The end of 30 Rock. I'm sad to see it go, but boy is it going out on a high note. Seven years is a great run for one of the best and yet lowest rated comedies on TV.
30 Rock
"Hogcock!"
Jack has gotten everything he's ever wanted and it hasn't made him happy. Liz is trying to make a happy life as a stay at home mom, but is struggling without work. I've never been on a mommy message board, but I've been on a lot of other boards and they captured the commenting culture perfectly. It's an ugly world, and I enjoyed the fast paced pop-up boxes as a visualization. Criss finds himself struggling to work when all he wants to do is be with the kids. That was a little contrived, but still fits in with what we know of the character. While Liz is discovering she cares more about work than she thought, Jack is trying desperately to fulfill his life outside of work. He easily completes his Six Sigma Wheel of Happiness, including a threesome with returning guest stars Julianne Moore and Salma Hayek (who lose their accents, great joke), but is not happy. In true plot convention, our two main characters find themselves at odds going into the finale act before one last show needs to be made.
"Last Lunch"
Blimpies! Lutz had me in stitches in this great finale. He's been the butt of jokes and marginalized for years, but now at the end, it's his time. In what has been a great season, this may have been my favorite thing. While the Lutz plot was very funny, the finale delivered in spades on heart, too. The boat send off for Jack was calibrated just right emotionally. Heartfelt, but not too sincere, I like how long they let Jack ramble on before Liz says she loves him, too. Tracy even gets a great character moment when he reveals his hatred of goodbyes comes from his father leaving him without one. Everyone had their moment to shine at the last of it, even Pete got a funny subplot about faking his own death. Then the final payoff for all those years of hinting that Kenneth is immortal. All in all, a great finale for a great show.
The Office
"Junior Salesman"
The thing that I feared most is happening. When they introduced Brian the boom guy, I thought this could be interesting as long has it doesn't become a love triangle with Pam and Jim. Lo and behold, they are going there, and I think it is a very bad idea. Jim and Pam are suppose to be the stable married couple. They fight, but they still love each other. This separation is a tough enough strain on their marriage, there don't need to be this extra element that just drips with TV contrivance and cliche. The rest of the episode was pretty well done. I enjoyed Dwight slowly realizing all his friends are psychos one way or another, and I was happy most of those friends were culled from past episodes, good continuity.
"Vandalism"
The Brian is in love with Pam plot continues, and I'm hating it more and more. Now his love for her has gotten him fired, and it would be nice if they left it there, but they won't. In Philadelphia, though, we get a nice odd couple story from Jim and Darryl. It's been done a million times before, but it was done well here. Back in Scranton, the stuff that wasn't about Pam and Brian, and about Pam and Dwight instead, I liked a lot. It was fun to see the two of them team up to enact revenge on the warehouse guy. Clark declaring to Pam that she's smart and knows that getting him to infiltrate the warehouse won't work was a highlight for me, in both the delivery and the truth of it. The easy shakedown of poor, idiotic Nate was also a nice bit.
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