Boys and Girls

"Boys and Girls" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of The Office and the 21st overall. It was written by B.J. Novak and directed by Dennie Gordon. It first aired on February 2, 2006, and viewed by 5.42 million people.

Cold open

Jan arrives at the Scranton branch to hold a Women in the Workplace seminar for the female employees. She has assured the women that Michael isn't allowed. As she talks about the disparity in the perception of assertive men versus assertive women, Michael jumps into the conference room to give his own rambling cliché-ridden take on the subject. Jan forces him out, then has to snap at him for lingering around the door.

Summary

Michael resents having his conference room taken away from him so the women can talk in secret. Dwight is more concerned that their menstrual cycles will align and wreak havoc on the plumbing. Michael brings all the men into a circle next to the conference room and makes a lot of noise. Jan tells them to go somewhere else. Dwight suggests the warehouse and Jan approves.

Jan asks the women to state something they are good at. Meredith starts to say her name and that she's an alcoholic, but catches herself and says she's good at supplier relations. Phyllis believes she's good with computers until Angela criticizes her work. They move on to goals. Meredith wants to be five years sober in five years. Kelly wants to be lugging kids around in an SUV. Pam wants a house with a terrace on it, to be in a loving marriage with Roy, and to do something with art. Jan mentions a graphic design class offered by Corporate, held on weekends. Pam starts to defer, but Jan is persistent. Jan explains to the camera that her intent is to find out if there are any women here who would make a good addition to Corporate.

Downstairs, Michael talks about how hard the warehouse staff works. Darryl and his crew are stressed to have Michael there as he refuses to stay off the machinery. His recklessness behind the controls causes several supply shelves to come crashing down. Jim isn't keen on being around Roy who has probably heard the rumor about him liking Pam. Kevin offers to back Jim up if it comes to blows. However, Roy believes the crush is over and that Jim and Pam are just friends. He also likes that Pam has someone to talk to so she gets it all out before she comes home.

Michael sits down the guys for a gripe session about women. It derails into a comparison between the office and warehouse workers. Arguing that their differing pay is unfair, Darryl proposes forming a union. Michael is unable to tone down the union rhetoric.

Jan says one should dress for the job one wants and not the job one has. Angela doesn't think she's getting anything out of the seminar. Michael interrupts to request help on the union problem. Jan tells him he has to handle it himself. He attempts to insert their history into the conversation and she enjoins him to silence on the subject and makes him leave.

While Jan attempts to discuss how sports analogies often leave women out, Kelly uses the opportunity to ask about Michael "getting to second base" with Jan. The women continue to grill Jan about her relationship with Michael until she calls for a break.

Pam excuses herself from the seminar to tell Jim about the class in New York. She seems excited about it; Jim believes she should go for it.

The other men are loading up a delivery truck. Ryan comes up with an idea of speeding up the process to which Stanley replies, "This is a run out the clock situation, just like upstairs." Michael blows packing peanuts all over the warehouse, pretending it's snow.

Jan arrives, and when Michael is evasive about the union problem, she informs the warehouse staff herself that unionizing will result in the closure of the branch. They can direct any further questions to Michael, who is hiding.

Roy shuts down Pam's design class plans, saying there's no guarantee it will go anywhere. Jim tells Pam she has to take a chance on something, unless she wants to be a receptionist for the rest of her life. Pam snaps that she's fine with her life choices, but in an interview she breaks into tears.

Michael treats the men to pizza and smooths over their disappointment over the unionization. As Michael and the office employees depart for the day, the warehouse is in complete disarray. Darryl shouts: "Hey Mike, this ain't over!" as he stands in the middle of a complete mess. Michael shuts the door without responding.

Deleted scenes

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

Michael asks Pam and Jim for help choosing a ringtone for his expensive new phone. He's looking for the one that sounds like a jackhammer. Jim asks, "Do you mean vibrate?"
Roy and Dwight talk about guns. Roy prefers the Bushmaster; Dwight likes his spud gun.
Dwight demonstrates his spud gun and destroys the window to Darryl's office. Though this scene isn't actually in the episode, it is acknowledged in Season 6 in the episode "The Banker".
In a talking head interview, Dwight talks about a film about a girl who goes on an incredible adventure but eventually realizes that "there's no place like home". But he can't remember the movie's title, The Wizard of Oz.

Amusing details

Toby avoids going to the warehouse, like how he avoided going on the Booze Cruise. This was for practical reasons: It allowed Paul Lieberstein to spend more time in the writers room.
When Jan asks the women of the office to introduce themselves and what they are good at, Meredith uses the traditional introduction for Alcoholics Anonymous, perhaps out of habit, or perhaps mocking Jan's seminar, before cutting herself off mid-sentence.
The documentary crew cuts off Pam saying who she fits in with more than the other ladies, and follows with footage of Roy saying Jim's name, in order to suggest to the viewers that regardless of what Pam said, they believe she fits in most with Jim.
The documentary crew combines Angela's comment that she is in the healthiest relationship of her life with footage of her and Dwight not acknowledging one another as they reach for the door handle at the same time.
Michael unbuttons his shirt buttons while talking to the warehouse crew about the union but buttons up when heading upstairs to the office.
Stanley says they should "run out the clock" which is a sporting metaphor. The next scene shows Jan talking to them about sports metaphors and how women are left out of it.
After Kelly asks Jan about "second base", she winks at the camera with her left eye. She should have used her right eye, since that's the one that isn't facing Jan.
Michael suspected that the women are talking about "clothes or me." It turns out he was correct on both topics.
Kevin says he has Jim's back against Roy. When Roy starts talking to Jim in the next scene, Kevin watches from the background.
There's a "do not erase" warning on the blackboard in the warehouse, but Michael erases it anyway to write a meaningless math problem. In fact, Michael erases everything except the "do not erase" warning and "Inventory Due By The 30th".

Trivia

As of this episode, David Denman (Roy Anderson) and Melora Hardin (Jan Levinson) have joined the main cast.
Oscar Nunez (Oscar Martinez) is credited but does not appear in this episode.
Spoiler: Darryl says that the warehouse and office staff receive "very different" compensation. A year later, in "The Negotiation", Darryl would learn that the difference was far less than he assumed: The reasonable raise Darryl asked for would give him a higher salary than Michael.
A scene was shot in which Roy physically confronts Jim for pushing Pam to take the internship. The scene was very intense, but the producers opted not to include it in the episode because there was no comedy in it. It was, however, included in the extended cut exclusively on Peacock.^[1]

References to previous episodes

The blow-up doll in the warehouse is the one Michael brought to work (and later threw away) in the episode "Sexual Harassment".

Cultural references

Ally McBeal (1998-2002) was a television dramedy about a young lawyer and her personal life. During its run, the title character became a focal point for the changing face of feminism.
You've come a long way, baby was the motto of "Virginia Slims", a cigarette marketed for women. Its advertisements typically depicted a woman from the early 1900s being treated unfairly, combined with a carefree, stylish modern woman.
Lost is a television drama that takes place on an island. The Others is a mysterious group of island inhabitants.
Brangelina is the nickname created by the media to refer to the relationship between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Stanley suggests they run out the clock, meaning that they should do nothing and waste time until time runs out.
Jan explains that in golf, par means normal, but is confused because below par means worse. In golf, lower scores are better, so a score below par should be better, not worse. Jan is confused because the phrase "below par" uses the word "par" in its non-golf sense meaning "normal, standard".^[2] In golf, "below par" does mean better.
Second base is part of a baseball-themed slang progression of intimacy: Strikeout = failure to engage in any intimacy, first base = making out, second base = fondling, third base = genital touching, home run = intercourse, grand slam = orgy.
Good Will Hunting is a movie about a mathematical prodigy.
Alcoholics Anonymous is a support group to assist people recovering from alcoholism. Members introduce themselves to the group by saying I'm (name) and I'm an alcoholic. Meredith almost says the same thing during the seminar.
Lonny mockingly calls Michael Hasselhoff, referring to actor and singer David Hasselhoff, who in publicity photos frequently wears his shirt unbuttoned.

Quotes

See: Boys and Girls Quotes

Cast

Main cast

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
Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Vance
Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez (credit only)

Recurring cast

References

↑ Skerry, Kath. GMMR Exclusive Interview with David Denman, Give Me My Remote web site, June 17, 2006.
↑ Is “below par” good or bad?, English StackExchange, March 12, 2011.

[Denman-1] Skerry, Kath. GMMR Exclusive Interview with David Denman, Give Me My Remote web site, June 17, 2006.

[2] Is “below par” good or bad?, English StackExchange, March 12, 2011.

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