Office recap

I would do a whole Thursday night recap, but I was out drinking cheap beer and the DVR let me down on "Earl" for some reason (and I haven't added "Scrubs" to the DVR lineup yet and probably won't).

Quality office episode... Loved Rashida Jones. Loved Stanley. Loved the Finer Things Club. Loved the want-ad for "middle aged black man with sass... big butt.. bigger heart."

Tell me, though, fellow "Office" fans, the writers seem to be making a point in every episode of showing Jim to be, well, a d-bag in some way. Sometimes it was something small, like not reading "Angela's Ashes" this week, or stealing the pizza a couple weeks back, sometimes it's something bigger, like his overboard campaign against Dwight at the beginning of the season.

Which leads me to wonder: Are Jim and Pam destined to break up at the end of the season? Will they give Jim a chance to become a better man?

My hope was always that once they let Jim and Pam get together, they'd have fun with their relationship dynamics without breaking them up a la Ross and Rachel. Stuff like the Beets Motel episode. But that's not really the dynamic they're setting up.

Now, to play the Devil's advocate, too, they've certainly shown Jim's good side from time to time, too. Most notably, the "You might even say I love Italian food" scene.

What do y'all think?

Office finale

Another pitch-perfect "Office" finale.

Actually, this episode had a much higher cringe-factor than most of the episodes this season -- Michael passing along his "coded message" to Jan's assistant comes to mind -- and it was meaner, too. But how can you beat Jim popping in on Pam's interview at the end? Or the kicker with Ryan. That had me dying (but are they really hiring a temp who's never made a sale for Jan's job?).

Just really solid comedy throughout. The boob job was one of the funniest sight gags in recent memory - I am so ticked there are no photos on the NBC site. Kevin's list of Pam and Karen's attributes, Dwight painting the office black, Michael playing "Thank you" on the voice recorder.

And then the emotional element. I just about bawled myself when Jim started tearing up seeing Pam's note in his sales figures.

Looking forward, I'd argue that the producers can't backtrack from here. No more "Friends-ish" will they or won't they Jim and Pam coupling. They have to go forward and deal with the Karen repercussions (and, naturally, the Jan-Michael repercussions).

Also, the "Scrubs" finale: Funny episode, but the main characters are growing less and less likable. I'm more on Kim and Keith's side than Elliot and J.D.'s.

"I'm going to kill Jim Halpert"

There's a pretty awesome, albeit sappy, "Office" montage up over on NBC: http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/

You can't watch that and not be jonesing for tonight's episode. 7 p.m., too, so don't be late.

UPDATE: Solid episode, with a few choice moments. My favorite: Dwight macing Ed Helms. Also, Karen saying that she wasn't sure what Jim was more afraid of: Long talks about their relationship or Roy rushing in with murder in his eyes.