Build-Up to The Office Finale

[sidious618]

It was cute but I felt a little distanced because the show, for me, felt like it ended when Michael Scott left.

 

[chrisspringob]

The Andy auto tune:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ks_wf1O0mA

I'm guessing we'll see that Rodgers "You're just not good" spliced into video mashups of Packer games for years to come.

 

[Venardhi]

I'm glad there's not a literal film crew in Parks & Rec...

Says who?

 

[Scout101]

Right. There wasn't in The Office. Until there was...

 

[Pingfah]

Michael's opening line was absolutely spot on. Very funny and touching finale, really enjoyed it.

 

[1001001]

The only part I didn't like was Ryan's baby thing. That was unnecessary and kinda dumb, IMHO.

I don't know what to think about that. I like that they didn't attempt to redeem everyone or give them all ideal endings, and given Ryan's (and Kelly's) narcissism and immaturity it's not unbelievable that he might do something like that, but it still kind of left a sour note with me.

Me too.

They could have had basically the same ending if both Ryan and Kelly had brought dates to the wedding and left them there to run off with each other. That would have been consistent with their characters.

It's one thing to dump a girlfriend/boyfriend. It's another to purposely sicken and then abandon your own baby.

 

[J.T.B.]

The only thing I didn't like was the questions/comments at the panel for Pam, basically criticizing her for being upset at Jim over his job in Philadelphia. I didn't really understand this or why they weren't criticizing Jim instead, who I felt was much more at fault. He put Pam in an impossible situation. I thought that part of the panel was weird and wasn't necessary.

I thought that was pretty one-sided, too. My guess is that was put in to position Pam as more of the inflexible, un-trusting party in their dispute so her grand gesture later on would have more impact.

 

[shivkala]

Right. There wasn't in The Office. Until there was...

Wasn't the pilot episode about the documentary crew starting to record them? And throughout, there were comments, usually from Jan, asking Michael if he was being taped while she was talking to him.

 

[Hunter X]

Yeah, the characters in The Office would interact with the camera crew every so often from the beginning. The conceit was dropped when it was convenient, though...that is, when they had to show footage of something a documentary crew probably wouldn't actually have access to.

I don't think the people in Parks and Rec have ever interacted with the cameras in the same way, aside from the occasional mugging.

 

[Goji]

This interview with the head writer for Parks and Recreation, Mike Schur, seems to indicate they have no interest in making the documentary crew part of the plot like The Office reportedly has (I've not seen it myself). I suppose he could change his mind in the future, but I'd be disappointed if they ever went that route.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think Ryan was a good character up until the point he got fired from his boss role.

Then he turned into this kind of pathetic helpless trend monkey.

Might have been nice to also see Karen, Holly & Gabe make appearances, but we got all the characters who were leads for more than one season.

Parks and Rec has people speaking their personal thoughts to the camera, but the camera has no interaction with the plot. Whereas in The Office as early as season 2, the camera helped draw Pam's attention to Angela's candy bar to confirm her suspicions about being with Dwight. And Jan kept asking Michael in her phone talks with him: "Are we on camera?" In Parks & Rec they've never referred to the fact that there is a camera man present, all they do is give monologues as if there is.

 

[Squiggy]

The only part I didn't like was Ryan's baby thing. That was unnecessary and kinda dumb, IMHO.

I don't know what to think about that. I like that they didn't attempt to redeem everyone or give them all ideal endings, and given Ryan's (and Kelly's) narcissism and immaturity it's not unbelievable that he might do something like that, but it still kind of left a sour note with me.

Me too.

They could have had basically the same ending if both Ryan and Kelly had brought dates to the wedding and left them there to run off with each other. That would have been consistent with their characters.

It's one thing to dump a girlfriend/boyfriend. It's another to purposely sicken and then abandon your own baby.

But it's pretty consistant with their characters.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^^ I think the kid was forced in to try to give Nellie an ideal ending.

 

[gblews]

^^ I think the kid was forced in to try to give Nellie an ideal ending.

I think you're right.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

My two favorite moments in the finale:

Meredith's son makes her first appearance since season two as a male stripper, Meredith is excited about seeing him work.

Dwight reassures Kevin that he only fired him because he was really bad at his job, and this makes Kevin feel much better.

 

[Kirby]

Was that real estate agent the same woman that Michael briefly dated way back towards the beginning of the series?

 

[Chu'lak]

Was that real estate agent the same woman that Michael briefly dated way back towards the beginning of the series?

Yep, carol, actually Steve Carrells's real life wife.

 

[Kitty Worrier]

I really did not like Ryan and Kelly for the last several years, so I did not l like them showing up for the finale, nor the predictable ending for them.

One of the best lines was "and thanks to PBS, even my friends call be 'Plop.'" Kind of deserved though!

 

[Yoda]

So what, did PBS condense everything they filmed into 2 hours or something? Plop already made it to air? That was this season right?

 

[the G-man]

The only thing I didn't like was the questions/comments at the panel for Pam, basically criticizing her for being upset at Jim over his job in Philadelphia. I didn't really understand this or why they weren't criticizing Jim instead, who I felt was much more at fault. He put Pam in an impossible situation. I thought that part of the panel was weird and wasn't necessary.

I thought that was pretty one-sided, too. My guess is that was put in to position Pam as more of the inflexible, un-trusting party in their dispute so her grand gesture later on would have more impact.

I think it was also a bit of a mea culpa on the part of the writers that they'd mishandled that plot line (see comments earlier in thread).