Warning: SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW

Episode Title: “Goodbye, Michael” (Season 7, Episode 22)

Original Airdate: April 27, 2011 at 9:00 PM

Synopsis: Michael (Steve Carell) plans to say goodbye to everyone in the office as he is bound to depart to Colorado. Meanwhile, Deangelo (Will Ferrell) and Andy (Ed Helms) try to keep Michael’s biggest clients at Dunder Mifflin.

Review: Well, the day we thought was months away finally has come: Michael Scott’s last day at Dunder Mifflin. Michael plans a stress free day while saying goodbye to everyone in the office by 4 PM to catch his flight to Colorado to be with Holly (Amy Ryan). The only problem is: everyone in the office thinks they have one more day to say goodbye.

After going through the main group of people, Michael was persistent to say goodbye to Pam (Jenna Fischer) who was “out” to check on shredder prices. Jim (John Krasinski) takes Michael into his office, aware of his plans to leave a day early. It was touching to see how close that Michael and Jim have gone, as Jim couldn’t bring himself to say goodbye.

Another hilarious part of the episode were Dwight (Rainn Wilson) realizing how true of a friend Michael was when Michael gave Dwight the letter of recommendation he so wanted which was followed by their final paint ball fight. Other highlights included Michael giving Oscar (Oscar Nunez) a scarecrow (and Michael’s “talking head” that followed), as well as Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) telling his brother to welcome Michael to Boulder.

When Michael got to the airport he had still not seen Pam, which made it seem that he would never get to say goodbye to his favorite receptionist. However, after he got through security checkpoint she runs up and they exchange a big hug and goodbye. It was after that goodbye when he walked away, and it truly sank in that Scranton was now home to one less funny person.

The B-story in the episode involved Gabe (Zach Woods) threatening Andy to stay away from Erin, as well as Andy trying to keep Michael’s biggest clients with help from Deangelo. We follow Deangelo and Andy on a sales call and witness Deangelo’s horrible sales skills. This sets up the crack in Deangelo’s mold that will get him fired next week.

The episode ends with the Dunder Mifflin gang the day after Michael left at his goodbye party. Everyone stands around saddened, and after a little while Deangelo takes some cake and abruptly throws it away in a fit. We learn throughout the episode that Deangelo had weight issues early in his life and this cake meltdown worries the rest of the cast.

“Goodbye, Michael” was very touching and had some very funny moments as well. But I felt that with an episode running over 40 minutes, it should’ve had a lot more Michael in it. The B-story with Deangelo and Andy could have easily been saved for next week, and the one scene with Gabe and Erin (Ellie Kemper) seemed out of place as well. Other than that, this episode was a picture perfect farewell.

The next few weeks we will get to see Deangelo depart with Dunder Mifflin without a boss. This sets up for the big finale that will feature Ricky Gervais, Will Arnett, Jim Carrey, Ray Romano, Catherine Tate, and James Spader. Who will be the new boss come next season?

Final Grade – 9.5/10