bill bodkin says farewell …
“I feel like all my kids grew up and then they married each other…It’s every parent’s dream!” –Michael Scott.
Perfect.
Simply perfect.
The Office could not have ended in a more perfect way. One hour of laughter, tears and one last, perfectly placed ‘That’s what she said.’ For those of us who drifted away from the show when Steve Carrell departed in 2011, watching this episode was like meeting up with a long lost friend and rekindling your camaraderie like you had never missed a day. Sure, there were a few characters (including the brilliant Clark Duke) who were completely foreign to us or storylines we were totally in the dark about (particularly Pam and Jim’s big blow-up), but in the end, the finale was classic Dunder Mifflin.
Tonight’s episode revolved around two major storylines — the marriage between Angela (Angela Kinsey) and Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and the unveiling of the nine-years-in-the-making documentary known as The Office.
Both storylines lead to some great moments of closure as well as returns to the series from some forgotten faces.
The hotly anticipated return of Steve Carrell’s Michael Scott could not have been more beautifully executed. With Jim (John Krasinski) telling Dwight that according to Dwight’s religious tradition, his best man could not be someone younger than him, Jim could no longer be there for Dwight. Then we get the reveal of a grey Michael Scott; one could not help but smile and possibly get a little misty. It was then punctuated by one of the all-time great lines in television history…
Dwight: “I can’t believe you came!”
Michael: “That’s what she said!”
And then they almost tearfully embrace.
We also got the rekindling of the Ryan (BJ Novak) and Kelly (Mindy Kaling) relationship. When Ryan forces his child, Drake, to eat a strawberry, which he’s allergic to, in order to get Kelly’s pediatrician boyfriend to take care of him so they can run off together forever … classic. It just makes perfect sense in the world of The Office. When Ryan and Kelly run off into the sunset and he says to her, “I’ve finally mastered commitment” who didn’t burst out in laughter?
In the storyline of the documentary’s release and Q&A panel session we get our final goodbyes from the cast. Jim and Pam get the best lines and the most sentimental time onscreen, and rightfully so, as much as we loved Michael Scott, these two were the heart and soul of the show — their chemistry made them one of the greatest couples in television history. However, outside of those two, it was probably Dwight who had the best farewell, remarking how his “subordinates” (since he now runs the office) have become his family. It was a truly funny yet touching moment — a hallmark of the series.
Yet, we couldn’t just end on a sentimental note … it’s the weirdest character of them all … Creed Barton who delivers an emotional final line and then is escorted away by the cops for basically being a derelict and living in the Mifflin bathroom.
Game. Set. Match. Drop the Curtain.
In the end, The Office ended perfectly with the characters in full resolution, their storylines ended wonderfully. Some may criticize this as being all “too neat” but sometimes a happy ending is all we really need.
