I guess we know what happens now when you badmouth your own writers.

The Best of the Best

The Office “Company Picnic” In the fifth season finale we see the return of Amy Ryan’s Holly and a surprising new development for Pam and Jim’s relationship.

Grey’s Anatomy “Here’s to Future Days”/”Now or Never” To cap off a resurgent end of the season, Izzie decides whether or not to go forward with dangerous brain surgery.

WARNING: After the jump, THERE BE SPOILERS!

The Office: Watching this season, it has been clear what The Office is really capable of achieving. It is able to effortlessly bounce between an incredibly dark low-key comedy (a la the original Office) one scene and quickly shift into the some of the best zany physical comedy (recall throwing a cat into the ceiling in “Stress Relief”) at the drop of a dime.

While the physical comedy wasn’t as present Thursday night, it doesn’t mean that the episode wasn’t as good as any that has aired this season. Michael’s heightened self-awareness around Holly, which prevents him from throwing himself at her, only serves to show how good these two are for each other. And it seems from the end of the episode, and Amy Ryan’s continued desire to make films, that we’ll continue to get these tantalizing glimpses of Holly and Michael for the near future.

Moving from one couple to another, we learned that Pam is pregnant. Playing the scene without any sound just made it that much more effective, and it immediately made me think back to the rest stop proposal earlier this season filmed across the highway. I could go on for hundreds of more words about this episode but I doubt that you want to read about it, I would just like to finish by pointing out that Charles Minor is still a douche.

Grey’s Anatomy: I’m often asked why I watch Grey’s Anatomy, especially after the dreadful slump the show went through in the middle of the season. It’s a valid question and one that I usually shrug off with the excuse that once I start watching a show, I can’t stop until it’s over. That is true, but it’s not only this misguided sense of loyalty that keeps me watching; Grey’s can still bring it. I think Alan Sepinwall, from the Newark Star-Ledger, summed it up best, “This show is a free-swinging power hitter. When it swings and misses, it looks horrendous. But when it connects with the pitch it wants, all you can do is sit back and admire it.”

And in these two episodes, it was many of the smaller moments where the show made full contact. Meredith and Derek’s post-it wedding and Bailey’s breakdown to the Chief were two of the best moments in the whole season. Though those strengths were on full display in this season finale, obviously all of that is going to be glossed over for discussion of the cliff-hanger ending, which left the fates of two series regulars up in the air.

The entire second episode was merely a countdown to Izzie coding. I feel like we all knew that it was coming, but Katherine Heigl and Justin Chambers both sold it so well that I didn’t care. Although the George-bus storyline was incredibly similar to one done by E.R., it was still pretty powerfully done. Even though I like the character of George better than Izzie, and think that he has much more potential as a character, I think it’s most likely that he is going to be the one biting the dust. Though Shonda Rhimes could surprise us all and just kill them both off.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Leisure, Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.