TVSquad

(S05E23) About half a dozen episodes ago, I started to worry about The Office. They had several episodes in a row that really didn't do much for me, and that's not something that has ever happened with this show before. So when I heard that Michael Scott may be quitting Dunder Mifflin, I was dubious. It seemed like a cheap stunt that wouldn't amount to much. Instead, we ended up with some of the best episodes of the season.

I have loved everything they've done with The Michael Scott Paper Company: From putting Pam in sales, to bringing Ryan back, to having Michael actually manage to wrestle away some of Dunder Mifflin's clients. Of course, it couldn't last forever, so it's no surprise that it had to come to an end tonight.

As Jay pointed out in his reviews of The Office this week (read them here and here), the writers have managed to take an established show into amazing new directions. After quitting in a huff, Michael Scott started his own paper company, and The Michael Scott Paper Company already has a Web site up and running.

"Serving Scranton's paper needs since 2009," the site touts, the company is more than just paper. It's about creating meaningful relationships with people.

(S05E21) Okay, so this is the second slice of Office bread in the Parks and Recreation sandwich, and, in keeping with my long tradition of strained metaphors, it kind of felt like an end piece. Edible, sure, but it would have been nicer if it was as good as the episode that came before it.

While I'm enjoying frazzled Jim much more than "what-me-worry?" Jim, they're pushing the cringe humor between Minor and him a bit too far. Somewhere in the last couple of episodes, we went from "fun" to "not fun" (or, as we call it in the entertainment trade, from Last Crusade to Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls).

It was actually more interesting to watch my wife watching the episode: her face was twisting in grief for Jim's inability to figure out what a "rundown" was. It's a testament to good writing that we care so much for the characters that we feel their pain just as strongly as they do, but we need some laughs to lighten the load...