I guess this is sort of the part that makes The Office a sitcom rather than a mockumentary like the UK version. In the British version, there were parts where the characters mention the show (David Brent (Michael) talking about how they hosed him on the show and Tim Canterbury (Jim) mentioning how his grandma likes Lee (Roy) are the only ones I recall at the moment). This by itself isn't important, but if this applied to the American version, Pam would see Jim's talking-head scene where he has the ring, and realize he was going to propose to her, no drama. In a sit-com, the talking-head scene becomes a soliloquy, more drama for season 5. I'm not saying it's necessarily good or bad, just an observation.
I wouldn't go that far, but it was probably the best of Season 4 (which was probably the weakest since the non-UK-imports of Season 1, in my opinion). It was especially nice because it came on the heels of a few less-than-stellar episodes in a row and the previous hour-long episodes from this season had been so mediocre. Pretty much all the story lines were funny in this one.
I agree that Season 4 was kinda weak. I missed Ryan around the office and I agree that some of the Michael and Jan episodes were a bit too over-the-top insane.
Still, I enjoyed the finale and found some nice moments in it. Kevin sounding like a "special person" was particularly funny. One of my all-time favorite lines in the entire show is the moment Kevin looked at the camera and said: "I won the No-limit deuce-to-seven draw poker championship at world series of poker... so yeah, I'm pretty good at poker." right before Phyllis beat his butt at No-limit hold'em.
As for this episode-- the stuff I will recall is--
"I do the numbers. You want an M&M?"Dwight: "Pam! You are not talking to Dwight right now. You are talking to Jim."
Pam: "I'm confused.""So, how much anti-gravity potion do you want?"Michael: "What was the group from Scranton to make it big? Was it U2?"
Jim: "Yup."Holly: "It was easy to get in but impossible to rise up."
Michael: "That's what she sa... yeah, lots of companies are like that."--Jason "the ending moment with Dwight and Angela... awesome!" Evans"I don't want your foot money."
Jason, your anti-gravity potion quote reminded me of one of the best quotes from the show. I can't believe nobody has posted it yet:
Phyllis: [over the speakerphone] Hi, are there any local companies that rent anti-gravity machines?
Woman: Anti-gravity machines?
Phyllis: That's right, yeah.
Woman: What do they do exactly?
Phyllis: They make you feel lighter.
Woman: [looking it up] Anti-gravity... um... anti-depressant? I could put you through to someone on that?
Phyllis: [pause] Okay.
Good point - you would think the 'documentary' would be only 1 or 2 seasons behind the show. That would blow a lot of stuff up. Maybe they deal with that next season.
As for the UK version, I don't recall them dealing with the documentary before the special, which aired after the series ended. But I think they should acknowledge seeing the show sometime soon.
sort of off-topic, but Steve Carrell was on SNL last night, and there was a pretty funny bit (with Ricky Gervais as well) about a Japanese version of The Office.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/20337/satu...apanese-office