable men. Greg said that in real life, Andy Bernhardt is a renowned economist who studies globalization and was named by Reuters as one of the world's most influential scientific minds. Oh my goodness!

The real-life Jim Halpert works in the White House as general counsel to the National Cyber Director trying to write laws to protect people's security and privacy on the internet. Okay Greg's friends are really smart. He said this is why I asked them both if it was okay to share a recent photo of the three of us. Oh. And Greg said we can put it in the office lady's pod. Story of stories. Oh great. Yes. And it's the cutest picture. And I'm just imagining these three guys are way back together. First grade.

Yeah. There's probably not a photo of that because we just didn't have cameras like we do now, but I love this friendship. What a lifelong friendship. Yeah. I love that. Thank you, Greg.

Thank you, Greg, and thank you, Curtis. Yes. And for all of you, Greg Daniels fans out there, you know, season three of Upload is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The trailer is awesome. We have to put that in our stories, Angela. And by the way, if you have not watched Upload, it is so good. It has like 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.

You should definitely check it out. Well, that's all I have for FastFacts, ladies. It has like 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. You should definitely check it out. Well, that's all I have for Fast Facts, lady. Should we get into our last breakdown of an episode from season eight? Let's do it because we have a little bit of old tech that was new tech at the time. Oh, well, we'll take a break and discuss. We are back and Oscar is talking directly to a camera on his computer. He's doing like one of those like a webcam, like, you know, like one of those

professionals that folks do on YouTube. Now, you guys, people were not doing this yet. This was the very beginning. So this whole scene and the way the camera was set up and how Oscars talking directly to the internet as I call it. Yes. That wasn't really happening and it wasn't featured very much on television.

So this was a little bit of like, you know, new technology. And of course, now we look at it and we're like, oh my gosh. Yeah, people do it all the time. All the time. Well, I asked Steve Burgess, how do we get this shot? And he said, Matt Sone just set up one of the cameras on Oscar's desk, moved the computer out of the way and set the camera there with this sort of special lens. And then everybody just walked over and talked into it as if it was a webcam.

It's very funny, you know, Dwight and Phyllis are kind of lurking behind. Kelly comes in and touches up her makeup, Robert then comes in and just starts talking straight to camera, takes over, headbutts, Kevin, and then it all falls apart. Yeah. So Oscar ultimately tells the youth, you know what, it may not get much better,

but it does get a little better. Okay. Well, this episode opens with a Dwight talking head. And he's explaining that he wanted to give the tenants of the building something nice. So he has set up a family portrait studio in the break room. And during this talking head, we are seeing groups of people getting their picture taken. Yes. I will say for this montage, everyone that's getting their picture taken. Yes. I will say for this montage,

everyone that's getting their picture taken, there was written dialogue. There was. Yes, that wasn't used. Please tell me more. Well, Toby and his daughter are doing a dance and she's like saying, Jazz hands dad and he can't quite get it.

Stanley and his daughter just have a sweet moment, you know? And then Creed and his parents, he's like, look, I'm in a parent sandwich, you know, Creed is just being cuckoo pants. And then Meredith and her son just continue to yell at each other. I see. Yeah. So there was just extra beats of all of it. Well, if you're wondering who played all the family members, Toby's daughter was played by Delaney Ruth Farrell. She was the daughter of our set dresser. Stanley's daughter was played by Sarah Rebecca. Cree's parents were played by Ed Ford Jr. and Jackie Beno

and Meredith Sun was played again by Spencer Daniels. Shout out to our actual NBC set photographer and Kate Flanery's longtime fellow, Chris Hastings, for working the Dwight's Family Portrait studio. You'll see him in the corner. He's sitting at the desk, kind of logging all the pictures onto the computer. I saw him.

I also want to share with you guys in the shooting draft, there would have been an establishing shot of the flyer for this free family portrait studio, and here's what it said. Oh, boy. In all caps on the flyer, it says, free family portrait studio, all professional exclamation point, May 9th, noon to 5 p.m.

in Dunderclund Breakroom, courtesy of building manager Dwight K. Shrewt. All professional. Please guys, keep it professional. And I have another tidbit to add about this scene. You thought I was done. I've got one too. It's the scene that keeps on giving.

Okay. Here's mine. In the shooting draft, the person who was in the very front of the line who would have been first up to get their picture taken was, any guesses? Oh, this is a good question. Um, Kevin? No. It was Brandon. And this might explain a little bit of that photo at the end. Oh! Here's how it read and it's also in deleted scenes. Interior break room.

Brandon and Val are at the front of the line. Photographer, next up, Brandon checks himself in a compact mirror and steps up. Val follows. Brandon waves her off and says, baby, I need some singles, okay? She says, what? And he goes, I need some singles and he shoes her away.

And then he turns to the photographer and he says, can we clear some of this kid stuff out of here? This is a promotional shot for my restaurant and I am selling three things, food, sex, and laughter. And then he does a series of photos with that kind of in mind. And Val is just sitting on the side just watching him like, what the hell? He didn't want to picture with his own girlfriend. I have a question.

Is Val wearing her warehouse uniform in the scene? Yes. Why? She wants a portrait with her boyfriend and she's in her like work uniform and he's in regular clothes. This is very poor planning. Well, it bothered me later too. We can talk about it more. Yes, it doesn't really look like most everyone dressed for this photo. Pam really dressed her kids for this photo. Pam went all out. As did Angela or the Senator.

The Senator. Angela had nothing to do with it. But I wanted to share this scene because it just shows you the dynamic of their relationship. He didn't even want to picture with her. He wanted photos by himself. That doesn't feel good. I wish we had that scene in. I just want more of Jerry Minor. Oh, he's very funny in it.

He went so good in that. His poses are hilarious. We got a fan catch from Emily J. In Ohio who said, Creed brings in his parents for a photo, but in season six, the cover-up, Creed says his mom has died. You know what, Emily, you can't trust anything Creed says. These might not be his parents. I was going to say he might have multiple families in different places.

Yeah. I think that is a good catch, at the same time anything goes with Crater. Yeah, which I think the writers took to heart. I think his show Bible is a bit squirrely. It's all over the place. It's just a bunch of contradictions. Yeah, but very good catch. Mm-hmm. Dwight now enters the bullpen and announces there's only a few more hours left of the portrait studio.

He suggests for Daryl to bring his daughter in, for Angela to bring Philip. Right now, enters the bullpen and announces there's only a few more hours left of the portrait studio. He suggests for Darrell to bring his daughter in, for Angela to bring Philip, maybe Jim could bring his two cuties. And Jim says, you know what, I know why Dwight's doing this. Yes. He has a whole talking head where he describes that he did this elaborate prank where he got Dwight's suits and made them with Terroway Velcro. What is Jim's budget for these pranks?

Have you ever had alterations done? I'm a short person. I have to get everything altered. And it is not cheap. Well, you know, Angela, in our fan appreciation mailbag episode, we discussed this scene. We did. I read a letter from Jovi and Oregon,

and he had done an in-depth breakdown of what it costs Jim to prank Dwight over all of these many years. If you haven't listened to that episode and you're interested in really digging deep into this subject, you can go back and listen to it. Jovi from Oregon, he thinks that this Teriway suit was Jim's second most expensive prank and he broke down the cost like this. He had to buy an alternate cheap suit that cost about $200. He had to have a tailor sew velcro into it. He estimates

that was $100. Easily $100. Easily. And he included a tip for the dry cleaner that was $10. So he estimates this prank costs $310. Yeah. I mean, how does Pam feel about that? I mean, is their family so flush with finances that they can afford to spend $310 on this print? Absolutely not. No one, no one wants to spend $300 on a tarot way suit. Like, what are you doing? Yeah. I will say this, what?

Maybe we'll get mail about it, but I'm just gonna say it. What is it? I think Jim's pranks are Roy's jet skis. Mm. Oh boy. Uh-huh. Because that is a strong statement.

It's a strong statement, but if you add up everything Jim spends on pranks, what could that be a vacation for their family? Could they go to Disneyland? Could they maybe splurge and buy that new sofa they've been wanting? No, they bought a tarot way suit. Ooh, Angela.

Oh boy. I had not ever thought of it. Here's my yes and to that theory. Do you think Jim checked in with Pam before doing this? Did he say, hey, baby, I have a hilarious idea. What if I do a tear away suit? And then did she say, how much is that going to cost? And he said, I don't know, maybe 300, 310.

But remember, she said that's hilarious. We should do it. Do you think he consulted her? He bought a whole house without talking to her. Well, now we're going there. Well, I'm just saying, people come for Pam all the time, but we don't discuss exactly what you said, which is that there's no trips to Disneyland

because we're pranking our coworker and not talking to our wife about it first. Yes. Yeah. We're on to something here. I think that there is a pattern of Jim spending the couple's money without consulting Pam. We're going to see it coming up again. I think these pranks are the jet skis.

That was Roy spending the couple's money without Pam's consent. Why does Pam pick men who spend her money without talking to her first? Pam gets some therapy. Well, Jim is going to finish this talking head by saying he now thinks that Dwight is trying to get payback on him for this prank. Yes. And once Jim to bring his kids to work, and this is making him feel very nervous. Yeah. Immediately after Jim's talking head, there was a Dwight talking head. They filmed a few versions of this talking head. None of them made it into the episode. This one was my favorite.

It was a quote must shoot, okay? Right? So we filmed it, but it didn't make it in. Dwight would have said, this is nothing to do with Jim. I'm merely trying to determine whether Angela's son is mine. Of course, if he is, I will raise him to be Jim's enemy. It involves Jim in that sense. Oh, I love that. Next up is a scene that I absolutely loved. Darryl is going to be talking with Heade and Glenn. They lost all of their lottery

winnings already. Heade blames the bad economy, bad investments. It has my favorite line in the episode. Is it Calvin's line? No, it's Darrell's line. Okay, there's so many good lines in here. Okay. But Darrell says so nobody wanted an energy drink for Asian homosexuals.

And then Calvin says they did not. I love the delivery so much. They did not. Okay, my favorite line was when Darryl, you know, he's going to try the drink. Yes. And he's like, what's the flavor? And they take coconut peanuts. And then Darryl takes a sip and goes, the coconut's pretty subtle. That's pretty amazing. Oh, so well written. So we got a lot of fan mail about this scene, right or end from Idaho said, what is the writing on the can of the energy drink?

Doesn't mean anything in particular. And Anna O from Tokyo, Japan, wrote in to answer that very question. Oh great. Tell us what it actually says. Anna said, as an office fan from Japan, I was thrilled to see He-Day in the cold open of this episode. And when he handed Darryl the Japanese energy drink, I had to pause and read what it said on the can.

To directly translate, it says, gay energy superpower flavor. Banished lazy attitudes to the land of wind and ghosts. Okay, thank you so much. I had no idea what it actually said all these years. And you know what? I looked in the script to see if there was any description of the can or what was written on the can. No. So Phil Shea had to invent this all himself. It's so well done. We also got a fan catch from Adrian G and Connecticut who said continuity error when the two former warehouse workers and Andy come into the office this week. None of them are wearing the visitor pass that Aaron

established in episode 23. Oh, none of them the whole day. People, family members are coming in and out. There's no visitor passes. No visitor passes. We also got a really nice note about Hide. This is from Shuhei in Tokyo, but who's currently living in Australia. Shuhei said, after I had listened to the podcast episode for Body Language where you shared that Hide was on Instagram, I sent him a direct message in Japanese letting him know that I'm a big fan of his character. He surprisingly

replied back to me thanking me in a very polite way, but this wasn't the end. He offered his autograph and actually sent it all the way to Sydney, Australia. The whole interaction I had with him and Hiday as a person were literally the best. I mean, this doesn't surprise me. Not at all. He's a lovely person. This is who he is. Yeah, he's so warm and gracious. I'd like to mention that if you love Hiday

and would like a personalized message from him, he's on cameo. That's the website where you can request videos from celebrities. So if maybe I don't know, you're looking for a last minuteminute holiday gift for someone, maybe ask today to make a video. I'll put it in stories so you can find it. Well, this scene is going to end because Darryl sees Val walking into the office and he gets up. He's like, hold up,

one second. Then he sees Brandon. Yeah. And he has a talking head where he says, you know what, if he was Val, he would break up with Brandon and then date the hell out of him. Yeah. Yeah. Well, after this talking head, there would have started, Jenna. The most bonkers, Jim Pam, Robert, California storyline. I remember it. Oh, it was a whole runner. It was so weird. It goes throughout the entire episode. You can also watch it all play out and deleted scenes on the DVD. But I wanted to play it for you all. Oh, boy.

Yeah, I need you to hear it. And thanks to Cassie, who helped me stitch these moments together so we can play it all as one. I'm going to give you a hint to the subject matter. It's just the number three. Oh, boy. Uh-huh. Shared silence. The hallmark of an authentic relationship.

Your intimacy. And nobles this office. Thank you. Robert, that is a really sweet thing to say. I want to be part of it. Huh? Okay. Great. It's from Robert. Saturday 10, question mark. Yeah, I could hear you do the question mark.

Tens a little late for dinner. We were just wondering what we could bring on Saturday. Oh, no, no, nothing. I have everything we'll need. Do you have any new categories? Yeah. Yes. We love categories.

That's great. Yeah. We'll need the icosahedron dye from it. 20 sides. Just enough. Huh? Great. Well, we're looking forward to it.

Me three. Me three. Yeah. This is crazy. We're being crazy. Totally. Yeah. So where should you go? Yes. You know we can't go. No, we should stay home, sorry, and I... I can make my salmon. This is gonna haunt us, yes. Yep. God, what a couple. Jim and Pam, given the circumstances, I'm afraid I must cancel our Saturday night. Oh, yeah, of course. I'm sorry.

Me too. Just out of curiosity. What would we have been doing? Exactly. Three way. I hate's okay. Lady. Yep. Robert, California wanted to have a threesome with Jim and Pam. Yeah. They're like, this is what it is, but is it? They're doubting themselves, but they know. I had completely forgotten about this. If you would have asked me this on an office trivia night, I had 100% say no.

There was never a storyline where Robert wanted a threesome with Jim and Pam. But there was. Yeah. That's crazy. Crazy. Well, Jenna, we have a fan question about it. We do. Yes, we do.

You're dipping into the fan questions over there, you know. I am L.A.E. from the UK wrote in and said, I want to know Jenna, how did you and John react to this storyline? How did you guys get through the scene where Robert says otherwise, I wanna know, Jenna, how did you and John react to this storyline? How did you guys get through the scene where Robert says otherwise, I'm just a guy, f***ing two parents. Ella, it was very hard to keep a straight face during all of this.

That was a doozy, but it was especially difficult for me in the scenes that were just Jim and Pam because John is particularly funny to me. He's so funny. When he's in denial. And when he's in denial are her little like freak daughter scared. Yes.

Yes. In fact, John in this whole episode is some of my favorite John Krizensky comedy. You know, when he's taking the picture, when he's like worried something's gonna come get him, it reminds me of, you know, when he's walking out among all of the snowmen. Yes, yes, that's just some of my favorite John Comedy. So I am glad we cut this storyline. I think it was too much, but I did enjoy shooting it.

I made these laugh. I laughed really hard when they're trying to get to the bottom of like, what are we doing at 10 p.m.? Like what is happening? We're not eating and you guys go in the conference room and the part that really made me laugh is when Robert says, do you like scatigories? The two of you have such a moment of relief.

Like, yes, we love scatigories. But then it quickly turns and you're like, oh, I love the reveal that Jim has a salmon that he makes. I know. Should I make my salmon? I'll make my salmon. Let's just forget it ever happened. Lady, I think we should take a break. I think I need a moment. Oh, after that? Yeah. All right. Well, I think we do need a big reset and I think I have the perfect thing. Oh, really, Angela? I do as head of the party planning committee. It is happy holidays here at Office Ladies.

Sam and Cassie get ready to open some presents because we are doing our gift exchange today. That's right, and we have sweet treats. You guys, this is my favorite time. I know, Kinsy Claus is here. Kinsy Claus! You know we're about to go on our two-week holiday break. And before we do, we had to give you some gifts, Sam.

We wrapped yours in our own faces. In our faces? We thought you would appreciate it. Cassie, I wrapped yours in the Unicorn Princess paper. Here you are, Sam. It is the green day when we were young festival t-shirt. We both went to this concert! Yes!

I love it. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, this is great. Yeah. Cassie, I just saw these and I thought of you and I just think they're so cute. Angela sent me multiple photos of these, by the way.

Yes! They're little silver kitty cat earrings. And each kitty's in a different pose. Yes. So cute, I love it. That's so cute. And then Josh made ginger cookies with candy cane herchee kisses in the middle.

I love the candy cane herchee kiss. They're my favorite. And Jenna, you are not forgotten. Here's some gluten-free shirtbread cookies. gluten free shirtbread cookies. And I brought extra things so everyone can take cookies home. Yeah! Happy holidays! Happy holidays! Oh wait you guys I have one more thing. You know for years on the office Jenna would make us all Christmas ornaments. And then when we started office ladies I made us Christmas ornaments and then I kind of dropped the ball on it. So I made us all Christmas ornaments. And then when we started office ladies, I made us Christmas ornaments, and then I kind of dropped the ball on it. So I made us all a Christmas ornament this year.

Hey! Okay, there you go. Now, you turn it on the other side. Turn the other side. Yeah. What is it? It's a picture of the four of us. It's a wooden cube,

and then on the other side, there's a perigranny panties that say, getting sh** done. I love it. This is perfect. This is amazing. Well, that is the pellet cleansing that I needed, Angela. Thank you. Thank you. Let's go to break it when we come back. And he's got a real unique outfit on. Yeah.

These cookies are so good. Josh crushed it. Josh these cookies are really good. Even though I've moved from no gluten to avoiding gluten and I'm not going to avoid these cookies. She told me right away. She was like, I will be having one of those. All right, listen, while we were on break and we're eating our cookies, we started talking to Sam about his new podcast that's coming out. Sam, will you tell everyone about it? Because I'm so excited. We are so excited about this, Sam.

Enemy in Paris. Sure, sorry, I'm also eating. Also, the title is Perfect Sam. Yeah, it's a hate watch along podcast for Emily in Paris. I received feedback from my comments on the show. Other people dislike the show. So myself and a comedian named Beck Hill are going through and watching the show from the start and tearing it apart. Brilliant. Oh my gosh. Can I please come on an episode? Please. Sure can. Both of you can. Same. I absolutely love Emily and Paris

and also hate it all at the same time. Yes, I can't get enough of it. I have so many feelings about it. Yes, this podcast was needed and I'm so excited. And when does it start? I comes out December 20th. Okay, so perfect. For the holidays, are you kidding?

Yeah, one of my favorite things to Sam is when you were in Paris, how you went to places. Oh yeah, we stopped by Emily's apartment, we stopped by Gabriel's restaurant, and got filled with anger. And then you have like snarky content. Mm-hmm. Snarky photos.

All right, we should get back to this episode. Mm-hmm, Andy. He has shown up to work in a, I guess like a boiler suit. Yeah, he hasn't shaved shaved his hair is all a mess He tells Jim he's fine. He goes into Nellie's office and asks if there's any work he could do He can pull the poop out of the toilets if she needs you know on this day where Andy most definitely doesn't look fine Even though he's orchestrating this whole look. Mm-hmm. You would think they would want him to log in and get his visitor label. Listen, they were worried when he was sitting outside

in his car, but I feel more worried now. Yes. When we talk about clunky moments in season eight, I'm sorry, but this one was hard for me. It's very hard for me when he is mopping the floor, the carpet. The carpet with like a bucket of water. What?

He has a talking head where he explains that he has a delicious secret. This is all fake because at three o'clock today, David Wallace is gonna walk into the office. He's gonna announce that he has purchased under Mifflin and he is reinstating Andy as manager. I would say this is a cautionary tale for anyone out there that feels like they need to have a moment of like,

gacha, like revenge moment, gacha. Yeah. It's never gonna play out the way you hope. Also, it is sort of the poison that poisons the well. Mm-hmm. No, how's that saying go? I'm proud of my name. I mean, I'm sure it's not it's the poison that poisons the well. No, how's that saying go? I'm proud of it. I mean, I'm sure it's not it's the poison that poisons the well. No, no, no, no, it's it's the poison that poisons the bottle that holds it.

Anyway, I don't know, but I'm just saying is that a saying it's the poison that poisons the bottle that holds it. I just made it up maybe. Is it I feel like what are you going for? It's the it up maybe. Is it, I feel like, what are you going for? It's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the well. No, I'm going for it. Poisons the bottle that holds it. So here you are. You have just taken into your body this resentment, this revenge.

I mean, I show them, right, that energy. And the more you pull, and my body is the bottle. Yes. And the more you hold all that in body is the bottle. Yes. And the more you hold all that in, it poisons you. It poisons the bottle that holds it. Thank you. I'm liking this phrase. If this isn't a phrase, I like it.

Don't poison the bottle that holds it. Don't poison the bottle that holds it. I like it. You just put on your glasses with emphasis and looked at me over the top of them after you said it. You just put on your glasses with emphasis and looked at me over the top of them after you said it. I think that means you're onto a good saying. Okay. Well, Pam is now gonna arrive with C.C. and Philip.

It's family picture time. Jim is like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what, what are you doing here? This is where I love paranoid Jim. You're loving. They go into pose for photos and Jim could not look more freaked out in every picture. What are they doing with those pictures? I can't be in the Christmas card.

I improvise the line. Okay, so I'll just stand here when he takes like both children. The kids, yeah. Also, I want to say that they brought these kids to set. I had no idea what they were going to be wearing. The little purple bows and Cece's hair that kind of matched what Pam was wearing. It was all so coordinated. I was like, this is what I can never do in my real life.

No. I can never coordinate all our outfits. We will never send you a family holiday card where we are coordinated. I tried one time. One time. I didn't go. We were at Josh's sister's wedding in Hawaii, and I thought, Christmas card opportunity here.

I never did this now, I'm sorry to laugh. Why? I didn't. And I wanted us all to have like a shirt that looked tropical, like sailboats or you know flowers or you know someone surfing or coral fish. Yeah, it was such a thing. No one wanted to wear their shirts.

I know I remember. But you did get a very nice picture and you were all dressed up. You just weren't in coordinating outfits. Well, we couldn't. No one wanted to wear the same thing. But you know, then ultimately I just went for, okay, tropical, whatever that means to you. Well, Angela, I think your card turned out adorable.

Thank you. And Jim and Pam's color coordination in this family photo, I was like, wow, they did it. They did it, they look great. I have a bunch of fan questions I can get to. Rider N from Idaho said, was there a fake baby used during the filming of this episode, specifically when Pam brings her kids into the office?

Nope, Ryder? There were not. We had a real baby, Phillip Helpert, who was played by some twin girls in this episode, Mahina and Malia Hatchee. And at six minutes and 12 seconds, I don't know which one of them is in the stroller, but there is a baby in that stroller. And you can see the baby's legs kicking as I push it toward the break room. And I actually really appreciated that

there was a real baby there. And I was trying to keep it calm. And that's why I keep talking to it during the scene. Yeah. That's why I'm talking to the baby, and it really helped my performance. So I appreciated it. We also had a fan catch from Christopher H and Hawaii who said, did you notice that the duck, the photographer is using to distract the kids when the photos are taken is the same stuffed animal duck

that Toby gave Pam in season three? No. What a great catch! It's literally exactly the same duck I went back and looked. Speaking of ducks, you guys, you'll remember when we had Claire on, how we talked that she took from set, the quacking duck, not this stuffed animal duck

that's in the scene, Christopher. Different duck. The little duck that's sat by the file cabinet by Phyllis's desk. That would go off during takes and rune take after take. Yes. Well, Claire sent this to me the other morning. First thing in the morning, I'm going to read what she said.

She goes, hey, Angie, good morning from this little guy. And then she took a video of herself hitting the duck. This is the duck, guys, that would rune take after take. This is what it sounded like. I could do it from memory. It has a little tape. It's quite, quite, quite, quite. They say some sounds take you right back to where you were at the moment you can see the famous Quacking Duck. You should. The Senator arrives with Angela's baby, Philip. Angela's like, no, no, no, no, no, what are you doing here? Yes, baby, Philip Lipton.

Also played by twin girls, Ali and Suzy and Hartman. Well, Dwight is gonna welcome Angela and the Senator to the photo studio. Angela will not let Dwight and Hartman go out and get a photo of her. And then, if you're gonna be ableman. Well Dwight is gonna welcome Angela and the Senator to the photo studio. Angela will not let Dwight hold Philip. Dwight keeps trying to get near Philip. Angela has a talking head where she says she thinks

Dwight's doing this whole thing to get a DNA sample to prove he's the father, which is impossible because the Senator is the only man she's ever been with. I have a question for you. What is it? What's up with my hair? What is up with your hair?

It looks like I had just been in a wind tunnel. What is up with your hair? And then immediately when I go to the family portrait studio, it's totally normal. What happened to my hair? I wondered if there was a deleted scene. Are you so did I? Ripping your hair out in frustration. I odd.

It's very odd. I went to the shooting draft. I went to the candy bag. I watched deleted scenes. I'm not a real baby, if maybe the baby had touched my hair somehow, or I have a little burp cloth, maybe I had tried to put it on the other side and tossed my hair. Yeah, I noticed it as well. Well speaking of messy hair, Dwight wants to try and comb baby Phillips hair,

but Angela swatts him away. These scenes were so fun. They were so funny, Angela. Can we keep going with them? Because Dwight is also going to suggest he trim Phillips toenails. I know. Every time Reign as Dwight came at us and I got to swat him away, I was so fun.

He's going to try to collect excess dry skin. Oh, I know. Could you imagine if like a photographer at a baby studio was like fusing over your baby like this? Also, isn't the senator like, what are you doing Dwight? Like the senator is so checked out. He's so unaware. Oh, you know what? I should give a shout out to Julie Dove who played our fake photographer in all of these scenes. She was very good. Well, little baby Philip Lipton is gonna make the poop skis. Yep. The senator takes them out to change his diaper. Very helpful. Refreshing to see that.

Dwight is then going to emerge from the bathroom with the diaper. Angela notices this and screams for him and runs after him. Where did Senator Lipton change the diaper in the men's restroom? I don't know because I don't think there's a changing table in there. Well, there's definitely not. I don't think there's a changing table in the women's restroom. Maybe he just laid him down like on the carpet near Kelly's desk. And then he threw it away all the way in the bathroom. I don't know.

These are logistics I can't get into. There's also something that I noticed because we rarely have this angle where we're in the kitchen like this and we shoot kind of into the bullpen in this way. Yeah. And I noticed that at 10 minutes and 30 seconds, Leslie has a heater under his deck. Oh, I saw that too. And I thought Leslie got cold. I never

knew that. I knew we had heaters. I know. I thought only the ladies had heaters. Because the men would wear full suits. Yeah, they know. They were hot. They were warm. But we would have our tights and our skirts and everything. I didn't know this. At least years. I didn't know it either. Learn something new. Well, we should probably go back and discuss Andy.

We should, because there's a lot going on. He's going to gargle some whiskey. He's going to choke on it. He then brings out soup for Nelly, but then spills it all over himself and then tries to eat it off of his clothes off his arm Aaron's gonna pull Andy aside. She's gonna say hey the payoff for this is gonna be delicious But some of these images are gonna be hard to shake Andy, you know, so calibrate Aaron is having such a

smart practical sober moment here. Yes, she is, but she also co-signed on Drunken Chimney Sweep. She did. But I appreciate her pumping the brakes on this. Mm-hmm. Meanwhile, Darrell is gonna bring Hiday and Glenn down to the warehouse.

He's given them their jobs back. He's gonna re-acquaint them with the goings-on. Yes, he tells them about Val and just really gushes on her as the foreman of the warehouse. Brandon, here's this and accuses Darryl of hitting on Val and Darryl goes, yeah, I am. Let's just get that out there. So we're all on the same page. And then Brandon starts personally attacking Darryl. Yeah. And oh, does Darryl do the right thing here? He just is like, good luck.

Yeah. Doesn't insult him back. Just lets that bad behavior just sit there with a giant spotlight on it. Just wonderful restraint. Absolutely. And now we know that there was already a moment in this day where Brandon has pushed Val aside, taken photos by himself, and now he's being sh**ty to Darryl when Darryl was just giving her compliments on her job. So you see this building for Val. Meanwhile upstairs, some of the folks in the office are going to take Andy into the conference room and have a kind of intervention. Yeah. And I say some of the people because there are people missing

and it really begs the question, where is Robert? He usually works in the conference room, but he's not in there now, and he can't be in the break room because there is a portrait studio happening. He's not in the bullpen. He's running errands for his three-some later that evening. Uh-huh.

He's buying all the things he's gonna need for his night of hosting. Right. We might get, right. Dwight and Angela night of hosting. Right. We might get... We might get... Dwight and Angela are in a car chase. We'll get to that. Yes, they're gone.

But I don't think that Meredith went into the conference room. Well, I don't think she'd want to attend one. You might be right. There's a very fun moment where there's a knock at the door and Andy thinks that it must be David Wallace. Yes, it is. He's ready for his delicious moment. It's Gabe. He's wearing a tiny birthday hat, I'm carrying a tiny cupcake, and he says happy birthday

to Gabe. Nelly says, get out of here skeleton man. But now Andy's phone is going to ring, he's going to step out to take the call and it's not good news. David Wallace is stuck in traffic, he thinks maybe he'll come a different day. Andy's like, you have to come today. Yeah, I am fully committed to this bit.

You've got to come today. Then there was a moment in this group seeing that really cracked me up. It's when. It's when Andy says he's been talking to David Wallace all the time, and they're like really, like really. And yeah, but Aaron's like, it's true. Yeah, he's been talking to David Wallace all the time and they're like really like really and yeah But Aaron's like it's true. Yeah, he's always talking to him and they're like have you seen David Wallace and Aaron's like oh no I haven't and then when Toby says do you see David Wallace right now? Yeah, do you see him in the room? Yeah

And he also keeps saying his name. Hey, Andy, yeah, we're worried about you, Andy. He's like, stop saying my name. I thought all of that was really good writing. I did too. Well, while all of that is happening up in the bull pin, there is a full-on car chase happening. Dwight has peeled out of the parking lot. Angela is in hot pursuit. We got a fan question from writer N and Idaho who said, what are the logistics of filming a car chase like this and how did you get the second car? Well, I asked Steve Berges about this writer. Basically, we did an elaborate breakdown of the shots that we needed for all of the elements of this car chase. We had to close streets.

needed for all of the elements of this car chase. We had to close streets. We had lots of safety meetings. We had our stunt coordinator, AI Jones on set, had to talk everyone through each sequence. Yep. Because these sequences involved not only the cars, but also all of the insert cars with cameras on them. That's right.

The LAPD has to come out and deal with all the traffic. It's a big deal. So Steve said this was a big one for us. It was and the car chase had more than one location. Mm-hmm. There was a lot more to it. It's in deleted scenes and in the shooting draft, I want to share with you guys two things we filmed that you don't see. First of all, when Angela is following Dwight, he pulls over on the side of the road. She pulls over behind him and he throws a diaper out the car window.

In the shooting draft it said, after Dwight throws the diaper out the window, Angela stops her car, runs after it. So I had to get out of my car on a busy street. I had to run into the side of the road. I had to find this diaper. I pick it up, I look at it, I throw it back on the ground and yell, dammit! Then it would have cut.

Then we both had driving talking heads, separate from one another. It would have cut to Dwight's car on the interior and he's looking in his rear view mirror saying, you think I wouldn't grab a second diaper? You always have a decoy for everything, idiot. Amazing. Then Angel was getting more and more frustrated.

Here's one of those moments, and by the way, this was scripted exactly as I said it. This is how Angela Martin curses you guys. Where are you going? You GD son of a B. H. So it's a lot of letters. She doesn't say anything full out. She just has all of her abbreviations that she says very angrily. One of my bosses that I worked for who I just absolutely adored

who was so supportive of my acting career, he would let me leave secretly for auditions and cover for me with the powers that be. I was his executive assistant. When he would get really frustrated in his office, he would go, oh, fiddle sticks! He would say fiddle sticks. It was so cute. So cute. It's so cute.

But I knew he was real upset if he said it. Oh yeah. I'd be like, uh-oh. Son of a B. H. I know. He and Angela would make quite a pair. Mm-hmm. Let's see them argue at home. Well, the car chase is going to end and what looks like is a dead end,

and real life it was actually a cul-de-sac. And I want to read from the shooting draft how this scene was described. Okay, great. Angela gains on the thunderbird, honking and honking. The thunderbird pulls over. Angela runs over to the car. Angela. No! She opens the door and pulls Angela runs over to the car. Angela, no! She opens the door and pulls out the driver of the car. It's Mo's exclamation point.

She starts shaking him. Angela, where is he? Where did he go? Mo's. I'm not supposed to say. Angela slaps Mo's in the face. Angela says, where is he? Where is he?

Mo's runs away. We got some fan mail about this. Angela, are you ready to answer some letter? And then we have a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a

little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a the car in pursuit of the diaper. Okay. I will say this, yes and no, Ivan, because there were a lot of driving sequences, as we have shared, anything on the big open roads, that was not us. Okay. Right? But this little sort of peeling out into the cul-de-sac, where we pull up kind of side by side, Mike and I did do that. But it was a dead end cul-de-sac. There were no homes, our businesses or anything. It sort of backed up like a parking lot. So there was no other motorists that we could... Emily, yes.

Right, to worry about. But having said that, even us just pulling in and having to do this sequence where we kind of pull in a little bit side by side staggered, the stunt coordinator showed us exactly where the car would stop, where we would pull up to, and we had a little practice before we did any of the dialogue. I've done driving scenes like that before. We talk about as actors, sometimes in order to be on camera and focus, you have to hit a mark, and they'll put a little piece of tape on the ground.

You'll be like, okay, when you enter this scene, you gotta stand right here or else you're gonna be out of focus. And then in these driving sequences, your car will have a mark. Yes. That is so hard to do to stop your car at the exact right place. Right, and throw it in park.

Make sure you throw it in park because then you gotta get out and run. And there was a camera operator between the two cars standing there. Wow. Well, Steve Urges said not to give away too many secrets, but Angela had a driving stunt double named Nancy Thurston. And Brett Jones was the Dwight stunt double. He was dressed up to look like Dwight. And drove both for rain and then also for Mike Sher. He sent a picture of Brett dressed up as Dwight. It's really great. So we can share that in our stories.

And Steve Burgess said Nancy really looked like you, Angela. Like they would be, they were fooled. Sometimes they were like, wait, is Angela in the car? No, it's Nancy. All right, are you ready for your next fan question, Angela? I am. This is from Grant S in Austin, Texas, who would like to know, when Angela smacks Moe's at the end of the car chase, did Angela really smack Mike?

The sound makes it seem like it was a hard hit, and I'm not sure which answer I'm hoping for. Oh, Grant. Yes, I did slap him. Really hard. And that sound you hear from the slap is very real. They added nothing in post. But here's the deal, Grant. I didn't slap him in the beginning.

We did a few takes where I did a fake slap. But the camera is really close. If you re-watch that scene, the camera is really close if you rewatch that scene. The camera is right up on us. And they could just tell that it wasn't really having any effect, right? So we decided to go for it. And Mike sure was on our podcast.

That's a fantastic interview. If you haven't heard it, it's one of my favorite interviews we have done in this whole rewatch. But we did talk quite a bit about that slap, and here is what he had to say. No, I've, I've, I hate it when there's like a fake slap on TV. I'm sure this will be fine. Just, just really hit me.

It'll be fine. I remember telling you that like just really hit me. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. I had no idea that you were a mixed martial arts, the professional. And you hit me so hard, I really like lost my, I did not know where I was,

I didn't know what was happening, my eyes went blank and my hearing dropped out. Oh my. No idea what was happening. It was wonderful. I'm so, that's the take they used, thankfully. Because afterwards, also I remember afterwards, you were like, oh my God, I'm so sorry.

And I was like, no, no, no, I just didn't understand how strong you were. Oh, Angela, I remember when he told that story. I felt so bad. And I realized I'd only ever slapped one other person. And that was Rain Wilson and Castino Knight. Yeah. And so I don't think I knew how to calibrate

when they were like, okay, the camera's tight. Really slap him. What are you supposed to calibrate when they were like, okay, the cameras tight really slap them What are you supposed to do when they say really slap him except really slap him? No, and Mike was he was like, and I don't want it to look fake. I said, okay I still feel bad about it. Was that the last take though? Did you only have to do the real slap once? Oh 100% yeah, they were like we got it. Don't worry Also Mike had a red imprint on his cheek. And so they had to be like, I guess the scene is done.

That's it. No more closeups there. Well, we should probably talk about what's been happening back in the office during this chase. We saw Kelly and Ravi pose for their portrait together. They're very much in love. Ryan's very jealous. Ravi is smitten.

Ravi is definitely smitten. And also guess what everybody? David Wallace did show up. Yeah, he's here. He lets everyone know that Joe Bennett is liquidating Saber and they'll no longer be associated with that company. Andy sees his moment. He's getting ready for his big reveal. His delicious moment. But he gets interrupted by some very practical questions from Stanley

about is there going to be a payroll interruption? Yeah. People want more information about, you know, this whole sale. Mm-hmm. So Andy says that didn't really go how I was hoping. Yeah, he didn't get his moment. Robert is now going to come out of the conference room where I guess he has been, except for when there was the intervention.

Right. He's going to introduce himself to David Wallace's Bob Kazamakis. Mm-hmm. I was like, what? Why doesn't anyone say, what are you talking about? This is Robert California. Also, he made a big speech at the Senator's Charity Event.

Oh, lady! Amanda A. from North Carolina pointed that out as well. It was just two episodes ago. Both David and Robert attended a charity fundraiser event and Robert was a main speaker. Yeah, you know what? Nobody noticed David Wallace at this fundraiser. David Wallace didn't clock Robert California. People were out to lunch.

Okay, fine. Let's say we'll suspend belief here that they didn't cross paths at that charity event. David Wallace is a good businessman. He's buying this company. Yeah. He would know who the CEO was in their name. You would think. Yeah. Can we talk about something that we teased earlier that I think has been on both of our minds, which is Darryl and Jada having their portrait taken and then Val joins them and holds Darryl's hand. But also, I'm sure Jada's like, who's a slady?

Why she in her picture? What? What? Would you like to hear the fan mail flurry about it? Yeah. Val and C from Virginia said, does anyone else find it odd that Darrell includes Val in her warehouse uniform in his family portrait?

Yeah. Chiara V from Belgium and Caitlin M from St. Petersburg, Florida said, on my last rewatch, I realized how weird it would be for Darrell's daughter to find a picture of her father and a random woman holding his father's hand like their little family. And even if Fowl didn't have a boyfriend, I still find it super weird since Val hasn't ever met Darrell's daughter to my knowledge. Imagine how confusing that must have been for Darrell's daughter to see some strange new woman take a picture with her and her dad. It's probably supposed to be a cute moment, but I think it's strange. Am I alone in this?

You are not alone in it because I thought, have they met? What's Jada at the Christmas party? Was she? She was. She was at a different Christmas party. Was she at this Christmas party where Val dressed up in the dress? I don't think so. And then Darryl shows up in the tux. I don't think so. So yes, I was doing the same math of like, have they met, would Jada no Val? But even if she knew Val, they're not dating yet. We know that.

Jada would be like, hey dad, why is your friend from work holding your hand on our family picture? Yeah. Yeah. All of these things. Andy's going to go into Nellie's office. It's his office now. Well he took off his, you know, chimney sweep outfit. He's in a suit now, a very nice suit.

Yes. Still unshaven. Mm-hmm. But Nellie wants to say one thing. She's going to start quoting Shakespeare. Oh, don't bring out the bard. Don't do it. She gives a speech by Porsche and Merchant of Venice and Andy, he melts. He agrees to give Nellie a job as special projects manager. He calls her a sly bastard and he hires her back. Yes, they shake on it. Now we're going

to have a scene that I can barely watch. It makes me so uncomfortable. Oh. It's like if you took all of pool party and condensed it into one scene. Yeah. I was so confused by it. I was so I had questions. I don't even want to describe it. Let's just sum it up like this. Somehow this new fellow quote unquote, Bob, aka Robert California, is going to get a million dollars from David Wallace where he's going to go study in Europe.

But it sounds like his studies are just being a creeper. Yeah. On ladies, that's what it sounds like. It's like creeper 101. Yeah, he's not gonna study. He's gonna help other people get more educated because they've spent all their time being gymnasts. I don't like to speak about it. I'm gonna be honest with you. You know what? It's our Voldemort. Thank you. It's our Voldemort. We're not gonna talk about this Bob guy. Yeah, Bob is our Voldemort. We're not going to talk about this Bob guy. Yeah.

Bob is our Voldemort. Yeah, I think there's a cut to a shot on my face in this scene and I think it says it all. All my feelings about this. What a way to write off the character of Robert California. Mm-hmm. It really undermines David Walsh's intelligence. I actually really appreciated Andy Buckley's performance here,

because I feel like it was one of those moments where maybe in the conference room, he heard it in a different way. But now as Bob, aka Robert, is explaining it to the group, I feel like you see the wheels turning, like he's hearing it in a new way. It's like way to sign it.

Yeah. So I did appreciate that choice. Bob leaves, he's gonna give Andy a big old smooch on the lips. He says it's been a great year and he's out of there. Okay. Well, who knows if that's even his name because he's the lizard king. What a journey. because he's the lizard king.

What a journey. Angela, you are now gonna have quite the scene. I am, this was a big scene. Before I dive into it, I'm sure everybody noticed my mic pack at 20 minutes and 19 seconds. How could you miss it? They did, Ange. As she runs into the DNA lab testing place. So I have a lot of

memories about filming this. First of all, the day we filmed this scene with Dwight and Angela at this lab testing place, they had built it over in our warehouse, so it was right there on set. Greg was there. And you know, we didn't see as much of Greg in season eight. He was over at Parks and Rec, but he came for this day, and he was talking to Rain and I about the storyline. I have a great candid photo of him and Rain just sitting backstage talking. I'll put it in stories, I really love it. But one of the things I wanted to share

is that when we read this shooting draft, when we got this script, I remember being sad. I was sad because I was starting to realize it didn't seem like Dwight and Angela were gonna end up together after all. Yeah. And I had been rooting for them for so long. I really believed in this relationship

in the world of the show, you know? I thought they were the perfect foil to Jim and Pam. They were to me, the Mike and Holly, the Jim and Pam, you know? Yeah. And I wanted to share two scenes in the shooting draft that really made me feel like they weren't going to make it. They didn't make it into the final episode, but it felt like the writing was on the wall. Literally. This is how they read. One scene took place in the break room

right after they got their photos taken. The Senator and Angela and Baby Philip. The Senator leaves and Angela would have said to Dwight, why won't you let go of this fantasy? Dwight says, why won't you admit the truth? Angela says, Dwight, I know this for a fact. It is not your baby. And Dwight says, how do you know?

And then Angela sees through the window that the senator is returning. And I don't know if you notice this, but if you rewatch that scene as Angela and the senator and baby Philip leave, Dwight looks at them for a long time and it kind of has a deep thought on his face. In the shooting draft it said Dwight watches them leave calmly. As if Dwight is wondering as well that maybe they shouldn't be together. Then there would have been another scene that was in the shooting draft. It was part of this DNA lab testing scene and we filmed it. It was a much longer scene. Angela says to Dwight,

Dwight, I don't think it's yours, Dwight, we'll see, won't we? And then he thinks for a minute and he looks at her and says, why not? Angela says, it's just a feeling I have when the three of us are at home together and it's just quiet and it's just us, It feels right. It feels like it's the way things were meant to be. Dwight looks at her. Does it? They sit. After a beat, Angela puts her hand on Dwight's. After another beat, he clasps her hands and they wait. And it says a stage note is, Angela seems very sincere. seems very sincere. Wow, so what that's telling me is that whatever the results are, Angela is saying to him, I feel like a family with this man. Yes, she's really saying that this is the family she wants. Yes, and in the scene description when it says that Angela is sincere, it says Dwight hears this.

So that's how it was scripted. So you understand why I was like, sad, if you watch this scene before Dwight tries to kiss Angela in that moment happens, which was improvised by the way, that wasn't the way the scene was going to end. But I also think it needed a little bit of levity there. But right before that moment, before we hold hands, both Dwight and Angela Martin look sad, because I think it's this realization that was said in the extended scene. That's interesting.

And then they cut that out. I think maybe they were wanting to make a little bit more of a cliffhanger here. Yeah, because it's the end of the season. And we do leave this episode not knowing the result. That's right. Yeah. Ultimately, this episode is going to end with Oscar at caffeine corner and the senator is going to going to make a pass. He covers baby Philip's ears and it's like,

call me. And Oscar's like, oh my gosh gosh it's on great cliffhanger for season 8 I thought and you know I watched all 19 minutes of those bloopers and I want us to end with a blooper from this episode Ed improvised a song in between talking heads while he's dressed like the chimney sweep a song in between talking heads while he's dressed like of season 8. Reset was to the season 8 song one more time. Yay! Oh, thank you everyone for being on this journey with us. We have completed season 8 and we will be back now with season 9 in the new year. In the new year, 2024, season 9.

We just love you guys so much. Thanks for writing in every week and we just hope you have a great one. We'll see you then. See you then. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jennifer Fisher, and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Cassie Jirkins. Our in-studio engineer is Sam Keifer. Our editing and mixing engineer is Jordan Duffy and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbaco.

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. you