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The Office: Company Picnic (season finale)
by Jay Black, posted May 15th 2009 1:34AM
(S05E26) Driving home tonight, I got a text from my wife: "Wow wow wow Office... just wow! Rivals 'Casino Night!'" That kind of praise has the potential to ruin what would normally be a very good episode, if only because you're prepared for something extraordinary. So far, only three things in my life have ever lived up to the hype: Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, sex, and Cadbury Flake bars. Everything else has been kind of a letdown.
I was worried, then, that my wife's words would condemn tonight's Office to be more meh than magnificent. After all, we're not at the end of a grand storyline like we have been the last few season finales -- part of what made "Casino Night" so special was that it was the culmination of two years of Jim's pining away for Pam.
I just didn't think "Company Picnic" would be able to pull off that kind of greatness as a standalone episode ...
... And I was right, but not by very much. This episode was great, just not all-time great. If it were a baseball player, it'd be Jim Rice to "Casino Night's" Ted Williams. Hall of Fame, sure, but not Hall of Fame.
That said, there was so much to enjoy in this episode:
1. Holly's back! And, oh my God, did the writers ever twist the knife tonight: have there ever been two goofballs so perfectly put on this planet for each other? It was heartbreaking to watch the only woman in the world who is able to talk to Michael without an awkward silence every five seconds walk off with another man.
2. Steve Carell deserves an Emmy! Now! He's been nominated three times, it's time he won. Watch Michael's face as he and Holly dance around the subject of their obvious chemistry: Carell takes a broad character and paints him with such subtlety that I daresay he took whatever competition he had in the "Outstanding Lead Actor in Comedy Series" category and, to quote Rolph, pissed all over their faces. The man was phenomenal tonight.
3. Jim and Pam are ... (SPOILER ALERT -- which I don't normally do, but this is a big one) ... pregnant! I know some of you are itching to scream "Jumped the Shark!", but hold off until next season, will ya? I mean, it was a great moment, and both John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer were sparkling in how they played it. Let's worry about what this does to the show next year, okay?
4. Sparks aplenty between Dwight and Angela! (Well, as many sparks as is possible between an ice princess and a probable sociopath).
5. Awkward, Awkward, Awkard! My spine actually tried to get up and leave the room when Michael dropped the bomb on Buffalo. And, speaking of that, the "Slumdifflin Mifflinaire" sequence was tremendous. I can't believe the crowd didn't at least chuckle when Holly "tortured" Michael with the mic.
6. Andy's hat!
7. Charles Miner is still a dingleberry! You show up to work in a tuxedo one time and the man never lets you forget it.
8. [Insert your favorite moment here]! C'mon! This is the last chance we'll have to talk about the Office for four months, so let's make this one count.
(And, finally, on a personal note, thanks much for sticking with these reviews every week. The best part of blogging is the comments -- even when their implication is that the commenter would like to see me get some mutant government flu, I always love our weekly conversation about the show. Thanks for being a part of this, and I'll see y'all next year.)
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