The Office – “Goodbye, Michael” – Review

“It’s just sometimes, goodbyes are a bitch.” Jim Halpert said it best at the end of Steve Carell’s farewell episode, “Goodbye, Michael.” This is the end of Michael Scott’s run as manager of Dunder Mifflin. It’s been seven years, and it’s hard to see him go. It’s so hard that even though it’s his last day at the office, Michael tells everyone he still has one more day, just so he doesn’t have to say a real goodbye. Instead he goes around the office, giving the staff individual last words–though no one really understands the meaning behind them.

It was nice having Michael address these people one last time. At the start of the series, none of them liked Michael. Now they consider him a friend. Michael has come a long way in seven years. He finally has something complimentary to say about Phyllis. At long last he gives Dwight the respect he’s been pining for. And Michael plays one last joke, the victim being Oscar. He makes him a creepy looking scarecrow that he just threw together (Michael says it looks like a two-year-old monkey made it on a farm), but because Michael’s leaving, Oscar pretends to love it, which is exactly what Michael was hoping for.

The most touching moments, though, were first with Erin, then with Jim. Michael became a sort of father figure for Erin since her introduction in season five, and he assures her that even though he’s leaving, she can call him anytime for advice. Ever since season two, it’s been shown that Jim actually has a great deal of respect for Michael. He sees past the attention seeking and pettiness to the good guy underneath, who just wanted friends and a family. That last scene between Jim and Michael, tears in their eyes, was incredibly moving, and John Krasinski and Steve Carell knocked that performance out of the park. Michael Scott’s last day truly felt earned.

On the downside of things, Will Ferrell’s Deangelo Vickers is still present. It seems like the longer Ferrell is on the show, the louder and crazier he becomes. Maybe this is intentional, to show that he’s unstable for the job? It’s hinted that he has no experience and was only hired because he rescued Jo Bennet’s dog. I will not miss him when he’s gone after next week’s episode.

One final note; Gabe seemed to grow some balls. He openly threatened Andy to stay away from Erin, citing his knowledge of horror movies as a reason to fear him. And then Erin admitted to Michael that she’s in love with Andy. So we’ll see where that goes, I guess.

Apart from Ferrell, you couldn’t have asked for a better episode to say goodbye to Michael Scott and Steve Carell. He’ll be missed, but hopefully The Office will find a way to work without him.