A few people have asked via e-mail what I thought of the May 15 season finale of “The Office,” given that I found the previous week’s episode, “Job Fair,” seriously irritating. I quite enjoyed the season finale, mainly because it was the anti-“Job Fair.” We didn’t see Michael doing outrageous things that any brainless buffoon might do, and we didn’t see Michael acting like a mean-spirited jerk.
We saw a lonely, insecure, majorly clueless man fall hard for a woman — and we could see exactly why he’d fall for new Dunder Mifflin employee Holly (a pitch-perfect Amy Ryan). Holly — sweet, smart, kind-hearted Holly — is probably one of the few women to meet Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and not begin treating him with annoyance and contempt within five minutes. She actually seemed to find him entertaining and even slightly charming.
To see the explosions that her presence set off inside Michael was a treat. To see him struggle to rein himself in created great comic tension as we wondered how long Michael could keep it together without going over the edge and scaring her. Seeing Jim counsel Michael on how to woo Holly was a high point, and more enjoyable than watching Jim roll his eyes at Stupid Michael Tricks.
All things considered, it was one of the stronger “Office” episodes of the season. Ryan was just priceless (and she may be back next season, according to Eonline.com.)
Not a dry eye for ‘House’
Thank you, “House,” for reducing me to a weepy puddle by the end of Monday’s finale (if you haven’t seen it, don’t read on).
I didn’t expect Amber (Anne Dudek) to die. She seemed the most lively of this season’s supporting characters, and even in death she outshone the rest of the crew. As Amber, Dudek’s always been a treat, but she was especially great in the scenes that took place after she’d been resuscitated. The look on Amber’s face when she realized that there was no hope and that she would die — I still get a lump in my throat just thinking about it. Terror, pain, fear, panic washed over her in a tidal wave, and it was impossible not to feel each of those emotions along with her.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the Watcher household when her boyfriend, James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) was on the bed with Amber, cradling her as she asked to “go to sleep.” My husband kept it somewhat together, though he appeared to get a little misty. There must have been something in the air — dust, no doubt — because wet stuff kept leaking from my eyes.
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Curse you, “House” writers. Why’d you have to give Leonard an Emmy episode? You had to know he’d rise to the occasion, but I wasn’t expecting the double-barreled punch of Leonard and Dudek’s amazing work in Amber’s final scenes.
One of Amber’s last lines was a play on House’s famous maxim, “Everybody lies.” On the Death Bus, she told Greg House (Hugh Laurie), “Everybody dies.”
I guess that’s true, but like many of House’s patients, I didn’t really believe it.
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