This past week was the relative calm before the storm of season finales coming my way as a TV viewer. Most of the shows I watch had strong episodes that set up what look to be even stronger season finales.
Once Upon a Time had its best episode in weeks with an emotional hour that made me love Bae/Neal more than ever before and absolutely broke my heart with his tragic separation from his family once again. Game of Thrones continued to effectively build a sense of foreboding and lay the groundwork for the incredible moments coming in the rest of the season. Castle gave us a compelling case and an even more compelling cliffhanger surrounding Beckett’s future at the 12th precinct. New Girl featured some great scenes with Jess’s father and one ridiculously romantic moment on the rooftop. The Mindy Project was absolutely hilarious—from Mindy and Casey in the shower to Mindy accidentally performing a routine on a stripper pole. And Saturday Night Live welcomed back Kristen Wiig with some of my favorite characters she brought to life during her time on the show (Garth and Kat! Target Lady!).
While all of these shows featured some great individual moments, my favorite thing on TV this week came from The Office. The show’s penultimate episode was its most enjoyable and emotional in a long time—mainly because of the scenes between Jim and Pam and Dwight and Angela.
Jim’s way of showing Pam how much she means to him left me a crying mess. From the clips of their best moments set to a fantastically appropriate song (“Open Your Eyes” by Snow Patrol) to John Krasinski’s flawlessly earnest delivery of “You are everything,” this moment was all that a diehard fan of their relationship could have hoped for as the show ends its run. And the callback to the Christmas card was perfect, but what I loved most was that we’ll never know what it said. That’s for Jim and Pam—not for us—and that’s the way it should be.
The huge leap forward for Dwight and Angela was also incredibly emotional. Rainn Wilson gave me a new favorite Dwight scene with his proposal. He doesn’t usually show that kind of emotion or sincerity, so seeing such pure joy and love on his face was a beautiful thing. I never thought Dwight and Angela could make me cry, but I guess I was wrong. I am going to be an absolute wreck on Thursday when I say goodbye to Dunder Mifflin for good.
What was the best thing you saw on TV this week? Do you have any predictions for what’s going to be the best moment next week (in what’s sure to be a week of exceptional moments)?
The morning after scene at the beginning of New Girl was my favorite thing this week (surprise surprise!) – how could I resist my 2 favorite fictional people gazing at each other with so much tenderness and happiness? even if it only lasted a few seconds.
Jim showing Pam what she meant to him was also quite delightful. I started watching The Office regularly sometime in season 2 (I think) and remember their “Casino Night” declaration of love and kiss quite vividly – it was one of the most intense, heartbreaking and exciting things I had seen on TV. So I’ll always have a soft spot for Jim and Pam. Seeing their romance in retrospect was wonderful, even if they haven’t been very exciting or interesting lately. It makes me think that I might have to watch the early seasons of The Office sometime. I’ve always loved Jim. He looked so young and shaggy in the beginning…
And Angela and Dwight belong together too, but their moment didn’t have quite the same impact for me. Maybe because of the megaphone!
How did I know you were going to pick the New Girl morning-after scene? 😉