Another year gone by, another brilliant Office finale. Seriously, the writers deserve a huge pat on the back for delivering the big “Wow” moment completely on mute. And John Krasinski deserves an even bigger pat on the back for the tearful smile he gave the camera before returning to hug his fiancé.
The episode opened with the staff setting all of the clocks ahead after Michael fell asleep due to a pot-pie overdose. It works like a charm as Michael wakes up, thinks it’s five and promptly leaves, giving everyone an accidental half-day. As Dwight set the clock in his car ahead (he’s nothing if not thorough), Michael wouldn’t discover the error until he gets home. Simple. Brilliant. Success.
And now for the office picnic portion of the episode. Corporate joins up with the other branches for some fine, spring picnicky fun. Lemonade, volleyball, bad sketches and announcements of a branch closing are all included on the unwritten agenda for this fine company outing.
Dwight brought his creepy, rude friend Ralph, whom he met in a shoe store. Apparently, Ralph was at the store trying to find shoes that could increase his speed and not leave any tracks. He and Dwight hit it off from the start. While Ralph is just as abrupt and downright rude as Dwight has a tendency to be, Dwight won’t stand for Ralph giving Angela a hard time for breaking his friend’s heart. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Angela and I’m thinking we could see these two kids back together come next season.
Meanwhile, Michael and Holly are reunited as they’re working on a skit to perform in front of corporate and the other branches. After Michael wastes no time making little jabs at Holly’s boyfriend AJ, he and Holly set off to figure out what they’re going to do for the skit. Their time together involves them exchanging their usual brand of dorky humor and making eyes at each other every chance they get. Yeah, it’s pretty obvious that they’re both still majorly into each other but as Michael said at the end of the episode, the timing isn’t right. Their story is long and he’s prepared to wait.
During their Slum-DunderMifflinairre sketch, Holly and Michael proceed to do mock the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire, jumping from Holly asking Michael Dunder Mifflin-related questions to acting out flashbacks of the answers. As though we’ve stepped into some kind of alternate reality, Stanley enjoyed the performance but everyone else looked bored. Finally Michael and Holly get everyone’s attention when Holly quizzes Michael on which branch will be closing. Michael, who learned from David that Buffalo was getting the ax, makes the announcement by answering the question and Holly confirms that it’s correct. Yeah, the folks from the Buffalo branch, sitting down in front (and their families) weren’t too pleased with this news.
As for the volleyball tournament, the DM-Scranton team wasn’t doing so great until Pam steps in and shows off her skills. Apparently, old Pammy played volleyball regularly throughout her adolescence and thanks to her abilities, her team blew the other branches out of the water. When it came time to play corporate, Pam stumbled and Charles, who still has it out for Jim even though he’s no longer his boss, insisted that Pam get her ankle looked at, claiming that because it’s a company picnic, it’s a company injury. We knew he was just trying to get the star player off the court.
Jim took Pam to the hospital while Dwight used various stall-tactics to keep the game from starting back up. As Pam was about to go in for an X-Ray, the nurse started firing off questions. The usual, have you had radiation treatments this year, are you pregnant stuff they have to ask before they zap you with the X-Ray. Pam just wanted to rush through it so she could get back to the game but when we saw her next, she was in an exam room talking to a doctor. Our view is from outside the room, looking through a window and Jim is called in to talk to them. Everything is muted as they didn’t have microphones on in the examination room but based on Jim’s surprised expression added to the hug he and Pam exchanged, it was pretty obvious what the doctor had to tell them. Yes, Pam’s pregnant. Either that, or they were just really excited that it wasn’t a sprain.
Jim stepped out of the room to call Dwight and tell him to send in the back-up players. He looked at the camera, smiled a teary smile and then returned to the exam room to hug Pam. Major aww-moment and a fantastic end to the season, if you ask me.
Other amusing moments: Pam pointing to her chest and saying, “You don’t grab these for balance.” And Jim shrugging like… maybe sometimes you do.
Michael’s ridiculous chair-pants idea. A chair built into the pants.
Andy’s rage coming out when Erin hits the ball into the net.
During the volleyball game, Ryan talking on the phone and Phyllis sitting on the ground.
Pam: “…and went to volleyball camp most summas.”
