Michael's Last Dundies
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Episode 21
| "Michael's Last Dundies" | |
|---|---|
| The Office episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 21 |
| Directed by | Mindy Kaling |
| Written by | Mindy Kaling |
| Cinematography by | Matt Sohn |
| Editing by | Claire Scanlon |
| Production code | 7021[1] |
| Original air date | April 21, 2011 |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
"Michael's Last Dundies" is the twenty-first episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 147th episode overall. It originally aired on NBC on April 21, 2011. The episode was written and directed by co-executive producer Mindy Kaling. "Michael's Last Dundies" guest stars Will Ferrell as Deangelo Vickers and Jack Coleman as State Senator Robert Lipton.
The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In the episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) trains his office replacement, Deangelo Vickers (Ferrell) on how to properly host the branch's annual Dundie Awards. Michael soon learns that Deangelo has a terrible problem with speaking in front of others. Meanwhile, Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) grows to dislike her boyfriend, Gabe Lewis (Zach Woods).
The episode—which was originally going to be called "Goodbye, Michael Part 1"—was the first installment in the series to be both written and directed by Kaling, who also portrays Kelly Kapoor on the series. The episode also marks the second appearance of Ferrell as Deangelo Vickers; Ferrell had signed onto the series to make Carell's exit transition easier. The episode received mostly positive reviews from television critics. "Michael's Last Dundies" was viewed by 6.849 million viewers and received a 3.3 rating among adults between the age of 18 and 49. The episode was the highest-rated NBC series of the week that it aired, as well as the sixth-most watched episode in the 18–49 demographic for the week it aired.
At the office, Michael Scott announces to the employees that Deangelo Vickers will be his co-host at the Dundies. The Dundies are an annual award program created by Michael to motivate his employees. The idea of performance is worrisome to Deangelo, but Michael insists he take the job. Michael brings some of the staff together in the conference room to help Deangelo get prepared for the show, but he struggles to be humorous. Andy Bernard tries to help him, saying he should just think of performing like conducting a meeting, but Michael objects, wanting Deangelo to mimic his style. Michael tries a number of different things to help Deangelo, such as sitting on his stomach and making him listen to a Walkman at full volume so he cannot hear himself think, but none are effective.
Meanwhile, Jim and Pam Halpert see Erin Hannon eating lunch alone in her car. She explains that she has begun doing this to get some time away from Gabe Lewis, whom she is starting to despise. Pam and Jim reluctantly enter the car (and look visibly weary when Erin outright says she doesn't want to string Gabe along the way Pam did Roy) but she hides from a clueless Erin long enough to just suggest that Erin admit to Gabe her real feelings as soon as possible. Jim leaves the car making it very clear that he's not interested in interacting with Erin or listening to her problems.
After work, the employees arrive at an Italian restaurant named Louie Volpe's to celebrate the Dundies. Moments after being introduced, Deangelo disappears into the bathroom to vomit. Eventually, Michael is able to psych him up, and the show begins. The show continues to go poorly, with most of Michael's jokes offending more than amusing the employees. Dwight wins the "Promising Assistant Manager" Dundie, but as he is still mad at Michael for not recommending he replace Michael, he tosses his award in the trash. Erin wins the "Cutest Redhead" award and gives a speech in which she breaks up with Gabe (and cites a horrified Pam as her inspiration for doing so), and Gabe leaves the ceremony in humiliation. Michael awards Deangelo with the "Best Dundies Host" award. The staff urges him to make a speech, but as he nervously tries to yell over his Walkman, the ceremony is kicked out of the restaurant. Michael is upset that his last Dundies Award show was a disappointment, but the staff convinces him to continue the event at the office.
After Dwight, still angry with Michael, insults the Dundies and leaves, Michael and Deangelo continue the event in the conference room. After the last award, Andy leads the employees in serenading the soon-to-depart Michael with an altered version of the song "Seasons of Love" called "9,986,000 Minutes;" Michael is touched, stating that "this is gonna hurt like a motherf**ker."
In a tag scene, Michael "rewards" Toby with the honor of the Most Repulsive Person in the office, to Deangelo's surprise. Toby refuses to accept the award at first but thanks to some "it's his last Dundies, you kind of have to" nudging from Jim does take the trophy from Michael. When Toby mentions that he's not sure the person convicted as the Scranton Strangler is guilty, Dwight does a "ba-bump" sound effect on the drum, and the audience is completely silent.
Production
"Michael's Last Dundies" was written and directed by co-executive producer Mindy Kaling, the first time that she has both directed and written an episode of the series. Kaling was also the writer of the second season episode "The Dundies",[2] an episode to which "Michael's Last Dundies" serves as a sequel in many ways.[3] The episode was originally titled "Goodbye, Michael Part 1" before NBC announced that "Goodbye, Michael" would be an extended 36-minute episode and this episode was re-titled "Michael's Last Dundies".[4][5] In the episode, a cue card features Dwight's last name spelled incorrectly as "Shrute". Kaling later admitted on Twitter that she had spelled the name that way "in every script I've written since 'Hot Girl'."[6]
The episode is the second of Will Ferrell's four-episode guest stint on the series. Ferrell signed on to appear in Carell's final three episodes, and the first episode without Carell, "The Inner Circle", to make Carell's transition easier. Ferrell initially called the producers and offered to appear in a few episodes in Carell's last season, because he is "a fan and wanted to commemorate Carell’s swan song".[7] He had previously starred alongside Carell, in the 2004 film, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.[7]
The Season Seven DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode. Notable cut scenes include Michael talking about his last Dundies using comedians as metaphors, Dwight booing Deangelo in order to adequately prepare him for his actual speech, various clips from the actual Dundies awards and of people accepting their awards, a cut scene featuring a video of Michael interviewing Danny Cordray (Timothy Olyphant) at his house, and Andy talking to Erin about loading the printer so that she can take her mind off of Gabe.[8]
Cultural references
In this episode, Michael Scott describes the Dundies as "like the Golden Globes but less mean", referring to Ricky Gervais' hosting of the 2011 Golden Globe Awards, which left critics questioning if he had gone "too far".[9][10] As executive producer of the American series and co-creator of the original British series, Gervais stated on his blog that the line was intended as "a little in-joke".[10] Near the beginning of the episode, Deangelo compares Meredith Palmer's (Kate Flannery) house to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Michael notes that "When Larry King died, they didn't just cancel his show", showing that Michael is unaware that Larry King was not deceased.[11] Later, he notes that "they got Piers Morgan to come in and do his show" instead.[11] The final song that the office sings to Michael is a parody of "Seasons of Love" from the Broadway musical Rent. Dwight later reveals in a talking head that he is always the padawan learner, and never a Jedi knight, a reference to the 1977 film Star Wars and its franchise. Michael notes that he wanted his last Dundies celebration to be like the 1990 film The Godfather Part III, rather than the "confusing" 1972 film The Godfather I, which he notes had "three big laughs".[11] Additionally, the episode contains several references to the film The King's Speech, notably during the scene in which Deangelo gives his speech at the Dundies while listening to his Walkman played at a high volume.[11]