dollsome | (no subject)

While putting off my reading for class tomorrow (who, me? Shocking!), I sat down this afternoon and rewatched "Goodbye Toby"! And it was a ... weird, verging-on-spiritual experience? Or, okay, maybe not quite that intense. (Well. Maybe. There is the "Suck on this!" rock to consider.) It's like, all of a sudden, it was brilliant and everything that tormented me throughout the fourth season was gone and the future, from this point on, seemed boundless and beautiful! Or ... something. This whole reconciliation-with-The-Office process has been odd and far more emotional than anything has the right to be. And also AWESOME.

... Gosh, I love Michael/Holly. Which the picspam made very subtle, so I figured I'd actually spell it out for you. But, jeez, the fact that, within the span of one episode, the show managed to so completely sell that relationship is so awesome to me. That moment where he talks in the Yoda voice and there's that horrible, awkward silence, that Michael's Frightened Yet Another Woman, Big Surprise silence that we have come to know so, so very well over the years -- and then Holly Yoda-talks right back? THAT is excellent TV, my friends! The shock and the unexpected sweetness of that moment just SLAYS me. And then later, when she touches his arm and it is just, I swear, one of the sweetest things that has ever been on this show. And considering it's the show that provided a little couple you may or may not have heard of called Jim/Pam, well, that's saying something! And, GAAAH, the END with Michael totally not getting that she's asking him out because he's so boggled by pregnant Jan, and then the LOOKING BACK. The MUTUAL LOOKING BACK.

The end of this episode, with that in combination with Pam being disappointed about Jim and that horrible sad bit with her and Toby taking the picture, switching to Toby sitting by himself and just looking at the pictures -- it's so bleak and made me feel so sad and hopeless for these poor people, and then I nearly perished of joy because GOD, I MISSED THAT SHOW GIVING ME THIS FEELING. It hurt the way that Michael doing his stupid voiceover in "Halloween" matched against images of him cleaning pumpkin off his car hurt! That is what makes this show magic, man.

And, okay, maybe also things like Michael looking at Toby in the exit interview scene. It's mesmerizing.

Also -- "The real crime, I think, was the beard" = greatest line of the whole season, right? RIGHT.

Also-also: what is up with Jim's hair in this episode?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

AAAAAH AH AH AH! I love this picspam! I want to have babies with this picspam! AH!!!

I think the main thing that keeps me from enjoying this episode on a whole is Dwight/Angela. I HATE THEIR LITTLE OFFICE RENDEZVOUS TRYST SO HARD, I HATE IT, HATE IT! But, oh, Michael and Holly. That Yoda scene amongst Toby's poor torn apart chair is one of my favorites of the whole series. I think if the show introduced a male-Kelly for Kelly to be smitten with or a male-Meredith for Meredith, it'd verge on lame, but somehow having a female-Michael for Michael to be smitten by is AWESOME and WONDERFUL. I think it's just because it's nice to see Michael have a real romantic connection.

AND OMG THE MOST TRAGIC LOVE STORY OF ALL TIME! LMAO! SIGH! Pam/Toby will go down in history as the greatest mis-use of a 'ship EVER. Ever, ever! I don't think I will ever fully forgive the show for DANGLING that 'ship in front of our faces with no intent to deliver. Gyah! BAD FORM FOREVER, OFFICE.

Also, as much as I love Oscar and his line, oh, how much better-looking Ryan was with the beard.

True story: I have a weird bitterness toward the Dwangela rendezvous, and I think that feeling might mostly just come from you. And also the fact that, well, poor Andy. I know that, no matter what, Andy is just going to kill me in season five, because he's such a dweeb, but he's so sweet in his lameness. He needs a lady who appreciates him. And I do sort of wish they'd done a bit more with Andy/Angela, too -- blah blah, strike, blah blah, limited episodes, blah blah -- because the idea of what their dynamic would be like if she legitimately liked him is a highly delightful notion to me. THE ULTRA LAME MADLIBS GAME. So on my Favourite Season Four Moments list. And this line from the "Dinner Party" deleted scenes (which I'm going to quote from my HANDY DANDY "Dinner Party" script, thank you DVDs!)--

"You have to understand, I hated you so deeply for so long that it's difficult for me to find you tolerable. Which I do."

I just found that ENCHANTING.

So, yeah. Even though Dwight and Angela are absolutely made for each other, and they're DWANGELA, I still get weirdly conflicty feelings. So you tread carefully, season five!

And, um, lame confession time? I still like to dream that maybe once Toby comes back from Costa Rica, all bummed that it wasn't as great as he dreamed it would be for a zillion years, he and Pam will pick up where they left off friendship-wise, and meanwhile Jim and Pam's relationship will sour as love built on mutual adorability and pranking of Dwight can't last, DAMN IT, and then PAM AND TOBY WILL FALL IN LOVE----

I am like an Office heathen.

........... but it would be awesome.

Like, I know I should want Toby to find some nice Costa Rican lady who will actually love him back and everything, but I can't help it, I JUST WANT HIM TO LOVE PAM ALWAYS. Gyah!

The MadLibs! Oh MAN! You just know that one of their 'dates' included matching puffy-sweaters with cats on them and the sweet, crooning sound of Harry Connick Jr. to properly cap the evening of rigorous puzzle-doing off. You know it! And I think that THEY are my biggest hang-up in enjoying the Dwight/Angela reunion (well, that, and: HELLO, ANGELA, WORLD'S BIGGEST HYPOCRITE!) As pitiful as Dwight was during their woeful break-up, there is just something WONDERFUL about Andy courting Angela. By a capella! By phone! It's just--I wish the show didn't get so hung up over its main 'ships, the way that they are over Michael/Jan, Jim/Pam and Dwight/Angela. When you have BETTER 'ships come along, dammit, it's okay to deviate from the original! I would so much rather see Michael/Holly, Toby/Pam, and Andy/Angela than ANY of their deemed Big True Love counterparts.

Aww, that line really IS enchanting, and what's even more enchanting is the idea of Toby coming back and still harboring his non-creepy, determined-to-keep-platonic-but-eventually-failing crush. I hope! Which isn't lame of us, oh no, it's it's own form of enchanting.

By God, I'm enchanted! I'm enchanted A LOT. I wonder if maybe I could use the fact that my mother was in the theatre department at the University of Washington with Rainn Wilson to somehow finagle my way into a writing gig for this show, and then I could sneakily, subtly Toby/Pam-ify the whole show. And it would be AWESOME.

Maybe if I have a light course load next semester.

You know, I don't even have big problems with Jim/Pam, really -- like, when I just watch the show, and they are cute and a couple, I'm like, 'Okay, you guys are cute, that's fine with me!' But then I think about Jim proposing successfully, and them getting married, and it kind of makes me want to throw up. So. That might become an issue. I GET THAT THEY ARE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER AND REALLY, REALLY HAPPY, I DO. I just ... there's a sick, little ~~big~~ part of me that wishes they weren't, and yearns to plant seeds of discontentment and illmatched-ness between them. I am wicked.

Andy serenading Angela will always be one of the greatest romantic moments on this show ever, EVER. Also, hey, show, if you need to be hung up on one of your main couples, FOR GOD'S SAKE, GO BACK TO RYAN/KELLY. For me. Come on. I remember the good ol' days when I never had to worry about them parting, because there was no way Kelly was gonna let him go!

And OH GOSH, YOU'RE RIGHT, Angela has finally found someone who can share her appreciation for Harry Connick Jr.! I feel like there might be some actual affection lurking beneath her disdainful ambivalence that we just haven't gotten to see. It's like ... weird reverse Ryan/Kelly!