Dwight's Speech

"Dwight's Speech" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's twenty-second episode overall. Written by Paul Lieberstein, and directed by Charles McDougall, the episode first aired in the United States on March 2, 2006 on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).

In the episode, Michael helps Dwight with an important speech that he is going to give. Meanwhile, Jim plans a vacation to avoid Pam's wedding. "Dwight's Speech" was watched by 8.4 million viewers.

Synopsis

Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) is named Northeastern Pennsylvania Salesman of the Year and must make a speech at an association meeting at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, getting some assistance from Michael Scott (Steve Carell). Before he leaves, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) gives Dwight tips on how to give public speeches. Unknown to Dwight, Jim's tips are taken from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. When Michael and Dwight make it to the convention, Dwight gets cold feet and Michael goes up and tries to relive his glory days of winning Salesman of the Year two years in a row, but ends up bombing. Dwight finally works up the nerve to give his speech and, using Jim's advice, wins over the crowd with a passionate yet unorthodox speech (which Angela videotapes from the back). Michael ends up leaving the convention room and later entertains Dwight with his tales at the bar.

Meanwhile, back in the office, Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) begins to write invitations for her approaching wedding. Jim makes plans for a vacation anywhere away from Scranton. While that is going on, the other employees subtly duel over the thermostat. In the end of the episode, Jim tells Pam that he will be leaving to Australia and unfortunately, he will be missing her wedding because of it.

Production

This episode was the second episode of the series directed by Charles McDougall. McDougall had previously directed the second season episode "Christmas Party". "Dwight's Speech" was written by Paul Lieberstein, who plays human resources director Toby Flenderson.

During the earlier scenes when Dwight is in Michael's office, Pam can be seen in the background talking to Meredith. According to actress Jenna Fischer, she and Kate Flannery stayed in character and acted out mundane talking scenes. Although they were not recorded, the dialogue was very detailed. Fischer described one scene in which Pam and Meredith discussed "the problems with the new quality-assurance computer-input program. It doesn't accept both alpha and numeric characters, which is very frustrating as we have a backlog of receipts dating to 2001. Dunder-Mifflin changed to all-numeric product codes in 2004 and the computer system does not allow for the earlier records." The speech scene employed over 500 extras, which is unusual for The Office, and was hectic for the crew to organize.

Reception

"Dwight's Speech" received 4.4/10 in the ages 18–49 demographic in the Nielsen Ratings. This means that 4.4 percent of all households with an 18 to 49 year old living in it watched the episode, and ten percent had their television tuned to the channel at any point. "Dwight's Speech" was watched by 8.4 million viewers.

"Dwight's Speech" received mostly positive reviews. Michael Sciannamea of TV Squad wrote that he wonders if the Jim-Pam "will reach some sort of resolution or become a season-ending cliffhanger". Sciannamea also noted that "you know you're living in a Bizarro World when Dwight wins Dunder Mifflin's salesman of the year award." "M. Giant" of TelevisionWithoutPity.com graded the episode with an A-. IGN ranked the scene with Dwight making his speech as its third best moment in the first two seasons, Rolling Stone has the same scene as the 18th funniest in The Office's first three seasons.

References

External links

• "Dwight's Speech" at NorthernAttack.com