The Office, Episode 9.20: "Paper Airplane"

I'm a terrible pessimist. Anyone who knows me will confirm this. "That Jesseh is such a negative Nancy!" But there's one area where I seem to be a little too optimistic: final seasons of TV shows I like. For some reason, I'm willing to cut them a lot of slack! When things happen that I'd normally dismiss as kinda contrived, instead I come up with a satisfying explanation of my own and run with that! Because surely that's what they meant, right? Nobody would want to fumble something so final and therefore so important, I tell myself!

"Paper Airplane" should be thrilled about that.

There seem to be two prevailing opinions on the final moments on this episode. Either it's the sweetest, most romantic thing in the history of the universe, or it's unearned piece of saccharine claptrap and completely unsatisfying as the resolution to Jim and Pam's story arc. And - blame this on my final season optimism if you want - I'm leaning more towards the former group. I'm not without my reservations, but I feel like its existence both as a standalone moment and in the season as a whole can be justified. And I'm hoping - optimistically - that the last three episodes won't prove me wrong. Please, "Livin' the Dream", help me be livin' my own dream, of not being wrong.

Stairmageddon, the emotional-rollercoaster-ride-in-a-bad-way that it was, introduced the absurd idea that Jim was willing to get a divorce over Athlead. That seems to be the main thing they've resolved this week. Good for the writers for not dwelling on that point for too long. Jim seemed to be making a genuine effort here to apply the principles they learned in marriage counseling, but that basically amounts to a lot of hollow talking as an unsatisfactory substitute for actually communicating. (Maybe they shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss the idea of kind buds with Clark after all.) And then, in an apparent callback to Casino Night, they share a sweet moment in the parking lot, which is more legitimate communication than anything they've done for awhile now. And they realize that this is worth fighting for. Awwwww.

The reason this scene is divisive seems to be that it's presented with the more explicitly cinematic style of editing that the show only seems to bring out for big, explosive plotline moments, and acted in the same way, when the reality seems to be that this is a more minor, incremental step. But it's still a big step! Big enough to justify The Job-style flashbacks? That's open for debate. Right now, I feel it was just important enough.

Here's the thing. Just because this kinda puts the bullet in the coffin of the idea that they'll actually be splitting over this very soon, doesn't mean that everything is magically better. In fact, it leaves them with a TON of work to do. Now they actually have to sit down and actually have a conversation, like adults, and they need to find a way to make this work for BOTH OF THEM. More sacrifice in a season already filled with sacrifice, but that's the corner they've backed themselves into; at least this time it's sacrifice in the name of something other than passive-aggressively waiting for each other to cave. Greg Daniels himself has pretty much said that there's still a long way for them to go, after all, and I have to assume that means they're doing this the reasonable way. Will it retroactively cheapen Paper Airplane if it turns out that they don't, and this was the resolution after all? Why, yes. Of course it will. It'll still be pretty well executed for a hastily written conclusion. But I have plenty of confidence that it's not.

The frustrating thing about this season is that they're asking us to put a LOT of faith in their assurances that these storylines will all eventually pay off. The quality of entire episodes has literally depended on how events actually turn out, and it really makes me miss the days when the show made episodes that could stand on their own just as well as part of their larger story arc. Paper Airplane can't do this. Apparently it's really hard to write a compelling half-hour story about a one-on-one paper airplane throwing competition that can stand on its own. I know for a fact that I couldn't do it! Then again, I'D NEVER TRY.

The tolerability of that entire, consequentially, is almost entirely reliant on the character moments. Erin's fear of letting Pete see what a sore loser she is cute enough - Pete is supportive enough, in a bland way, but it's her ridiculous rivalry with Clark that provides the main bright spots of this paper airplane business. (Can I just reiterate that Clark Duke is killing it this season?) And Dwight and Angela are just.....kind of there. Yeah, Angela's situation is almost sad enough to make you forget what a monster she's been throughout the series, for the most part, but who the hell cares? Their entire final arc is going to be about two of the most poorly conceived relationship obstacles the series has yet mustered! In one corner, Dwight's eleventh hour love interest, Esther the Brussels sprout farmer! In the other corner, Angela's ridiculous pride!

Oh yeah, and Andy's still trying to do that acting thing, and Roseanne's still part of this for some reason. It still doesn't feel right rooting for him. I still don't really see the point of this. I admit that it was funnier than the paper airplane contest, but on the other hand, it's just so fucking stupid. Just like the film career that Ed Helms is trying to have, for real.

Ultimately, it's possible that I'm actually a little glad these parts of Paper Airplane were so openly unimportant, because this means it's the first episode in awhile that HASN'T FELT OVERSTUFFED. Apparently, main plots with super low stakes are necessary if we want Jim and Pam's stuff to feel like it's edited in organically. Kinda sucks, but apparently that's the way it is. With any luck, that won't be the case with the final string of hourlong episodes. For now, though, we have this. An okay episode, with a big ending that, as a man, I'm not the least bit ashamed to admit I cried at. You might not've, but that's okay. I thought it was good. They better not fucking prove me wrong. :)

Oh, in other news, apparently Mindy Kaling kinda sorta confirmed Steve Carell might be on the finale. What a surprise to learn that Kelly is a bit of a chatterbox!