World’s Best Boss: Michael Scott Leaves “The Office”

I remember watching The Office for the first time. My sister bought me DVDs of the first and second seasons of the show for my birthday. I watched every episode in a matter of days—I was hooked. The obvious centerpiece of the show was Michael Scott, a lovable (not in the first season but definitely by the second) but hapless boss with a painful lack of self-awareness. Michael’s characterization over the course of The Office’s seven seasons has been a bit bumpy at times; we have seen Michael demonstrate varying levels of competence both at his job and in his relationships with his co-workers. Michael can be hilarious, irritating, childish, insulting, and heartbreaking in the span of an episode, which is a testament to not only Steve Carell’s incredible acting chops, but to the writing staff of The Office. Michael, love him or hate him, has been at the core of this show since day one, and he definitely deserves a send-off.

As a standalone episode, “Goodbye, Michael” is pretty uneven, but as a sendoff to Michael Scott, it was understated in a perfect way. Let’s start with what I didn’t like so we can get to the warm and fuzzies later. The bulk of this episode was comprised of Michael saying goodbye to each of his co-workers. This is completely logical, and a good way to see windows into each character’s life that will segue into future episodes without Michael, but some of the relationships that the writers attempted to tie a nice bow on didn’t feel like a fitting end. Obviously we are not saying goodbye to Dwight, Jim, Pam, and the rest of the gang at Dunder-Mifflin Sabre, but we are saying goodbye to each of those character’s relationship with Michael, each of which has been not only an integral part of the fabric of The Office, but also to the characters themselves.

For the most part, these goodbyes were well-done and very funny. Particularly, Toby mentioning that his brother lives in Boulder followed by a horrified look on Michael’s face that was funny AND a fitting button to put on that relationship. The one “goodbye” I didn’t feel was Michael’s goodbye to Dwight. The Michael/Dwight relationship has been one of the most fruitful for The Office throughout its run. Dwight has always eyed the manager position and, according to his numbers, he probably deserves it. But Michael did not recommend him as Michael’s successor. This tension between Dwight and Michael is a smart one, but it was only introduced last week in the Dundies episode. Had this tension been introduced earlier, Michael and Dwight’s goodbye could have felt like a more earned catharsis, but their resolution didn’t have the weight it could have. I loved the letter that Michael gave to Dwight, but I thought that they should have left it there. Yes, paintball is a fun callback to one of Dwight’s quirks, but that letter was Michael giving Dwight what he always wanted—to be acknowledged as being “superlative.” Dwight has never been one for frills, he has always led a decidedly Spartan lifestyle, and I thought the letter was a good reflection of that. The paintball was cute, but I felt the letter on its own would have been a more fitting end to that relationship.

Now let’s talk about DeAngelo Vickers. Will Ferrel’s turn as the new office manager (for the rest of the season at least) has been very rocky. DeAngelo isn’t so much a character as a collection of quirks (he loves the Southwest, he has conquered obesity and struggles with it, animal shelters pump him up). He has essentially served as a plot device for Michael to struggle with leaving, but this episode as a result of his subplot with Andy has indicated that the rest of the office is not a fan of him and likely will get rid of him by the end of the season.

Okay, now that I’m done with my griping, let’s talk about what worked. First off, I was very happy to see some material for Gabe. Zach Woods is an amazing comedic actor who hasn’t gotten enough to do this season, but I thought that his confrontation of both Andy and Erin gave his character some good backbone. This episode was full of callbacks to the early episodes of the show’s run, including Michael placing his Dundie on his desk, a shot that has been part of the show’s theme song footage from day one. It was nice to have a lot of old gags come back. As for Michael’s send off, I was glad that the writers didn’t pile on the shmaltz. Michael got his extravagant goodbye last week when the office serenaded him with “Remember to Call,” a version of “Seasons of Love” with Office-specific lyrics. This week, he actually facilitates a goodbye without all those frills. He tells the office he is leaving tomorrow when, in fact, today is his last day. The only person who figures it out is Jim, who in a beautifully written scene, gives Michael the admiration he has always wanted from Jim in particular.

In the end, Michael simply goes to the airport, where he has one last goodbye with Pam (without audio, which I thought was a nice touch) and gets in his plane to Colorado and takes off. His exit was understated, which for Michael may seem out of character, but is actually a demonstration of what his co-workers have given him—a sense of self-awareness. At the beginning of the episode, Michael declares that he doesn’t want any drama surrounding his leaving the office, a decidedly un-Michael move. Michael has learned to control himself at least more than he used to be able to, and like any character’s journey in any form of storytelling, he should learn something from experience and take it with him. Maybe an uneven episode with a bump here and there, but absolutely an ending Michael Scott deserved.

Random Observations and Funny Things:

-“Walk away, bitch” –Gabe to Andy

-The caricature of pig-Kevin was priceless

-That dog Will Ferrel was carrying looked a lot like Baxter #CrypticAnchormanReferences

-Callback to Creed using the women’s bathroom for #2

-“I’m not sure….Mountainton?” Michael trying to think of the name of the town he will live in in Colorado.

-“As a person who buys a lot of erotic cakes, it just feels good to be represented on one.” -Phyllis