The Office - Season 3 Finale

Yeah, I realize it's been a few weeks since The Office finale, but it takes me a while to process things, OK?

While I absolutely HATE what they've done with Michael Scott this past season (can anyone say 'over the top?'), the rest of the characters make up for it and continue to be the reason why I watch the show. The finale exemplified this sentiment - Michael was once again completely ridiculous in his reaction to Jane's "enhancements," and his job interview wasn't even funny because it was just so unrealistic (changing "Dunder Mifflin" to "Super Duper Paper"??), but the tomfoolery of Dwight, Creed, Ryan and others saved the episode.

I get frustrated with what they've done with Michael because in the original BBC version, while David Brent was very silly, it still seemed to work. As in, you could believe that there was a person that self-absorbed and clueless that they would unwittingly make themselves look like a fool over and over again. Granted, they deliberately cut that series off after only two seasons (and a Christmas special) in order to have it go out on a high note, so who knows if David's antics would've also gotten really old had we been exposed to them a third year. I fear that the longer the American version of the show goes on, the less I'm going to be able to stand Michael Scott. I hope they tone down his character in Season Four, because he really is becoming unbearable.

The rest of the cast, however, continues to rock the house. While Jim and Dwight will always be my favorites, Creed holds a very special place in my heart for his unapologetic freakishness. To me, besides the very last scene, my favorite part of the finale was Creed talking about his "blog" at: www.creedthoughts.gov.www/creedthoughts. And of course his reaction to Jan was another classic moment: "I find it offensive. Au natural, baby. That's how I like 'em. Swing low, sweet chariots."

Then you had Dwight, in his search to find an acceptable "number two," stating that his ideal co-worker would be Jack Bauer. But unfortunately, Jack is "unavailable, fictional, and overqualified." I don't know, Dwight... after Day Six, Jack may just need to take some time off and chill at Dunder Mifflin. And then Kelly would have someone else to obsess over, as Ryan is clearly outta there. In a surprise twist at the end of the episode, it appears that Ryan ended up getting the job in NYC: "You and I are done."

Which leaves everyone wondering what, exactly, happened to Karen? In a flashback, we see what played out between Jim and Pam after her out-of-nowhere speech to him during the beach outing. Next we see him leaving the NYC office, then a cut to Pam talking to the camera, professing that "It's OK" if she never sees Jim again, and then all of a sudden he busts into the room and asks her if she's free for dinner. Say what?

I was very happy with the finale overall, but let's just hope they don't screw up the Jim/Pam thing in Season Four...

- e