a little spoiler: if you check wikipedia's episode guide, you'll see a synopsis of the next 2 episode. the finale for this season is very easy to predict from that.
Spoiler:
"In an hour-long episode, Michael, Jim and Karen interview for a job opening at Corporate, leaving Dwight in charge of the Scranton branch."

so i can imagine that since Michael had just broken up with Jan, she might not give him the job for that reason. I'm guessing Pam won't let Jim go and since Karen is a side character, she'll get the job and maybe come back as much as Jan. this would give Jim and pam a way to be together again.
OR
Michael gets the job and jim is now in charge but mike gets fired for w/e reason so he's now working beside dwight.
OR (possibly the best way to go)
Jim gets the job. so he's forced to break it off with Karren but something happens that makes him come back while karren takes off to go back home.
something happens and he goes back to the office and now he's single and ready for pam.


thoughts?

MexicanOnABike:

Thanks for using the spoiler tag. That would've been very upsetting to me!

/agree - I don't want to know in advance, thanks. I'm going to be extremely sad when they go on summer hiatus... this show cracks me up.

Is it me or did they over-mug at the camera this last episode. It's a bit like an overzealous Laugh-Track, and insults our intelligence a bit. If you can't see that Michael's shallow behaviour is innappropriate without Jim or Pam looking mortified and glaring at the camera...sheesh.

Otherwise, great episode! Especially at the mall.

spoiler!

holy fucking hell! who saw that last episode?! pam just went out insane and explained everything!

so theres a job opening in corperate. Michael thinks he'll get the job right away.
and now Jim and Karren are also applying for the job. It's pretty amazing. if Jim does nothing after what Pam said, he's an idiot and she should be with someone else. like come on dude! I know it's just a show but i take it seriously. poop toby too! pam is really torture for that guy!
toby: "need some sunscreen?"
pam: "oh thanks! i forgot my sunscreen. good thing because i'm wearing a 2 piece".
toby: *probably thinking: kill me now.*

My guess is that Karen gets the job at corporate in the season finale, leaving you guessing all summer what will become of Jim/Pam

And I, like Toby, was saddened to miss out on Pam in a two piece :(

yep, that's what i'm thinking derwood, and i'm hopping mad about it. i think andy is done; floating down the river either did it, or else he's going to go ballistic when he gets back. so now karen gets corporate, and i think jim and pam will have some heart to heart possibly at the end leaving you to wonder what happened over the summer. damnit. i dig me some rashida jones. drat and double drat.

Like I mentioned earlier, if you feel this way about Pam... you really should see the Will Ferrell movie, Blades of Glory. Trust me. :)

As for last night's episode, there were quite a few moments that had me laughing out loud... I've never thought that Stanley was very funny, but I really enjoyed his performance in this episode.

I agree with Derwood and pigglet about the plausible finale plot... however I almost think that is too obvious. I thought there were some subtle moments where they showed Ryan as being very capable at leading... so I wonder if they are setting him up to replace Michael (at least temporarily for the finale). Oh well, I'm going to try not to speculate too much about it and just wait to see what happens. Can't wait!!

I'll have to get a hold of blades, because I would have liked to have seen her that way as well! All in all, a pretty decent episode.

why, dirtyrascal, whatever are you talking about?

clearly michael isn't getting the corporate job. or if he does, he'll decide to stay anyways. he's not leaving the show, so that story line is moot

i'm also curious if the corporate job isn't jan's job?

probably not a spoiler, but possibly revealing insight on the plot that isn't contained within the show itself:

Spoiler: i saw on imdb that rashida jones is in preproduction for another show, thus leading me to believe that whatever the plot is, it's going to involve her bolting...

Oh, obviously he isn't leaving the show... but he might leave Scranton for a short while. It is the season finale, after all... and remember that Jim left for a little bit, so it isn't a totally impossible theory.


And pigglet... that is exactly what i was talking about. :thumbsup:

It's a real shame that Jim isn't smooth enough to convince Pam and Karen to try a little menage action.

I'm curious to see next week's episode. I really enjoy this show, but I almost thought Pam's 'explosion' was odd. I knew it was coming, but it didn't seem to be realistic as the rest of show generally seems to be. I'm glad that it's finally out, but I feel that if Jim didn't know that already...well, then he's not as smart as I thought. I don't know if I want to see Jim and Pam together just yet. I'm hoping it won't do anything to mess up the show.

I have a feeling that it might be Jan's job and that Karen will get it. But that would make it too easy to get Pam and Jim together.

I agree that Stanley was hilarious last night. And I about died laughing at those sumo wrestler costumes. Just them running around in those were hilarious and then when he fell into the water...omg, I thought I would pee my pants laughing.

I'm more curious about Dwight and Angela though. I'm wondering when they'll turn that storyline up more. I'd also like to see more of Ryan because he's always just under the surface for a story line.

Guess we have to wait and see.

"Angela, you see what I'm doing? Go tell somebody it."

fired Jan for Michael? I doubt it.
I think karren heard pam clearly and now is gonna give jim something to think about. like at the xmas party: jim, you still have feelings for her? yes.

What a great episode. I'm very very happy with it. I thought Stanley, Creed, Meredith, Kevin and Oscar all got some good moments...

But enough of that...and on to the Pamfession

Last season's finale, Casino Night, was Jim's proverbial 'firewalk'. He walked through fire for Pam when he made his jimfession before he kissed her. And he got burned badly for it. All season 3 he's been healing from that burn. In the meantime Pam's feelings for Jim have awakened, thanks in large part to the influence Jim had on Pam when he was with her, and especially after he left.
So last nights confession was the result of Pam and Jim having all that pent up anger and hurt and misunderstanding, and lack of communication. Jim and Pam had not talked heart to heart since Casino Night last year. This was the first time that either of them really put what they were thinking out there. Pam finally got the courage that Michael wished for her in "Womens Appreciation". It really was Pam's time to talk. Jim figures he did all the talking he needed to do when he said "I'm in love with you".

Pams confession has people divided into two camps as to what it means. The one camp is "Pam is saying she misses her friend Jim. The one who made her feel good about herself. The one who gave her the confidence to get out of a marriage that she didn't really want to be in anyway. Jim was her friend. The one who gave her someone to talk to and help make the work day more fun."
The second camp hold to the following view, more or less. "Pam's confessed was that she loved Jim, but she couldn't or didn't want to say that in front of all those people. Pam broke off her wedding because of Jim, which essentially means 'for' Jim. Because she realized she loved Jim and wanted to be with him."

I am in the first camp. I think Pam may feel stongly for Jim, maybe even loves him. But I don't think that's what she was confessing there in that scene.

Anyway, this is a long, disjointed rant. Sorry. I'm saying a lot of things.

You know, all things considered, I thought Dwight and Angela were a major highlight of the episode.

That whole bit with them in the thickets plotting a la Survivor was pretty funny. "If Michael organizes some kind of group hug, stand next to me." had me snorting.

Just some Office cast news to share

Jenna Fischer, who plays Pam, fell down a flight of stairs and broke some bones in her lower back. I think that she's okay, and she's expected to be in the hospital for 4-6 weeks. Sadness.

The Office is on summer break now and taping of the new season begins in August. So hopefully our beloved Pam will be back on her feet in no time.

Oh yeah, and in case you have forgotten

The Office - Season 3 Finale is tomorrow night. 8 Eastern. Full hour.

that sucks for her. i hope it doesn't affect the show!!
1st episode: "hey everyone! how was your summer? mine sucked. pam died. the funeral was painful. karen left me. I didn't get the job at corperate because of that. shoot me now."

:( <3 Pam. Can't wait for the finale though!!!

spoiler! If you read this, it's because you saw the show.
holy shit!
this was such a great episode!!
starting with:

jim: "then it's a date".
holy fuck! i think pam's little speech actually worked! she definitely got to jim and karren. and what did jim do? he left her there alone in NY? insane!

Jan: *takes off her coat*.
all I thought at this point was when Micheal was talking to the girls durring woman appreciation day about the pros and cons for jan and "she's flat." was a really specific point. it's pretty awesome that she got those. she looks a lot hotter now!!

Micheal: "I'm back forever"
I knew he wouldn't leave the show so this wasn't such a big deal.

ryan: "we're done"
This surprised me. I knew there would be a twist but to make Ryan the boss of Micheal will be pretty insane!

Kevin: "but pam has a prettier face... "
this one was really funny! i don't think jim knew what to answer either!

overall, I'm glad it went like that. i think everyone was getting sick of the whole ryan/kelly crap and now i think Jim and Karren are completely over.
what were your thoughts on the finale?

... "What was the question again?"

This episode made me very, very happy.

I am also very happy, especially as I make my way through the third viewing of tonights episode. It does get better with multiple viewings. There are a lot of good moments in this ep, but it was hard to appreciate them all in the first viewing because all I was doing was waiting for the JAM moment.

Pam's final talking head was really an amazing, beautiful moment. She pulled it off so, so so well. I am in love with Pam. I have been for a long, long time.

Jim: And even though I'm back, I feel like I've never really come back.
Pam: Well I wish you would.

Lovely.

Lord beer me strength to get though this long, Office-less summer.

"Let me tell you about my weaknesses."

Ryan being Michael's boss will be hilarious. I'm so happy that Jim is giving it a shot with Pam. About damn time. The thing that i'm curious about is:

Jim didn't leave New York with Karen. He was alone in the car on the drive back. Did he leave her and we have yet to find out how that went? Also, did he turn down a job offer or was he not offered the position to begin with?

Awesome, awesome finale. Made me very happy.

As great as it is that Jim and Pam are giving things a shot -- I just hope that it doesn't take away from their "flirty" moments and banter, which has been great to watch. And I hope that the inevitable "rough patch" and/or breakup story-line involving them doesn't take away from the spirit of the show. It's like sometimes when you want something so much and you finally get it, it's almost disappointing in the end. I just hope that doesn't happen with Jim and Pam, and the show in general, but I'll be happy to be proved wrong on this.

I'm assuming that Karen was both (a) not offered the job and (b) ditched by Jim. She was kind of a bitch in the finale, both in her attitude towards Scranton/Pam and her relationship with Jim. Though I've heard she's coming back next season (?) so I'm wondering how that will play out.

One of my fave quotes in the finale--
"Last year, Creed ask me how to set up a blog. Wanting to protect the world from being exposed to Creed’s brain, I opened up a Word document on his computer, and put an address at the top. I’ve read some of it. Even for the Internet, it’s … pretty shocking."

You know, when Creed was giving the URL to his blog, I turned to lurkette, who had her laptop on her lap, and started asking her to go there. I thought maybe the producers had actually written a Creed's Thoughts blog! And then he kept talking, and it was this completely nonsensical and malformed URL... :lol:

Yeah, it was pretty clear that if Jim got the job, Karen would move with him, and if Karen got the job, Jim wouldn't. What was it Karen said? "We can't stay there"?

I enjoyed the finale also.

I don't think that Pam and Jim getting together will ruin the show...at least I hope not. It's always iffy when things like that happen. However, I think that they are developing enough storylines that there will be other issues taking the forefront.

I can't wait to see what happened with Karen. Did he just leave her there or did they talk? I'm assuming they'll have a flashback like they did with Jim and Pam at the lake.

All in all, a very good episode.

I don't think it'll ruin the show either. Though it's true that pulling the rug out from under a show's driving sexual tension is usually the kiss of death (Moonlighting, Norther Exposure, Cheers, Lois and Clarke, The Odd Couple...) The Office's ensemble format and skewed self centered characters can deflect any complacency. JAM may be happy, but they still work in a miserable environment.

There's plenty of strife afoot to keep the show's edge. Jan is losing it, Michael is trapped, Toby still pines for Pam, Ryan has the respect of nobody.... It's going to be great.

Well, here's the next best thing...

http://blog.nbc.com/CreedThoughts/

:lol:

Not to toot my own horn, but... *honk* *honk* ;)

I think that The Office writers are smart enough to have planned ahead and figured out a way to keep the spirit of the show even with Pam and Jim together... I doubt they just wrote out the storyline for this season without some thought as to how to keep the dynamic going. I was even more convinced of that after seeing the finale and then remembering how long ago some of these subplots have been building up to this point... they obviously plan ahead quite well, unlike shows such as Grey's Anatomy (whose writers seem to have the style of "what big twist can we throw in this week to top last week?" without thinking about how that will effect the future storylines).

Anyway, I'm really happy with how things ended this season. This show is so awesome. :thumbsup:

Oh, also... I thought it was hilarious how when David was interviewing Jim he said, "We have this very irritating HR guy. He's the only person you're probably not going to like." hahaha... do all the bosses at this company hate the HR reps?

shit rascal, i even tried to find the person who had suggested ryan might get the job in the thread and couldn't find it...so much for my sleuthing abilities. kudos to thee. it will be interesting to see how my girl karen holds up or stays involved, and what kind of clusterfuck jim and pam become. i've already made my own plot suggestions for karen, so those need not be repeated. how about ryan and karen start pounding it, corporate style, in an effort for ryan to get it on with karen (as we know he likes her) so karen can get back at jim? ha, it will be interesting to see where it picks up.

i'm really starting to detest michael with a hardcoreness. which is too bad, as i like steve carrell and i applaud his ability to pull off the character, but if i had to deal with that guy...he'd probably have been fired after that interview and the subsequent disclosure to jan. wouldn't a company typically do inhouse interviews under a non-disclosure until the deal was settled?

All I can think about when I think about that last episode is Jan. She always seemed kinda hot to me before, but with the new rack....dayummm. She's hot. In a milf sort of way.
I love this show.
Ryan getting the job was awesome, I totally didn't see that coming.
But for some reason it's even funnier knowing he is a writer and producer for the show.

So I noticed this sometime during season 2 and just kept forgetting to mention it here...

Did anyone else catch that BJ Novak (Ryan) is also one of the producers/writers?

Just thought that was interesting.


Also, I was just clicking through IMDB and found some other trivia...

- Angela, Oscar, Creed and Phyllis are played by actors of the same first name.
- BJ Novak and John Krasinski (Jim) went to high school together.

So is the girl who plays Kelly.

Hey Office Fans,

Have you enjoyed your summer off? Or have you, like I, been counting down the days until the season premiere? For anyone who doesn't know, it's on September 27th. Other important dates include September 4th, which is when the season 3 DVD comes out.

And just to whet your appetites, there is a video on YouTube that talks about what the various characters from the Office did during the summer. It is complete with some minor spoilery goodness as well.

Check out the link:

Let the Season 4 Office talk and celebrations begin...

That was even more awesome than driving a motorboat. Thanks Daoust!

Bring on the brand new Pam!

hmm. so jim and pam are together. Karen is out. i wonder wtf will happen with all that. it took 3years to get jim + pam together. is that the end of it?

I can't wait to see what happens with Spoiler: Ryan at corporate and being Michael's superior.

And his last words with kelly were priceless...I thought that was one of the overlooked brilliances of the season finale.

What were the final words? I can't remember anymore.

last things said in the season finale:
Jim: are you free for dinner tonight?
pam: YES!
---------
David: you got the job.
Ryan: Thanks!
Kelly: who was that?
Ryan: nobody.... We're done.
Kelly: WHAT??!?!?!?!

I think if any show can keep things fresh after the characters in the main romantic plotline finally get together, it's The Office. There have been plenty of shows that were ruined by it (Cheers, for example), but I think the writers are clever enough to not let JAM ruin the spirit of the show.

In case you don't believe me, here's a little excerpt from Jenna's MySpace blog:

Awesome to hear that from Pam herself... it's always good sign when the cast is that excited about the story/scripts. :thumbsup:

Oh, and speaking of Jenna... Blades of Glory came out on Tuesday. It is insane how hot she looks in that movie.

"The new Pam is letting her hair down!"

Yes!!! I am so ready, four months without any new Office has been more than I can handle. Gosh three more weeks will be tough.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070908/...R3EQpEuxis0NUE

*sprays binacta in mouth* :D

She better watch her back....side that is.... ;)

Well, my beloved Office only won one of the awards it was nominated for...(Greg Daniels, writing for Gay Witch Hunt) but even still, Office cast members were responsible for more than a few of the laughs.

Oh well, better luck next time, Jenna, Steve and Rainn.

Check out this hilarious "acceptance" by Steve Carell, for Ricky Gervais' Emmy

Don't forget - Office season premiere Sept. 27, called "Fun Run".

The season premier can't get here fast enough.

I was hoping they'd win more Emmy's, but that's ok. I can't wait for the new season as well!

Hey hey hey!!!!

So I watched The Office at 8 because it was on Global.

I won't spoil much, but I will say this... It is a full episode. Lots of stuff happens.

It's a good time. Can't wait till ya'll see it so we can talk about it.

I get off work at 8 and I am RUSHING home just so I can watch it. I'm so excited!

I gotta say, I was kinda underwhelmed. JAM was great (although, no more karen??)... but I did not like the Dwight/Angela subplot. Dwight did not seem like himself at all. Actually, it seemed like most of the characters' comedic timing was off... hopefully they just needed an episode to get their groove back.

PB&J!!! Together at last! Surprising to see Karen disappear so quickly. I figured there would be at least an episode or two of awkward tension between the three. I actually liked the Dwight/Angela subplot. I thought Dwight did a very Dwight thing in how he handled Angela's cat. I didn't care much for Michael's role this episode. I thought the reaction on Ryan's face when he tried calling the branch only to get voicemail was perfect.

I thought the episode was pretty good, although I didn't really like Michael's role so much in this one.

I clapped and cheered when Pam and Jim first kissed, I'm SO excited!!! PB&J, how cute!

I liked the Dwight/Angela plot, but I think it was overload, because Dwight and Angela usually are a really small section compared to this, they had a pretty large role in the episode... I wanted to see more of Jim and Pam!

I love Creed, ha.

jim and pam watching their own footage was classic

ya. that was pretty damn awesome! i thought the episode was ok but it lacked 1 thing: a bit of recap on season 3. for some reason, i can't seem really like this episode because it failed to explain a few things even though it's after the summer. oh well. they might fill in the gaps with a few flashbacks?

"I think this is going to be a great year."

A whole new season to make me cringe whever Michael does something "creative". I LOVE IT!

If it's anything like the last episode, I agree. It will be a great season!

Does anyone here like Toby?
 

I happen to think Toby is great. I love the chemistry him and Michael have.

My favorite episode is in the 2nd Season when he turns over his box of complaints to Michael about Jim from Dwight. hahahaha

i really want to buy the t-shirt and bracelet from the episode, but they're a little pricey (nbc.com)

My favorite Toby/Michael moment is from the end of last season, after Michael moved Ryan to "The Annex", and then needed Toby to go to negotiate his raise with Jan.

Michael: Come on.
Toby: Where are we going?
Michael: Where are we going!? I'm going to smack you in the head with a hammer. Come on.
Toby (glances at the partition behind which Ryan and Kelly are bickering, sighs): Okay.

I'm starting to not like where they're taking the Michael character. He was a bad boss but not a bad guy in season 1 and 2. Heck, he was an OK worker in season 1 and 2, and not a total idiot. Just a bad boss.

Now they're turning him into the worst boss imaginable, a bad worker, and a freaking mind numbingly stupid idiot in season 3 and 4.

It's like they want Michael Scott to be more like David from the UK version. David in the UK version ruined the entire series for me due to his annoyingness and overall unpleasantness on the screen. I wanted so badly for him to get fired and just leave the show. Too bad that doesn't happen with the show creators. If they turn Michael into a David then the show will go on a downhill slope because Michael is one of the best parts of the show.

I completely agree with this assesment. I really liked him also in season 1 & 2, but if they keep going the way they are, it's going to be very disappointing.

Then again.....maybe they are running out of things to write into the script for him. I've seen this done to so many series.

Overall, the show is still great though.

I enjoyed last night's episode much more than the premier. :)

However, I agree with Lasereth and Hydra about Michael... driving his car into a lake?? Come on...

Gosh, some of these Michael moments are starting to make the show hard to watch. Taking the gift basket back was classic Michael, yet extra cringeworthy at the same time.

Creed was my favorite part of this episode. Trying to act 30 years younger, and asking if they could stock the vending machine with Red Bull.

I'm most interested this season in seeing how Ryan and his huge head plays out. Between him referring to himself as a wunderkind in the first episode and his whole display of ego in the second episode it is clear the move to corporate has gotten to him. Yet he was just the temp who couldn't make a sale such a short time ago.

I liked ep2 of season 4 better than the first episode...
The whole Dwight/cat thing was overdone.
I think it's way funnier when they make fun of his idocy, like when Jim imitates him. That was awesome. ("Question: what kind of bear is best?")

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

The whole driving-the-car-into-the-lake thing bothered me. They're starting to take the character away from realistic stupidity and into absurdism. It's very...Homeresque.

Definitely enjoyed the 2nd episode a lot more than the first. Hopefully this trend will continue throughout the season...

I second that....... lake incident......ugh.......

Okay, I'll be the Devil's advocate, possibly. One of the geniuses of this show is that the characters often are far more subtle than is let on.

Remember, Michael's whole angle during that episode was that technology will never replace human contact at the costumer service level. Could it be that he deliberately drove the car (a rental) into the lake to prove that technology can suck? Remember him insisting to Dwight that the navigation system told him to turn right?

As we saw in Season 3, the writers are very clever in creating the characters with more depth than we expected. I wouldn't put it past them to make Michael's driving into the lake deliberate. But then, after running over Meredith, maybe they're just trying to show us that Michael is one horrendous driver.

On the other hand, aren't Jim and Pam cute??

second episode was better than the first, but i hope they return to showing half hour episodes. the plots just aren't meaty enough to spread over an hour

Yes, I definitely agree that these first two hour long episodes have felt a little forced. I actually enjoyed the longer episodes at the end of last season though. Fortunately, only the first four episodes will be an hour long, and then they'll return to normal half hour length.

I didn't feel that way about this week's episode, but I definitely did about the premiere. It was two episodes mashed together. I suspect it was written and shot as two episodes, and they just aired them back to back. The second episode was about the 5K, and started with Pam answering the phone.

First time
 

I just watched this episode last night.

Although I have not gotten pulled in by The Office yet, I did find this episode to be very enjoyable, and evidently, hilarious beyond my inital thoughts on the program. Also, it had some unpredictablility thrown in, so I was left watching in anticipation of 'what next?'.

I think I can look forward to being exposed to more of The Office. :thumbsup:

Oh I agree wholeheartedly that he drove the car into the lake on purpose, but that was just so over the top bizarre. I mean it was a frikkin lake! Obviously he saw the lake, it's not like when a nav system tells you the wrong route and you don't realize it's wrong. The point could have been driven home in a more realistic, yet humorous manner.

PB&J!

And I like the hour-long episodes... gives them more time to explore things, I think. I dunno, no love will be lost when they go back to 30 minutes.

This was a great episode tonight. Kevin and Oscar are a comedy tandem. Andy's singing was hilarious. PB&J were up to their old tricks, their old haunts, and were cute and funny, with the perfect amount of screen time.

The supporting cast was just great in my opinion. The gems from Kelly, Andy, Angela, Kevin, Phyllis, Stanley were just awesome. Very well done well rounded episode.

The thing I love most is when Jim and Pam pull pranks on Dwight, and they didn't let me down in this episode. And Michael with the kid, absolutely hysterical.

Best episode of the season so far by a long shot. It had me laughing out loud throughout the hour.

Definitely enjoyed this episode. Honestly, I think my favorite part was when Darrell and Kelly were flirting, haha.

With Ryan getting cockier and cockier each episode, its starting to seem obvious that the writers want you to develop a slight hatred for the new him... perhaps setting things up for some type of showdown or severe reality-check in the near future.

The opening bit with the DVD screensaver cube was damn funny. I could watch that scene over and over again.

OH! How did I forget about that!? That was awesome... I loved how they all just walked out when it finally hit the corner. hahaha

I wonder how many takes they had to do in order to actually get Michael's monologue timed in sync with the cube hitting the corner.

I loved this episode. Plenty to keep you watching. I loved how Stanley, Oscar and Kevin were trying to figure out what crimes Michael had committed. And just the sheer insanity of Michael kidnapping the pizza guy as a way perhaps of manifesting his anger and frustration with Ryan! Normally his over the top antics bug me, like the car in the lake incident last week, but this one was funny, mainly because of the kids fuck you attitude about it. The part where the kid tells the camera that Dwight grows crappy weed was hilarious. And the DVD screensaver cube, especially Pam's reaction when she found out Jim didn't believe her when she said she had seen it hit the corner once.

I find myself rather sad that Jim and Pam are finally together, despite wanting it for so long. The forbidden chemistry of friends and more is gone....and it's like, now what? Oh well....I was worried as I thought the season premiere was rather weak, but it seems to be picking up!

Nobody has mentioned Andy's awesome rendition of ABBA's "Take A Chance On Me".

I loved it Captainobvious. It was hilarious. Angelas reaction was great too.

Another great moment that I noticed is when Jim and Pam are on the roof, after Pam tells Jim the moment that she knew Jim liked her, Jim asks if she would change it, and she says no and smiles the most beautiful smile at Jim. It's a tiny moment, but just the kind of moment that makes this show and the actors so special...

Me too. Couldn't have punctuated the atmosphere better... they're paying so little attention to him and care so little, that the second the box hits the corner, they're all just *done*. lol

This is an excerpt from a post I'd made on another forum, and just felt like posting it here. I was originally defending the show against a barrage of negativity from some "fans" who were unfairly critical, (I felt) of season four to this point.

but after 3 seasons of waiting, it's nice to just enjoy it a little.

FYI, Karen is supposed to be returning in a few episodes, so that will stir stuff up

Thursday's episode was definitely the best of the season so far, even though it's still not on par with season 2. I like how they toned down Michael a little bit (the episode still had him being overly stupid, but when he realized that he had really kidnapped the kid and went emotionally unstable it was more realistic). I actually laughed a bit during this episode, but nothing like in season 1+2 and the season 3 premiere. Still too many unrealistic jokes like the computer talking to Dwight.

Overall it gives me hope that the series will go back towards season 2 quality.

BTW I agree with the JAM comments...but I disagree on the reasoning. The magic isn't gone because they're together, the magic is gone because their scenes simply aren't written well or funny.

You realize it was Pam and Jim, writing from Pam's computer, right?

I think the unrealistic part was that Dwight was believing a computer was smarter than him! CIA agent? that's believable, but a super computer ? no.

Dwight did type, "How do I know this isn't Jim?"... which I thought addressed that issue quite nicely.

If Dwight wasn't as gullible as he is, I doubt 80% of Jim's pranks would work. The Mussolini speech, Jim's telekinetic powers, the faxes from "future Dwight", etc... would any normal person fall for those?

Absolutely. Dwight's bizarre world-view is Jim's way in to myriad pranks.

It was sad, though, poor unshaven Dwight's desperate attempts to earn Angela's attention. I wonder how deep he'll sink.

Finally got around to seeing episode 3 on tv-links. Man, I was definitely relieved.
Episodes 1 and 2 tried too hard, and this one is right back on track.
I found the evil computer prank funny, and Dwight is absolutely the type to believe in such things. (remember the episode when Jim asks Dwight if he thinks humans and robots can coexist peacefully? Dwight starts answering the question seriously).
I'm glad I didn't see episode 3 before, because now I only have to wait 2 days before episode 4. :D
Hopefully it'll follow the "improvement" pattern and be even better than episode 3.

Ah, what a relief to see the show go back to 30 minute episodes. I think it's safe to say The Office we've all grown to love is back on track now.

not sure what you mean. I liked the first 2 episodes, was pretty "meh" about the 3rd, and thought last night's was just okay