Last Day in Florida
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and people see just how refreshingly cold that drink from McDonald's is, you may create drink envy. Because there are drinks. Then there are drinks from McDonald's. For a morning brew that really creates a stir, get any size iced coffee, including caramel and French vanilla, for just 99 cents before 11 a.m. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer or combo meal. Ba-da-da-ba-ba.

I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together. And we're best friends. And now we're doing the Ultimate Office Rewatch Podcast just for you. Each week, we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you. We're The Office Ladies. Hello. Hi.

We're recording in the afternoon, so I was wondering what you might say, because it's not morning, and you always say good morning. It's true. It's true. This is a very rare occasion for us. It is. I actually want to start off by saying thank you, and I might get emotional right at the top.

But I had a medical emergency with my mom, and I flew back home to Texas. And I just want you guys out there to know that Jenna and Cassie and Sam and everyone at Office Ladies Pod and Earwolf just let me – I just left. I just dropped everything and left. You did. And there was – And we were fine. And there were no questions. You guys were just like, get home to your mom. And it just meant so much to me.

to have that support that I could do that and I could go there and be with her and everything's okay. Now, it was a scary few days, but I'm just so thankful for you, Jenna. And I'm so thankful that we get to do this podcast because family comes first. Well, Angela, I think I speak for everyone when I say that it was our pleasure to make that space for you.

And we're so glad that you were able to be there with her because family does come first. Yes. And we're recording in the afternoon so I could have an extended time with her. Yeah. And what are we talking about? Well, today. I'm so out of it. We are talking about Last Day in Florida. Oh, right. Yes. It is season eight, episode 18, written by Robert Padnick and directed by Matt Sohn. And here's your summary.

As their time in Florida comes to a close, Jim tries to warn Dwight about Robert California's secret plan to sandbag the Sabre store and fire him. Meanwhile, Daryl and Toby compete to sell Girl Scout cookies, and Erin decides to stay in Florida and be Irene's live-in helper. I love almost every single thing Irene has to say. She's wonderful. She's so great. Her deliveries are great. I wanted Irene to come back to Dunder Mifflin. Yeah.

That would be perfect. But this was an episode that had three very distinct storylines in three different locations. So we had to kind of keep toggling back and forth between all these different places. Yeah.

Fast fact number one, James Spader, a.k.a. Robert California, is back. Mm-hmm. You guys might remember that we shared early on when James Spader was contemplating whether or not he wanted to join our show that he had this opportunity to shoot the movie Lincoln. And he said, I will come. I will do a full season of your show, but you must give me time off to go do this movie Lincoln. Right. That's where he was. That's where he's been. Why we haven't seen him in a while. Right.

And so Lincoln wrapped. And now here we are. And we also shot this episode in January 2012. It was right after our holiday break. Everyone was back. Everyone was, I guess, rested and excited to get back to work. So if you think maybe we have a little more pep in our step in this episode, it's because we'd all come back from our holiday break. We were rested. Right. All right. Fast fact number two.

Guess what else was happening at this time? Well, I know, because I went in my digital clutter. Yes, you shared the other week that Greg Daniels congratulated us on our SAG Award nomination, and now, here, it was time to go. This was our fifth time attending the SAG Awards. We had been nominated as a cast every year since 2007.

And this one was a particularly memorable one for me because I was four months postpartum and I was really nervous about getting on a red carpet. I hadn't done that yet. Hadn't had to stand in front of a bank of photographers in my postpartum-ness. And remember, I told you about the coat closet where they let me pump?

And I brought my pump with me and I pumped at the SAG Awards. I remember walking down the red carpet and they asked me like who I was wearing. So I did a little bit that my handbag was my pump. If you see pictures of me from this red carpet, you can tell I need to pump.

I am falling out of my dress. Yes, a little bit. I thought you looked so radiant and beautiful, and I loved the color of your dress. Oh, thank you, lady. I was so nervous. And this designer, Max Azria Atelier, offered to make me a custom gown.

Like designed it for my postpartum body. Because I don't know if people know, but when you borrow a dress, they have something called sample sizes. Yeah. Sample sizes are very, very small. And oftentimes, even before I had had a baby, I couldn't fit into sample sizes. Also, sample sizes don't fit short people. So there's that. But sometimes they would be able to like take out the seams a little bit on the sample sizes and I could get myself into one. Yeah.

But I had a hard time borrowing a dress, and this designer made me one from scratch. And oh my gosh, I remember getting there. I remember running into John and Emily. I remember running into you, running into Brian. You all were so kind to me, and you just held me up and gave me all this confidence. It was absolutely amazing.

And, lady, I remember what you wore to this. Oh, yeah. I wore a vintage dress. It looked like old Hollywood Grecian. It was light blue. The way you did your hair was kind of like this nod to old Hollywood, I felt like. It was so...

It was a great look. Thanks. It was true vintage. I'd never done that before. And I did like the soft waves. I was going really hard for like LA Confidential. Yes. Yes. That's kind of what it seemed like. Well, we had a great night that night. We had so much fun. So much fun. I sat next to BJ and I was really hungry. And, you know, there's not a ton of food. And BJ gave me all of his breadsticks. Wow.

And I'll never forget it. Why do I think I remember this? And then guess what else I did? I will always get my words just a little bit off, you know?

We know. We've been there with you. My mom does this. Like, my mom will say, have you seen Office? It's not The Office, right? And basically, I'm turning into my mom in this way. So at that time, the president of NBC was Bob Greenblatt, and he had been a big champion of this new show. Yes. Yeah, no, no, don't say the name. Don't say the name. Okay. Deborah Messing was the lead. It was about Broadway. I had watched the pilot episode, and I liked it. And I said to him, hey.

I love Smashed. And he said, thanks. It's Smash. And I was like, uh-huh. Smashed is like a whole other show. It's about just a bunch of drunken 20-year-olds. Is any wonder I haven't been on another NBC show? The president was like, get rid of that idiot. Yeah.

And then the other thing I remember from this night is, you know, we were at these really long tables. And BJ and I were at one end sort of towards the stage. And way at the other end by this walkway is where John was sitting. And we had these oversized bottles of wine that they set on the table. Yeah. You know, like the big, big bottles. Yeah, they like went up to like your thigh if you set them on the ground. Yeah, they were kind of like decorative, but yet you could open them and drink them.

So John, his side of the table hadn't opened theirs yet. And Matt Damon walked by and said hi to John and Emily, and they were chatting. And then he turned to all of us, and he goes, hey, are you not drinking this wine? And we're like, oh. And he goes, can I take it? We're like, sure. So Matt Damon took our giant oversized bottle of wine. Oh, my gosh. That's amazing.

Well, I do know that I didn't stay out too late after this one, so I don't really know what happened after the awards. I had a good time at the awards, but I was tired and I knew my baby was going to be up early in the morning. So I went to bed, but I went to bed really happy until the next morning when I woke up and I found that –

I had been placed on like every worst dressed list there could be. And this was. Seriously? Yes. This was the year that the woman wrote her like worst dress list.

And she said that she knew that I only gave birth about four months ago, but like seriously, I couldn't look better than I did. Oh my gosh. So tacky. So tacky. I don't think we should have worst dress lists, period. Why are we commenting negatively on people's appearance? We are adults now, right? Yeah. Have we not learned—

Anything? Get rid of worst dressed lists. Nobody cares. No, they suck and they're unnecessary. And they're tacky. Yeah, exactly. Well, put her on my tacky list. Yeah, I know her name. Don't think I have forgotten. I know. I know, Aria Stark. All right. Well, moving on to fastback number three. Have you heard of a blog called Ask a Manager? Yes.

No. Okay. It's run by this woman named Allison Green. She's a manager. Okay. And she answers questions, like business questions, business advice questions. Okay. About everything from hiring, firing, promoting, managing, everything. And I thought, you know, last week we answered people's questions on our podcast. Yeah, we did. Dear office ladies. Dear office ladies. I wondered what Allison would think of the advice we gave.

Did you ask her? I didn't. Can you type it in? No, I didn't ask her. But I was pointed to her blog because an office fan named James G. from Olympia, Washington, wrote in to Allison and asked a kind of cheeky question. Okay. Here's what the letter said. How many employees can a workplace have before it needs a dedicated HR person?

If, say, you had a branch location of a mid-sized paper company with 20 people combined in the office and a warehouse, would you need a dedicated HR person on site? So clearly it's an office fan asking her. If Toby needs to be in the office. Yes. Yes.

So Allison said, you don't generally need a dedicated HR person until you hit more like 50 employees. And a lot of companies don't bring one on until they're closer to 100. Allison said, you do need someone to handle things like payroll, benefits administration. But in a small business, that's usually more of a clerk position than someone who would be doing higher level HR work. Right.

like legal compliance or investigations or management coaching. Isn't that interesting that the role of an HR person might be management coaching, which is why Michael hated Toby so much. But this was my favorite part. Allison went on to say, but if you're asking about Toby on The Office, it was never clear to me why he was there. There you go.

I mean, add that to also three accountants and also a temp who went to Florida and a receptionist that went to Florida. Plus, they hired Ryan back after he pretty much...

After he's embezzled from the company, right? Embezzled from the company. So someone in hiring isn't making super great choices. Well, James, maybe you can write to Allison next and ask her if a midsize paper company with 20 employees needs three accountants. We'll see what she says. Yeah.

Well, that's all I got, lady. Well, I have a little something to share. A while back, I was trading emails with Robert Padnick. And as you know, he wrote this episode. And I asked him about it. And he said it was a really challenging point in the season because there were so many characters and plots to juggle, especially with all of the Florida storylines.

And he shared with me a few moments that stand out, and I'm going to sprinkle them throughout the episode. Oh, great. And he also shared with me some of his very first outlines, and there was a Pam storyline that he had in his outline that didn't make it, and I want to share that with you, too. This is going to be a good episode. Yeah. All right. We'll take a break and be right back.

Vitamin water was born in New York City because New Yorkers needed a drink that can do it all. Because we can do it all. Like walk 30 blocks in under an hour, follow four of the city's sports teams at once, and spend all day in the Chinatown Arcade. Drink vitamin water. It's from New York. Be warned that once you pick up a refreshingly cold drink from McDonald's and

and people see just how refreshingly cold that drink from McDonald's is, you may create drink envy. Because there are drinks. Then there are drinks from McDonald's. For a morning brew that really creates a stir, get any size iced coffee, including caramel and French vanilla, for just 99 cents before 11 a.m. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer or combo meal. Ba-da-da-ba-ba.

Well, the episode's going to start. Andy gets off the phone and he comes out to the bullpen to share terrible news that Dwight is no longer with us. And everyone was like, what happened? And Andy's like, no, no. Well, he took the job in Florida. He's going to be the VP. And Angela's like, you implied that something horrible had happened to him. And he goes, yes, he had a stroke. A massive stroke. Of good luck. Yes. And now he's in a better place.

Well, this makes everyone wonder if they can open up his treasure. I guess he left behind a treasure chest? Yeah, he did. Who would be insane enough to open it? Yeah, not sure. Maybe the guy that grows mug beans in his drawer. Maybe. Oscar has a talking head that says, when the team left for Tallahassee, Dwight told everyone not to touch his treasure.

Obviously, he wants us to obsess about it. There's nothing in there. Which is obviously what he would want us to think, making it the perfect place to hide a treasure. Oh, God, I'm Wallace Shawn in The Princess Bride. Mm-hmm. I loved that talking head. Lady, I have something in common with Oscar. What? I also portrayed Wallace Shawn. Oh, yes, I remember this. Here's a fun fact for you guys.

During the pandemic, Jason Reitman, who, as you guys all know, has directed several Office episodes, reached out to Brian, Oscar, and myself to be part of a Princess Bride reenactment to raise money for World Central Kitchen. Basically, everyone got a few lines. He reached out to a whole bunch of actors, and you just delivered your line at home. Your family member would, like, film you with a cell phone.

I wore my son's Shakespeare costume that he used in fifth grade for his English project. And then Jason took all this footage and put it all together to sort of play out the whole movie. But it was really sweet and very homemade. And the great thing is it raised a million dollars for World Central Kitchen. Wow. And for those of you who aren't familiar with World Central Kitchen...

It is a charity that was started by Chef Jose Andres, and they immediately take meals to people in need, whether it be from a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis, and they feed people when they need it most. I remember they were some of the first people on the ground to...

In Ukraine? Yep. They showed up in Maui after the fires? Yes. If there's anywhere that's been hit with a hurricane or anything, they are there. I think they've served something like almost 300 million meals to people in need. Wow. So it's a pretty amazing organization. I follow them on Instagram because I just like to see where they are in the world helping people.

I actually have our clip, me and Brian and Oscar. Oscar is playing Inigo Montoya. Brian is playing Fezzik. And I am playing Vizzini. Here's the clip. He has very good arms. He didn't... Inconceivable! You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. That's it.

Oh my gosh, I love all the extra sound effects. I know. Now, were you pretending like you were looking over the side of a cliff? Yes, but really, I was just standing like on a ladder on the side of my house, and we tried to find like a tree that looked like shrubbery or something. Oh my gosh, that's pretty cool. Well, now Andy is standing in front of a whiteboard. They're clearly having a conversation as to whether or not they should open the treasure and what the treasure might hold.

I wish we could have seen more of this conversation because people have been making suggestions. Look at that dry erase board behind Andy. Here are a few. Shroot bones. Star Wars stuff. Nudie mags. Rosebud type scenario. Photos with our toothbrushes up his butt. Actual gold. Trap. These are everyone's theories.

They're not bad theories. They're really not. Although I might change Star Wars stuff to Battlestar Galactica stuff. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, everyone decides Creed should open the box. And when he does, it's a photo of everybody.

Yeah, a really nice photo. Mm-hmm. And then a dart flies up, almost hitting Creed, and goes into the ceiling. We had a fan question from Lily R. in El Salvador who said, Please tell us the story behind that photo. You all look so happy and out of character, especially Rain and Angela and Mindy are holding hands. It's really cute.

I zoomed in on the picture, Lily. And then I also asked Steve Burgess, what is this picture? Was it on the call sheets for the week? Did we have to take it? And he said, no, there was nothing on the call sheets. He thinks Phil just found some random photo we had taken as a cast one day. Maybe it was someone's birthday. We have no idea. He wasn't sure. But we don't look in character, for sure. We're not in character, but we're all in costume. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I wonder if it was a photo that we took on set for the new season. I wish I had it. I really like it. It's really cute. Dwight is going to have a talking head now where he's like, are you kidding me? Who would put a poison dart? Not that he knows for sure that it was a poisonous dart, but they probably shouldn't have been opening someone's treasure chest. I want to point out a lovely bird of paradise behind Dwight during this talking head. Oh. All right, so this episode starts on the golf course.

Dwight, Nellie, Jim, and Robert California are playing around a golf. Cringe fest. Oh, God. So cringey. Well, Robert just loves the chemistry between Dwight and Nellie. Mm-hmm. And Nellie is thrilled that they're going to be working alongside one another. I mean, they're a regular Archibald and George. Mm-hmm. Not a real English duo, she says. Not a real English duo, no. No. She really made Robert look like the goat of Dover. The goat of Dover. Also not real. Made up. Mm-hmm.

I decided to Google some famous English duos. Okay. And I thought, why don't I throw some names at you and you tell me if you think they're real or fake? So you've mixed in some fake ones with real ones. Correct. Okay. Cannon and Ball. Real or phony? Real. Yes! Max and Dolly. Fake. Yes! Oh my gosh. Thompson and Grover. Fake. Yes! Yes!

Oh, my goodness. You're good. I'm trying. Here's what. I'm doing that thing where you, like, play the player. I'm trying to think of how you would position real or fake. Okay. Flanders and Swan. Real. Yes. Murray and Mooney. Fake. Real. Gervais and Merchant. Real. Yes. There's your quiz. Okay. You really made me look like the goat of Dover there. I thought I was going to be able to trick you. Mm-hmm.

Dwight is really, what's that expression I had an uncle used to say? He's really showing his ass, you know, like he's being an idiot. Oh, yeah. He's showing his ass. He's celebrating too soon. Oh, yes. We have this conversation when we watch football all the time. Don't celebrate too soon. No. It's not a touchdown until it's a touchdown. That's right.

Anyway, he's really being annoying. And Jim's like, everyone chipped in, got you a gift, you know, since you're going to be staying here in Florida. He whacks it with the golf club. Doesn't open it. Doesn't open it. Yeah, we had a fan question from Kate F. in Austin, Texas, who said, what was the gift that Dwight teed off on the golf course? Kate, the script never said. I have a guess. What do you think?

What do you think it was? A watch. It seemed watch-sized. Feels like a gift you give people at work. Like, congrats, thanks, here's your watch. It could have been a prank. But it seemed sincere. No, it did. Jim has a talking head where he says it's a weird feeling knowing that this is the last time he's ever going to see Dwight. It's not bittersweet. Yeah, what is it? What's the word? Sweet. Yeah. Well, Daryl's going to enter Andy's office. He's taking his Girl Scout cookie orders for Jada. Yeah.

Yeah, Andy's down for a box of whatever. You know, just whatever you choose, Daryl. So Daryl chooses trefoils. And Andy groans. He's clearly disappointed. Why did he let Daryl choose? I know. I have some Girl Scout cookie stats for you. Ooh, someone else might have gone to their website as well. What you got? Oh, well, I know what their highest selling flavor is nationally. Thin Mints. Yes. Do you know what number two is?

Samoas. Is this because you went to the website? Yes. Do you know what their least popular cookie is? I stopped there. The trefoils. Oh. The shortbread. Looks like our writer's room went to the website, too. I like the trefoil. I like a shortbread cookie. We've discussed this. I like it, too. I like a tagalong. Oh, tagalongs are number three. Hmm.

Followed by Adventure Falls, a cookie I'd not heard of. Nope. I guess it's kind of a brownie and it has like a caramel cream thing on top. I don't know. Fifth place is Dosey Dough. That's all I got, though. I have, don't know, sixth or seventh or anything like that. So if you want that, you're going to have to look it up yourself. Go to the website. Yeah. Well, Toby's going to enter. He's doing the same thing this year. It's his first time ever. He's taking cookie orders for his daughter, Sasha. Ah, ah.

Anna Mary S. from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and many others would like to play a bullshit card. Oh, let's play it. I have a catch for this episode involving the cookie storyline. In this episode, Toby tries to sell cookies by saying that it's Sasha's first year. However, in stress relief, Toby makes Dwight buy cookies from him in exchange for signing his apology letter. Good catch. Good catch. Very good catch.

But anyway, he says it's Sasha's first year. And Daryl's a little bit like, dude, this is my territory. You can't just, I've been selling cookies here for years. You can't just come in here. No. They ultimately settle with this. Daryl says, you know what? You can have the whole entire office. Just give me accounting. Toby's like, hey, that sounds like a good deal.

How did Toby not realize what Daryl was doing right away? I don't know. I mean, come on. It's Kevin. It's Kevin. Kevin buys more cookies than anyone else combined. That's really who you want. Well, now we're going to check in with our third storyline of the episode, which is Erin. Yeah. She is now working for Irene, the elderly lady that she met at the store opening. She's been grocery shopping.

Kind of running her errands, doing her odds and ends. Mm-hmm. We had a fan catch from Erin W. in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who said, I spot Harvey's supermarket bags. Erin, so did I. Did you know that Harvey's supermarkets were established nearly a century ago by Iris and J.M. Harvey? In 1924? Yeah. Ange, I think we read the same website again because their son Joe took over in 1950. Yeah.

They are spread out through Florida and Georgia. Although, in August of this year, it was announced that Winn-Dixie and Harvey's were going to be acquired by Aldi. Yeah. And so some are going to stay Harvey's and some are going to be Aldi's. Yeah. Well, I'll have you know that I texted with Phil Shea about these grocery bags. And he told me that he got the bags from Harvey's just for this scene. I love that.

Also, if you zoom in on the medicine bottles, there's a montage of Aaron doing these chores for Irene. Yeah, the little pill bottles, I guess. He had labels printed with Irene's name on them. Phil Shea, y'all. Phil Shea. He does not mess around. It's all in the details. So I have two favorite lines in this episode, and one of them is in this scene. Irene wants to introduce Aaron to her grandson. Yes.

And Georgia Engel delivers this so perfectly. She says, when can I introduce you to my grandson? He's a wonderful swimmer, shallow in, deep in. He does it all. So brilliant. I thought that was so funny. Erin says today's not going to work because she has to tell Andy she's staying in Florida.

I'm going to play a bullshit card. Okay? Really? She's already left under Mifflin. She's no longer working for them. She's been living with Irene, running her errands. I don't know how many days now. She hasn't let anyone at the company know. She hasn't given notice. And now she's just going to casually mention it on like a FaceTime call with Andy. This isn't how people operate in the business world.

I know, but it's Erin. I know. But it's true. Has this not gotten back in some official manner? Like, has she not shown up for things? Right. On the Sabre side. She's just disappeared at all Sabre meetings and moved in with Irene. She's mentioned it to Ryan, who I guess supposedly put it in his Tumblr. You know what? I know. That's in an upcoming scene. And, lady, I was like, what is Tumblr?

I forgot what it was.

I needed to learn more. I created a Tumblr account. Stop it. Just because I needed to understand what it is more. Is it photos or you just type things? It looked like a combination of Twitter and Instagram. Okay. So, like, you could write a much longer thing. Okay. But you could also put a picture. All right. Sam, Cassie, have you guys ever tumbled? No.

Oh, yeah. I had a Tumblr for a long time. Am I describing it correctly? Yeah. I'd say it's like a personal blog. But it's mini because it shows up like a scroll. Yeah. It's not like a website. No, you're scrolling through a lot of different blogs at once, like Reddit or Instagram. Okay.

I don't even understand Reddit. I don't understand how you post on Reddit. I don't understand what a subreddit is compared to a regular Reddit. A regular Reddit. Do you? No. I don't understand any of it. I appreciate people out there on Reddit because you and I sometimes come across some cool information. Yep. I don't understand it. Do you have to have an account? Oh, my gosh. We're 100. Yes, you do.

Okay. And what's a subreddit? I actually don't know. I don't know. I did learn what LOL really means. Oh, no. Ange, we didn't want to tell you. Oh, yeah. I...

Everyone's been tagging me in that, asking why I didn't interject, like Cassie and I. Why we didn't interject. And I just wanted to let you have that moment. I was talking about my dad. But it's laugh out loud, not lots of laughs. But I think you knew that, right? I think I did. I think I confused it. In the moment. In the moment. But when you text me LOL, you mean laugh out loud, right? I think I just mean I'm laughing. I'm laughing.

laughing real hard lrh laughing real hard lr yeah that's what i'm doing okay

Anyway, back to this scene. Robert Padnick, our writer, shared with me that he wrote a joke for this scene that was one of his favorite ones in the episode. He said when Aaron serves Irene boiled Gatorade that it just was a small, silly joke, but it still makes him chuckle to this day. I almost boiled some Gatorade and drank it just to see how awful it would be, but I didn't.

I want you to know I did a lot of kind of like hands-on experimentation for this episode. I have a big one coming up that I have yet to share. But I mean, I started my own Tumblr. I almost boiled Gatorade. What did you do? I'm playing the scenes in my head. Oh, my gosh. What did you do? It's a big tangent. You'll have to wait for it. Okay. I hope you like it. All right. Well, now Nellie is going to get some very hands-on golf instruction from Robert. Okay.

Super cringy. Super cringy. You know, we had a fan question from Alex F. in Larkspur, California, who said, my dad and I were watching the golf course scene, and we were very adamant to point out that that is California. It is not Florida. Do you have any idea what course they're playing on? Well, thanks to Steve Burgess, I do know what course they were playing on. This was Bremer Country Club on Reseda Boulevard in Tarzana.

It is near the Balboa Sports Complex, which is where we would set up our base camp of trailers and work vehicles. I looked up the club. It's named after Brer Mar, Scotland, which is a town known for its golfing. The club has hosted several golf tournaments like the LPGA's Women's Kemper Open. And they also have a tennis club. Yes. They have hosted the Virginia Slims and the Davis Cup. Mm-hmm.

They have a lot of different memberships. If you're interested, you can do full golf, limited golf, racket sports, or social. Full golf gets you everything. You can golf anytime. You can play tennis, pickleball, fitness. You can eat in the restaurant, whatever you want. You can swim in the pool. It's the main membership, top membership. Is this what you did? Did you go there and try out the club? No.

I joined the club just so I could talk about it on the podcast. I was like, it seems like you learned a lot about it. I did. Did you really? It's an initiation fee of anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 to join, but I did it for the pod. That's insane. I charged Earwolf. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Jenna is kidding, you guys. I did not join this club. But if you want to join, you can join, like I said, the podcast.

They don't say on the website what the fees are. I had to dig a little deeper. So that's approximate, you know. But you have to pay a ton to join, and then you also have to pay per year after that. Country clubs are expensive, I guess. They are so expensive. I'm clearly not a member of any. Yeah, me either. But that's – cha-ching, cha-ching. You know what I secretly hoped? What? I've always read about how people play golf in Florida in an alligator pool.

We'll just walk on the, what do you call it, field? Course? Golf course? Golf course, yes. Golf field. What is wrong with us today? I don't know. I have had no sleep. But yeah, I thought how great would it have been in the distance if you saw an alligator. This is turning into Happy Gilmore now. Oh my God, it is. If you have an alligator in the back. An alligator walk on. Back at Dunder Mifflin, Daryl is going to walk over to accounting. It's time to sell Kevin some cookies.

Kevin has a talking head that I really feel like we need to hear. In the shooting draft script, it said Kevin has an 80s-style rap energy. Yes, this is his way of expressing his enthusiasm for the cookie season. Yeah.

Oh, the springtime thinks that it's the best. And falltime thinks that it's the best. Coldtime has kind of a strut. And Valentine's thinks that it's the best. But gather around, peeps, I'll tell you the truth. Nothing beats the cookie season, that's the truth. He's ready. He wants his cookies.

Our writer, Robert, shared with me that in one of his early outlines for this episode, he had written a runner for Pam and Kevin. Oh. Yeah. So Pam loves Thin Mints. They're her favorite. And Kevin overhears her ordering her two box of Thin Mints, and he makes fun of her for liking them. He calls her an amateur. And then their storyline would have continued, but I'm going to save the second part for later. Oh, I like this.

I like this little Kevin-Pam thing that never happened. I know.

I know. But it was interesting to me, and they sort of would have had a bonding moment, which Pam and Kevin hardly ever have. Yeah. So it didn't make it in, but I love that Robert Padnick shared it with me. Well, I did love when Pam and Kevin had their moments, when they did. They were rare, like you said. I know. But, you know, remember they had second breakfast? Yeah. And second lunch and everything? Yeah. I think we should take a break because when we come back, I have a big...

Deep dive for you. And I hope your taste buds are ready for it. It's not cookies. Did you bring Girl Scout cookies? Nope, it's not cookies. I know you just said that. All right, we'll be back. Vitamin Water was born in New York because New Yorkers wanted more flavor to pair with all the amazing food in the city. Vitamin Water is so New York, its three favorite cheeses are chopped cheese, bacon, egg and cheese and a slice of cheese pizza.

Drink vitamin water. It's from New York.

Okay, you say, I want some breakfast. Your so-called boyfriend says, we got eggs in the fridge. Obviously, when you say breakfast, you mean McDonald's. Definitely a side-eye situation. Bring home the bacon, steak patty, or others with a BOGO for $1 breakfast. Only in the app. Limited time only at participating McDonald's. Valid once a day. Must opt into rewards. Visit McDApp for details. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.

All right, we are back. And Kevin is getting ready to make his cookie order. Okay. Daryl's standing there, you know, and Kevin is scratching the cookie sheet and smelling it. The order sheet, yeah. Yeah, remember this? And Daryl's like, it's not scratch and sniff. And Kevin's like, sometimes you can get something.

Well, this small moment in this episode prompted Amy E. from Nova Scotia, Canada to write in, and it made my day. This is right up my alley, Amy. Amy from Nova Scotia, what you got? Amy said, I have been waiting for this episode to share a bit of a fun deep dive that I think you'll appreciate.

When Kevin is trying to scratch and sniff the cookie order form and claims, quote, you still get a little something, there is clearly a power of suggestion at work here. And every time I watch this scene, I'm reminded of how the power of suggestion when it comes to smell swept an entire nation and how it still lives on today in myth and infamy. Myth and infamy, the drama. An entire nation. Okay, let's hear it. Amy went on to explain.

In 2011, Canada switched to plastic $100 bills. And shortly thereafter, dozens of people started reaching out to the Bank of Canada to ask if they had embedded a scratch and sniff on the $100 bill because they swore they noticed that their $100 bills smelled like maple syrup. Everyone agreed. Maple syrup. Maple syrup.

Word got out about this alleged maple syrup-scented money, and Canadians across the whole country started reporting that they, too, smelled maple syrup in the $100 bill. Amy said, as a Canadian myself, Did you bring a $100 bill from Canada? No. Oh. So sorry. I didn't.

Fly to Canada. Well, I don't know. You can go to a bank and maybe exchange, I don't know, currency. Anyway, you didn't. It's okay. I didn't. Continue. I wish I had. I'm trying to guess what you did. Oh, you'll never guess. It's completely unrelated to scratch and sniff. Scratch and sniff.

Sort of. We'll get there. We will get there. You know how I am with surprises. I can't take it. You're a guesser. I'm a guesser. I should have just surprised you, but I set it up and now you want to know. Now I'm guessing. Okay. Anyway, Amy said that as a Canadian myself, I can confirm that I have tested this and I also think that the $100 bills had a hint of a maple syrup scent. Amy said the Bank of Canada reports that it did not include anything

any maple syrup scent. It was not added.

And a professor from McGill University who specializes in olfactory perception told ABC News that it is possible to smell a smell that's not actually there, although it is uncommon on such a large scale, like across an entire country's population. So this professor, Dr. Marilyn Jones Gottman, explained that olfactory illusions are typically triggered by emotional stimuli.

So in this scene, Kevin, he's rapped about these cookies, right? Like, he has an emotional response, an emotional stimuli to getting his cookie sheet. So it is possible that he would smell the cookies on this cookie sheet. I get it. I get it. Right? Yeah. So Amy said, I hope you enjoyed this little deep dive. And fun fact, NPR reported on the Canadian maple syrup money phenomenon in 2013. Wow.

And then did a poll asking Americans what they thought a good cent would be for the American dollar bill. And the winner was the apple pie followed by bacon, which I just thought was really funny. Yeah.

So here's the thing. I found this so interesting that I shared it with my family one night at dinner because I do that. I share with them little tidbits that I learned by doing this podcast. And my son was like, Mom, oh, my gosh. Yes, this is a thing about how all of these senses work to sometimes trick you into smelling things that

aren't really there or even tasting things that aren't really there. And he told me about an article in Cosmopolitan, I don't know how he came across this article, called The Crazy Thing You Never Knew About Skittle Flavors, which is that... Was he looking up Skittles? He was probably looking up Skittles. Yeah. But here is what it is. Skittles come in five colors, but they all have the same taste formula. And I said, no, they don't.

I know that a red Skittle tastes different than a yellow Skittle. And he said no.

There's nothing in the color enamel. There's no taste in the color enamel. No. Here's what it is. You brought us Skittles. I brought you Skittles. Now you can relax. Okay. You figured it out. Yes. Because we ended up buying Skittles and doing this taste test at home, and I thought maybe we would enjoy doing it here. But what it is is they do have different colors and different fragrances. Okay.

So it is your olfactory senses that are tricking you into thinking you are tasting something, but you are not. This is very interesting because a few years ago, I got COVID, part of the OG strain of COVID. Mm-hmm.

And my husband and I both lost our sense of taste and smell. I could cut a lemon in half. I could lick it. I could bite into it. Nothing. I sort of got a message from my tongue that something was tingling, but I couldn't taste it. I bit into a hamburger. It tasted like cotton balls. We had soup. I dumped a ton of cayenne pepper. I couldn't taste it at all. My nose started to run a little.

Oh, uh-huh. But I couldn't taste it. I mean, these two things are so linked. Yeah. Your smell and your taste. And I was, it was depressing. It took all the joy out of eating and cooking because you couldn't smell anything. Well, I guess the Skittles people are using this fact to their advantage, this link between the olfactory senses and the taste. Mm-hmm. Because it's way more expensive to manufacture five different insides. Yeah.

than it is to just put a bit of fragrance and a color. But the sight is another part of it. I want to say, I have another study for you. There was a study done in England where this guy named Charles Spence gave a bunch of British students clear beverages and clear bottles. All the different beverages were actually flavored different flavors. He had orange, grape, apple, and lemon.

And when they tasted all the beverages, when they were clear, they were able to say what they were. They were like, that's lemon. That's grape. Orange. Got it. But then he put food coloring in them that did not correspond to the taste. Yes. So, like, he put orange food coloring in the grape-flavored drink. And when they drank it, they said it was orange-flavored.

Wow. They couldn't taste the actual flavor anymore because their eyes were telling them that it was a different flavor. Interesting. Right? Yeah. All right. So are you ready? Sam, Cassie, would you all like to come in here and eat some Skittles as well? Skittles challenge. Let's see how it goes. Okay. I got my Skittles. And I promise everyone we will continue breaking down this episode after we eat some Skittles. All right. So here's how we did it.

I closed my eyes and I put my hand out and then I showed what I had and then I ate it and I tried to guess. But you also have to plug your nose because here's the crazy thing. When I wasn't plugging my nose, I was able to tell what flavor it was. But when I plugged my nose, they all tasted the same to me. But if I was in the middle of chewing and then I opened up my nose, I could suddenly then taste it again. Because they're scented? Because they're scented. Okay.

Okay, so I'm going to give you all the same one. Okay. Obviously. Okay, your eyes are closed. Closing eyes. Okay. And we're just supposed to eat it, and now are we plugging our nose? You have to plug your nose. Okay. Show everybody what it was. I don't know. Can you see it? The color they are eating is... Orange. It's hard to chew, and you can't breathe. Yeah. I'm so sorry. You can't breathe through your mouth? I'm trying while I chew, but it's difficult. Okay.

Okay, Sam, now, did you know what it was before you unplugged your nose? Because you're still chewing. Oh, am I supposed to unplug my nose now? Now you can try. But what did you think it was? Orange? Cassie? I thought it was green. It was orange. Oh! Very good. Very good. Would you like one more? Yes. I'm going to answer for Dean myself. Okay. The color they've been given is... Purple.

So now you're chewing it, your noses are plugged. Do you have any sense of what it is? No. No. Okay, unplug your nose. Did that help? Did you get a burst of flavor when it, right? What is it? Grape. Grape. Yes! Isn't that crazy? Everyone, you can try it at home. Here's some extra Skittles if you guys want to enjoy.

Well, I have to thank my son for that because he's the one who told me about it. And we had a lot of fun. Yeah, that's a really fun family thing to do. Yes. We love any kind of like taste test sort of experiments at home. Well, not related to that at all, but.

When I was home, my mom saves everything, and she had my old book of stickers. And they're scratch and sniffs in there, and they still smelled. That's amazing. After all these years. I mean, that scratch and sniff book is older than some people listening to this podcast. And they still smelled. I had a scratch and sniff sticker book when I was a kid too, Ange. It's fate. We were best friends.

Well, Toby is now going to realize Daryl's real plan. And he is going to be like, hey, what the heck, Daryl? Yeah, marches over to accounting. And now they start arguing over who gets to have Kevin. Daryl says, Kevin, do you want to buy cookies from me? And Kevin says, oh, I definitely do. The next two lines of dialogue were improvised the day of.

They weren't in the shooting draft. And when they happened, we all lost it over in accounting. It cracked us up so much. Everyone loved it. They're like, you have to do it again. What was it? Craig improvised, hit the road, Jack, to Toby. And then Paul is Toby, improvised right back. No, you hit the road, Jack. And we lost it. Well, eventually, Toby is going to suggest that they split the order.

But Kevin says, no, I'm going to pick one of you and I'm going to decide who it is after I've been wined, dined, and 69ed. Mm-hmm. Metaphorically. Yeah.

Well, Jessica N. from Rochester, New York, wrote in and said, I cannot wait to hear what notes standards and practices had for Kevin saying he wanted to be wined, dined, and 69ed. They allowed it to be in there, but are they the reason that Kevin had to say the metaphorically part? I mean, I feel like Todd Packer has thrown this out there before. I feel like Todd Packer has said much worse in the last few episodes, or at least comparable. Yeah.

Steve Burgess says he went back. He looked through all of the standards and practices notes for this episode. There was no mention at all of Kevin's line. What about Packer's doggy style?

No mention. No mention. I don't know. Maybe was there a change over at Standards and Practices? Were they on vacation? I don't know. But Steve Burgess did say this line was not in the table draft. That's the one that they send to Standards and Practices. Okay. But he said they are also required to send the network cut and the final locked cut of the episode after we filmed it.

And there were no notes on any of those either. He said maybe they missed it or figured we'd said much worse things in the past. But Steve said he was surprised that we didn't have to fight about it. Back in Florida at the golf course, Jim and Dwight say their final goodbyes.

Dwight's just really gloating. He's being really obnoxious. He races off in his golf cart. First one to the clubhouse wins, you know? Yes. And Robert says to Jim, you know what? Let Dwight have his fun now because I've decided to take the Sabre store. Yeah. He says when Dwight does his presentation for the board with Nellie, he's going to reject their proposal and he's going to fire them on the spot, basically. Yeah.

And he said he couldn't do it sooner because, you know, Joe endorsed the idea. But, you know, it's a horrible idea ultimately. He says, have you seen our product? We can't sell it in stores. It's a piece of crap. Yeah, people can't hold this in their hand. They've got to order it sight unseen. It's the only way we're going to sell these things.

Well, we got a fan question from Allison H. in Louisville, Kentucky, who said, I have a question. Why did Robert California insist on Jim coming to Florida if he knew that he was going to kill this project in the end and that any of the people tied to it would likely be fired?

My conspiracy theory is that he was hoping Jim would get the VP job and he would have a reason to fire him because maybe he's still a little bitter at Jim for laughing at his misery in the pool party episode. I know it's a stretch, but I cannot make sense of this because overall he seems to like Jim. Listen, if his plan was to fire everyone involved in the Sabre store launch, Dunder Mifflin would have been downsized maybe in the way it was supposed to be all along. True. But I thought Allison made a good point, which is that

Robert was kind of like wanting Jim to come work on something that he knew he was never going to approve. Yeah.

Not a cool thing to do to a guy you supposedly like. Yeah. Take him away from his wife and newborn baby. It's clear he didn't care about that. Well, we know that already. Now Nellie and Dwight are practicing their presentation in front of Todd Packer and Gabe and Kathy. And Jim shows up and he says, hey, you know what, Dwight, I need to talk to you privately. This starts Dwight and Packer just pretty much going off on Jim, making fun of him.

Well, this scene was bigger. And in the shooting draft, there's a slight nod to how Kathy might feel about Jim these days. Here's how it read. Jim peeks into the room. Jim says, there you are. Dwight says, what are you doing here? I thought I was done with you. Kathy says, I'm calling security. Dwight lifts a hand to call Kathy off. Dwight says, it's okay, Kathy. I'll allow it.

And he turns to Jim and says, you'll have to excuse my new assistant. She hates you. And then he says, now scram. We're rehearsing. Very interesting. So Kathy is the new VP's assistant. Well, this is very interesting, Angela, because Allison H. from Louisville, Kentucky...

wrote in a second letter about this episode. And Allison said, this is the last time we see Kathy with zero explanation of what happened to her. Is there a deleted scene or anything in the script that explains her disappearance? Was she fired with Packer?

I saw a Reddit theory that maybe she was planning to stay in Florida to work at the store, explaining why she was at the meeting when everyone else flew home. And then she got fired, but I don't know if this was ever explicitly addressed.

Well, I think this answers that. I guess it kind of was, yeah. Well, if she's the new VP's assistant, when he gets fired, she gets fired. Yeah. Also, in an early outline of the script, it says that Kathy gets fired. Oh. Mm-hmm. Okay. And also, a lot of people that worked in the Sabre store are all fired. Now, some of them weren't regular cast members, but pretty much Robert California gets rid of everyone. So, oh my gosh. What? What?

If that were true, then Erin would have been fired. But she already quit, right? We don't know. We don't know. She's working for Irene. It would mean that Erin, Gabe, Kathy, Dwight, Packer, and Jim were all fired. And Stanley. Oh, yeah. And Ryan. But Stanley left. Where's Ryan in this meeting? He left. Remember? He got freaked out. Oh, that's right. In the last episode. Okay.

Wow. So basically all the people who abruptly leave this project that they were working on, you would think those would be the people who would get fired from a company because they abandoned Post. But no, they saved themselves somehow. And Robert's thinking they were smart enough to leave the sinking ship. Right.

Well, we also had a fan catch from Aiden W. in Portland, Oregon, who said, Oh my gosh, Dwight cracks a joke about Jim's hair and everyone laughs. And then Gabe tries to high five Kathy and she totally rejects it. It was a hilarious background choice. So I checked the script because I saw this little beat. It was not scripted. This is what was scripted. Dwight says, quote, What is it? Your hairstylist ran out of messy spray?

People laugh obsequiously. Obsequiously. It says that over and over again. Every time Dwight or Packer give an insult, the script says people laugh obsequiously. Obsequiously. How do you say it? What does this mean? I don't know. I'd have to read it. Obsequiciously. Obsequiciously. Yeah. Obsequiciously. Do you know what that means?

No. I mean, Robert Patnick loves obsequiously. It's a very specific adjective. Are you Googling it? Yeah, I Googled it, and it means...

in an obedient or attentive to an excessive degree. Oh, so they're laughing at what their boss says is funny, not anyone else. Only the boss is funny. Yes. It's such a specific direction. And I think I know exactly how to laugh at something if I knew what that word meant. But, you know, that you have to laugh because you're pleasing your boss. It's the kiss-ass laugh. Yes, the kiss-ass laugh. Robert, you could have just put laugh in a kiss-ass way. Yeah.

But no, the proper way to say that is obsequiously. We also had another fan question from Natasha M. in the UK, who said, I've been waiting ages to ask this. When Dwight says to Jim, quote, you look like the world's tallest hobbit. Was this a nod to Jim's UK counterpart, Tim, played by Martin Freeman, who also played Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit?

Oh, well, Natasha, I don't know. However, that line was not in the script. I think it was a pitch on the day because the script had Dwight saying, you should just know that your shadow looks like a sunflower. Oh, also, Angela, Natasha from the UK would like you to know that since listening to Office Ladies, she has left her previous employer of 22 years to become a trainee train driver.

And she fully qualified July 7th. So Natasha said, I'm not sure when this episode will air, but I will potentially be a qualified train driver by then. And Natasha knows you love trains. I do. Way to go, Natasha. Congratulations. I love it. Maybe I'll get to ride on your train someday. Yeah, when we go to the UK. Yeah. I love taking the train.

Me too. I just went to another place. Did you see me? Yeah, you went to your happy train place. Okay. Well, listen, Jim is going to say, I tried. I tried to tell Dwight what was going to happen. He just made fun of me, basically. So I'm out of here. I have a plane to catch. He leaves. Yes, add Jim to the list of people who bail and don't lose their job. Correct. Well, back at Irene's house, Aaron has decided to video chat with Andy to let him know that

That she's not going to be working for Dunder Mifflin anymore. Yes. Her password is Erin1234. Irene knows more about all of this technology than Erin. Yeah, I mean, the scene starts off with them doing this little gag of coming in sideways and then moving the screen and all of this. And they're giggling. Yeah, but then when he finds out that she's not coming back... Mm-hmm.

He's pretty upset. You know, in a table read version of the script, Jessica calls his cell phone while he's doing this bit with Aaron on the laptop. And he's kind of like annoyed trying to get Jessica off the line. Why, Andy? Why? I don't know. Jessica is terrific. I know. She brings out a great side of you. I know. I don't get it.

And I guess I would just say, you know what, Jessica, you dodged a bullet because this man doesn't appreciate you. You don't want to be Mrs. Maybe. No, you don't, Angela. That's right. So get rid of Mr. Maybe. Mm-hmm. So now Jim is on his way to the airport. He's in the car. I mean, he's going. Yeah, he's in one of those passenger vans. And Stanley is in the back. He's kind of slumped towards the window. He's grumpy.

I mean, he doesn't want to be Scranton Stanley. He wants to be Florida Stanley. But Jim's talking to Pam on the phone, and Pam is kind of saying, Jim, you have to tell Dwight. You have to. And Jim's insisting that he tried. And she's like, did you, though? Did you try? And I think, you know, this is how—

I guess it does track. I mean, how hard did Jim try to get Kathy out of his hotel room? And how hard did he try to tell Dwight this news? I mean, Jim's definition of try is pretty weak, technically.

You know, it was interesting during the scene. I couldn't help but hear you a little bit. Uh-huh. Because one of the things you're really good at is sort of understanding how people talk to one another. And so when Pam's like, no, wait, what exactly did Robert say he's going to do? And Jim's like, I don't know, maybe like give Dwight a talking to. And Pam very clearly says, Robert doesn't talk like that. He's going to fire him.

And I feel like sometimes, Jenna, like, we'll meet someone and I'll be like, oh, yeah. And you're like, no, no, no. No, this is what's happening. And I'm like, oh, crap. I don't know if that's totally true, but I think that's a compliment. So I'll take it. No, it is a compliment. I think you're good at cutting through the BS and seeing what's really happening. Well, Jim is going to ultimately promise Pam, okay, I'll tell Dwight.

And thus begins something that I found very odd. I'll talk about it later. What? I'll talk about it later. Oh. It's okay. I'll bring it up when we get there. Oh, okay. Basically, okay, I'll just say it because now I'm curious. I know, and you don't want to wait. Okay, I don't want you to have to guess. Stanley can't go to the airport? Why does Stanley wait to go to the airport too? Oh, because they're in the same passenger van. They're in the same passenger van. He has to turn around. How does this all go down? Yeah.

Jim's going to turn around the whole passenger van with Stanley in it. Stanley doesn't want to leave Florida. Do you think he cares if he takes a detour? Okay, all right. I'll buy that. Thank you. He probably went to the hotel bar and is having a cocktail. You're right. Back in Scranton, Toby and Daryl are really going at it now. They're campaigning super hard to win Kevin's cookie business.

And the whole bullpen is just sitting around watching. They're shouting out different things they have to do. The whole workday has stopped for this. Yeah. They're like, you have to kiss Meredith. You have to, what are all the other things? They have to sing a song for him. I've got some surprising news about that song. Guess how much it cost us? $4. $0. Oh! Zero. It was public domain. We got it for nothing.

Well, nothing is really resolved here. He hasn't picked a winner, and they threaten to stop competing for his business until he reveals he's prepared to order triple digits. Yeah. Well, remember how our writer Robert told me there was this Pam-Kevin storyline in his original outline? It would have culminated with this. Pam becomes concerned that Kevin is being taken advantage of. Okay. That he really doesn't need to buy 100 boxes of cookies. Right.

So she decides she will not buy her two boxes of Thin Mints, which is equally hard for her if Kevin doesn't buy his 100 boxes. She's like, Kevin, come on. We're going to make this pack together.

And that solidarity gives Kevin the strength to not buy any cookies at all. Oh, wow. So the episode would have ended with Kevin buying nothing. Yeah. Kevin would have made the choice that he doesn't need 100 boxes of cookies, not because he loses the favor of Daryl and Toby. I kind of like it. I know. And what Robert said he really liked is that it was just as hard for Pam to give up her two boxes of Thin Mints as it was for Kevin to give up 100 boxes of cookies. Yeah.

Well, back at Sabre, Jim rushes in to tell Dwight about Robert's plan, but Dwight doesn't believe him. No. He says nothing is going to stop him, which is the mark of a great man. Dunder Mifflin, the farm, Moe's, they're in his rearview mirror. He has a date with destiny. We had a fan question about this, Angela, from Amberlee B. in Florida, who said, I have never understood how Dwight is so ready to leave behind Scranton.

He once said one of his life goals was to die in his desk chair at Dunder Mifflin. Also, his beet farm, which has been passed down in his family for generations. He's devoted so much time to it. He loves living out there. It seems like a lot for him to leave behind. Discuss.

Well, Amberlee, I think this is a great question, and I really hear what you mean. All I can think of is that Dwight has yearned for this title, some kind of title. It's given him a sense of purpose.

confidence, self-worth. It's been this thing he's been working towards for so long. And I think in the moment, it's blurred some of the things that really mean a lot to him because he's wanted it for so long. This title, this VP or branch manager, whatever it was, it's a title at this company. Yeah. I think that his ambition is blinding him here. Yeah. Yeah.

Nothing Jim says works, so he's decided to just tackle Dwight. Yeah, just tackle him to the ground. And look all of a sudden who has pain in his appendix stitches. Yes, mm-hmm.

didn't seem to bother him when he was going after the bed bugs. Nope. He could dive into a bed and roll around in some sheets. But when he got tackled, he was like, oh, my appendix. Yeah. Well, I think Dwight was faking a little bit because he's going to rev up and he's going to

Try to charge Jim. He's going to go up the wall a little bit and then he falls. I thought it was so funny when he started doing his little foot back and forth motion on the carpet. Jim was like, I know what you're doing. Yeah. It doesn't work. This is when they reminded me of two brothers that just know each other so well. Oh, yeah. That's such a good observation. Yeah.

So we got a lot of fan mail about this fight. People wanted to know if they were just playing around or if it was choreographed. And I reached out to Steve Burgess. And, you know, he reminded me that this was actually the action here was meticulously scripted and that it was all worked out with our stunt coordinator, Brett Jones. It was all choreographed. He said for some of the close-up shots, we had fall pads on the ground, and then they would pull them out for the wider shots. But

They did such a great job of making it look like it was just happening in the moment. Robert Padnick said this moment between Jim and Dwight was one of the highlights for him of the episode. Well, I went to the script and I pulled out all of the stage directions that Robert wrote, and they really executed them perfectly. We should read them because they're so detailed. I know. Okay, so here are all of the scripted actions. It starts with this.

Jim has dragged Dwight away from the conference room into another room. Dwight clings to the wall as Jim pulls on him. Jim puts his hand over Dwight's mouth to stop him from yelling. After a moment, he pulls away. Dwight starts kicking at Jim's crotch. Jim tugs on him harder. Now, I don't remember that part. Now we get to the part where he's supposed to act like a bull, and it says, still doubled over, Dwight charges Jim like a bull.

Dwight starts scuffing his foot on the floor. Then he starts running in place. Dwight charges at Jim, then veers at the last second. He tries to run up the wall and over Jim, but crashes to the ground.

It continues, guys. You think you're done there? No. It says, Dwight and Jim, both tired, continue to tussle. Dwight is arduously dragging Jim. He stops exhausted. It says, Dwight pokes a finger into Jim's kidney. I don't remember that. I don't think that happened. Maybe it did, though, and we cut it down. Maybe this was a bigger fight for them.

It says that Dwight lifts Jim up but can only get him a few inches off the ground. I liked that detail. That was funny. He slams him down. By the way, I loved it when Jim grabbed the plant. That's not in the direction, but it cracked me up. Yeah. Basically, it ends with them both on the ground and Dwight rolling over and getting up with a groan, it says. Jim stays on the ground. He's done. He tried. Now that is trying.

Okay, Pam. Okay. I just want to say, now you can say you've tried. Well, while all of this was going on, there would have been a scene inside the boardroom. It was in the shooting draft. We did shoot it. It's in deleted scenes.

And Todd Packer is going to try to bond with Robert California. Oh, yeah, because they're all in there and they're like, where's Dwight? Yeah, they're just waiting. What's going on? Why aren't we starting this? Yeah. Well, Jenna, you might have a soulmate in Robert California because here's what happened. The shooting draft read, the board has gathered. The current slide reads, what's in store?

Robert sits contentedly awaiting what's to come. Packer sidles up next to him. Packer says, Amped for Thrones? Off of Robert's blank look, Packer says, Game of Thrones. There's a long beat. Packer says, It's a show on HBO. Robert says, Oh, no. Packer slinks away.

Oh, Robert. Look, Jenna, there's someone else that's not as into sort of fantasy stuff. I know. Maybe he would have loved the edge. I think he would have, actually. I think he really would have. As it turns out, Packer is going to take over the role of VP. He's going to do the presentation with Nellie. Yeah, he knows it forwards and backwards and doggy style. He's ready to go. And as promised...

Robert is going to tank it and fire Packer. Yeah. Just as Dwight is walking in the door, he hears this and he realizes Jim was right. Jim really was trying to save his job. Yeah. My second favorite line of this episode happened in this scene.

Nellie says, whatever you do, do not blame Todd Packer. It is not his fault. Blame his upbringing, his parents, the society that would mold this idiotic creature. Fire the employee, yes, but not the man. You may not cancel his soul. And then Robert California says, that was never on the table. This cracked me up.

Dwight's going to leave the conference room and he's going to have a nice moment with Jim. He's going to realize Jim really was being his friend. It's a really sweet kind of moment. And Hallway offers Jim his hand to help him up off the ground. Jim hasn't moved. He's very tired. I saw a few people write in and say they wondered if this was a turning point for Jim and Dwight. Yeah, that's true. There were people who remembered what Grant Daniels said about how Jim and Dwight were never to become friends. But they thought...

There have been a couple of nods in the last few episodes, them having their desserts in Florida and then this moment in Florida. Yep. Don't worry. They'll fight again. Well, now the Sabre, Florida crew are going to arrive back to Scranton. They walk in, Stanley, Dwight, Jim. Everyone's excited to see them. Pam seems surprised. She's like, hey, stranger. Then they make out in front of everyone. I just wrote awkward. What the?

What the hell is happening? Is this Jim's first time seeing Pam? Had they not been texting? She seems surprised. Now they're making out. What the heck? Well, Angela Mila P. from Houston, Texas was also confused and wondered, Pam is so shocked to see Jim. How is it possible that a wife doesn't know her husband is coming back home after being gone for a while? Also, Savannah M. from Salt Lake City, Utah said,

Why did the Florida team come back to the office rather than go home? It seems weird to bring all their luggage to the office rather than have the rest of the day off. And Anna L. from Granada, Spain, who is now living in Cork, Ireland, said...

many hours did this day have? They started playing golf, had a meeting about Sabre, Dwight and Jim got in a fight, and still took a flight from Tallahassee to Scranton to arrive back at the office before 5 p.m. That's a good point. And by the way, I want to say, Anna, I looked it up, and it is an almost four-hour flight from Tallahassee to Scranton. This is what I wrote down, Angela.

How is Jim arriving back with Stanley? Weren't they on an earlier flight? Why wouldn't Stanley have just flown on his original flight? Also, Dwight didn't even have a plane ticket home because he thought he was staying in Florida. How did the three of them all wind up on the same flight out of Florida and make it back by 5 p.m.?

And also, wouldn't Pam pick him up at the airport? Or wouldn't she be like, honey, you were supposed to come home three hours ago on that other flight that you told me you were coming home on? No, she's like, hey, stranger. Yeah.

Well, you know, it had been a long time since Jim and Pam had been scripted to do a kiss. Oh, yeah. And for whatever reason, John and I, we just kept breaking. I think it was also because Ed was like right over our shoulder. Andy is right there. He's supposed to, I guess, take in the moment, get inspired to go get Erin. But it's so awkward because he's just a little head bobbing behind you. Well, there's a bunch of bloopers of that moment. I'll tell you that.

And he's now going to have this talking head where he says, I'm going to Florida, you know, going to go get Aaron. It's crazy, right? And he's trying to shut off his computer, but he has all these tabs open and it's moving slowly. What the hell is happening? He has a ring. He's ready to propose to Jessica. A diamondless ring. Yeah. From his family. He has a setting ready to go. Exactly. Jessica, what?

We're sorry. Yeah. Sorry. He's off to Florida. There was an alternate ending to this episode. Oh, yeah? It's in the shooting draft. It's a hilarious tag. I kind of felt like we should read it. Oh, okay. So it's between Phyllis and Stanley. And Jenna, you read Phyllis and I'll read Stanley. Okay. Okay.

The script read, Interior Stanley's Desk Clump, Morning. Phyllis unplugs and takes Kathy's mouse from her desk. Phyllis starts the scene. I'll take this. Kathy's not here anymore. Phyllis looks at Stanley's desk. What's with the stuff? Well, I realize Florida isn't just a state, Phyllis. It's a state of mind. Look at this. Stanley points to a bottle of sand.

Is that cocaine? It's my beach. Stanley points to a bottle of water. This is my ocean. Stanley picks up a flashlight and points it at his face. Stanley continues. And this is my son. Stanley spritzes some suntan lotion spray in the air. He sniffs the air, shuts his eyes, and starts softly moaning, a small smile on his face. Stanley? Stanley? He doesn't respond.

This would cut to a Stanley talking head where he would say, well, I just came back from paradise, which felt like a dream. And now I feel like I woke up and I'm in hell. How the f*** are you? End of episode. End of episode. Oh, thank you to Steve Burgess and Robert Padnick and also to Phil Shea for helping us fill out this episode. And thanks to you guys for sending in your questions and comments. We'll see you next week. See you then.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our in-studio engineer is Sam Kiefer. Our editing and mixing engineer is Jordan Duffy. And our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbico. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

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