(S05E24) I liked this episode a lot, so the following criticism is an admitted nitpick:

To my knowledge, this is the first time we've seen a "casual Friday" on the show. We've had several episodes take place on Fridays, and the cast always dressed normally.

I can't stand when shows do this. To revolve a plot around something that we haven't seen previously and probably won't ever see again ... it just feels so sitcommy.

Don't get me wrong, it was funny (especially when Meredith's boob, butt, and "other" fell out), but I expect more from The Office than common sitcom tropes. What's next? A laugh track? Replacing John Krasinksi with Dick Sargent? Finding out that Michael Scott is really Armin Tamzarian? Blech.

Sorry, I needed to get that off my chest. Now, on to the rest of the review...

The meat of the episode, involving Michael's dilemma in deciding which salesmen should get which clients, was very good. I was as surprised as Michael when Phyllis revealed how hurt she was that the Michael Scott Paper Company so directly targeted their clients. It made sense: Michael thought he was getting even with corporate, but in actuality he was undercutting the salespeople he so often claimed were family.

(Though, I'll be honest, Phyllis has proven herself such a master manipulator, it makes me wonder if she was actually hurt, or just using Michael's sense of extended family against him. It really says a lot about how vividly every corner of this show is painted that even a minor character, clad in an awful Costco sweater, can have such debatable motivations.)

In the end, the reset button was pushed just a wee bit too hard (Ryan is going back to being a temp?), but the last seven weeks were so enjoyable I'm not going to complain. I've already made one annoying nitpick about the show -- let's leave it at that.

Other Stuff:

-- It's entirely possible that I'm completely wrong and that casual Friday has been mentioned several times and that I've missed it. The part of my brain that remembers stuff has been destroyed by watching 900 hours of swine flu coverage. Also, if you try to google "The Office and Casual Friday," you either get mentions of this particular episode or actual descriptions of actual offices that actually have casual Fridays. Either way, I'm sure you fine people will correct me ... angrily.

-- One of the better Creed episodes. Apparently, casual Friday for him means dressing like God from Bruce Almighty. Also, he's a chess whiz who thinks that Jim is gay. I suppose, in theory, there's a point where there'd be too much Creed on the show, but I can't imagine we'll reach that point in our lifetime.

-- We're awful close to the end of the season, and it feels like the season's major arc has been completed. Any theories on what the finale is going to cover?

-- This is the second week in a row that Jim's steady hand helped decide the outcome of the plot. He does well in that role, but I can't help but get the feeling that when things are great in Jamland, the writers don't quite know what to do with Jim. Is Jim happy to still be in Scranton? Does he have goals beyond where he's at now? I hope that we'll be able to see some growth from Jim that isn't related to faux-drama between Pam and him.

-- You look like J-Lo.

As always, your comments are the open-toed sandals that cool my feet.