The Office: "Goodbye, Michael"

Season 7, Episode 22

Try as he might, even Ferrell can’t stop this emotional gravy train

“This is going to hurt like a motherfucker”

-Michael Scott

Over the past week, some critics have posted what can best be described as post-mortems of the Michael Scott character, looking back on what made him work, choosing to focus on Michael moments where he showed both his kindness and business acumen. I couldn’t help but think about these articles while watching “Goodbye, Michael,” which may be just about the best episode the show has ever done.

To prove that I don’t just say that under the influence of goodbyes and televised emotion, there are two things you should know about me: I don’t generally buy into such blatant sentiment, and I have historically found The Office’s hour-long episodes to be overly bloated affairs. As to the first, well that just generally is the result of most shows very lazy setup with such emotions, just assuming that say, a dead relative or a broken heart is in and of itself and inherently sad, failing to make it legitimately sad by basing the moment in the characters.

“It’s just that sometimes, goodbyes are a bitch.”

-Jim

Yet The Office successfully avoided that trap, using all that we know about Michael’s relationship with his employees to drive home just how much he’s going to miss them. He gives out small gifts which he means to be meaningful. He apologizes to Kevin, Oscar, and Phyllis for all the mean things he’s said to them over the years. He goes along with Toby’s suggestion to meet up with his brother in Colorado. He acts interested in Angela’s life, and tries (unsuccessfully) to playfully flirt with her. He gives Dwight both the attention and the praise he’s always wanted. He acts like a father to Erin, telling her to be strong and independent. He asks Darrell to finish his work on management. Jim tells him he’s turned out to be a great boss, and Pam shares a private goodbye, away from the microphones.

I am not afraid to say I fought back tears on more than one occasion tonight.

Tonight we saw the best possible version of Michael, the only version that could have made an episode such as this, the well meaning, yet sometimes a bit deaf to the social niceties. It was the perfect example of why both we and the office have grown to love this man, and why we are so sad to see him go. Probably the most powerful decision the show made tonight was having Michael sneak it out early in an attempt to avoid having to actually say goodbye to the people he loves. Michael is very much a child in many ways, and it makes sense that he would want to avoid any sort of confrontation, instead substituting those goodbyes that lets the office know he cares for them, yet free him from having to face all that he’s giving up. Much like Michael, the show avoided the big weepy goodbyes that can sometimes be a turnoff to viewers, instead letting us revel in these quieter, more poignant, more meaningful moments.

And then there’s the issue of length. Unlike the previous hour-long episodes (I think this episode was closer to being a double length episode as opposed to a “supersized” one), the show kept everything around Michael’s departure fairly simple, with only a brief runner about Erin and Gabe’s breakup, and a small subplot with Andy and DeAngelo, which was the only real drawback to an otherwise fantastic episode.

On the one hand, I get why the subplot had to exist. Much like when Michael tripled-down on some of his goodbyes, not everyone has as strong of a relationship with Michael as the original core cast, not even Ed Helm’s Andy. He just hasn’t been there long enough to receive anything beyond Michael’s belief in him. More importantly, this plot thankfully took Ferrell’s DeAngelo away from all of the goodbye action.

I say ‘thankfully’ not only because Ferrell has been such a distracting presence, but because DeAngelo made a sharp right turn into dick country in this episode. Obviously, this is meant to be the start of DeAngelo’s departure from the show, and it’s obvious because you’ve seen this plot played out a hundred times before. In fact, suddenly making your character mean or evil, despite any previous evidence to the contrary, is one of the laziest and most contrived tropes on television, used when someone such as Ferrell has been shoehorned into a show for the sake of ratings (or any other reason that’s not an artistic decision).

None of this bodes well for the future of the show. If the show took such an easy way out of the Ferrell conundrum, what kind of quality can we expect from them going forward? And more importantly – though this question will most likely be answered in the upcoming weeks – who is the new boss going to be, and how long is it going to take for the show to make that decision? Probably not until after the most distracting season finale ever produced.

But that’s all small potatoes, as Ferrell, and the problems he represents, were quickly forgotten whenever the show returned to Scott’s departure, swept under the rug until next week, as the wave of emotions present here tonight quickly washed away the episode’s sore elements.

Goodbye, Michael Scott. We will miss you.

Quotes, Etc.:

“They’re bull testicles. I cut them off fresh this morning.”

“You guys are filming people when they go to the bathroom now?”

“The Dream Team…and Meredith.”

“I thought he knew about the baby I gave away.”

“Yes, please go away. And please stop using that weird, slow voice.”

“I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not just black.”

Kelli is one of the few people who looks good eating cupcakes.

“Hey, Creed.” “Not cool.”

“A little cover-up on your Adam’s apple will make it appear smaller, and make you look less like a transvestite.”

What is up with Andy’s pants? No professional should wear pants that pink to work.

I guess that the Scranton airport is so small that they don’t care what electronic equipment makes it through security.