To Everything there is a Season

I thoroughly enjoyed the season finale of The Office. Of course, it doesn’t top last year’s Season Two cliffhanger that ended in a dramatic kiss, but it was still good. This episode really left everything up in the air: Who really got the corporate job? What did Jim mean by saying ‘it’s a date’? Was Karen left high and dry in NYC? One thing I am certain of though was that I love watching hour-long episodes of The Office. There are so many great characters on this show, that’s it’s impossible to give them adequate screen time in the current half-hour format. Ah, c'est la vie!

Let me start with the end. How classic was it to see Ryan probably getting the job in NYC in the last little segment that I always seem to skip on my TiVo? Ryan becoming Michael’s boss would create a lot of uncomfortably funny plots next year. It’s interesting that B.J. Novack, (aka Ryan) a writer on the show, would essentially give himself less screen time. Maybe the producers felt that the already packed-with-characters sitcom would benefit from better actors taking a more prominent role, like Ed Helms (Andy) for instance. Ryan the Temp character isn’t that good to begin with anyway, it’s sort of a one-note, smarmy kid. He’s had some good lines, and I love his interactions with Kelly, but overall I’d rather watch the Andy/Dwight power trip conversations over the Ryan/Kelly relationship quarrels.

But the conversation at the end of the episode isn’t a guarantee that Ryan actually got the job. In fact, one of my friends at work has hypothesized that Karen could have gotten the job at corporate and Ryan might have gotten a different job, such as Jan’s assistant. Remember the line Jan told her assistant before she left about following your dreams and not to give up on the rock band? It’s just a thought. But also, just because Ryan has an MBA doesn’t really make him qualified for such a high position, especially since he has never even made a sale—maybe those MBAs are a little more valuable than I had thought. However, if Karen were to get the job that would produce an interesting dynamic to the show, as she would become not only Michael’s boss, but Jim’s superior. This of course all assumes that Karen’s character would be coming back next year.

I’ve also read some internet rumors that have said that Rashida Jones (Karen) would come back to the show contingent on whether or not her new sitcom was picked up on Fox. The sitcom has actually been picked up by the network, so her character might be axed all together. But still we’re gonna need some resolution to the Jim/Karen relationship, so I’m thinking she’ll at least be back for some guest appearances at the very least.

Speaking of relationships, who would have thought that the most dysfunctional and somewhat funny, but mostly creepy couple to watch this season has been Michael and Jan. From the first season Jan has always seemed like a very strong-minded corporate individual, and her lust for Michael was something of a fluke. The CFO might have given us an insight into her neurotic character, by painting her as an undependable basket case, furthered by her recent, er, “enhancement”. In pure double entendre genius I love how they entitled this episode “The Job”. I completely lost it when Michael explained why he was getting back together with Jan by telling Pam, “Your advice was good, but Jan’s was bigger.” Of course, Michael might be getting a little more than he bargained for by tenuously inviting Jan to move in with him—which completely depends on whether he can reneg on his eBay sale of his condo (that’ll probably hurt his rating).

Then there was Dwight who had seemingly consolidated power without using the ancient Roman methods and made Andy his number two. I, too, have often thought that I would like to have Jack Bauer as a second in command of my life, if only he weren’t unavailable, fictional and overqualified. The introduction of the Shrute bucks was vintage Michael incompetence, but only meaner. The banter that followed was some of the best wordplay of the season as Dwight and Stanley haggled over the ratio of Stanley nickels and Schrute bucks, which happens to be the same as unicorns to leprechauns.

But the dramatic lifeblood of the show rested on a golden yogurt lid (symbolizing past flirtations) and a small note, which brought the always cool Jim to stammer in his interview and then—as we’re led to believe—race back to ask Pam on “a date”. Of course, we’re not exactly sure what is meant by the ambiguous invitation, but watching Pam’s face look at the camera after and give a smile of joy and nervousness is pure Emmy material that brought a lump to my throat. It seemed like Pam had found herself with her new independence and confidence, and right before Jim came in she said that it hadn’t worked out because of timing. I’ve heard this explanation before from someone trying to get out of a relationship with me, but it’s also been a real issue that I’ve confronted with potential relationships. In Pam’s case she wasn’t skirting the issue or beating about the bush, she was, and maybe for the first time, being completely honest with herself. Even if two people have a connection, one of them might be engaged, or even dating someone else in the office, which could result in a possible relationship that never materializes. With Jim and Pam the feelings between them were obvious and even manifest to the viewer through Lostesque flashbacks, when Jim noted that even though he was back, he felt like he wasn’t really back. I think this means that he’s never really got back to the place in his heart where he fell in love with Pam. To protect himself he had buried those painful feelings deep down through a relationship with Karen. Only when Pam was able to meet him at the same place of vulnerability and humility, by publicly announcing that she had broken up her wedding for Jim, could he begin to really come back to a place of yogurt lid medals, secret alliances for office pranks, and flirtatious glances of validation.

Thus, timing had been the culprit to the inception of their relationship previously, but in TV land anything can happen. So, we’re left to ponder over the summer whether Jim and Pam are finally getting together after three seasons. But what kind of Office would a Jam relationship result in? I hope the writers aren’t foolish enough to take us down a road of on-and-off-again-soap-opera relationships a lá Ross and Rachel. I should hope not. The Office has too much realism gushing from its creative center to pursue something so uninspired, but maybe I’m giving the writers too much credit. In fact, a relationship at the office would be interesting and could be fun between Jim and Pam, coming up with different ways to annoy Dwight and Andy and giving each other playful looks of acknowledgement every time Michael opens his mouth. But, whatever kind of Office season four turns out to be, one thing for sure is that they’ll be a lot of them, as NBC has asked for an unprecedented 30 episodes to be made. So, sit back, relax, and have a good summer. I’ll see you all next year to enjoy this amazing sitcom with me, in fact, “it’s a date.”