The Injury

"The Injury"
The Office episode
Michael and "The Injury", or his burned, packaged foot.
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 12
Written by	Mindy Kaling
Directed by	Bryan Gordon
Production no.	02011
Original airdate	January 12, 2006
Guest stars
Marcus A. York
Season 2 episodes
"The Dundies" "Sexual Harassment" "Office Olympics" "The Fire" "Halloween" "The Fight" "The Client" "Performance Review" "E-mail Surveillance" "Christmas Party" "Booze Cruise" "The Injury" "The Secret" "The Carpet" "Boys and Girls" "Valentine's Day" "Dwight's Speech" "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" "Michael's Birthday" "Drug Testing" "Conflict Resolution" "Casino Night"
List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes

"The Injury" is the twelfth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's eighteenth episode overall. Written by Mindy Kaling, who also acts in the show as Kelly Kapoor, and directed by Bryan Gordon, the episode first aired in the United States on January 12, 2006 on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).

In the episode, Michael accidentally burns his foot on a grill, but insists coming to work anyway. When none of his employees, except for Dwight, help him, Michael feels under-appreciated. Meanwhile, Dwight starts acting strangely nice to everyone, especially Pam.

Plot

Billy Merchant discusses disabilities.

Michael Scott (Steve Carell) accidentally burns his foot while grilling bacon on his George Foreman grill, in bed. When Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) comes to "rescue" him, he crashes his car into "the pole" and suffers a concussion. The injury makes Dwight more likable and much nicer to his co-workers, particularly Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer).

Michael becomes upset with the staff's lack of compassion towards his "disability", and brings in Billy Merchant (Marcus A. York), who uses a wheelchair, to discuss what it is like to be disabled. Billy soon leaves after Michael makes several offensive remarks, but not before pointing out to Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) that Dwight has suffered a concussion.

Jim and Michael take Dwight to the hospital where Michael insists that his burned foot is a more serious injury than Dwight's blunt force trauma. Before they go, Pam bids "goodbye" to the concussed Dwight, aware that she will probably never see the good-natured version of Dwight Schrute ever again.

Production

This episode was the second episode of the series directed by Bryan Gordon. Gordon had previously directed the first season episode "The Alliance". "The Injury" was written by Mindy Kaling, who also acts for the show as customer service representative Kelly Kapoor.^[1] Writer and actor B.J. Novak said the idea for "Injury" started out as an idea in the writing room that just "spun out of control".^[2] Novak has described "The Injury" as one of his favorite episodes, and said of it, "I don't think any other TV show would have made an episode from that starting point, and yet it was one of the funniest and most relatable episodes as it went on that we've ever had."^[3] The original plan was for Michael to have fallen asleep in the sun, while having sunblock all over him, except for his foot. The episode was originally going to be called "My Grilled Foot", but writer Mindy Kaling thought it was "too weird for people to tune in and watch that".^[4]

Marcus York recalls being nervous during filming, and "drawing a blank" on his lines during the first 'run-through', because of his anxiousness around the cast members, but soon Marcus "smoothed-out".^[5] John Krasinski said that the van scene was his favorite to shoot, and that it "will go down in history as one of the most fun moments I’ve ever been a part of".^[6]

Reception

Ratings

"The Injury" received 5.1/12 in the ages 18–49 demographic in the Nielsen Ratings. This means that 5.1 percent of all households with an 18 to 49 year old living in it watched the episode, and 12 percent had their television tuned to the channel at any point. The episode was watched by 10.3 million viewers.^[7]

Reception

IGN ranked the scene with Dwight getting in a car accident as its seventh best moment in the first two seasons,^[8] Rolling Stone has the same scene as the 20th funniest in The Office's first three seasons. ^[9] TV Squad's Michael Sciannamea said that "The Injury" was "another solid episode" and that the "show gets better with each and every week." ^[10] M. Giant of Television Without Pity graded the episode with an "A-".^[11] In a poll done by OfficeTally.com, an Office fansite, "The Injury" was ranked as the third best episode of the second season by voters.^[12]

References

External links

• "The Injury" at NBC.com
• "The Injury" at NorthernAttack.com.