Special Coverage Comic-Con 2008Pop Culture Classics (The EW 1000)Sound BitesBox Office Game
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Jim and Pam are so happy, so functional, and so well-suited that I can't imagine how the show's writers could ever throw a wrench in their love affair and make it seem deserved and natural. My only fear is this: Pam said that she wouldn't go to New York if things weren't so solid with Jim. If his inability to propose last night gets her doubting his feelings for her, does that mean she'll punk out of school? I hope not: We've invested a lot in her growing up and moving on from DM. That said, have PB&J become ''snoozetastic,'' as Office watcher Mr. C. Nashawarmaty called them?

I don't know, but I'm intrigued by Jim's newfound interest in his job — because it shows a whole different side of him (and of John Krasinski). First, let's face it: Funny as he is, Jim is too old to act such a fool all the time. We don't want him to become Michael. (Speaking of which, Mike and Dwight's hazing of Amy Ryan's Holly reminded me a tad of how Jim treats Dwight.) Second, I'm glad Jim had the goolies to tell Ryan to stick it. That's something Michael could never really do to the DM bosses. He just bent over and took it from David Wallace and Ryan in ''The Deposition.''

Kudos to those of you who predicted Ryan would be arrested in a business-related scandal (Oscar: ''The real crime, I think, was the beard''). I had three favorite parts of this episode: one, when Toby told Mike he had to do the exit interview and Mike said, ''I am now his cruise director and my name is Captain Bruisin' ''; two, when Angela warned Phyllis, ''I hope you had fun today, because you're never, ever throwing a party again''; and three, when Creed saw Ryan, his big boss, getting arrested on the YouTube video and remarked, ''Look, it's the temp.'' I bet dollars to donuts we've got a bunch of hilarious prison visits in our future (''no touching!'') and maybe even an Office trial. But will we survive without Toby? I, for one, won't miss his baby-diarrhea-yellow-brown suits or his weird crush on Pam. I thought Michael's over-the-top hate for him was crafted into a well-done send-off for the character — if he is, in fact, leaving. Dwight saying he wrapped Michael's going-away present for Toby — a rock with a nasty note! — nearly had me on the floor, as did Michael mouthing that he would kill Toby if he criticized DM. And I appreciated the throwaway line when Dwight said he thought the cruel gift was ''over the line'' — mainly because he was disagreeing with Michael, just as the latter had told him to start doing.

NEXT: Lord of the ring


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