Angela Martin
Angela Noelle Schrute[2] (née Martin; formerly Lipton) is a fictional character from the NBC television series The Office played by American actress Angela Kinsey. She is an original character, and has no equivalent in the original British show, The Office.
Angela Noelle Martin | |
---|---|
The Office character | |
![]() Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin. | |
First appearance | "Pilot" (2005) |
Last appearance | "Finale" (2013) |
Created by | Greg Daniels |
Portrayed by | Angela Kinsey |
In-universe information | |
Occupation | Senior Accountant, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton branch, Head of the Party Planning Committee, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton Branch |
Family | Rachael Martin (sister) |
Spouse | [1] Robert Lipton
( m. 2011; div. 2013) |
Significant other | Andy Bernard (ex-fiancé) |
Children | Phillip (son) |
Religion | Protestant |
Nationality | American |
Overview
Angela Martin is the head of the accounting department at the Scranton branch of the fictitious paper distribution company Dunder Mifflin, extension 128. Cold, condescending, religious, hypercritical, judgmental, and uptight, Angela is often negative and frowns upon all frivolous activity in the office, and openly expressed her disapproval of receptionist Pam Beesly's friendship with coworker Jim Halpert. She also frowns upon any sort of superfluousness or inappropriateness in general. Like Dwight, Angela has little sense of humor and almost never smiles or expresses happiness, except when she is talking about her cats or is expressing derisive contempt for her co-workers. Angela is extremely secretive, attracted to shows of power, and vengeful when upset.
Biography
In addition to heading the accounting department, Angela is also the former head of the Party Planning Committee and the office's Safety Officer. She is a constant source of complaints to Human Resources, although she retracts those lodged against Dwight Schrute at the onset of their secret romance. Angela lives with several cats, adores posters of infants posed as adults, and is a vegetarian and a singer. When she makes a mistake, Angela's first response is usually to shift the blame to someone else, along with an insult. Angela's extreme religious homophobia makes her dislike Will & Grace (although she says it's because it's "terribly loud"), except for the scenes with Harry Connick, Jr. ("He's so talented"); she also uses hand sanitizer while glaring at Oscar Martinez in the days following Oscar being outed as gay. She is a former child beauty pageant contestant and says that she enjoys being judged. She tends to list colors that she finds "whorish", including orange and green, that always seem to correspond to the color of clothes being worn by either Phyllis or Meredith. Angela bottles up her emotions to the point that, on occasion, she has private, emotional outbursts over relatively trivial matters. She also seems to be something of a conservative (albeit hypocritical) Christian. She states that the two books she would bring with her to read if stranded on a deserted island are the Bible and The Purpose Driven Life. Further, she would bring The Da Vinci Code, but only so she could burn it. She despises the mystery novel genre because, in her words, "I hate being titillated." However, in a deleted scene from "Dream Team", she says her new boss Charles Miner is mysterious and wants to flip to "his last page". In a deleted scene from Season 3, Angela glowingly compares Dwight to Fox News commentator Sean Hannity. She says in "Prince Family Paper" that her ideal of male beauty is Boris Becker.
She was mainly seen as a minor character in the first two seasons but since starting her relationship with Dwight her character has been explored numerous times and has been so further since their break-up in Fun Run. Throughout season 3 and carrying on into season 4, Angela essentially became the second lead female of the show, after Pam Beesly.
Angela has a sister to whom she was very close but has not spoken in sixteen years over a disagreement she does not even remember, a situation that she regards with a great deal of pride. She appears unable to apologize, as further detailed in "Product Recall" when she cannot bring herself to say sorry on behalf of the company (saying instead "our official position is apologetic"), and in "The Return" when she uses a wordy, third-person monologue as a way of apologizing to Oscar for being homophobic. She did, however, say she was sorry to Kevin for being "mean" twice in "The Accountants." She has a second sister who she is also very close with, who is her maid of honor at her wedding during the series finale.
It was revealed in "Traveling Salesmen" and confirmed in "The Return" and "Happy Hour" that her middle name is Noelle.
Angela drives a light brown first-generation Ford Focus sedan, as seen in "The Dundies" and "The Client". In the season six episode "Niagara", she is seen to drive a second-generation Saturn S-Series (which Oscar's lover Gill used to drive).
Angela's petite size is a running gag of the show. Angela claims to weigh eighty-two pounds and wears a child's size ten ("Women's Appreciation"). In addition, because she finds the clothes at Gap Kids to sometimes be too "flashy", she occasionally shops at the American Girl store, buying items meant for "large colonial dolls". Michael has twice made fun of her stature, nicknaming her "Booster Seat" in reference to small children having to sit on one in restaurants. He later "roasted" her during "Stress Relief" by saying he couldn't see her when she was hiding behind a grain of rice. Her 5'1" height is sharply contrasted to 6'1" Dwight.
Angela ruled (in seasons 1-4) the Party Planning Committee (PPC) with an iron fist. Usually, when a committee member suggests an idea, Angela immediately shoots it down with a mean comment or sharp rebuke. The PPC normally consists of Angela, Pam, Phyllis, and Meredith, although Meredith was naturally not present when the committee planned her surprise birthday party. Karen became a regular member of the PPC when she was transferred to Scranton but was expelled by Angela for her "unsuitable" ideas during "A Benihana Christmas". Ryan joined the committee to help plan the Christmas Party, and Oscar joined it to help plan his own "Welcome Back" party ("The Return"). Angela was particularly hard on Phyllis during "Launch Party" and was left with a huge burden when Phyllis got fed up and quit the PPC.
It is implied in the webisode series, Blackmail, that she has or had a clandestine sexual relationship with her church pastor when Creed hands out envelopes containing incriminating information on several of his peers and Meredith opens her envelope and asks "Who's Pastor Davis?" prompting Creed to switch the envelopes between Angela and Meredith. After reading the note, Angela appears to be heavily embarrassed.
In "The Chump", Angela reveals that her four cats are named "Ember, Milky Way, Diane, and Lumpy".
In the season eight premiere Angela is married to Robert and pregnant with her first child, though she has a stepson through Robert. Angela wanted to name her son "Philip" after her cat, but Pam (who is pregnant with her second child) wanted the name "Philip" after her grandfather. Angela tried browbeating Pam into giving up the name rights—in a deleted scene, she said Jim wouldn't take care of the name because "he can't even get a decent haircut!"—and after Pam rebuffed her, threatened to take the name first by having a C-section (even though she would only be six months' pregnant at the time). In the end, both children are named Philip.
Relationships
Dwight
Dwight is the only person that Angela likes in the office. It is shown in "E-mail Surveillance" that Dwight and Angela have begun a romantic relationship. Although she has said she loves Dwight and cares about him, she refuses to tell anyone about their relationship and is often made uncomfortable by Dwight's passion for her. Their relationship is seemingly summarized in "A.A.R.M.": when Dwight tells her that yelling through a megaphone expresses "how loudly I love you", Angela meekly whispers "It's too loud." In "Traveling Salesman" Angela forgets to send an accounting folder to corporate, so Dwight drives to New York and gives the folder to them. After Dwight is told he would be fired if he didn't tell Michael why he went to New York, he keeps their relationship secret out of respect for Angela. Angela later tells Michael what happened, but still doesn't reveal their relationship. In "Fun Run" Angela asks Dwight to feed her cat Sprinkles, who is terminally ill, but Dwight kills it in a misguided act of mercy, which causes Angela to break up with him. After Angela begins a relationship with Andy in Season 4, she stops dating Dwight, but at the end of "Goodbye Toby" Phyllis sees Angela cheating on Andy with Dwight. Dwight ends their affair in "The Duel" after learning that she has been having sexual relations with Andy. In "The Delivery" Dwight, who wants to improve his sales by having a child, asks Angela to have his baby. The two write up a contract and plan to have a baby together, but in "Happy Hour", Dwight hooks up with Pam's friend Isabel, and tells Angela he doesn't want her to have his baby. In "The Chump" the two call in a lawyer, and Angela refuses to release him from the contract unless he agrees to have sex with her five times. She later voids the contract after meeting Senator Robert Lipton. After she gives birth (Jury Duty), Dwight realizes the baby was conceived before her marriage to Robert and makes the assumption that he, not Robert, is the father. Angela and Dwight go through a paternity test and in "New Guys" it is revealed that Dwight is not Philip's father. In "A.A.R.M." Dwight proposes to Angela, and she accepts. She then tells Dwight that she lied before and Dwight is Philip's father. Angela tells him that she wanted to make sure that Dwight wanted to marry her for no other reason than for love.[1]
Pam
Angela generally disapproves of Pam because of "all the people" she has dated in the office. She even calls her the "office mattress" in "Dunder Mifflin Infinity". Pam originally didn't invite Angela to her wedding with Roy because she didn't want anyone who'd called her a "hussy" to be at her wedding, and assumes it was Angela who filed a complaint with Toby over her at-work wedding planning (it turned out that it was Jim who did so). Pam is the first to find out about Dwight and Angela's relationship in "E-mail Surveillance". In "The Injury", when Dwight gets a concussion, Pam notices Angela is upset and comforts her by hinting that Dwight is okay. Their relationship does warm up a little in "Traveling Salesman" in which they share some conversation while getting coffee; in a deleted scene, Angela offers Pam her dominant male cat Ash, but after Pam apologetically declines Angela's chilly behavior returns. In "Niagara", Angela's complaints lead Pam to bluntly say Angela does not have to come to the wedding; while Angela does arrive with everyone else, her main success there is an offer to chaperone Pam on the pre-wedding night, leading Pam to give up on going out and return to her room. In "Costume Contest", Angela uses a dismissive "blech" term regarding Pam.
Andy
Angela was in a relationship with Andy throughout Season 4 and carrying on into Season 5. Initially, she dates him on the rebound after a break-up with her boyfriend of two years (Dwight). Scenes imply however that she was beginning to genuinely like him more and more, such as in "Did I Stutter" when Dwight watches the two of them in the break room playing Mad Libs together and laughing. Despite being surprised and shocked by Andy's sudden proposal in "Goodbye Toby", she accepts, and the two are engaged until it comes to a dissolution in "The Duel" when Andy learns she had been having an affair with Dwight.
She's later shown to be in a state of depression, and at times openly regrets dating both men. On "Secretary's Day" in Season 6, Andy's new girlfriend Erin Hannon finds out about the two's relationship, and publicly demeans Angela in the conference room. Angela has a brief conversation with Erin shortly afterward, where she expresses her humiliation and reminds Erin that she wants to forget the memories of dating him. Andy has rarely talked to Angela or expressed any opinions about her in subsequent episodes. When he quits his job to pursue his dreams of stardom near the series' end, Angela (informed by her own life upheavals) talks to him about not letting pride ruin his life. While Andy assumes she is talking about how their relationship ended and says that is something he does reflect on sometimes, Angela fights through her lingering disgust that she was ever with him and finally tells him, mutedly but sincerely, that she wishes him good luck. Andy is part of Dwight's bachelor party and attends the wedding of his old co-workers.
Phyllis
Up until Season 5, Angela is the head of the Party Planning Committee along with Phyllis as her assistant. Angela is patronizing and bossy towards Phyllis, who admits that Angela is hard to deal with and that the two have a severe disliking towards one another. In "Goodbye Toby", Phyllis catches Angela and Dwight having sex in the back of the office (thus cheating on her fiancé at the time) and uses this to blackmail Angela and make her do what she wants. In "New Leads", Michael gives Angela Phyllis' leads, and Angela, in retaliation for all the aggravating tasks she had to endure while under her control, makes her do some accounting work only to shred it later. Phyllis states in "Conflict Resolution" that (even though they constantly butt heads), they are close. By the finale, Phyllis and Angela seemed to have resolved their differences. Angela, incapacitated by a foot injury, apologizes for snapping at Phyllis, who then volunteers to carry Angela down the aisle.
Robert Lipton
Angela meets Robert Lipton, who's with his son, at Dwight's hay festival. They get along well, and at the end of the day, he asks for her number. It's later revealed that they've started dating and also that Robert is a state senator. There are strong hints throughout the rest of the season that he's gay, which almost everyone eventually notices. Angela remains oblivious however. In the season 7 finale, he proposes to her and they're officially engaged (marking her second engagement on the show). In the season 8 premiere, it is revealed that Angela and Robert married between seasons and she is pregnant.
Other relationships
Angela tends to be somewhat abrasive towards other office workers, often outright insulting them. In the season 3 premiere, she expresses open homophobia and dislikes for Oscar, who is outed as a homosexual. However, it appears that by "The Return" she has decided to overlook her problems with this, helping to plan a party for Oscar's return from vacation. She treats her other accounting colleague, Kevin, with open disdain, although the two are very occasionally seen to show affection for each other, such as in the episode 'Branch Closing', in which they embrace warmly when they learn that the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin is to remain open, or the series 2 episode 'The Injury', in which they are seen smiling and joking together in the background. She has a clear disgust and annoyance with her former boss Michael Scott, often barely able to fathom his ridiculous and time-wasting antics; although she does say she is "thrilled" for Michael and Holly's relationship. In a scene during the extended version of Michael's last episode, she refuses to mention any qualities Michael had, other than the fact that he worked in the same office as she did for nineteen years. Angela also shows concern for Stanley after he suffers a heart attack, trying to protect him from Michael's attempts to "help" him. She strongly disapproves of office romances, playing a game called "Pam-Pong" in which she counts the number of times Jim leaves his desk to talk to Pam (as mentioned above, Angela referred to Pam as the "office mattress"). Somewhat mirroring the relationship between Pam and Toby, in an episode around downsizing, Angela is shown being condescending towards Pam's fiancée Roy Anderson. She sarcastically assured Roy that he was "smart and capable" and that he doesn't need to worry about downsizing. She is speaking down to him because he works in menial manual labor and has no special skills that would make him valuable during downsizing, unlike herself (an accountant). This is much like when she condescendingly explains to Phyllis why she's mad about her getting the wrong silverware. This so not the first time her sarcasm wasn't noticed or properly responded to. She was sarcastic about Classy Christmas (Holly's return) and Michael's demands for the party being reasonable. Roy showed a basic sexual interest in Angela, when asked who in the office he would have sex with besides Pam. During the fifth season, Angela developed a one-sided crush on corporate higher-up Charles Miner. She frequently tried and failed to engage in a relationship with him, often butting heads with Kelly for his affection. It's subtly implied in an online webisode series, "Blackmail", that she has or had a clandestine sexual relationship with her church pastor when Creed hands out envelopes containing incriminating information on several of his peers and Meredith opens her envelope and asks "Who's Pastor Davis?" prompting Creed to switch the envelopes between Angela and Meredith. After reading the note, Angela appears to be heavily embarrassed.
Character history
Seasons 1–2
Angela is established as a strict and stubborn office worker, and she is something of a perfectionist. She appears to be a prime example of an authoritarian personality. She is also in charge of the Party Planning Committee and is often at odds with Phyllis Lapin. When it is noted that red streamers are bad during Meredith Palmer's party, she blames it on Phyllis, though it seems to be her fault. There are many deleted scenes in which Angela is interviewed, as well as other members of accounting, suggesting that the series was originally intended to take a two-perspective look at the office: one from accounting's point of view, and one from sales.[3]
Angela refuses to accept the "Tight Ass" award at the 8th Annual Dundie Awards. When she sees Kelly give Dwight (her secret love interest) a small kiss in the episode "Christmas Party", she gets angry and throws Christmas ornaments outside the building. Though she is a constant source of complaints to Human Resources (she and Oscar Martinez fight over her poster of babies playing instruments, which she got from Toby Flenderson for Christmas), she redacts those lodged against Dwight at the onset of their secret romance. It is hinted during "Drug Testing" that she does not take birth control, in accordance to her Christian beliefs. This revelation is to the relief of Dwight implying that they are having sex. She has a bobblehead doll made in Dwight's likeness as a Valentine's Day gift, and receives a key to his house in return. Angela hints that she has a crush on Pam's fiancé Roy (Webisodes: The Accountants, "Someone in the Warehouse") and admits that she would choose Roy over Jim if pressed on the matter ("The Secret").[4]
Seasons 3–4
Angela is disgusted at the revelation that Oscar is gay ("Gay Witch Hunt"), and does not bother to hide it. Her attitude toward him becomes much more sympathetic after he returns to work following an extended absence ("The Return"), and the two appear to have reconciled. She believes Oscar has the capability to cross over to dating women if he so chooses. Evidently, Angela continues to nurture a crush on Roy, complimenting him on his physique and greeting him, in the third-season episode "Branch Closing". In the same episode, she spontaneously hugs Kevin upon discovering their branch will not be closed, the second moment to date, along with Kevin's cancer scare in the season two episode "Michael's Birthday", in which she has shown anything but contempt for him.
In "The Convention", she secretly follows Dwight to the office supply convention in Philadelphia under the name "Jane Doe" and gets a room which Jim accidentally enters, though it does not appear he saw that it was her (exclaiming "Dwight got a hooker!"). Angela would seem to call Dwight "D" outside the office, as she (mistakenly) does when Jim enters Dwight's hotel room. She also persuades Dwight to supplant Michael as Regional Manager (à la Lady Macbeth), but it does not succeed. She has a good first impression of Andy Bernard when he shows up on his first day with a cat screensaver. When Angela rudely shoots down an idea proposed by Karen Filippelli, the PPC defiantly splits into two groups and two parties. Angela holds the less popular one, to which only Kevin, Phyllis, and Hannah come, while [Pam] and Karen lead the more popular one. Eventually the two parties merge back into one and Angela returns a "missing" power cord for the karaoke machine. In "Traveling Salesmen", it is suggested that Angela's middle name is Noelle when she becomes giddy over her blossoming relationship with Dwight (Kurt) Schrute and attempts to bond with Pam, a venture that is cut short when the latter declines Angela's offer of the "dominant male" in a recent litter of cats had by her favorite pet, Sprinkles.
In "The Return", she is briefly moved to tears while inviting Oscar to join the PPC as an apology for her apparent disapproval of his homosexuality and is visibly saddened by the insensitivity of Michael's proposal to celebrate Oscar's "Mexicanity" by featuring Mexican lemonade (Lemoñadé, with diacriticals added by Ryan, presumably upon Michael's request)and bite-sized frozen-dinner Chimichangas, though in both instances she may be displacing her grief over Dwight's temporary resignation from the company.
In deleted scenes from Phyllis' Wedding, Phyllis seats Angela next to Dennis, a religious vet who shares her passion for cats. The two get along well, but when Dennis asks Angela for her telephone number, Angela tells him she's already having intimate relations with someone (Dwight). Dennis, visibly both upset and disgusted, apologizes to her before leaving, saying "Phyllis neglected to mention your promiscuity."
It is illustrated that Angela has a love of learning, as seen in "Ben Franklin" where she is the only woman intently listening to the Ben Franklin impersonator, "Diwali" where she takes a cautious interest in learning more about Hindu religion and culture (although she also makes ignorant comments about the religion and Indian food, specifically whining that the naan at the Diwali party is dry), and "The Job" in which she enthusiastically participates in Dwight's lecture on soil.
Her refusal to allow Dwight to publicize their relationship prevented him from exonerating himself against suspicion of disloyalty and forced his resignation. Dwight returns to Dunder Mifflin after she clears his name while preserving the secrecy of their relationship (she tells Michael that Dwight bailed her out, but does not correct Michael's clueless assertion that Dwight helped her "as a random co-worker").
The relationship between Angela and Dwight is almost of Macbeth proportions as when Dwight was fooled by Michael into believing he was going to be the new regional manager at the branch (which Angela pushed by Dwight going behind Michael's back), Dwight leaves her in charge of the women. In "The Job", when Dwight is temporarily given Michael's job as acting regional manager, Dwight immediately informs her and she seems to rekindle the idea of mastering the puppet strings over Dwight, as well as speculating happily that co-worker Kelly Kapoor will be fired.[5]
In the episode "Fun Run", Dwight and Angela's relationship hits a snag when Dwight euthanizes Sprinkles, Angela's old and sickly pet cat. Dwight thought Sprinkles had died after he'd expertly administered it with a lethal dose of Benadryl, and so put the cat in the freezer to cover the smell; however, Angela was horrified to find that Sprinkles had only died when frozen. Angela is especially bothered by this because, "cat heaven is a beautiful place, but you don't get there if you're euthanized". In the next episode, "Dunder Mifflin Infinity", Angela breaks up with Dwight because "every time {she looks} into his eyes, {she sees} Sprinkles's cold, lifeless body". In "Launch Party", Angela prepares a party for the launch of the company website. On the day of the launch, Dwight attempts to woo her back by competing (and winning) against the website to sell more reams of paper than the other, but Angela refuses to consider it. Michael, in a bid for vengeance against a perceived slight by Ryan, orders Angela, with one hour left before the party begins, to implement his over-the-top ideas for decorations and catering. She is unable to do so partly due to not having enough time and partly due to Phyllis taking a stand against her harsher than usual criticism and refusing to help. In the meantime Andy tries to win Angela's affection; although initially unsuccessful (to Dwight's relief), a last-minute performance of "Take a Chance on Me" produces a partly suppressed smile from her. In the episode "Money", Angela decides to go out with Andy after he gives her a cat as a present (actually a stray that Dwight had tried unsuccessfully to give her as a reconciliation gift), giving him instructions on taking her to dinner that included "no seafood places". In the following episodes, they have apparently been seeing each other, but it is implied that Angela still harbors feelings for Dwight, as Andy reports in "Local Ad" that she cried out "Oh, D!" when he kissed her, and Dwight recognizes this as her nickname for him (though Andy thinks it means "Dee" as in "An-Dee").
In "Job Fair", Angela and Dwight were the only two left in the office after the remaining members of the team took off early as a result of Michael not being in the office. For the rest of the day, the two share an awkward atmosphere which eventually thaws towards the end of the day.
In "Goodbye, Toby", at Toby's outdoor leaving party, Angela reluctantly accepts Andy's proposal of marriage, after he asks her in front of everyone, including his own parents. At the very end of the episode, however, Phyllis is taking some of the party supplies back to the office and walks in on Angela mid-intercourse with Dwight. The episode ended on Angela and Dwight's reaction to Phyllis' walking in.[6]
Seasons 5–6
In "Weight Loss", Andy continually pesters Angela with ideas for their wedding. Most of his proposals are outlandish and expensive, and Angela continues to treat him and his ideas with contempt. She pages Dwight, and they meet in the Dunder Mifflin warehouse to have sex. This seems to be a habit, but later in the episode Andy tells Angela he doesn't care where they marry so long as they're together. This moves Angela enough not to miss her rendezvous with Dwight, but it doesn't last, as Andy continues to irritate Angela about his college friends staying with them for three weeks to perform at the wedding. Angela tells Andy they'll talk about it later and rushes to page and subsequently hook up with Dwight downstairs.
Meanwhile, Phyllis has dethroned Angela as head of the Party Planning Committee and does not hesitate to give Angela harsh orders. Angela puts up with Phyllis' sternness because she doesn't want Phyllis to tell Andy she is cheating on him.
In "Crime Aid", Dwight, with advice from Phyllis, gives Angela an ultimatum — him or Andy. Angela looks to Andy, signifying that she chooses him, although Dwight says to Phyllis that "she ignored the ultimatum." Dwight then treats Phyllis coldly but forgives her after he realizes she was just trying to help.
In "Customer Survey", Angela finally agrees to Andy's renting a tent—as long as it's set on a site which matches Schrute Farm Bed & Breakfast. Andy books the farm and Dwight gleefully agrees to plan every detail of the wedding, pointedly offering to be available to Angela day or night. Angela understands the double meaning and shows signs of being very turned on by it.
In "Business Trip", it is revealed she and Andy have never been intimate. When Andy drunk dials her demanding sex, she is disgusted, even though, in the background, viewers can hear Dwight in her bed. She later demotes Andy back to "first base", which for her is a kiss on the forehead.
In "The Surplus", Dwight escorts Angela and Andy to Schrute Farms to plan details of the wedding. In a supposed mock ceremony, Dwight stands in for Andy as a Mennonite, German-speaking minister completes the vows. Angela begins to admit she has made a mistake and seems to reconcile with Dwight, however he announces they have actually married. She is angered at his deception and storms off. At the office, she passionately kisses Andy in front of the staff and leaves to "take care of a legal matter", implying she will have the marriage annulled.
In "Moroccan Christmas", Phyllis continues her torment of Angela, going as far to force Angela to discard her personal nativity scene and the Christmas tree as they don't fit in with the theme. When she learns that she's eating food served during Ramadan, she immediately spits it out. When Angela finally revolts because she believes Phyllis will never reveal her secret, Phyllis stuns the entire staff by revealing the Dwight-Angela affair. Angela is visibly humiliated and upset (while Dwight is actually amused), and asks Andy (who was out of the room at the announcement) to take her home.
However, the truth is eventually revealed in "The Duel", when Michael decides to take the matter into his own hands, much to the objection of the staff by telling Andy the news. Devastated, Andy confronts Angela who tries to squirm her way out of the confrontation before admitting to the affair. This only sparks a duel between Andy and Dwight which seems to arouse Angela because of two men fighting over her. But that is short-lived when Andy tells Dwight that he slept with her twice in comparison to how many times Dwight has slept with her. Initially, Angela said that she only slept with Dwight. The two men break up with Angela with Andy making preparations to cancel the wedding and Dwight throwing out the bobblehead doll purchased for him as a gift by Angela. This all happens before her eyes, and a dejected expression appears on her face.
In "Stress Relief", Dwight traps all of the employees in the office, while leading them to believe that it is on fire. Everyone panics and attempts to break out. Angela goes to get her cat, Bandit, who she is revealed to keep in a drawer by her desk. She sees Oscar climbing into the ceiling, and attempts to get him to save her cat by taking it with him, but he ignores her. She then attempts to throw Bandit up into the ceiling to Oscar, but this results in the cat going up into one part of the ceiling, and coming down hard out of another part. She later takes part in the roast and during an interview expresses amusement over it, before she realizes she is sounding human and puts her stern facial expression back in place.
In "Blood Drive", Angela reveals that she once had two men duel over her, and everyone thinks she means Andy and Dwight, but she corrects them: two men named John (John Mark and John David) once fought for her affections in Ohio (which both Dwight and Andy are bewildered by). She also goes out of her way to tell Oscar she doesn't approve of his homosexuality, even though she also seems generally sympathetic to his tale of romantic failure.
In "New Boss", she, along with Kelly, develops a crush on Charles Miner, the new Vice President. It leads to the women battling for his affections, with Angela insulting Kelly in an interview by saying Charles is an attractive and cultured man and "He does not need to go Dumpster-diving for companionship!"
In "Company Picnic", Dwight's friend, Rolf, constantly insults Angela on her relationship with Dwight, telling her that he does not hear "Cheaters, Tramps, or Women who break his friends heart," after she wants to play in the volleyball game. However, by the end, Dwight defends Angela, indicating that their relationship may be thawing as the season ends.[7]
In "Niagara", Angela implies she is her own grandmother when hearing Pam talk about hers. At the wedding, she refuses to dance down the aisle like everyone else, and simply just walks down.[8]
In "Murder", Angela takes part in Michael's murder mystery game but is uncomfortable at being assigned the role of a voodoo priestess.
In "The Delivery", Angela and Dwight make a contract to have a baby, a prospect which brings visible joy to Angela. She makes several attempts to strike up conversations with Dwight while negotiating the contract, indicating that Angela sees the contract as her opportunity to reconcile with Dwight, but she either doesn't notice or ignores Dwight's clear unease after he signs the contract. However, in "Happy Hour", Dwight makes clear both his interest in Pam's friend Isabel Poreba and his decision to nix his deal with Angela. Angela is angry and appears with a court summons ordering Dwight to honor the contract, but he is unmoved and ends up making out with Isabel, while Angela yells she will see him in small claims court.
In "Secretary's Day", Angela is upset when Erin learns that Andy was engaged to her, not because she's jealous of Andy and Erin's relationship, but due to her disgust over everyone knowing she had sexual relations with Andy (which at least does confirm Andy's statement in "The Duel" that she and he slept together a few times); Erin doesn't want to hear it or talk to Angela any further. However, it appears as if Angela's relationship with Andy has at least become friendly at this point, as he specifically thanks her for her help with Erin's party, to which she responds with a broad smile.
In "The Chump", Dwight and Angela call upon a mediator to settle their contract. The mediator determines that the otherwise 'solid' contract is ultimately unenforceable, since you can't force two people to have sex and make a baby. Instead, Angela could sue Dwight for damages up to thirty thousand dollars for breach of contract. Knowing that Dwight would never want to pay her damages, she offers him a 'settlement'; five separate sessions of intercourse instead. He accepts, gloating that "thirty thousand for sex isn't bad at all". Later, Dwight is seen carrying out various methods to try to sterilize himself before the first 'session'. The episode ends with the two returning to the secret location in the warehouse to have sex. The pair don't notice, however, that Jim and Pam are nearby attempting to take a nap and they can hear everything that is happening.
Season 7–8
In "Andy's Play", she has Dwight take her to the Sweeney Todd community production that Andy is a part of. During the play, she attempts to seduce Dwight by changing into tight gardening clothing (she intentionally sticks gum on her dress so as to have an excuse to change). Dwight slowly appears to be falling for her again, and near the end of the episode, attempts to seduce her in return. Before they go too far, she cuts off the sex and drives away in her car (while she's driving, we see a visibly pleased expression on her face).
In "Viewing Party", she and Dwight agree to have sex during the night as part of their contract. However, Pam and Jim prevent him from going to Angela due to the fact that their baby seems to be attracted to Dwight, so she's left waiting in the back seat of her car, visibly topless when Pam comes out to see her.
In "WUPHF.com", Dwight's hay festival distracts him from fulfilling a request for sex from Angela (per their contract). Angela's at her most irritated when she meets a charming, friendly single father named Robert Lipton whom she actually finds herself smiling at and enjoying the company. When Angela learns the man is a widower, she makes it clear he's welcome to call her. When Dwight is done with the festival, he arrives at his and Angela's warehouse rendezvous point only to see that Angela has stamped their procreation contract VOID.
In "Classy Christmas", it's revealed that Robert is actually a state senator (although Angela only refers to him as the 'Senator', making it seem that he is a U.S. Senator like Bob Casey or Pat Toomey). She brings him to the office Christmas party, where she announces that they're officially dating. However, Oscar picks up hints about his attraction to other men (such as glancing at Ryan's backside). Throughout the next few episodes, Angela continues her gloating about Robert's job (at one point trying to impress Deangelo Vickers with the information). The rest of the office staff make fun of this, particularly Michael during his last Dundies ceremony.
In "Garage Sale", Angela is one of the various employees who asks Holly Flax to marry her.
There are further hints of her boyfriend's homosexuality (or bisexuality). In "Goodbye, Michael", she shows off pictures of her and Robert together with his male "aide". The pictures seem to heavily imply that he's gay, with the aide supposedly being his secret lover, but Angela remains oblivious.
In "Search Committee", she receives a call from his secretary and is told to meet him at a particular restaurant for lunch. She comes back, having ridden in his limo, and shows the staff a ring on her finger. She tells him how he took her to a replica of a bridge, got down on one knee, and proposed. Immediately after this, she criticizes Jim's informal proposal to Pam and their "ironic wedding". Oscar, who strongly believes that Robert is gay, shares his feelings with Pam and the rest of the office; Ryan Howard states that Robert is definitely gay because he liked a Facebook picture at 3 o'clock in the morning. The office eventually decides not to share their suspicions with Angela out of respect for her feelings, although Angela's constant obnoxious and upbeat attitude about her forthcoming nuptials annoys Pam to the point where she nearly tells Angela the truth about Robert before stopping herself short.
Midway through season eight, in "Jury Duty", Angela gives birth to her son Philip (much to Pam's chagrin who wanted that name for her son). Angela claims that he was born prematurely, but when her co-workers visit her at the hospital and see how large the baby is, she is forced to admit that the baby was conceived before her wedding. This leads Dwight to suspect that the baby may be his, but later in "New Guys", it is revealed that Dwight is not the father.
Season 9
In "The Whale", Angela suspects that Robert is cheating on her and after confiding this to Oscar, they follow Robert to his gym. When they see Robert acting intimately with a male trainer, Oscar's odd reaction leads Angela to finally suspect that Oscar may be the one having an affair with Robert. In "The Target", Angela seeks revenge on Oscar and hires a hitman to attack him but is later talked out of it by Dwight. Oscar allows her to kick him in the shin instead. Angela and Oscar's battles for the affections of Robert continue uncomfortably when Oscar attends Angela's son's birthday party in "Vandalism".
In "Moving On", Angela and Dwight become close after she helps him take care of his elderly aunt. They share a kiss but afterwards both say that she should remain faithful to her husband.
Angela becomes jealous when Dwight begins courting his neighbor Esther. ("Promos")
After the Senator's public coming-out in "Stairmageddon", she explains to the camera crew in "Paper Airplane" that she and the Senator are separated and that she now lives with her son Philip and her cats in her studio apartment. In "Livin' the Dream", it is implied that her cats have been taken away from her by Animal Control, and that she is considering living in a tent in the woods. Instead, she accepts an offer from Oscar Martinez to be his roommate until she is able to find a permanent home. She then breaks down in Oscar's car, revealing to Oscar that she still loves Dwight. She and Oscar become close friends as he supports her in her return to normalcy, and it's revealed that Oscar is Philip's godfather. Dwight, persuaded by Jim to be with his "true love," chases Angela's car and runs her off the road, then calling out through a bullhorn that he will marry her no matter how many kids she has by other men because he wants to be with her. That's when Angela says that yes, Philip is his son and she didn't reveal it because she didn't want him to choose her because of their son, but rather for herself.
In the series finale, Angela and Dwight marry (a year after the bullhorn scene), and everyone except Holly Flax attends.
Recurring jokes
Throughout the show, Angela has always seemed reluctant to apologize and/or accept blame for anything. In the episode "The Alliance", Michael scolds the Party Planning Committee for doing a bad job with the streamers. Angela responds, "Phyllis wanted red. I didn't." In reality, Angela rejected Phyllis' suggestion of green streamers, because "green is whorish". In one of the webisodes for "The Accountants", Angela insists that she is not the source of the accounting discrepancy. When the error is revealed to be hers in "The Best Day of My Life", she initially denies that she made the error, but when Oscar points out that this implies that she allowed an unknown person to access her books, she is forced to admit, "Very well. Case closed". In "A Benihana Christmas", Angela says that she has not spoken to her sister in 16 years over some disagreement she does not even remember. In "The Return", Angela is forced to admit that she failed to submit important documents, but she blames Kevin for failing to remind her. In "Product Recall", Angela is pressured to apologize to Oscar and Kevin for insulting them but she can only say "I'm sorry...that you're both morons". In that same episode, she finds herself unable to apologize to customers on behalf of Dunder Mifflin and can only say "the official position of Dunder Mifflin is apologetic".
Behind the scenes
Actress Angela Kinsey infused her character with some of her own personal preferences, including bobble-head dolls, cats, party-planning and Baby Ruth candy bars. She initially auditioned for the part of Pam Beesly. Kinsey was pregnant during the filming of season 4, noticeably so from the episodes "Dinner Party" through "Goodbye, Toby". The producers decided not to incorporate her pregnancy into the story line and shot around it.
References
- Mullins, Jenna. "The Office Recap: An Engagement, a Dunder Mifflin Farewell and the Jim-Pam Tribute That Left Us in Tears". Retrieved May 9, 2013.
- In "Happy Hour", the character appears with a court summons ordering Dwight to honor his contract with her, Angela Noelle Martin.
- Season 1
- Season 2
- Season 3
- Season 4
- Season 5
- Season 6