I’ve spoken to quite a few fans and nearly everybody
I talk to tells me that they lost interest in it a long while back. For one, it was when Jim and Pam got married
that he stopped caring. For another, it
was Steve Carrell leaving the show that marked the end.
I don’t understand any of that. See, I came late into the series. Except for three or four rerun episodes while
I was in a waiting room at a walk-in clinic, I didn’t start watching The Office until near the end of its
seventh season. In fact, it was the episode
that Michael Scott was engaged that I started to watch the show. Most of my experience with The Office comes from Season 8 on up, and
it was as funny as could be, and there were several characters that I cared a
great deal about through the series, especially Andy and Erin’s romance—which mattered
a lot at the time.
Honestly, if Season 8 hadn’t been as good, I doubt I
would have gone to the beginning and watched the whole series otherwise. I could gush this entire post about why The Office is one of the best shows to
come in our generation—and the temptation is strong—but I just want to focus on
the finale. Or finales, because there
were really two. The penultimate episode
was the true finish to The Office,
considering that all of the major
conflicts were resolved by that point.
Especially Jim and Pam. Watching them get together over the course of
four seasons was fun, but what I discovered about myself is that I am much more
interested in marital relationships than I do for people courting. This is why, despite the obvious popularity
of the latter, I preferred An Ideal
Husband to The Importance of Being
Earnest. I much prefer to watch
somebody already in a spousal relationship face their challenges and overcome
them or not. A married couple has much
more at stake romantically than those who are just dating. Despite the increase over the years, breakups
are still more common than divorce, and by its nature, dating is impermanent.
If we’re just looking at the show, Andy and Erin’s
relationship, which was such a big deal at the time, by this last season, it
completely collapsed and I wanted it to collapse even more than I’d hoped they’d
get together the season before.
Jim and Pam’s marriage was on the rocks for the
majority of this season, and it was brilliant.
It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. In the episode where Pam cries, I had to
rewatch those final five minutes again and again, because I could not believe
how much gravitas and emotion that they had put into what is normally just your
average sitcom. I loved every second of
that.
This second-to-last episode was fantastic in how we
got to see through Jim’s DVD how much he loved his wife, and that sweet montage
is every reason I adore this show.
It really did finish everything up, too. Dwight finally gets what he wants: to be the
regional manager. Angela finally gets
the only man she’s ever cared about. Andy
moved on to reach for his dream. And
Darryl got to say good-bye and discover how much he loved the people he worked
with.
They could have ended the series there, because the
final episode is really just an epilogue.
It takes place one year later, brings back everybody that we’ve
journeyed with, even Steve Carrell for a few minutes (despite his saying that
he wouldn’t make a return.) As an
episode, it was kind of boring, but I understand. This wasn’t really about story anymore; the
final episode was one more opportunity to say good-bye after nearly a decade of
being with us. I’m not going to begrudge
them that. I like their company.
And hey, there’s always Netflix and DVD collections. It’s not like I can’t visit these old friends
again whenever I want.
***
This is also the last week of the webcomic, Dominic Deegan. This strip is wrapping up after 11 years,
which is not too shabby a time to have been around.
It was not a perfect comic by any means. The violence was so over-the-top I have a
hard time recommending it to friends, while at the same time, the universe was
close to ending half a dozen times that by the third such arc, it got
boring. It fell into the common fantasy
trap of being incoherent when delving into his world’s mythology. The orcs were horrible, in every way imaginable. I never warmed up to them. And then there’s the age-old problem in any
superhero strip (which despite the fantasy setting, this is a superhero story)
of recycling the same stupid villains over and over again. This was the main reason we lost interest in Heroes.
And yet, despite all the warts, I have a soft spot
in my heart for this comic. It was the
first webcomic I ever read and it led me to seek out others. It was funny, the art improved over time, and most importantly, Dominic and Luna’s romance never felt dull.
That, and minor characters had a chance to
shine, especially Stunt, the thief who’s been there since the beginning. He earned his redemption and has become
possibly my favorite character. I’m glad
I stuck to the comic long enough to read that story.
Otherwise, it is time to end, and I’m happy “Mookie”
has decided to shut it down now. These
characters progressed as far as they ever could and the universe sure needed a break from its constant near-destruction.
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