31 replies to this topic

[Tandemonium]

When the party planning committee drops the ball on the annual Christmas party, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) gets everyone to celebrate with a traditional Schrute German Christmas. Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) fears that Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) has forgotten to include him in the new job in Philadelphia. Pete (Jake Lacy) teaches Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) about his favorite movie, Die Hard.

[Sunshine55]

Good episode, and I got a little wistful when I realized it would be the show's last Christmas episode. I always love Dwight's nutty family traditions, and his Christmas party was pretty funny.
But drunk Darryl was also hilarious. When he started thinking of hitting on Meredith, I knew he was hammered to the point of (almost) no return. Craig Robinson did a great job with the moment when he realized that Jim had not forgotten Darryl after all.
And a Nellie-Toby hookup? Yeesh! For a second, I thought they were faking us out, but then they kissed. I guess Toby deserves a love interest after all these years, but they make a very strange couple.

[NiceGuyEddie]

Go Toby! That last 30 seconds was great. 'Bout time he got lucky :-)

Yeah Darryl was great, his spin move into the eggnog table - classic.

What was the name of Dwight's Santa Claus variant, how do you spell it? I tried to google it but couldn't find anything.

[cupFloweR]

http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Belsnickel

[ReadIshmael]

That almost felt like an episode from the show's prime. It was funny, and sweet, and I loved Jim and Pam together, and it had a couple effective runners and emotional throughlines but one cohesive, office-centered storyline.

And I fucking love Die Hard, so that whole bit made me very happy.

[OhhhCocoa]

I don't know if it all came together as a cohesive episode, but there were a lot of great moments in this one! I had tears in my eyes from laughing at Darryl's fall into the table.

Jim and Pam's enthusiasm for Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas took me back to their stay at Schrute Farms, and I loved it. Dwight and Jim's not-so-secret bromance was cute and appropriate - they've worked together so long and it really is sad to think of them being apart. Even when Dwight is beating Jim half to death.

I found Erin/New Jim's plotline very charming but I do feel that the writers are fudging Erin's character a bit to fit this turn of events. She came off as so confident and flirtatious (and not as painfully stupid as she often is), and it felt inconsistent. Andy can stay gone as long as he wants, though. Do not miss him at all, which is sad because I once liked him.

Go Toby and Nellie! I was bummed at the fakeout at the end of the Halloween ep, so this made my night.

[NiceGuyEddie]

http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Belsnickel

Awesome, thanks.
I was googling "Belch Nichol" :-P

[murrrrr]

And I fucking love Die Hard, so that whole bit made me very happy.

It's one of my all time favourite Christmas movies!

[NiceGuyEddie]

Wow, Zwarte Piet was real too!

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Black_Peter

I think this episode was my favorite so far of the season.

Agreed with the point that Erin was not her usual character this ep - but, the thing is, I preferred how she was in tonight's ep than her usual overly-exaggerated naivety and craziness.

[chadritt]

Agreed, shes finally an Erin I could see someone having a real crush on. Showing a cute girl Die Hard for the first time is a great date too.

[couchspudstud]

I thought this episode was decent but not great. They don't seem to get much work done when Andy's not around, but that didn't get much done when Michael wasn't around either.
The one thing that bothered me is why is Jim taking a bus to Philly. Do Jim and Pam only have 1 car?

[AileenM]

Was today the first time we found out for sure that Jim was planning on quitting DM? Just last week (?) he was attempting to go part time and have coverage at the office while he was away.

[NiceGuyEddie]

What made you think he was quitting? Did I miss something?

[2MuchTV]

I wonder if the Toby-Nellie hookup is some kind of meta-commentary on the fact that Paul Lieberstein was the one who was so in love with the idea of having Catherine Tate/Nellie on the show last year when he was showrunner, even though it was a disaster. Daniels and company have finally figured out the character in a way Lieberstein never did, but it makes a certain amount of sense to have Toby fall for her.

[kia112]

What made you think he was quitting? Did I miss something?

Maybe it's because he said that it was his last Christmas party?

[NiceGuyEddie]

What made you think he was quitting? Did I miss something?

Maybe it's because he said that it was his last Christmas party?

Woah, if he said that I totally missed it.
I wonder if that was a freudian slip on the part of the actor, since so much of the dialog is improvised anyway. And either they noticed but let it go or the editors didn't even notice. Because I don't think there's been any other indication anywhere that the character, not the actor, is quitting DM, just that he's moving to part-time.

[tominboston]

After last season I definitely thought it was time to put this show out of its misery, but last night's great episode makes me a little sad that the end is coming. This show has always done Christmas well. Was that the final meeting of the Party Planning Committee? And Dwight's weird Pennsylvania Dutch celebration makes me wish that the Shrute Farm spinoff had been picked up.

So roughly how many episodes are left at this point? I assume that it will run until April or May, but I see that 30 Rock is pulling the plug next month and I wonder if The Office will end early as well.

[2MuchTV]

NBC ordered a full season of 22 episodes (unlike 30 Rock, which was renewed for a final 13), so there's 13 left.

[NicoleMN6]

Yes, that was weird. But maybe he was just referring to the fact that he hopes this company will be a full-time job by next Christmas... good thing Pam has her mom around, I guess, unless Jim plans to move the whole family to Philly.

[goldberry71]

The Pete and Erin thing is obviously reminisent of Pam and Jim at the beginning. Sweet receptionist with a boyfriend who bonds with the fun, sweet goofball in the office. Even if they had to massage the Erin character a little bit, I liked it. Like someone else said, this is an Erin that we can get behind. Last night definitely hit the feels for me in terms of it being framed as the last Christmas. Although this isn't the great series that it used to be, I'd rather watch it than a lot of other shows on TV now. Darryl's fall that kept going was pretty awesome. And I am loving Pete. Dwight's sadface that Jim was missing out on Belsnickle was perfect. Meredith lining up to be spanked was pretty great. Toby going to town on that kiss. I just wish we had Dwight in his green underpants. What is the episode count on that now?

[Shanna Marie]

But maybe he was just referring to the fact that he hopes this company will be a full-time job by next Christmas.

That was the way I took it. He's doing part time until he sees if this new company takes off, but if it is successful, then he could transition fully to it.

I had to crack up at everyone's response to the Gluhwein because just that day I'd practically done a happy dance in the grocery store when I saw that they were selling bottles of Gluhwein. I used to live in Germany, and that was sort of my introduction to wine when I was a kid (I got to have a taste). It just smells like Christmas to me. I got some one year in the States when a friend in the military was able to get it on base, and then I've occasionally found it in specialty shops, and I was planning a trip to one of those shops before I found it in my neighborhood Kroger. It would have been even better if I'd been drinking some while watching the episode, but I haven't opened the bottle yet.

However, it's supposed to be served warm, so it should have been in a Crock Pot or other kind of warmer, not in a punch bowl. It would probably be nasty cold.

I may have gotten a little misty-eyed at Dwight's sincere hug of Jim.

[queenelvis]

Even though her plot thread was small, I really loved Erin in this episode. Normally, I think she's a little OTT dumb, but that scene where she and Pete are watching Die Hard, and she started crying about Andy was just so perfectly done. It felt like a classic S2-3 Office moment. I loved it. And I love Pete and Erin together. I don't want Andy to come back! Let him continue his soul searching mission with his brother off screen.

Loved Dwight hitting Oscar hard with those branches. Loved Meredith acting completely inappropriate and wanting to get whipped by Belsnickle, and then Darryl thinking she was pretty cute. And Creed wanting a Tapas Swiss Miss Christmas. Even Toby and Nellie shocked me to the point where I was going, "Oh my God!" during the entire thing, because I wasn't expecting that at all. Somewhere Michael Scott is puking his guts out.

Of course, The Office is getting better now that it's ending this season. OF COURSE IT IS!

[AileenM]

Quote

Quote
What made you think he was quitting? Did I miss something?


Maybe it's because he said that it was his last Christmas party?


Woah, if he said that I totally missed it.
I wonder if that was a freudian slip on the part of the actor, since so much of the dialog is improvised anyway. And either they noticed but let it go or the editors didn't even notice. Because I don't think there's been any other indication anywhere that the character, not the actor, is quitting DM, just that he's moving to part-time.

When standing outside with Pam, saying goodbye, Jim said, "Thank you so much for putting that together. This was the perfect last Christmas Party," which implies that he's not going to be around for the next.

[prmami]

Darryl's spin into the table and break it not once, but twice was the first time I laughed out loud at this show in a long time. That and the Toby/Nellie kiss were the pleasant surprises for me this episode. Go 'head, Toby!

[HickoryColt]

I definetly heard Jim refer to this as the "last CHristmas party" when he was thanking Pam in the parking lot, which surprised me too. I am not really clear on his plans between this job and the new job, but knowing the show is ending I assume he leaves and goes full time in Philly at the new job.

I enjoyed this one. The party episodes were always a strength of the show. You could see the lost influence of Michael, he would have never let them forget a Christmas party

Edited by HickoryColt, Dec 8, 2012 @ 11:41 AM.

[chocolatine]

I think Jim referring to his last Christmas party at DM is just his optimism talking - he's confident that the sports marketing firm will be successful enough within a year for him to quit his DM job and move his family to Philadelphia. This kind of optimism is very common in start-ups. At my job, everyone talks about "when" we'll double our revenue, "when" we have our IPO, "when" we become a Fortune 500 company, not "if". Nobody says out loud that their start-up might fail.

[ccridernyc]

I'm definitely adding impish or admirable to my Christmas vernacular.

Oscar vehemently echoing Angela was funny too.

[Dallas Fan]

I really loved the ending. And that's how office romances really start.

[GBB]

Well now I finally get why Dwight's been acting (relatively) sane and reasonable the last couple of eps. He's been taking the anti-anxiety medication.

[Jedi Nut]

That kiss solidified what I'd suspected but didn't quite believe... until now.

Nellie is the Scranton Strangler.