'Threat Level Midnight' Brings Michael Scott's 'Office' Farewell Tour into Full Swing

['The Office' - 'Threat Level Midnight']

If you didn't think we were starting the arc of episodes that are Steve Carell's farewell tour, then tonight's episode likely convinced you.

Using Michael's long-in-the-works movie 'Threat Level Midnight' as the vehicle, we got to see some of our favorite departed characters come back. It also is a pretty on-point reflection of what Michael Scott was like over the last decade.

But the movie also gave us another glimpse into the new Michael, one that's self-aware, one that knows that a lot of what he does is pretty damn silly. And a Michael who knows he's in the relationship of his life and that's all that really matters.

Luckily, he's leaving just in time. I don't know if I can deal with a self-aware Michael Scott long-term. But it sure has been interesting seeing him grow this season.

'Office' fans got their first glimpse of 'Threat Level Midnight' way back in season 2, when Pam stumbled upon Michael's screenplay for the movie. It is interesting that it took him four years to re-shoot it after the first screening ... he was probably so afraid to make another clunker that he probably became the Kubrick of cheesy homemade movies, asking for take after take.

It was clever of the writers to make 'Threat Level Midnight' awful, but in a credible way. It looks like a movie, with "effects" and tracking shots and even a montage backed by Billy Joel's 'Running on Ice' (and another scene backed by Billy Joel's 'Pressure'). Even though you can tell scenes are shot at Michael's apartment, local Scranton hangouts, and at Dunder Mifflin, there's prop furniture and decorations and real movie lighting.

I guess it's feasible that Michael had the budget to do this; all those years of living alone on a managerial salary might have allowed him to save enough money to make the movie at least look like a movie. But Kevin Smith made 'Clerks' for $27,500 17 years ago and it didn't look nearly this nice.

The dumbness of the movie was really funny -- Michael doing 'The Scarn' with Karen, Angela, Phyllis, Meredith, Andy and the warehouse guys was a sight to see, mainly because the warehouse guys were doing the dance better than Michael. Loved the fact that Dwight played what he thought was a robot butler, but Michael said "No, he wasn't playing a robot," before realizing that "yeah, I guess he was a robot" by the end. And why does Scarn save all-star games? You'd think he'd save his strength for the Super Bowl or World Series. No one cares about all-star games.

But the movie was more intriguing for the 'Office' history it represented. Jim took the really awful role of Goldface because "I wanted to impress the receptionist," and Michael helped by giving Jim and Pam a scene together -- you can hear them talk about how Goldface got his gold face in the background near the end of the episode. Michael then has a scene with Jan as she slinks across a piano. Later, after Scarn gets hurt, he's awakened by a naughty nurse played by Pam's mom, Helene (the thought of the two of them together still makes Pam squirm). And, of course, we also have Karen and Roy in the mix.

But the one person who wasn't in the movie was Holly, and while we got a flash of Michael's immaturity as he desperately wanted his new girlfriend to like the movie, we later got the self-aware Michael:

1. The immature Michael tells Holly the only thing that's real to him is his "dream" movie. "Am I real?" asks an incredulous Holy. "You're a real pain in the ass," he says. He then apologizes, which is a signal of the new Michael coming through.

2. Then the self-aware Michael decides, yeah the movie is pretty bad, and it's OK to laugh with it. But he has Holly, and that's really the dream.



You can just feel the end coming with that scene. Michael is letting go of all his old hang-ups, all of the things he thought were important in his life, including his movie, because he's starting to realize the only thing important is his relationship with Holly. It's quite a poignant exit, in a way, and it feels like it's an earned way for Michael to go out. Everyone "gets it" eventually; some just take longer than others.

More fun stuff:

-- Now we know why Craig Robinson didn't have his beard a couple of episodes ago; he was likely shooting his scenes as the president in Michael's movie. Loved his reasoning for taking the role: he wanted to show his daughter a black can be President. Too bad Michael took so long to get the movie done.

-- The reactions of Karen and Jan to their scenes were priceless. Karen: "Why are you concentrating on that line like a million years later?" The line? "Have you ever banged an entire bachelorette party, baby?" Jan couldn't get into her car fast enough while being asked about Michael's movie. But you could tell she was flustered; she forgot to unlock it first.

-- Andy: "Some people are really starting to pop in their scenes." He was the only one who really took it seriously.

-- Of course Michael would have Goldface blow Toby's head off. Of course, that's not good enough for Michael, he had to say that Toby's character was an animal rapist, as well.

-- Creed as the Miyagi of the hockey rink is the most normal thing he's done during the entire run of the show.

-- Only Michael would kill the local high school's chance at a perfect season to shoot his climactic scene at the "Hockey All-Star Game." What ever would Catherine Zeta Scarn say?

'The Office' airs Thursdays at 9PM ET on NBC.

Follow @joelkeller on Twitter and on Facebook.


Watch the full episode here: