# The Office - 5/16/2013 - Retrospective, Finale
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 16, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564 "2013-05-16T23:36:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/81 "2013-05-17T21:42:01Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> I vaguely remember another show offering continuing web updates on its characters.
What I remembered is that in 2010 [Twitter accounts for some of the characters from The West Wing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_West_Wing#Twitter_accounts) started, commenting on real-world events. The nice thing about continuing the characters in written form is that you don’t need to involve the actors.
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### Author:  [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/82 "2013-05-17T21:48:21Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#):
>
> Uhhhh
Yeah, I know the conceit of “The Office” was that it was a documentary that was being filmed (just like the British original), but the poster said “his documentary catchphrase” which led me to believe that Andy had been involved in another documentary, _his_ documentary, during one of the more recent seasons which, as I stated , I didn’t watch. And I don’t remember that chant from the earlier seasons which I did watch in full.
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### Author:  [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/83 "2013-05-18T00:22:03Z")
I loved the episode. It was the best series finale I’ve seen in a while, or expect to see in the near future. It had what I like: old characters returning, but not overshadowing the actors who remained, call-backs, running jokes, a time-skip so we’re not exactly where we left off in the penultimate episode, and it was genuinely funny. Most finales get caught up too much in making something gimmicky or memorable of something good.
Unfortunately, I had a hard time controlling myself today when a 92-year old man was having trouble putting money in a bill collector thing and said “I can’t get it in the hole!”. If I hadn’t seen Michael Scott last night (and it was a surprise because they actively denied it), I wouldn’t have wanted to shout “THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!”
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### Author:  [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/84 "2013-05-18T00:22:16Z")
One thing I really liked about the Finale was when Dwight called Pam his best friend. The Dwight-Pam scenes over the years were some of my favorite moments of the show.
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### Author:  [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/85 "2013-05-18T01:15:23Z")
Pleasantly surprised. I’ve been losing interest in the show over the last few seasons but the finale was great. Just right.
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### Author:  [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/86 "2013-05-18T02:17:49Z")
It looks like Dwight’s brother and sister never really happened, or at least weren’t invited to the wedding. I thought it was interesting that they used the actress who played his sister on _The Farm_ episode as the new employee (Dakota?)
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/87 "2013-05-18T02:59:39Z")
> [@hajario](#):
>
> Not true. There was a one hour special after the two British seasons that did exactly that. It took place after the documentary aired.
Oh I never saw or heard about that special! Thanks for letting me know.
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/88 "2013-05-18T04:31:13Z")
My take-away was Philly must be a sucky place while Austin must be great.
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### Author:  [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/89 "2013-05-18T05:46:32Z")
I didn’t like what they did with Toby. His character was such a sad sack, I was hoping he would do well.
I nu l must have missed it: Jim is now going to be a part of Athleap? Back to his old position?
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/90 "2013-05-18T08:26:25Z")
> [@phreesh](#):
>
> …The Mose kidnapping was awkwardly choregraphed. Was Phyllis in on it? She opened the door when she said she was locking it and then just stood around as Mose took Angela…
Phyllis was obviously in on it; she was (very badly) pretending to act surprised when it happened. That’s why she felt guilty enough to literally carry Angela to the altar lick a pack mule.
> [@pancakes3](#):
>
> …The documentary is the show. They openly acknowledged that the show is in fact being filmed for a PBS documentary and everything we’ve seen is from the “documentary”…
That’s what I thought all this time, but then the in-show ads for the PBS documentary mentioned it was airing over only a few weeks. If the show literally is the documentary then there’s over a hundred hours of completed footage and PBS would need to devout it’s entire prime time schedule to air the whole thing in less than a year. Either that, or the DVDs set a new record for bonus features. 😉
> [@JohnGalt](#):
>
> It looks like Dwight’s brother and sister never really happened, or at least weren’t invited to the wedding. I thought it was interesting that they used the actress who played his sister on _The Farm_ episode as the new employee (Dakota?)
I just assumed Dwight hired his sister.
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### Author:  [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/91 "2013-05-18T11:55:24Z")
re being the same actor that played Merideth’s son in a much earlier ep …
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#):
>
> That’s what I thought, but I’m not sure. It seems like the kind of detail they would have gone for.
… I thought so too but haven’t seen it confirmed.
Merideth looked like she had lost a bunch of weight… must have been the yoga.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/92 "2013-05-18T12:10:22Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#):
>
> I didn’t like what they did with Toby. His character was such a sad sack, I was hoping he would do well.
Sometimes I think that as well, but then you have to remember he’s one of the main writers of the show (on the showrunner for 4 seasons and the director). In fact, he’s said he prefers less airtime because the more airtime he has the less time he has to write. So all that ‘sad sack’ stuff…he put it there.
Whenever I see someone like that, or Carol O’Connor on All In The Family (not that I’m comparing the two) and I think “Man, if you’re gonna be all cranky, why are you even on the show, just quit acting and go home” then I remember, that, hey, that’s the character and they must be doing it right if they just did that good of a job convincing me.
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/93 "2013-05-18T12:45:25Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#):
>
> It looks like Dwight’s brother and sister never really happened, or at least weren’t invited to the wedding. I thought it was interesting that they used the actress who played his sister on _The Farm_ episode as the new employee (Dakota?)
Why can’t they be there, just not on camera?
And the new employee was played by actress Dakota Johnson. Dwight’s sister was played by Majandra Delfino.
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/94 "2013-05-18T12:52:06Z")
Another thought, why would Athleap move to Austin? It’s a big city, but no “major league” level sports teams play there.
If Jim wants to chase AAA baseball players, he could have stayed in Scranton.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/95 "2013-05-18T13:45:51Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#):
>
> Another thought, why would Athleap move to Austin? It’s a big city, but no “major league” level sports teams play there.
>
> If Jim wants to chase AAA baseball players, he could have stayed in Scranton.
Are they chasing teams or individual players?
Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if Darryl wanted to move there for the music scene. But, if that was the case, Chicago would have made more sense for both the music and the sports.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/96 "2013-05-18T14:14:47Z")
They said something about a merger, as explanation for the move to Austin. Presumably the other company was already in Austin.
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/97 "2013-05-18T14:20:53Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Are they chasing teams or individual players?
Earlier Athleap episodes showed them chasing players. But it doesn’t really matter because if there’s no “major league” level teams in Austin, it stands to reason that there aren’t going to be any players either.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/98 "2013-05-18T15:08:35Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#):
>
> Earlier Athleap episodes showed them chasing players. But it doesn’t really matter because if there’s no “major league” level teams in Austin, it stands to reason that there aren’t going to be any players either.
Sorry, I meant to add that they may be trying to go where the players might live during the off season.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/99 "2013-05-18T16:49:09Z")
Is The Office unique for the cross-pollination between the cast and production staff? Paul Lieberstein (Toby) was showrunner, an executive producer, writer and director. B. J. Novak (Ryan) and Mindy Kaling (Kelly) were executive producers and writers. Phyllis Smith was a casting associate and later the role was created for her. (And not the same thing, but Angela Kinsey was married to Paul Lieberstein’s brother.) Other cast members directed episodes from time to time, but that’s more common.
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### Author:  [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-office-5-16-2013-retrospective-finale/658564/100 "2013-05-18T18:20:46Z")
> [@EllisDee](#):
>
> I’m guessing most people know this, but if (like me) you didn’t have the first clue, see Creed highlighted playing at [1:48 in the clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnFZsrs32Co#t=1m48s).
>
> What Creed did between his rocker days and going to work for Dunder Mifflin will forever remain a mystery.
Actually, I listened to an interview with Creed on a podcast, and most of what he was wanted for (dealing drugs & stealing LSD from the military) are exactly what he did. I don’t remember him saying anything about endangered animal meat, but he did spend a lot of time in Morrocco in the 60s, so anything’s possible. It was a great interview - if I can find out with who, I’ll post an update.
Found it! Kevin & Bean, April 2013. Sorry, can’t link or find the exact date from iPod.
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