The Office: "Customer Loyalty"

So I was trying to get this post out all weekend. But for some reason I was finding it hard to articulate it in a way that made it sound worthy of a post. Then I realized I was making a mountain out of a molehill all over a quick minute of television. And every post doesn't need to be a dang essay.

Anyway, now to the point.

This is the ninth and final season of The Office, a show that has definitely dropped in quality over the years, but which remained one of my favorites out of habit and sentimentality. Its heyday is long past, but at its best it was hilarious and heartfelt, yet cringy and conventional. It was somehow standard and specific at the same time. When Steve Carrell left, the show lost its way a bit, but it still made me laugh (and what more could I ask from a comedy?). I accepted the fact that the story was going forward without Michael Scott (a decision I personally wasn't jazzed about) and that it was probably going to stumble along the way. But I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did because it somehow managed to reveal glimpses of former hilarity and heart. This ensemble is so in tune and professional, it remains hard to resist their charisma and comic relief. I'm glad the show has finally accepted it's time to leave, and I'm even more glad they are tying things up and pushing the story forward.

One thing I always loved about The Office was its acceptance that relationships grow, people change, careers progress, employees have secrets and interests and dreams, and that its okay to just let characters find each other and be together. Most shows would have dragged Jim/Pam out so much longer than The Office did. Greg Daniels isn't afraid to let relationships progress in relatable, natural ways. He still finds ways for there to be stakes and to keep things funny and fresh. This is something I've always admired about The Office (as well as Greg Daniels and Michael Schur's other amazing sitcom, Parks and Recreation).

However, for the past couple of seasons I've been fleetingly craving something else from The Office. For this documentary crew, through which we witness the weekly happenings of Dunder Mifflin, to become more involved with the goings on of these characters. I just felt that a crossover was bound to happen. I knew the writers were perfectly capable of it, and I was surprised they didn't do more with it. Yes there were references and creative flourishes now and again...but I honestly thought it was a missed opportunity that we at least didn't get an intoxicated Meredith propositioning a camera man (straight into the camera and unsettling viewers at home would have been perfect), or Kelly crushing on a sound-guy, or Ryan the egomaniac constantly blogging/tweeting about the crew. So upon this final season's premiere episode, I was very glad to see Jim and Pam talk to someone off camera, asking why the crew was still filming after all these years, only to actually hear a voice respond: telling them they wanted to see where Jim and Pam Halpert ended up, of course.

And then this past Thursday's episode happened. I feel like seasons and seasons have been leading up to the last five minutes of "Customer Loyalty" in which a raw and emotional fight between Pam and Jim led to a devastated Pam looking to the familiar faces behind the cameras for comfort and advice. And she actually received a sympathetic hug from a boom operator named Brian, who put down his equipment and got the cameras to turn away. They broke the fourth wall in those last five minutes and it was pretty riveting-- especially for a comedy that has "lost its way." It was emotional in way The Office has always done so well. We've known Jim and Pam for nine years, we've seen their friendship lead to love and marriage and family. We know them. And seeing that fight was actually really hard to watch (a true testament to both the actors, I have to say). That alone was story-telling I responded to. And then the show actually did something I thought they would have done long ago for a gag. But they pulled it out in a very tense moment instead. And I'm glad they chose such a dramatic and vulnerable moment to do it...to make it important, to spin the show on its head and actually shake things up a bit before bowing out in May.

Who knows where we go from here. Who knows how big of a part Brian and his crew will play going forward. Some people weren't a fan of this reveal. But I have to say, I'm truly excited to see what Greg Daniels-- who returned for this final season-- does now that this card is in play. I for one am excited about The Office in a way I haven't been in years, and truly intrigued by what they do with their final twelve episodes.