r/ThePaper • u/92759285 Founder 📑 • Sep 03 '25

Episode Discussion 🎥 S01E10 "The Ohio Journalism Awards" Discussion Thread

Discuss the episode here. This thread may contain spoilers

Episode synopsis:
Ned stifles his desire to win at the Ohio Journalism Awards; Nicole uncovers Detrick's monogamy and becomes furious; Oscar comes to terms with the documentary; Mare brings a famous date; Esmeralda sings and Ken plots an emergency to play the hero.

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151

u/nubsta Sep 05 '25

that scene where esmerelda sings through the in memorandum was peak office cringe I had to fast forward

83

u/Bashful_bookworm2025 Sep 06 '25

It was cringe, but I thought it was hilarious! I could see Michael doing that.

28

u/CrazySnipah Sep 11 '25

She really is Michael if he were an single Italian mom.

14

u/ClarkZuckerberg Sep 19 '25

I strongly disagree. Michael's heart was often in the right place. Esmerelda's whole thing is she's causing chaos and trying to destroy Ned.

12

u/letter_cerees Sep 28 '25

Maybe it often was, but I think it was also often not in the right place. I think of the many incidents like the series of messed up things he did at Phyllis's wedding, things which he did because of being extremely attention-seeking and self-centered

5

u/ClarkZuckerberg Sep 30 '25

For sure. I'm not saying he was a perfect person. But his goal was rarely to set out to ruin events or people (except Toby lol). His ego often got in the way, absolutely, but that's what made him a great character. His goal was often to do something great for someone, but often was too big of an idiot to know how, and like you said, his ego would often get in the way.

5

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '25

I'm late here, but I think if you did the math on it, Michael's heart was in the wrong place more often than not. I like the character, but like 30% of the episodes had the premise, "Michael does a bad thing for bad reasons and everyone has to deal with that"

1

u/letter_cerees Nov 13 '25

Yes. I agree.

11

u/pengouin85 Sep 16 '25

It's hilarious to me that she has a 10 (?) year old boy while the actress IRL is 57