Background

At the end of the previous episode, "A.A.R.M.", the in-universe documentary The Office: An American Workplace aired. Subsequent to this event, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) has been promoted to the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch; he and Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) have also agreed to be married. Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), after being humiliated with his talent show audition tape going viral on the internet, has found a job at his alma mater Cornell University. Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) has helped Athlead (now named "Athleap") open a branch in Austin, Texas. Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) is enjoying retirement in Florida, and Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner), after having been fired by Dwight, now owns a bar. Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) has moved to New York City to start a career as a writer, Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate) has moved to Poland, Creed Bratton (Creed Bratton) has faked his death, and Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) is preparing to run for a Pennsylvania State Senate seat.

Events

One year after the documentary has aired, the film crew has returned to shoot footage for DVD bonus features. Dwight and Angela are arranging their wedding, and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) has been appointed the best man. Jim plans a series of "good surprises" for Dwight's bachelor party, and the party consists of most of the current and former male employees. The group has Dwight fire a bazooka and receive a lap dance from Elizabeth the Stripper (Jackie Debatin), but Dwight remains oblivious to the stripper's identity, to Jim's delight. At Angela's bachelorette party, the attendees also hire a stripper for entertainment. However, they are horrified to see that the stripper is Meredith Palmer's (Kate Flannery) son, Jake (Spencer Daniels). Later, Dwight's cousin Mose (Michael Schur) kidnaps Angela as part of the Schrute tradition and takes her to a bar owned by Kevin. Dwight tracks down his fiancée and, upon being confronted by Kevin, tells him that his firing was not personal but based solely on his poor job performance, which cheers Kevin up.

The following day, a panel comprising the office workers is held so that audience members can ask them questions. Dunder Mifflin CEO David Wallace (Andy Buckley) expresses his distaste for the documentary, and Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) is pressed with questions about why she did not allow Jim to follow his dream after he has paid her so many romantic gestures. At the panel, Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) also meets her birth parents (Ed Begley Jr. and Joan Cusack), who had put her up for adoption.

On the day of the wedding, Jim tells Dwight that under Schrute tradition, he is not allowed to be best man as he is younger than him. Jim surprises him with the arrival of Michael Scott (Steve Carell); when Dwight expresses his surprise at Michael coming to the event, Michael replies with an emotional "that's what she said" joke. The wedding proceeds in Schrute tradition with Michael as Dwight's new best man. When Jim and Pam briefly return home, Jim is surprised to find Carol Stills (Nancy Carell) showing their house to another couple. Pam admits that she has been showing the house for two months. She wants to repay Jim for all his romantic gestures and says she wants him to go to Athleap in Austin, at which point the couple seeing the house make an offer.

Jim and Pam go to an after party at the warehouse where they inform an elated Darryl of their plans. Pam then unveils a new painted mural depicting the history of the Scranton branch. A final picture is taken with the employees and the camera crew before the employees go back up to the office for a final toast. Jim and Pam tell Dwight they are quitting, but Dwight fires them instead so he can give them hefty severance packages, as a last gesture of friendship. The employees give one last round of interviews before leaving. The episode ends with Pam taking her watercolor of the office building that Michael bought from her in the third-season episode "Business School", which then transitions into the closing shot of the actual Dunder Mifflin Paper Company Scranton Branch Building.

Writing and filming

"Finale" was written by series developer and showrunner Greg Daniels, making it his second writing credit for the year, after the season debut "New Guys", and his 12th writing credit overall.^[2][3] It was directed by Ken Kwapis, who had originally directed the series' pilot episode.^[4] Daniels joked that Kwapis was "the country vet who birthed this puppy" and had come "back to put it down".^[5] Prior to directing "Finale", he also directed the fifth season episode "Company Picnic".^[6] The initial idea for the finale was thought of by Daniels during production of the third season, described as "a reunion show", in the fashion of the reality show cast discussions common on reality shows like Survivor.^[7] Daniels, at one point, approached Jeff Probst, the host of Survivor, to appear in the finale as a moderator for the fictional reunion, although he declined.^[7] The initial table read for the episode took place on March 4, 2013.^[8] Filming commenced on March 6.^[9] According to Jenna Fischer, the episode took nine days to film, with the cast devoting 12 hours a day to the episode.^[10] The finale was described as "ambitious", featuring multiple location shoots, including one in an AT&T Office Building, which stood in for the Scranton Cultural Center.^[7] Filming for the episode and series as a whole came to an end on March 16, 2013.^[11] Wilson later tweeted a picture of the empty set after all filming had been finished.^[12]

Originally, the episode was supposed to be the 23rd and 24th episodes of the season, which would have meant that the series aired exactly 200 episodes. However, the series' penultimate episode was elongated into 2 separate episodes, resulting in "Finale" being the 24th and 25th episodes of the season. This meant that the last part of "Finale" is the series' 201st episode.^[13] Once filming finished Daniels, in an interview with TVLine, expressed his hope to expand the episode, stating, "I was very excited with the footage we got ... It's very big. I'm going to beg NBC to super-size it or extend it."^[14] Daniels later commented that when the editors cut together the first act, it was 23 minutes long; this is much longer than a normal first act for an hour long episode of television.^[15] In response, OfficeTally—the largest fan site for the series—started an online petition to supersize the finale, similar to the petition to expand the second-season finale, "Casino Night".^[15] By May 2, the petition had received over 20,000 signatures.^[15] On May 7, it was announced that NBC had extended the episode by 15 minutes, meaning that the episode would air in a 75-minute time slot.^[16] The episode is approximately 52 minutes in length.^[17]

Casting

The series finale guest stars Rachael Harris, Dakota Johnson, Joan Cusack, Ed Begley Jr., and Malcolm Barrett.^[18] The episode features the return of several of the series' actors and actresses, including former series writers and stars B. J. Novak and Mindy Kaling, as well as Andy Buckley, Robert R. Shafer, Michael Schur, and Matt Jones.^[18] Other minor recurring characters also make appearances, such as Nancy Carell as Carol Stills (who played the recurring role as Michael's real-estate agent and short-time girlfriend), Sendhil Ramamurthy as Ravi (who first appeared in the eighth-season episode "Angry Andy"), Eric Wareheim as Gabor (who first appeared in the earlier ninth-season episode "Junior Salesman"), James Urbaniak as Rolf (who first appeared in the fifth-season episode "Company Picnic"), Jackie Debatin as Elizabeth (who first appeared in the third-season episode "Ben Franklin"), Devon Abner as Devon (who was a former Dunder Mifflin employee fired in second-season episode "Halloween"), and Spencer Daniels as Jake Palmer (who first played Meredith's son in the second-season episode "Take Your Daughter to Work Day").^[3][19][20] The episode also features Bill Hader and Seth Meyers playing themselves.^[3][20]

Many members of the show's crew made cameos in the episode. The documentary crewman's voice that speaks to Dwight was played by camera operator Matt Sohn. The "frat boy" who mocks Andy at the restaurant was Greg Daniels' former assistant, Jonah Platt. Jay Falk, a script editor for the series, and his wife stood in for the couple buying Jim and Pam's house.^[20] Jennifer Celotta, a series writer and director, makes an appearance at Dwight's wedding. The episode's call sheet listed her character as "Jen Celotta Schrute".^[21] Producer and writer Graham Wagner also makes a cameo in both Mose's group, as well as at the wedding.^[20] Many of the individuals who asked questions were writers on the show: Brent Forrester asked about seeing their lives on TV, Amelie Gillette asked the question regarding Jim giving up Athlead, Steve Burgess asked if the camera changed the characters' behavior, Steve Hely asked if life has no meaning, Allison Silverman made the statement that Jim is attractive, and Dan Sterling asked what was in the teapot. Daniels' wife, Susanne Daniels, was the Q&A moderator.^[20][22] Daniels himself appeared during the documentary after-party along with executive producer Howard Klein, editors David Rogers and Claire Scanlon, script supervisor Veda Semarne, first assistant director Rusty Mahmood, prop master Phil Shea, and casting director Allison Jones. The remaining extras in the scene were members of the crew of The Office.^[19][20]

Jennie Tan, the founder of the largest The Office fansite OfficeTally appears in the episode as a fictional version of herself asking the members of the office questions. She initially emailed Daniels, asking if she could appear in the background in one of the scenes. He, however, hired her as a day actor and wrote her seven lines. During the filming, Daniels re-wrote part of Tan's line to make it more "pointed".^[22] Tan called the experience "surreal", because she was "playing [herself] but talking to Jim and Pam", rather than Krasinski and Fischer.^[22]

Early during production for the season, Kinsey and Wilson noted in an interview that the cast and crew were hoping for the return of former lead actor Carell.^[24] In mid-December, Krasinski later revealed that he was optimistic about a return; in an interview with E! Online Krasinski said that the producers were supposedly "still trying to figure out [Carell's] schedule" and that the finale "just wouldn't be the same without him".^[25] However, NBC chairman Robert Greenblatt later admitted during an interview that while he was "hopeful", he did not think Carell would return; he noted that Carell was satisfied with his character's exit and did not want to tarnish it.^[26] On January 16, Daniels revealed that Carell would not appear in the finale in any capacity,^[4] a decision that Carell later reiterated.^[27] Several months later, however, TVLine reported that the producers for The Office mounted "an 11th hour effort" to get Carell to make a cameo in the show's final episode.^[28] According to the article, "while no one is confirming that the final diplomatic push proved successful, no one is denying it either."^[28] Carell's personal representative confirmed that Carell was on the set for the final episode, but that he did not film any scenes. However, an anonymous source close to the show cryptically said "don't rule anything out".^[28] TVLine later reported on May 6, that Carell would appear in a cameo, although NBC declined to comment and Carell's representatives continued to deny the reports.^[29] A month after the episode aired, Carell explained in an interview with TVLine that he "lied for months to the press, to almost everyone, really".^[30] He noted that he "felt terribly for the cast and for [executive producer] Greg Daniels, because they all lied, too."^[30] Krasinski, on the other hand, explained that "It was so thrilling. We all just flat-out lied... It was just one of those things that we all vowed and had to protect".^[30] Even at the initial table read for the script, Carell's appearance was not revealed. In fact, his first line was not included in the read at all, and his second was scripted to be delivered by Creed Bratton.^[31]

Deleted scenes

The Season Nine DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode. Notable cut scenes include: more scenes from the Q&A panel; Pete discussing what he learned working at Dunder Mifflin; toasts at Dwight and Angela's wedding from Angela's sister, Phyllis, and Andy; more scenes with Erin and her biological parents in which they reconnect; further shots of the office members reminiscing about shared memories; and the office taking one of the potted plants outside and planting it in actual soil. Erin's parents explain that they, like Erin, are puppeteers, and when they worked on the movie The Dark Crystal, it gave them such gloomy thoughts they didn't think they could handle bringing up a baby.^[32] The episode originally was scripted to begin with a different cold open; it would have entailed a prank on Dwight by Jim, in which Dwight is led to believe that he is actually living in the Matrix, a computer-simulation from the eponymous 1999 film of the same name. The scene was cut from the episode and not included with the other deleted scenes, but it was shared via Facebook by Peacock TV on January 1, 2021.^[33] A table read of it—along with the rest of the episode—was included as a bonus feature on the ninth season DVD.^[31]

Ratings

"Finale" originally aired on May 16, 2013, on NBC in a 75-minute timeslot, preceded by a one-hour retrospective.^[40][41] The retrospective was viewed by 4.37 million viewers and received a 2.1/7% rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.^[42] The finale itself was viewed by 5.69 million viewers and received a 3.0 rating/8% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.^[42] This means that it was seen by 3.0 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 8 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This marked a significant increase, of over one million viewers, in the ratings from the previous episode, "A.A.R.M.".^[42][43] It also ranks as the highest-rated episode of the season, and, in terms of viewers, it was the highest-rated episode for the series since season eight's, "Pool Party", which had been viewed by 6.02 million viewers.^[42][44] The episode ranked second in its timeslot, being beaten by the ABC medical drama series, Grey's Anatomy.^[42] NBC increased their usual ad price by 200 percent for "Finale", asking for $400,000 per commercial. This was largely due to the anticipated increase in viewership that the finale would bring.^[45] Via DVR viewing, the episode was watched by an additional 2.38 million viewers with an added 18- to 49-year rating of 1.4, bringing the total to 8.07 million viewers and an 18- to 49-year rating of 4.4.^[46]

Reviews

"Finale" was met with acclaim from television critics.^[47] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix gave the episode a highly positive review and called it "a tremendously satisfying conclusion to a show that could make us gasp with laughter, but that could also make us cry or smile". Sepinwall noted that, despite the inconsistency in the last few seasons, "the world was rich enough to fuel a lovely 75-minute trip through the past, present and future of The Office. Ultimately, he noted that the "biggest emotional moments" belonged to Jim and Pam, and their final talking heads.^[19] Roth Cornet of IGN awarded the episode a 9 out of 10, denoting an "amazing" episode. She was highly pleased with the final fifteen minutes, noting that "in those final moments, this series hit every note we could have wanted, without overplaying any of them." She concluded that it "was a strong hour of television [and] the finale shone and delivered on all of its promise."^[48] Hillary Busis of Entertainment Weekly praised the entry, writing that "for anyone who's stuck with The Office through thick and thin ... last night's 75-minute-long finale was pretty much perfect." She wrote that "the finale had no shortage of sob-inducing moments", and applauded all of the characters' various happy endings.^[49]

Nick Campbell of TV.com wrote that the episode was "just right" for the series, and that it highlighted the fact that "the ending was more about the fact that you took a journey with these characters." He wrote that all of the character's subplots had emotion, even if they appeared slightly contrived. Ultimately he concluded that "it felt okay to say goodbye because it was the right atmosphere."^[50] James Poniewozik of Time wrote that the finale was "touching, sweet, funny, messy, a little manipulative. And in the end, it worked." He found that "The stuff that was like latter-seasons Office", such as Andy and Dwight's antics, were "all right" but that "the stuff that recalled the sweep of the whole series was wonderful." Poniewozik was slightly critical of Pam and Jim's story, noting that in the grand scheme of the show it was successful, but that it makes slightly less sense when one examines it closely; however, he felt that even "if the details don't add up, the emotions do". He concluded that the episode "worked mostly as an epilogue" and allowed the cast of the series to have their final moments.^[34]

Brian Lowry of Variety wrote that the finale "ignored" the last few seasons' missteps and was "awash in warmth and inside gags". He concluded that the show "deserved to finish on top", and that while some of the scenes, such as Dwight's wedding, seemed "a little bit trite", the resulting product was successful.^[51] Michael Tedder of Vulture awarded the episode five stars out of five and wrote that the episode was able to provide solid conclusions for all of the characters.^[36] Erik Adams of The A.V. Club awarded the episode an "A−" and wrote that "the quality of this series finale is found in the way it functions right now, in the afterglow of a TV show to which many devoted more than 100 hours of their lives. Some aspects of the episode fall flat, but when it hits, it hits." Ultimately, he found that "'Finale' is not a great piece of television" but that it was the finale that "The Office needed" because it was "the right point to jump off ... the circular track", due to the series idea of thematic reoccurrence.^[52] Tom Gliatto of People magazine, however, gave the episode a negative review, and wrote that "this episode was poorly conceived and clumsily structured. It really wasn't worthy of all the years of affectionate humor that had gone before it."^[47]

Steve Carell's cameo received glowing reviews from critics. Campbell noted that he was "glad [Carell's] return was still uncertain [before the episode aired] because the reveal was made that much sweeter."^[50] Sepinwall noted that Carell's return managed to not "overshadow the stories of the people who remained after he left, but which made sense for the characters, and the end of the series."^[19] Adams noted that "Carell doesn't get a lot to say—he's already had his chance to say goodbye—but that just makes each of his lines count more".^[52] Cornet felt that the cameo's "brevity" was "the perfect amount of Michael for this particular episode".^[48] Poniewozik described it as "a way that as best as possible walked the line between overplaying and underplaying Steve Carell's cameo."^[34] Lowry called it a "perfectly orchestrated cameo".^[51] Basis wrote that the appearance was "pretty great" and that "the notion of Michael finally getting the family he's always wanted was enough to melt the heart of even the nit-pickiest fan."^[49]

Accolades

This episode received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards. Greg Daniels was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and Ben Patrick, John W. Cook, and Rob Carr were nominated for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation. David Rogers and Claire Scanlon won for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series, marking the fifth win for The Office at the Emmys overall and the series' first win since 2009.^[53][54] Rogers and Scanlon also won an ACE Eddie award for Best Edited Half-Hour Series for Television.^[55]