The Office

Thursday night saw the airing of the episode Goodbye, Michael, Steve Carrell's final episode of the show as his iconic character, Michael Scott. After one final interview at the airport, Michael finally removes his lavalier mic, and gives one silent, final "That's what she said," before departing. As I see it, that is the perfect ending moment for the entire show as a whole.

It was always Michael that drove the show. He was the emotional center of it all, and he's always been the most interesting character, for all his faults. Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) got pretty boring three seasons ago, and now that they are settled down with a baby, they pretty much have nowhere to go. Will Pam's dreams as an artist be realized? Or will she be stuck with her husband at the failing paper company?

Dwight (Rainn Wilson) has always been a comic relief character, and he pretty much went as absurd as possible with season 4 Super Bowl episode where he stages a real-fake fire that is definitely one of the show's funniest bits. But Dwight as a character has never been particularly compelling beyond his random flings with Angela (Angela Kingsley).

Andy (Ed Helms), Erin (Ellie Kemper), and Gabe (Zach Woods) have been involved in a love triangle, but I felt this was properly resolved in Michael's final episode, as Erin asks Michael who she should choose. He wisely replies neither, and that she should wait and will know when the right man comes along.

Even Andy himself is given a victory as he resigns one of Michael's old clients for another year, after the "new" boss Deangelo (Will Ferrell) flubs the sale with horrible tactics. Even this guy is fine, if you ignore the ending bit where he freaks out over eating cake (which of course builds the final string of episodes for the season, which will rotate many guest stars vying for Carrell's old position). They lose one incompetent manager and are given another, and life goes on.

And Ryan (B.J. Novak), the temp who rose to power in the company and then screwed everything up, improbably ended up back with Dunder Mifflin, except now he works in a closet. I'm not even sure what his function is, other then to be there because, well, Ryan has always been there.

My point is, there is no where else for this show to go, and it felt like it was dragging its feet with Michael. Imagine what it will be like without him? I don't really care for the rest of these people enough to see them go on, and I am highly satisfied with the way the characters were resolved (or unresolved) in this episode. Life is not neat and tidy, and the uncertainty of a Dunder Mifflin without Michael is something I don't care to experience.

So I consider Goodbye, Michael the final episode of the whole show. The Office is running on fumes as it is, and I hate American TV because they have to squeeze every last ounce of life out of it before it will end. I wish they had taken the opportunity of Steve Carrell's departure to end the show once and for all, but instead it will go on. And don't get me wrong, the entire supporting cast is wonderful. But without Carrell at the helm, it will never feel the same, and I am satisfied leaving these people and this universe exactly as it is.

What's Left for The Office?

I rarely do this, break off from film and review something television show related, especially when that television has only started its season. But The Office had a very important episode this past Thursday: Jim and Pam finally tied the knot.

This may sound like the ramblings of someone who has probably spent too much time watching this show, but I feel it is important to "blog" about it because Jim and Pam's relationship has been the emotional thrust of the show, the center story that the rest of the series has more or less revolved. I had always imagined the show ending with Jim and Pam's wedding, but now it has happened a mere four episodes into the show's sixth season.

Which begs the question: what's left for the Office? This show now almost feels over to me, as everything is fairly routine and, as the past season indicated, whenever something gets shaken up it just resolves itself simply a few episodes later (Pam moving to NY for school, Michael and Pam quitting Dunder-Mifflin). Jim has been promoted to co-manage with Michael Scott, and while the episode "The Promotion" hilariously detailed the way these two play off each other, I also feel it is a device that will become tired very soon.

The only thing left, I guess, is for Michael Scott to find his true happiness, which it seems he may be on the way to discovering considering who he hooks up with at the end of the wedding. But there is no satisfying way to wrap up each character's story lines. Pam is going to have a baby, another exciting prospect I guess. What I'm trying to say is this needs to be the show's final season. Can you really imagine a 7th season of the Office, where Pam and Jim are parents?

To comment on the wedding episode briefly, I thought it was an effective combo of hilarity and sappiness that worked for me. The dance at the end was, I guess, also kind of stupid, but it worked for me in that stupid kind of way. I haven't seen the YouTube video that inspired it, but I probably won't seek it out. The Office's interpretation was a fitting way for Jim and Pam to get married, I guess.