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It seems to me that since we lost a large chunk of the season due to the writers’ strike they could’ve gone a little farther into May until the season finale, but it was not to be.  This was a great episode, but it’s frustrating that there’ve been a handful of disappointing post-strike episodes when they could’ve been using this material all along (without cramming so much into the finale).

 The cold open was a refreshing return to Jim and Pam pranking Dwight by rerouting all his telephone calls to Jim’s headset (or bluetooth, or whatever the heck you call those things).  I didn’t jot down Jim’s exact words to Dwight’s mother, but it was some gem like, “Hello Mutter, I am to be married, tell Vater!”

The primary story was that it was Toby’s last day (with virtually no details), much to Michael’s glee.  He was training his replacement, Holly (played by the stellar Amy Ryan), who Michael — and Dwight by extension — decided he hated before even meeting her, as to him all that is HR is evil.  Turned out she thought his dislike of Toby was kind of funny, and Michael immediately changed his mind and started planning his future with Holly.  Jim tried to steer him away from moving too quickly by talking about the origins of his relationship with Pam and how moving slowly was what got them to such a good place (I’ve been enjoying Michael’s perpetual assumption that Jim and Pam aren’t “still going on”), which presumably led him to realize that since their relationship had so many milestones at work, why not add to that by proposing at work?  He handed over a wad of cash to Toby’s-goodbye-party-planner Phyllis (who got the gig by a gleeful usurping of Angela’s throne) to throw in some fireworks at the festivities.  (Look, I love Jim and Pam and think all of this is very sweet, but I do have to say that fireworks are overkill.  And this is coming from a woman whose fantasy proposal happens on the JumboTron at Yankee Stadium with all the fans screaming “Don’t do it!” and my giant face mouthing the words, “Screw you, I’m doin’ it!” just as Robinson Cano hits a game-running home run against the Red Sox.  I guess we all have a version of overkill that’s kind of perfect, though.  Maybe for Pam, a backdrop of fireworks in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot would’ve been perfect.)

 Regardless, Andy stole Jim’s thunder by publicly proposing to Angela, who could not have looked more irritated.  The fact that Andy made her repeat her answer into the microphone and she was even grumpier the second time (”I said…. okay.”) really drove it home — but poor Dwight.  Poor Dwight until, at least, a few minutes later when Phyllis caught him with Angela havin’ the sex in the office.  The beauty of that moment was that it was not Meredith or Oscar or Stanley or anyone else who caught them — it was Phyllis, Angela’s nemesis of the hour.  I wonder how that will unfold.

Backing up, Holly and Michael turn out to have a very similar sense of humor.  Holly even participated in Michael’s bad Yoda imitation!  Thankfully, Michael held back a proposal his own  based on Jim’s sage advice.  His attempts to look good in front of her also salvaged Toby’s last day from turning into horror-fest, as Michael had to put on a game face during Toby’s exit interview and during the send-off.

Poor Holly, by the way.  As part of Dwight’s “hazing,” she was led to believe that Kevin was mentally challenged and hired through a special program.  Kevin’s always-hanging-open mouth, love of simple things, and dopey demeanor did nothing to counter her belief, and she therefore treated him as “special.”  Which, to Kevin, came off as her attempt to seduce him.  What happened on their dessert date at the end gives me chills to imagine.

Sadly, Michael’s budding romance looks like it is not to be, as Michael learned of Jan’s pregnancy-by-artificial-insemination (her assurance that this particular sperm bank really had the goods was golden — underscored by suggesting Michael read the catalog and that he’d love the place since it’s near his favorite IHOP).  I’m not entirely convinced that after the way the two of them broke up they’d have the kind of discussion they did, though, in which Jan essentially invited Michael to be her partner through the pregnancy, which to him meant that he’s the “sort of” father.  And it’s just one more reason why this show works — awful as Michael can be, we still love him, and never more so than at the end he decided to “settle” because he always wanted children.

So.  Ryan’s job is available, I might add.  He got arrested for fraud as the gang watched it on the internet (Creed’s “It’s the temp!  It’s the temp!” was even funnier than his talking-head moment in which he asked the ubiquitous documentarians what it is he actually does for a living).  Pam’s off to NYC for the summer to study graphics at Pratt, and it does make me wonder if we’ll be welcomed back in the fall by some big news related to that NYC job opening and Pam’s summer in the city.  It also makes me wonder if Ryan’s apartment is also available, perhaps at a discount.

Remind me of all the hilarious moments I’ve forgotten!  And what do you think will happen?  Will Angela go back to Dwight?  Will Jim propose before Pam leaves for the summer?  Will Pam finish her program and come back to her regular job at DM or try to angle for something new?  What will Phyllis do, armed with this secret?  Will Kelly visit Ryan in prison, and will she get her wish of his fellow prisoners’ jealousy and disapproval?

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