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"The Fire" is the fourth episode of the second season of The Office and the 10th overall. It was written by B.J. Novak and directed by Ken Kwapis. It first aired on October 11, 2005. It was viewed by 7.6 million people.

Cold open[]

Pam transfers a call from Katy to Jim's desk and the two make lunch plans. Pam seems both frazzled and a bit jealous at the same time after the documentary crews ask her about Jim and Katy's relationship.  

Summary[]

Michael gives Ryan a glowing checkpoint review. When Ryan expresses his interest in starting his own business someday, Michael takes it upon himself to teach Ryan the first of the ten rules of business. The fire alarm sounds, and while Dwight and Angela both attempt to take charge of the evacuation, Michael pushes others out of the way in his escape out of the building.

In a talking head interview, Ryan explains that he doesn't want to have a nickname or be known for anything at the office. Once everyone is safely outside, Jim begins a game of "three books on a desert island". At Dwight's turn, he misses the point of the exercise and asks for an axe and a hollowed-out book filled with survival gear.

Jim changes the topic from books to DVDs. In a joint talking head interview, Jim and Pam mock Meredith's choices, although Pam admits that she too likes Legally Blonde. Jim teases Pam for liking that movie.

Michael learns that Ryan is going to business school at night. Michael invites Ryan to quiz him but doesn't even understand the first question. In a talking head interview, Michael explains that he learned more about business from working at a fast-food restaurant than Ryan will ever learn in school. Dwight, still jealous of the attention Ryan is getting from Michael, attempts to bully the young employee but merely earns a scolding from Michael. Ryan becomes increasingly uncomfortable with Michael's friendliness.

Sad Dwight

Dwight feeling down

Jim moves on to the next game, "Who would you do?", and Kevin instantly responds, "Pam." Jim and Pam excuse themselves from the game to talk to Dwight, who is moping in his car. Pam suggests that Ryan would be impressed to learn that Dwight is a volunteer sheriff's deputy, and Jim tries to keep a straight face when he suggests that Dwight quit, "and then that would stick it to both of them." Dwight thanks them for their concern but asks to be left alone.

Jim, Pam, Michael, Ryan and even Roy join the game of "Who would you do?". Roy answers, "that tight-ass Christian chick." Jim jokingly chooses Kevin, and Michael says, "Well, I would definitely have sex with Ryan." When Michael mentions that he left his cell phone in the office, Dwight rushes back into the building to fetch it.

The women of the office continue playing "Who would you do?" Meredith: "Jim." Phyllis: "Definitely Jim." Kelly: "Definitely, definitely Jim." Pam considers her response and says, "Oscar's kind of cute." She also mentions that Toby is cute and the others groan in disapproval, except for Meredith, who nods and smiles.

Ryan's cheese pita.

Dwight and Michael mocking Ryan

Michael asks Ryan to call his cell phone to help Dwight find it. The phone rings from Michael's pocket. Michael is worried for Dwight when he emerges, coughing, from the building and reveals that the fire was started by Ryan, who left a cheese pita in the toaster-oven set to "oven" instead of "toaster". Dwight and Michael proceed to mock Ryan and dub him The Fire Guy. Dwight sings a memorable song about Ryan, based on the song "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel.

Katy arrives for lunch and joins the DVD game. Her first movie is Legally Blonde.

With the fire out, everybody heads back inside. Michael promises Ryan, "I'll give you the rest of the ten tomorrow."

Deleted scenes[]

The Season Two DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode. Notable cut scenes include:

  • Jim sees a weather report of "70 and clear" on Pam's computer screen and is surprised when she tells him that is the current weather in Scranton. He then attempts to look out a window to see this, until realising there are no windows in the office.
  • Several brief talking head interviews with Dwight, in which he confirms his position as Number Two behind Michael, admits to writing a book about Michael until Michael made him stop, and considers Michael's new friendship with Ryan.
  • Michael and Dwight try to develop the list of ten pieces of business advice he promised to give Ryan.
  • Dwight awkwardly tries to befriend Ryan.
  • Kevin does some accounting and chuckles when he reaches the number 69.
  • Talking-head interviews outside:
    • Jim and Pam talk about how great it was when the teacher held class outside.
    • Angela talks about how smoothly the building evacuation went, then breaks down crying.
    • Alternate take of Michael justifying why he left the building first.
    • Jim explains that he and Toby used to sit together, but Michael moved them because they talked too much.
    • Michael describes the jobs he held when he was Ryan's age.
  • Toby and Kevin list their five favorite movies.
  • Ryan tells Jim that his investment in business school is "worth it," with the implication that it would allow him to quit his job at Dunder Mifflin.
  • In a talking head interview, Michael gives a rambling answer to the question "If you could change the life of one person, who would it be?".

Connections to other episodes[]

  • Spoiler: When the fire bell goes off, Dwight asks Phyllis and Stanley "Have you ever seen a burn victim?" Dwight asked the same question when he conducted a fire drill in the Stress Relief episode in season 5.

Desert Island game[]

Character Desert Island choices
Angela Books: The Bible, The Purpose Driven Life
Phyllis Books: The Da Vinci Code
Dwight Books: Physicians' Desk Reference, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Films: The Crow.

Meredith Films: Legends of the Fall, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Legally Blonde, The Bridges of Madison County, Ghost
Pam Films: Fargo, Edward Scissorhands, Dazed and Confused, The Breakfast Club, The Princess Bride
Katy Films: Legally Blonde

Trivia[]

  • Michael running out of the burning building, pushing shoving everyone out of his way, is somewhat similar to a Seinfeld episode, also titled "The Fire", in which George Costanza pushes and shoves everyone out of his path when he hears a fire has started.
  • With the exception of the talking head interviews, most of the episode takes place outside because of the fire.
  • Jim appears to be friends with one of the firefighters. It was John Krasinski's idea to contrast Dwight's excitement at seeing the firefighters with Jim's actual friendship with one of them.[1]
  • Spoiler: During the "Who would you do?" game, Oscar joins the other guys in immediately saying Pam's name, much to her annoyance. This contradicts Oscar's character in later seasons, not only because he is gay, but also because he is too sensitive to say something that would offend others in such a way. Alternatively, this scene could be explained by the fact that Oscar was still in the closet at the time, and was simply trying to fit in with the other straight men in the office.
  • When playing Desert Island, Dwight says "Question: Did my shoes come off in the plane crash?" Dwight assumes he is on a desert island as the result of a plane crash. Spoiler: We learn in "Boys and Girls" that he is a fan of the television show Lost, whose premise is a plane crash that strands everyone on a desert island. Dwight also has the hubris to assume he could sneak hidden objects in his shoes past airport security.
  • Early in the episode, Ryan says that he doesn't want to be "a 'guy' here". By the end of the episode, he becomes "The Fire Guy".

Goofs[]

  • As the camera pans out from Michael running out of the burning building, a microphone boom arm can briefly be seen at the top right of the screen.
  • The fire in the kitchen was hot enough to apparently dry Dwight's shirt from the point he is dragging Kelly away to the following moment where he crawls to safety.
  • In the scene when Dwight, Michael, and Ryan are discussing business school, in the shot where Dwight begins roughhousing with Ryan with a firetruck in the background, the camera pans slightly to the left and another camera can be seen briefly entering the frame.
  • 09:21 into the episode a camera crew and lighting set can be seen briefly before the camera zooms into Michael, Dwight and Ryan.
  • The windows at the front of the building seem cloudy/matte colored, but they're clear in any other episodes where the front of the building is shown.

Behind the scenes[]

  • This was the first episode filmed for the second season.[2]:02:51 According to the DVD commentary, this episode was originally intended to be the season opener, but NBC decided that "The Dundies" would be a better opening episode. Some story lines remain from the original episode order:
    • Michael's man-crush on Ryan begins in this episode. It would explain why Michael awarded Ryan the Hottest in the Office Dundie award.
    • The introduction of Katy as Jim's girlfriend flows more naturally from the final episode of Season 1, "Hot Girl".
  • The firefighters in the episode are real fire fighters from a Los Angeles firehouse. Their uniforms are replicas of the Scranton Fire Department uniform.[2]:30:54
  • At the suggestion of B.J. Novak and Greg Daniels, Dwight's first pump became more and more animated at each take, leading to the final over-the-top version that has become an internet meme.[3]:01:12:03
  • Angela Kinsey's hair is naturally a dirty blonde. She tried to save some money by dying it herself, which is why in this episode, Angela Martin's hair is bleached blonde.[2]:34:18
  • Michael's ring tone is "Mambo No. 5". The writers were obsessed with that song at the time.[2]:43:11

Cultural references[]

  • Mr. Miyagi is the karate master in the Karate Kid movie series. Yoda is the Jedi master in the Star Wars movie series. Fozzie Bear is a character from The Muppet Show. Frank Oz voiced both Yoda and Fozzie bear, thus the two characters voices similar enough that Ryan confused the two.
  • Batman/Robin and The Lone Ranger/Tonto are two fictional crime-fighting duos. Bonto is a made-up name.
  • Stat (short for statim = immediately) is medical jargon. Appended to a command, it means that the action should be performed immediately.
  • Image is everything is the tag line to an ad campaign for Canon starring tennis player Andre Agassi.
  • Dwight asks, "Did my shoes come off in the plane crash?" Dwight assumes that he is stranded on the island due to a plane crash, like the characters of the television program Lost.
  • Michael confuses Stanley Kaplan with Sue Grafton. Kaplan is the founder of a company that produces test preparation materials. Grafton is known for her Kinsey Millhone series of mystery novels, whose titles follow the pattern "A" Is for Alibi, "B" Is for Burglar, etc. "M" Is for Murder (possibly a confused reference to the Alfred Hitchcock classic Dial M for Murder) and "P" Is for Phone are not among her titles. Spoiler: Sue Grafton is also referenced in the future episode Local Ad.
  • Lebron James, Tracy McGrady, and Kobe Bryant are professional basketball players noted for beginning their NBA careers directly after high school.
  • Bad Idea Jeans is a fake brand of blue jeans that was the subject of multiple parody advertisements on the sketch comedy program "Saturday Night Live".
  • The song Dwight sings at the end of the episode is We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel. He sings the end of the first stanza, and then adds the chorus, changing "We didn't start the fire" to "Ryan started the fire."

Quotes[]

See: The Fire Quotes

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

  • Shawn C. Sims as Security Guard (Uncredited)

References[]

  1. Kinsey, Angela and Jenna Fischer. Episode 10: The Fire (Candy Bag). "Office Ladies" podcast, January 8, 2020.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Kinsey, Angela and Jenna Fischer. Episode 10: The Fire. "Office Ladies" podcast, January 8, 2020.
  3. Kinsey, Angela and Jenna Fischer. Episode 33: Initiation with B.J. Novak and Rainn Wilson. "Office Ladies" podcast, June 24, 2020.
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