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“So I’m back, and I’m never, ever, going to leave. I’m going nowhere. This place is like the hospital where I was born, my house, my old-age home and my graveyard for my bones.” - Michael Scott

For the past two years The Office has done what none of us thought it could successfully do: separate itself from its British counterpart. The problem is it may have run its course last night. I’ll probably continue to watch the show (because, really, where else can you find decent comedy on television these days?) but I don’t really want to.

Thursday’s hour-long episode felt much more like a series finale than a season finale. More on this after the break…

We might as well start at the end and work backwards Memento-style. Ryan gets the corporate job. That was more or less the big surprising cliffhanger for the season and will likely provide the most interesting dynamic of the season to come — illustrated brilliantly in the following exchange:

Michael: Ryan, coffee!
Ryan: I don’t do that anymore.
Michael: No, it’s for me, bozo.

As far as Michael is concerned, I don’t know if the character has hit rock bottom, but he’s certainly not too far off. The above quote from Michael was easily one of the most depressing things he’s ever said. It also might have been one of the funniest. I wish The Office was continually as bleak as that moment. It makes the comedy pop a little, and feels truer.

It also makes the Jim/Pam stuff seem so much sweeter. It’s the one legitimately happy spot in this fluorescent-suburban-hell. But now that the characters have gotten together what’s left for us to root?

If there wasn’t a fourth season coming up in October, I’d probably be ladling praises upon the show from my big black cauldron of happiness, but it’s really hard to watch an episode like “The Job” and remain as excited about the events that transpired knowing they have to find out ways to stretch things out.

The Office writers are a talented bunch and they’re paid to keep the show going, and I’m sure they’ll do a good job with it come the fall. But for someone like me, who enjoys watching the fall of Michael Scott and the blooming love of Jim and Pam, there isn’t a lot to be excited about in the coming year. Will Pam and Jim realize they aren’t star crossed? Will Michael Scott land a better job at a better company? Those are things I don’t want to know. For me, The Office couldn’t possibly leave things any cleaner than they had left them last night.

Maybe I will stop watching.

As for the first two-thirds of the episode, there were some pretty funny gags, not the least of which being Jan’s surgically enhanced self-esteem, and Michael’s child-like desire to fondle that self-esteem.

I also enjoyed hearing about Creed’s “blog,” and Stanley saying that his “Stanley Nickels” have the same rate as “unicorns to leprechauns.”

Also brilliant was that the guy at corporate hated the HR director as much as Michael hates Toby. I love this as a runner.
What did everyone else think about the episode and the season as a whole? I thought it was a strong year, but it seems like they’re really starting to reach for plot lines that can get the whole group of characters together (often outside of the office itself).

This entry was posted on Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 1:32 pm and is filed under NBC, The Office. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.