"Valentine's Day" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of The Office and the 22nd overall. It was written by Michael Schur and directed by Greg Daniels. It first aired on February 9, 2006. It was viewed by 8.95 million people.
Synopsis[]
Michael spends Valentine's Day at Corporate in New York City, which he describes as Scranton "on steroids." Before the meeting with David Wallace, the new CFO, begins, Michael spills the beans to the other branch managers that he and Jan "hooked up." David and Jan arrive, and the presentation of Josh Porter (Stamford) goes well. Michael shows a video titled "The Faces of Scranton" before reluctantly providing the financial information of the Scranton branch. Craig from the Albany branch is completely unprepared and attempts to cover for it insinuating that Jan is giving Michael preferential treatment because of the supposed sexual encounter between them.
Angela gives Dwight a bobblehead doll of himself for Valentine's Day, which he proclaims is the best gift he's ever received. After consulting with Pam, who advises him to choose a gift based less on the gift itself than on the meaning of giving it. He gives Angela a key, presumably to his home; she is touched by this. Phyllis is inundated with gifts from her boyfriend Bob Vance, while Pam is irritated with Roy when the only thing he gives her for Valentine's Day is the promise of the "best sex of [her] life." Jim is happy to be single on Valentine's Day, leaving him free to enjoy a poker night with friends. He is forced to listen to Kelly talk about how Ryan kissed her during a bar meetup with friends. Ryan regrets the entire encounter because it happened the day before Valentine's Day, and turns down Kelly for a date on Valentine's Day. Jim tries in vain to persuade Kelly to give up on Ryan.
In a private conversation with Michael, Jan is convinced that she will be fired and reemphasizes to Michael that any romantic relationship between them is over. Michael finally accepts this and assures her that he will fix the situation. Michael tells David that his "hooked up" comment was a bad joke which Craig took seriously and accepts responsibility for the situation. Jan plays along by accepting Michael's apology and agreeing to drop the matter. Before Michael leaves, Jan catches Michael by the elevator and kisses him, but groans when Michael points out to her that they were on camera.
The Faces of Scranton[]
Michael: "Just... I'm doing a thing for the CFO, okay? A little movie."
|
|
Deleted scenes[]
The Season Two DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode. Notable cut scenes include:
- Michael delivers cheap plastic roses to the women of the office while kissing their hands. In a talking head interview, Michael explains that the most attractive part of a women is her brains, because it is the brain that comes up with "their best nasty ideas for bedroom stuff."
- Kevin explains that his fiancée is out of town, but he doesn't know where.
- Creed calls everybody "Ace". In a talking head interview, he admits, "I'm not good with names."
- Many improvised scenes of Michael on the streets of New York.
- After delivering Phyllis's present, the Vance Refrigeration guys get into a slapping fight.
- Michael is sent into the conference room.
- In a talking head interview, Michael can't decide whether there is any significance that his meeting with Jan is scheduled for Valentine's Day.
- Dwight asks Jim for spelling help but won't reveal what he's writing. (In a commentary track, Michael Schur reveals that in the initial draft of the episode, Jim steals Dwight's love poem to Angela and gives it to Pam to lighten her mood. Dwight was writing this poem.)
- In a talking head interview, Jim says that Dwight having a girlfriend proves that "there really is someone for everybody."
- Kevin gets a phone call from Stacy and learns that she's back in town.
- Michael is chased down the street by Devon, who is now homeless in New York City.
Trivia[]
- This episode is the first appearance of David Wallace and Josh Porter.
- David Wallace has a mug on his desk that says "World's Best Boss", but it's black with white cursive lettering, as opposed to Michael's which is white with black print lettering.[1]
- The location Michael is sitting in one of the New York scenes is actually about two blocks away from where the building is actually located as shown in Season 3 during "The Job". He is sitting two blocks on the opposite side of the Hilton hotel. In "The Job", you can see the building they focus on is on the right side of the Hilton.
- Michael says, "New York is like Scranton [...] on steroids". On his September 26, 2007 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, while speaking about expressions that annoy him, Steve Carell said, "people refer to things being on steroids... that's pretty stupid."
- When the Dwight bobblehead dolls went on sale on NBC.com, they sold out their initial order of 5000 units.
- Jim and Pam do not speak to each other until the end of episode when Jim leaves for the day. However, Greg Daniels made a point to put them in the background of each other's shots.[1] The idea was to play against viewer expectations that a Valentine's Day episode of The Office would necessarily include a Jim and Pam plot thread.[2]
- During all of Jim's talking heads Pam will wander by delivering Phyllis gifts and in Pam's talking heads Jim is sitting at the back talking to someone.
- First time Pam wears her hair in a headband instead of half-up half-down.
- First time Kelly and Ryan hook up.
- Both Dwight and Angela seek relationship advice about the other person from Pam.
- The Albany branch had to fire four people in September, however Michael only had to fire one person in October.
- Despite the Albany branch being mentioned as taking drastic measures such as working through lunch to prevent downsizing in previous episodes, it is revealed that their office is still doing worse than the Scranton branch, with their manager being more incompetent than Michael.
Analysis[]
- When Oscar receives a delivery of flowers, he says they came from his mother. Oscar was revealed to the documentary crew as gay in the earlier episode "The Secret" but had not revealed it to the office. It is likely that the flowers were sent by his partner Gil.
Amusing details[]
- Bob Vance even signs his Valentine's Day card to Phyllis with Vance Refrigeration.
- While Michael walks around Times Square, he claims that while other people go straight to the Empire State Building when they come to New York, that is too “touristy” for him. Times Square is one of the most popular tourist spots in the city.
- In the "Faces of Scranton" video, Michael repeatedly dips his tea bag into an empty cup.
- During the deleted scene where Michael gives roses to the women of the office while kissing their hands, Ryan hides behind a notebook, apparently fearing Michael will include him in this ritual.
Behind the scenes[]
- The Sbarro restaurant Michael identifies as his "favorite New York pizza joint" is at 701 7th Ave, now closed. (The street number "701" is printed on the awning, Michael walks along the building at 160 W 47th St.)
- The Tina Fey joke was based on Michael Schur's observation that nearly every woman that wore glasses walking around Rockefeller Center was mistaken for Tina Fey. Ironically, when he went outside with the real Tina Fey, nobody recognized her.[3] The actress who played Fake Tina Fey would later appear on an episode of 30 Rock.[1]
- The "Faces of Scranton" clips were shot by Randall Einhorn the week before the episode was filmed.[1]
- The original Dwight bobblehead doll was custom-ordered by prop master Phil Shea. The company was originally named It's You Small, but now it's called Bobble Maker. The original Dwight bobblehead doll was auctioned by NBC when the series ended.[1]
- Actor Devon Abner had moved to New York to do theater, making him available for his brief performance as Devon White in a deleted scene.[1]
Cultural references[]
- Valentine's Day is a holiday that celebrates romantic love.
- Michael calls New York the City of Love. That nickname more traditionally belongs to Paris.
- Michael's interjection Fuggedaboutit is the phrase "Forget about it" in an exaggerated Italian New York accent. The phrase was popularized by the movie Donnie Brasco. Michael's use of the phrase is somewhat nonsensical.
- The city so nice they named it twice is a saying applied to New York City because its mailing address is often written "New York, New York" (New York City in the state of New York). Michael doesn't understand this and says that Manhattan (the central borough) is its other name. (Etymologist Barry Popik traced the phrase back to 1975.)[4]
- Sbarro is a major national chain of pizza restaurants headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. It is not a "local New York pizza joint" as Michael believes. Similarly, Michael identifies Bubba Gump Shrimp and Red Lobster, both national seafood restaurant chains, as local New York restaurants.
- Times Square is a major tourist destination in New York City. Michael claims it is named after the good times you have there. It is actually named after the New York Times newspaper, which was headquartered there from 1904 to 1913.
- Rockefeller Center is named after philanthropist John. D. Rockefeller, Jr, not "Theodore Rockefeller". Michael was probably thinking of Theodore Roosevelt. The Rangers are a professional hockey team; they do not practice in the Rockefeller Center ice rink, which is far too small to play hockey.
- Tina Fey was at the time the head writer for the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live. The man who walks past is Conan O'Brien, host of a popular nighttime talk show.
- Michael identifies a river as "either the Hudson or the East", rivers which are located on opposite sides of Manhattan.
- Michael Jordan is a well-known basketball player. Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf was the general who commanded Coalition forces in the 1991 Gulf War.
- Michael's Faces of Scranton video concludes with the phrase A Michael Scott Joint. Director Spike Lee identifies his films as "A Spike Lee Joint". It ends with "Great Scott!" (an exclamation of surprise and a pun on Michael's name) and the images of Robin Williams and Steve Martin, two of Michael's comedy idols. The song that plays in the video is "With or Without You" by U2.
- Michael says And don't call me Shirley, repeating a joke from the movie Airplane!. The joke is a pun, relying on the homophones "surely" and "Shirley", so when Jan says “Surely, you cannot be serious” it sounds like “Shirley, you cannot be serious”.
- Michael's exclamation "Oy vey” is a shortening of the Yiddish phrase "Oy vey's mir" (oh woe is me). The word schmear is a term for cream cheese spread on a bagel (a stereotypically Jewish food). Michael appears to be separating "vey's mir" into "vey, schmear" because he doesn't know the proper saying.
Quotes[]
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Steve Carell as Michael Scott
- Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute
- John Krasinski as Jim Halpert
- Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesly
- B.J. Novak as Ryan Howard
Supporting cast[]
- Melora Hardin as Jan Levinson
- David Denman as Roy Anderson
- Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson
- Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone
- Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer
- Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin
- Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez
- Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Vance
Recurring cast[]
- Andy Buckley as David Wallace
- Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor
- Creed Bratton as Creed Bratton
- Charles Esten as Josh Porter
- Devon Abner as Devon White (Deleted Scenes)
Guest cast[]
- Dan Cole as Dan Gore
- Craig Anton as Craig
- Lee Eisenberg as Gino (Delivery Man #1)
- Jason Kessler as Delivery Man #2
- Jeremy Radin as Delivery Man #3
- Gene Stupnitsky as Leo (Delivery Man #4)
- Vivianne Collins as Grace (Deleted Scenes)
- Miriam Tolan as Fake Tina Fey (Uncredited)
- Conan O'Brien as Himself (Uncredited)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Kinsey, Angela and Jenna Fischer, Office Ladies: Valentine's Day with Andy Buckley podcast
- ↑ Schur, Michael. 2006. "Valentine's Day" [Commentary track], The Office Season Two (US/NBC Version) [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Universal Studios.
- ↑ Schur, Michael (Writer). 2006. "The Client" [Commentary track], The Office Season Two (US/NBC Version) [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Universal Studios.
- ↑ Popik, Barry. "New York, New York—so nice, they named it twice", "The Big Apple" blog. July 18, 2004.
| |||||