I just watched the episode last night, finally.
I thought it was funny that, during Michael’s interview, he was congratulated because he had lowered the budget and yet lost no customers following the branch merger. Of course, the reason the budget got reduced was that almost everyone from Stanford quit because they couldn’t take working with Michael, and everyone else just took their customers.
Ooh, nice call. You’re right – that was probably the main reason for the budget reduction.
I just watched it again last night, and I also particularly liked Michael’s changed phrasing (and meaning) when he came back to Scranton and was announcing his return.
He first said, “I’m not going anywhere” (to announce his staying with his current job).
Which then changed into, “Yep. I’m going nowhere.”
Which gives it a totally new meaning. And his tone with that phrase appeared to be a slightly more defeated tone (but subtle). Nice.
I guess they weren’t counting the “Bee-otch” who blew up over the watermark incident.
I really liked the parallelism betwen Michael/Jan, Jim/Pam, and even Ryan/Kelly. Michael and Jim end up in essentially the same situation – returning to Scranton for the foreseeable future. But for Michael, it’s a dead-end situation (both with Jan and the job), and feels hopeless. For Jim, it represents a new chance with Pam and maybe even a return to enjoying his job.
The difference, of course, is that Michael really has reached the pinnacle of his success, while Jim has time to rise up in the organization – or find a new one.