My buddy Sepinwall called this morning and it was a conversation filled with laughter, since we were talking about "The Office." (Spoilers, and some questions, after the jump)
So insanely fine was the episode that just thinking about it gave me the giggles — and reminded me of all the delights. To wit:
Jan's enhancement and the office staff's reactions to it.
Creed's "blog." (There's an excerpt over at nbc.com.)
The surprise phone call to Ryan, and his response to Kelly. (More about this directly.)
Jan in the car with Michael, from her complete emotional spin to the stretch-pants scenario. Must we wait until fall to see how this living arrangement goes?
Schrute bucks and Stanley nickels.
Angela's vision for Kelly.
Pam's face when Jim asked her to dinner.
Considering how wrong comedies can go when they stretch to an hour, this was a demonstration of how you do it right. That's especially good news with five "Office" hours due next season.
Now, the questions:
Did Karen get the corporate job? I know, corporate offered Ryan A job at the end but I don't think it was THE job. Anyone else feel the same way?
With THE job, it appeared they were ready to offer it to Jim. If he didn't get it, I would think Karen would be next in line. So is this the end of Karen?
Rashida Jones is signed to another show on Fox next season, so she may have wanted a graceful exit. But the Fox show, "The Rules for Starting Over," isn't set for air until Spring 2008 (although with the chaos in prime time that could end up meaning this October). It's possible that, if Karen didn't get the job, she could come back to Scranton for at least an episode or two of uncomfortable scenes with the now-dating Jim and Pam. Or so I would hope.
Also, isn't it time for Angela to start looking past Dwight? He's not exactly living up to her vision of strength and power.
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I hadn't thought of the ending the same way you did, but it does make sense.
Also, what of the very-noticeable parallels between this season's finale of The Office and the final episode of the British show? Pam's speech as Jim returns to Scranton is very similar to Tim's speech with visuals of Dawn leaving (and ultimately returning to) the Christmas Party. Pam's "gift" for Jim was very similar to Tim's "gift" for Dawn. And, if Ryan was indeed offered, THE job, he'd be Neil to Michael's David Brent.
Not that I'm complaining, since it was terrific, and Pam's look at the end indeed priceless . . .
My wife just confirmed to me that last night in the post-show online chat, BJ Novak said that next year there would be a new dynamic between Michael and Ryan, which makes her think that this is in fact the job at corporate, or at the very least, something that would put Ryan in a position over Michael.
I thought that might be the set-up when I remembered when Michael asked Ryan to get his coffee and the answer was, "I don't do that anymore.". That was a great episode, I thought.
I read somewhere that Rashida Jones said she'd be doing both shows next year, but that sounds difficult and they may have simply been trying to hide her exit.
Angela had the line of the night:
Dwight- "How would you like to spend the night with the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin-Scranton?"
Angela- "No, Dwight. I don't care if that's how they consolidated power in ancient Rome."
That exchange had me laughing so hard I almost fell out of my chair…
Alternative favorite moment was when Andy was cleaning Dwight's coffee cup after Dwight had Big League Chew as what he was chewing and spitting. Quite funny, IMO.
Yes, the ancient Rome line was good — so many good lines, I'm going to watch it again this weekend. (And the deleted scene on nbc.com from Michael's job interview is very funny, too.)
And I would think anything with Ryan at corporate would create a different dynamic, but him being Michael's boss would be, well, terrifying and entertaining at once. He knows so much about Michael, though, he would probably want to fire him; but the show could have quite a time with Ryan trying to torture Michael into quitting. Ryan on the job and Jan at home would really put it to Michael, wouldn't it?
By the way, the comments over at Alan Sepinwall's "What's Alan Watching" blog (www.sepinwall.blogspot.com) are pretty interesting. Lots of speculation about whether Ryan juiced his resume to get a job at corporate, so disaster could ensue next year …