The Office Recap: The Way Things Should Be

“The Office” Episode Commentary: “Last Day in Florida”

Ask and ye shall receive. In one fell swoop, things suddenly start happening on “The Office” in a way they have not for quite some time. Andy and Erin, Dwight and Jim, Sabre Retail—in “Last Day in Florida,” actual development happens on all these fronts, and it’s development that is believable, funny, and compelling.

The episode opens with a possibly big goodbye. Dwight thinks he’s become a Vice President at Sabre Retail, and will be working under Nellie Bertram indefinitely. At a golf outing before everyone flies back to Scranton, Jim is relieved that he will never see Dwight again, but learns privileged information from Robert California—back after a much-too-long absence—that leaves him faced with the choice of getting rid of Dwight forever or protecting Dwight’s job.

The best scene of the show is after Jim makes a half-hearted attempt to warn Dwight, but is met with a cavalcade of mockery, and calls Pam on his way to the airport. Pam, the show’s conscience, urges Jim to warn Dwight before it is too late. John Krasinski does basically a monologue (with a brief assist from Leslie David Baker as a crestfallen Stanley, resigned to his return to dreary Scranton) and provides some of the biggest laughs of the show. Oh, to see what getting bitten by a radioactive Dwight would look like.

Erin has found a job with the cute little old woman she met last week, and plans to stay in Florida. She breaks the news to Andy, and someone finally does something about their unresolved feelings, and…poof- An actual storyline?

In one of the better sidebars this season, Darryl and Toby compete to sell Girl Scout cookies to Kevin, and are willing to go to whatever lengths are necessary to make the sale. When Toby started wearing horn-rimmed glasses is unclear, but it is fun to see him getting some screen time.

But it is the confrontation between Jim and Dwight that makes the show. Their relationship comes to a head after seven seasons, and Jim finds himself going to extreme measures to protect his avowed nemesis even as Dwight is determined to finally wipe Jim out.

By the end, it is Todd Packer who gets the ax, and Dwight and Jim return to Scranton. Jim and Pam lovingly greet each other, prompting Andy to make a rash, but possibly glorious, decision. This is how “The Office” should always be.