Tallahassee

"Tallahassee" is the fifteenth episode of the eighth season of the American television comedy The Office and the show's 167th overall. The episode was directed by Matt Sohn and written by Daniel Chun. The episode aired February 16, 2012 on NBC. It was viewed by 4.38 million viewers.

Synopsis
Dwight discusses the plan he has for the office staff on how their trip will go. He gets up early and allows for everyone to get ready by waking them up early as well. He scares Cathy awake, gets Erin up (who fell asleep reading the mattress tag), wakes Stanley up by holding his nose, Erin pretends to seduce Ryan to get him up and the two are pranked when they go to wake Jim up. Jim, who has been up for a while, has set his hotel room up to look like he has been targeted by a gang and then proceeds to drop out of the closet pretending to be dead upon Dwight and Erin's arrival.

Dwight prepares for the important meeting they are to have with Nellie Bertram, the company's Special Projects President. Jim runs into Stanley driving a red sports convertible with sunglasses and he invites Jim for a ride. At the meeting, Jim pranks Dwight by making him believe that he has poisoned Dwight. Nellie Bertram then arrives and begins to talk about the special project they are all here to work on. Jim and Dwight are horrified when they realize that Todd Packer is here as well, having landed on his feet after they sent him to Florida to pursue a fake corporate job as a ploy to get rid of him. Dwight begins to realize that he has severe pains and realizes he has to go to the hospital. He begins to leave as he is in horrible pain but suddenly realizes that Nellie is offering the position of VP of the project to anyone who can "wow her". Dwight decides to ignore his injury and stay. He attempts to participate but eventually falls over and is escorted to the hospital.

At the office, the staff begin to wonder why it's so quiet. They suddenly realize it's because Erin has put all the phones on silent and there is no one to be the receptionist. After a failed attempt to get Pam to fill in at reception, Andy volunteers and begins to realize he really likes the job.

Dwight returns to the meeting, hours after having had an appendectomy. He joins Jim, Ryan, Cathy, Erin, and Stanley as all the people have broken off into groups to all do a sales related presentation. Dwight decides to give the presentation despite being the only group member to not do any research or help with the PowerPoint. After nearly butchering the presentation, he finally impresses Bertram by telling the audience that the only element of marketing that matters is "desire." Bertram subsequently invites Packer and Dwight to have breakfast with her the following day.

Deleted scenes

 * At the shopping mall, Erin sees Jim at a toy display and asks, "Is that a puppet or a stuffed animal?" It's a puppet, and Erin expresses her disdain for stuffed animals and challenges Jim to name something a stuffed animal can do that a puppet can't. Jim says, "Make you weirdly angry." Erin smiles, then adds, "But seriously, the answer is 'nothing'. If they ever make me do one of those Comedy Central specials, I'll probably talk about puppets versus stuffed animals." Watch it.
 * Cathy sees Jim at the same toy display. Jim says he's never been away from his family and it feels weird. Stanley, overhearing, tells him, "That weird feeling is called 'happiness'."

Cultural references

 * Dwight asks Ryan to stop posing for photos and calls him, like the English model.
 * Stanley asks Jim to play some, but Jim confuses his request for.
 * Jim mentions that Pam made sure he kept in mind.
 * After Andy buys the office new magazines, Creed is shown zealously reading .
 * Dwight compares his team to the "enemies of ."
 * At the very end of the episode makes an appearance and attempts to talk about success before he is cut off by Nellie, who demands that he serve his.
 * The brief exterior shot of the hospital where Dwight had his appendix removed, is the same building that was used in the opening credits of  beginning in 1975. The Los Angeles County USC Medical Center, was also in a number of other movies and television shows over the years.

Connections to previous episodes

 * Sabre's Pyramid tablet makes a reappearance, after making its debut in the episode "The Incentive".
 * Erin tries to wake up Stanley by screaming, "Wake up, it's Pretzel Day!" referencing "Initiation".
 * Todd Packer references the episode where Jim and Dwight sent him to Florida to get rid of him.
 * Nellie Bertram references interviewing to be the manager of the Scranton branch ("Search Committee").
 * When Dwight tries to pull down the screen he says "Right Dwight, Right Dwight" over and over again. This is likely a word association trick so Nellie would think of Dwight whenever she thinks of something right. Michael tried a similar tactic by inserting "Manager" in all of his sentences in the episode "Manager and Salesman". Kelly also attempted to entice Charles Miner in this way in "Michael Scott Paper Company" by leaning on Jim's desk and waiting for Charles to call the secretary who's name was also Kelly. When Charles would call for the secretary Kelly, Kelly Kapoor would rush into his office saying, "Yes, Charles, you wanted me." Jim noted that it was not her worst plan.
 * In a deleted scene, Erin expresses scorn for stuffed animals, considering them far inferior to puppets. In "Search Committee", Erin used a puppet to ask Andy on a date. When Andy asks how she learned to use a puppet, she says, "I’ve done it all my life."

Amusing details and trivia

 * Dwight cleans his hotel room himself.
 * Though Stanley is in Florida, his voice can still be heard during the scene at the office where the phones are put on silent. Most likely an edited scene.
 * There's a former Dunder Mifflin south office in Fort Walton Beach, FL.
 * When Dwight and Erin enter Stanley's room to wake him up, there is half-eaten food and trash on his bed, meaning he took full advantage of Sabre paying for expenses.
 * Dwight and Erin try to wake Stanley up using methods Stanley has shown increased awareness for; a fire (a callback to "Stress Relief") and Pretzel Day (a callback to "Initiation").
 * Unaware of Jim's sleep schedule, Dwight brings a bucket of ice to Jim's room, presumably to pour on him to wake him up.

Main cast

 * Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute
 * John Krasinski as Jim Halpert
 * Jenna Fischer as Pam Halpert
 * B.J. Novak as Ryan Howard
 * Ed Helms as Andy Bernard
 * James Spader as Robert California

Supporting cast

 * Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson
 * Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone
 * Creed Bratton as Creed Bratton
 * Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer
 * Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor
 * Ellie Kemper as Erin Hannon
 * Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin
 * Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez
 * Craig Robinson as Darryl Philbin
 * Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Vance
 * Zach Woods as Gabe Lewis

Recurring cast

 * Lindsey Broad as Cathy Simms
 * David Koechner as Todd Packer
 * Wally Amos as himself