Tonight, The Office aired a one-hour episode, which dealt with some of the ongoing issues among the staff of Dunder Mifflin. With the exception of a pretty great guest appearance by Breaking Bad's Bob Odenkirk (Better call Saul!) and some interesting developments in the relationship department for some of the characters, the episode was fairly standard. And then came the very end, which offered an interesting reveal and a teaser of something big.
Spoiler alert! Read no further if you haven't watched the episode yet!
Odenkirk played a Michael-Scott-like character who interviewed Pam for an office job in Philadelphia. The arc brought back Michael Scott in spirit, as Odenkirk's character told bad jokes, played his guitar and mugged for the camera in true Scott fashion. And something tells me Michael Scott would also tear up at the sight of an Odd Life of Timothy Green poster. When she learned she was interviewing for a receptionist job with a better sounding title, Pam lost her interest in the position and is now questioning whether or not she even wants to move to Philadelphia at all. She likes her job and life in Scranton. There's just the one sticky issue of Jim having started a business in Philadelphia. So that's a pretty major topic that'll likely be addressed going forward.
We also saw Dwight and Angela bonding over one of Dwight's relatives. Angela's still married, but a reconciliation with Dwight seems inevitable, regardless. Especially when you consider that her husband has been having an affair with a man. And the other major story arc had Andy discovering Erin was with Pete and then trying to derail their relationship by bringing in their exes. Things got tense, but I suspect Erin and Pete will manage to overcome the awkward encounter, especially considering it's pretty evident that neither have any feelings left for their exes.
As moderately interesting as the above arcs were, the big reveal came at the end, when Oscar was avoiding internet ads by stepping away to do ab crunches. When Oscar was left stranded dangling from his doorframe exercise device, the camera zoomed in to the ad Oscar was trying to ignore, which said, simply:
Coming this May:The Office: An American Workplace. Ten years in the making, a look at the lives and loves of an average American business office.
It seems likely that this is the answer to the reveal we've been waiting for since the series started. Why has this documentary crew been filming these people for nearly a decade? The reveal of a workplace documentary isn't a huge twist, when you consider that The Office has always been about the lives and loves of an "average" American small business office, but it's still exciting to get what appears to be confirmation.
It is also worth noting the mention of May, which just so happens to be when the series finale will air (May 16). A May finale date isn't anything out of the ordinary, but the mention of the month in the ad suggests that perhaps the finale will be the documentary. Or if not the finale - since the documentary itself might come off more like a highlight/clip episode - then maybe the episode before that, which would give us the finale to see the aftermath of whatever it is this crew puts together from all these years of Dunder Mifflin madness. Just some things to consider as the series winds down.
