'The Office': More exciting than being the secret assistant to the regional manager

Now that was a season finale.  Maybe too much of a season finale!  “The Office" packed so much story in one hour it was hard to remember if the show was a comedy or a drama.

"The Office" seems to do well when it shakes itself out if its typical element, when combinations of characters are formed that aren’t usually and things are filmed off-site.  With an episode that involved Jim (John Krasinski), Karen (Rashida Jones) and Michael (Steve Carell) all heading to New York for a job interview that would mean one of them was moving away from Scranton, permanently, the mere getting out of the office -- and in that combination – promised an interesting setup.

While this did indeed provide an intriguing basis for the episode, in a lot of other ways it felt like we were watching “Bizarro Office” as well.  We saw Pam (Jenna Fischer) become, in Karen’s words, “kind of a bitch” (fair warning: this is being written by a staunch member of Team Karen) as she essentially put Karen in her place and pursued Jim. We saw Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and Pam having fun together as Dwight took over the office for the day. We saw the more minor characters like Stanley (Leslie David Baker), Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) and Meredith (Kate Flannery) actually hanging out together and socializing as opposed to going in their own solitary rotations. And we saw Jan (Melora Hardin) completely out of control, professionally and personally, when control had previously seemed to be her strongest trait. 

On top of all this, “The Office” needed to resolve the Jim/Karen/Pam love triangle. This topic kicked off the entire season, and remained an issue of tension in every episode.  Sometimes it seemed like the writers weren’t really sure how much they wanted to focus on it. Jim was over Pam. No, he wasn’t.  Pam was okay with Jim’s new girlfriend, Karen. No, wait, she still yearned for Jim. The finale seemed to want to give fans of the love triangle something to really talk about, and also to clear the decks, plot-wise, for next season.

Well, Team Pam fans seem to have something to cheer about.  Despite having a lovely time in New York together, Jim asked Pam out on “a date” at the end of the episode.  She beamed, thousands of viewers across the country cheer, whatever.  We Karen fans, though we knew we were living on borrowed time, got our satisfaction as we saw her having fun with Jim in New York, and, in true Karen fashion, directly talking to Jim about the love triangle instead of pussyfooting around the issue like some receptionists we know (although between Karen and Jan, the show seems to indicate something: the upper-management females at Dunder Mifflin are doomed to be unlucky).

The best part, though, was the very final scene as we found out that neither Jim, nor Karen nor Michael got the job in New York -- but Ryan the Temp (B.J. Novak) did. This seemed promising for Karen fans – but can she return next season with Jones in a new show Fox just put on the schedule?

But most important, for an episode light on true laughs, it was satisfying to end on the best one.

-- Claire Zulkey

(Photo courtesy NBC/Universal)

Comments

[Larry McGillicuddy]

I think what it all boiled down to were a couple of moments in between the interviews.

First, when Jan got fired, Karen and Jim had a much different reaction to the scene. Karen took delight in what was going on. Jim actually felt bad for her. Then when Jim told Karen that she didn't have to wait, she immediately bolted. She didn't even need to think about it.

Pam would have reacted completely different in both of these situations, and that's why she's right for Jim and Karen isn't.

[CC]

Larry - I said the same thing to the Mrs: that if the roles were reversed, Jim would have waited for Karen. It was telling that Karen already had made plans with her "Sex in the City" friends, sort of hoping that Jim would let her leave. If she wanted to be honest, she could have asked from the get go: "Hey Jim, some of my friends want to see me for lunch, could I go?" instead of lollygagging around hoping he wouldn't mind her leaving.

I do hope Pam and Jim don't actually get together as a couple - the tension between the two is what makes their office flirting so much fun. Look at what happened to "Friends" it JTS when Ross and Rachel got together (or some might argue that happened earlier). Is there another way to structure their friendship?

[Larry McGillicuddy]

Actually, I have to disagree with the bit about Friends. It didn't get bad when Ross and Rachel got together. It got bad after they broke up, which happened in the 3rd season.

I think they can keep things interesting for Jim and Pam. There are plenty of stories they could do with them trying to hide the relationship, the awkwardness of an Office relationship. How about a Jim/Pam, Dwight/Angela double date? I think there are plenty of opportunities. The tension has already burst. Wasting more time with it I think would have been unrealistic. It was already stretching credibility to keep them apart this long.

Look at Cheers. Sam and Diane got together in the 1st season. Certainly didn't hurt that show.