PB&J 4EVA

Pam and Jim got married last night! I could pretend I found the whole thing unaffecting and spent the episode in deep, emotionless critical thought. I suppose I could also pretend to find Glenn Beck reasonable and insightful; the two exercises would undoubtedly be equally persuasive. Yes, Pam and Jim got married, and I was a little verklempt.

The episode was an hour-long special, and although I’ve never found The Office as funny or well-edited when it’s over half an hour, the momentousness of the occasion did seem to warrant some additional attention. Without the full hour, there may not have been time for Meredith to wonder about appropriate gift return policy, or Kevin to encounter difficulty while picking up his shoes. Some moments did feel fluffier than others, and it was obvious that the entire Meemaw set-up was just an excuse to get Michael to speak at the rehearsal dinner, but by the time major wedding events began taking place, the pace felt appropriate and familiarly snappy.

I love Pam and Jim, have been excited about their relationship for years, and found the wedding deeply satisfying as a narrative ending. NBC even marketed the episode as a conclusion, with slo-mo shots of Pam and Jim looking at each other and title cards that read something like “time for the happy ending.” It makes a great deal of sense – the traditional definition of a comedy is that it ends in a wedding, and if this were an Elizabethan play (The Office; or, Michael Scott the Trickst’r), Michael would give a wry speech at the end and everyone would pair up (Dwight and Angela, Andy and Erin) and dance the night away. But obviously, this is not the end of The Office, and we will return to Dunder Mifflin next week to deal with the repercussions of Michael sleeping with Pam’s mom and probably make some great honeymoon “that’s what she said” jokes.

This is essentially a more specific iteration of my previous comments about why this show is so great, but it’s definitely worth expressing once again. The Office is so great, and it’s partly because it can achieve the emotional high and closure of a wedding and then come back to work the next week. Pam and Jim just got married, but their lives will go on, still happy and funny despite their resolved sexual tension. Shockingly, we might continue to find humor and pleasure out of following their life together, newlyweds with a newborn, and consider this character development rather than jumping the shark. This is a model for what traditional sitcoms could be. Sit up and take notice, How I Met Your Mother.