By Matt Harper
After watching a five year courtship, viewers of NBC's "The Office" were treated to the nuptials of Dunder Mifflin faves Pam and Jim. But was the wedding everything we were expecting? The back-and-forth relationship between these two, while not the entire focus of the show, certainly has set the pace for the series, with many of their milestones as a couple bookending the seasons. So having the big wedding special just three episodes into the new season (as opposed to the season finale) may be an attempt to wean us off of these two lovebirds. (Although truthfully, it feels like the writers have been doing that for a while). Typically, series end when two main characters get hitched, so pushing these two to the sidelines is more than likely an attempt to prolong the life expectancy of the show.
I was an unpopular fellow this morning when I pointed out in the MTV News morning meeting that I was disappointed with the episode. I'll fully admit that I usually find the hour-long "Office" specials a bit burdensome, but this one felt especially plodding. Part of this was clearly because there was no real focus to the episode. Sure, they were at a wedding, but that's less a plot and more another location for potential hilarity to ensue. But the episode played out like a series of skits and half-explored plots that never really went anywhere: Michael looking for wedding romance, Andy pining over Erin, Jim accidentally revealing Pam's pregnancy at the rehearsal dinner, Andy bursting his scrotum, Dwight's carnal conquest, Pam's last-minute breakdown, and on and on.
Sure, Jim and Pam half-eloping was adorable, and I'll fully admit that the maid-of-the-mist nuptials made me a bit misty-eyed, but the overly-long meta-tribute to the "Forever" wedding viral video had me rolling my (still misty) eyes. Look, "Office" writers, I get it: You like to reference pop-culture moments — you already did it well with Michael's obsession with "parkour," not to mention the Three Wolf Moon T-shirt that Dwight wears proudly in this very episode.
But enough of my heart-of-stone ramblings. What did you think? Did the wedding episode "jump the shark" (or perhaps, "tear the scrotum" should be our new standard?), or was it a sweet culmination of an office romance that has stolen our hearts?
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