*blows nose*

[firthgal]

I'm coming out of hiding just to say that the finale to The Office left me a sobbing mess. What a sweet, hilarious, wonderful, emotional, insightful, nostalgic ending to the show of my life. This show was with me for so long and captured so many of my thoughts and feelings that I could never really express myself, and even though it was wacky and over the top, there have never been any other characters in any piece of fiction that have ever felt so real to me. These people were like a second family and I love how it made the audience feel like a part of that. And even though in the real world most coworkers don't become as close as these people did, it still captured that complicated thing where you are with a bunch of strangers for hours on end every day suffering through the same shit and just trying to survive together, and you do whatever you can to make the day go by easier/faster, you find people that you can have fun with despite the boredom and torture that is called work, and you form a certain affection for these people (even the ones that bug the crap out of you), and it's sad when the group is broken, but the world moves on and new people show up to make the group different, but you'll always remember the good old days.


I was waiting for Michael's appearance with baited breath through the entire episode. I kept saying, "They can't have the finale without Michael! They just can't!" AND THEN HE SHOWED UP! And I spazzed out and cried a little at his "that's what she said" and Dwight looked so happy and OMG, MY BOYS WERE BACK TOGETHER AND IT WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING IN THE WORLD!!! And Michael takes so many pics of his children that he has two phones! With two separate numbers! Because he's so happy to have a family plan!!! I am so happy that he got such a happy ending. For the longest time I thought that he was doomed to be a tragic character forever, but then he got the happiest ending that he could ever ask for and it brings me to tears just thinking about it. I may not have been a fan of Holly/Michael (like, at all), but I am a fan of Michael/Happiness.

I actually made it through most of the show just fine, teared up a little here and there, but then it got to Andy saying, "I wish there was a way to know that you're in the good old days before you've actually left them." I just lost it. I lost my shit. I was bawling from then on out. It was such a perfect summation of any time that you're leaving a place that maybe put you through hell but you didn't realize meant so much to you until you've left it. There are so many times in my life that I thought I would never miss but I now look back on with such fondness that I wonder why I didn't enjoy it while I was actually experiencing it. Just... good job, Andy Bernard. You got me right in the heart. I was even bawling through Oscar's outrage over the documentary crew never capturing his origami talents.

Perfect ending to a show that I will always remember with the utmost fondness. Even in its darkest days I loved it to death.

Comments

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

I'm seriously convinced that baby wasn't Ryan's

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

It wasn't though? Haha, I thought some gal left him with the baby and never came back or something like that. /waves hi hi hello

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

But think about the luck Ryan generally has. xP

I was checking out tumblr after the finale and a couple of people made some good points why they thought the kid wasn't Ryan's.

/waves HEY HEY HEY! ;)

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm just really remembering the episode wrong but lol that's what I mean, that the kid wasn't his? XD

Either way, the show missed an opportunity to have Michael harass Ryan about babies LOOK RYAN WE BOTH HAVE BABIES LET ME SHOW YOU MY KIDS.

In my headcanon, this is the inciting reason Ryan ended up feeding the baby strawberries. He needed an excuse to get away from Michael. The whole ~luring the doctor away from Kelly~ business was just gravy.

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

OH, lol. *facepalm*

But that's a good point! A Michael/Ryan scene talking about their kids would have been so cute. Would have been my favorite thing about the episode. xP

Kind of sucked Ryan and Kelly weren't with everyone in the office at the end though.

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

Right??? I would have loved to see Michael gushing about babies to Ryan while Ryan just has this glazed over expression because oh no, oh no, he thought he had escaped this life.

Aww, I thought their ending was perfect! The main group was all gonna splinter off in the end, Michael going back to Holly and Jim and Pam going off to ... Texas (or wherever. I wasn't even paying attention at this point), and Dwight and Angela starting their new married life. And then there was Kelly and Ryan running off into the horizon together, which, ya know, is usually such a happily ever after thing in works of fiction, the perfect, match made in heaven couple frolicking into the sunset, but in The Office it's Ryan and Kelly and they're both terrible, dysfunctional people and IT WAS PERFECT PARODY SOBS, it was so good.

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

GOD THE CUTE I CANNOT BREATHE.

Everyone on tumblr pretty much agreed that was the best ending the writers could have given Ryan and Kelly. xP

BUT HOW IS LIFE? <3

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

DO YOU USE TUMBLR? I kinda went on hiatus around the time the finale premiered. missed a lot of the discourse but oh man, I totally track the Ryan tag. I used to make Michael/Ryan posts for it too lmao NO ONE ELSE WAS SO I TOOK IT UPON MYSELF TO FILL THE VOID. (Wouldn't it be funny if you saw some of my Office posts without knowing it was me...)

Sidebar: I totally got to meet BJ Novak and I got his autograph next to Steve's and that DVD case is now my most prized possession MY BABIES UGH.

LIFE IS... GOING. I GUESS. I'm back in school for artsy stuff this time.

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

I've thought about getting one lots of times. I'll probably cave eventually, lol.

OH MY GOD WHAT. YOU DESERVE THAT AND I AM GRINNING LIKE AN IDIOT.

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

Everyone caves eventually. We welcome you into our hell pit.

SOBS THANK YOU. Yeah, he was holding a public reading in town, testing reception for a few of his short stories. I gave him a drawing of Ryan that I did, too, and he said he loved it and that he was going to put it up somewhere. Gross crying on my part.

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

Haha yep, tumblr is why Livejournal has slowly died over the past year. xP

OH MY GOD HE SAID THAT? Maybe he hung it in the bathroom. xP

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

FFFFF I thought LJ died awhile ago... I do miss the interface, though. The sense of community and familiarity that is completely lacking on tumblr.

XD I WOULD BE HONORED IF HE HUNG IT THERE or anywhere really lol.

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

Also I like how we've hi-jacked firth's comments section. It feels just like the good ol' days now.

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

OMG yes, you guys used to do it to mine too. Ah man. <3

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

I think we all mutually did it to each other, like it was just this kind of bro-fist, accepted Thing.

/bro-fist, dudes, the two of you.

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

/bro-fist back at you. <3 You've made my day. :P And you'll make firth's when she sees the comments lol.

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

Aw, I'm glad. Seeing as I'm not really around LJ anymore, if you want to get in touch with me ever again, you can always contact me through tumblr.
http://inouken.tumblr.com/

(THIS GOES FOR BOTH YOU AND FIRTH <3)

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm still on hiatus there but if you guys can tolerate the interface enough you can just send me an ask whenever and I'll get the notification in my email etc. :>

[firthgal.livejournal.com]

You guys DID make my day! OMG! And I needed it, man. I kind of blew up at one of my bosses today because I was so POed about something and I just wanted to strangle everybody, but reading all these comments during my break times took me back to a glorious time. Gah, I've missed you guys. *sniff* Much as I lament the death of LJ, I ignore my LJ just as much as everyone else these days. I still try to post every now and then, but I'm usually too tired after work to write in detail about anything. *sigh*

I'll try to Tumblr more, but... well... blech.

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

Aw sweetie! That proves our bond is still there. <3 I was having a blah time too so this you guys made me feel better. I'm sorry your day was so hard babe. <3

Heh, my LJ friends page is pretty slow most of the time, the most active are graphics communities.

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

Oh, dude. dude. dudette. I tottered back to LJ with the expressed purpose of reading your reaction to this finale, because as you said, you'll always remember the good ol' days.

I hadn't even followed the last two seasons of The Office. The last season especially, but I watched the finale and what a sweet sendoff? Also it totally made me think about you. And LJ. And our close-knit little Office family, which was honestly one of the best fandom experiences of my life. Suffice it to say, that finale nostalgia bombed me something fierce.

Also I just went through some of your tags to play catch-up even more.

Part of the reason might have been because I specifically remember you talking about a certain show that I, AT THE TIME, had not been following. But I'm following it now. And I just. Really wanted to know your thoughts on it. BECAUSE I WILL FOREVER HOLD YOUR OPINION IN HIGH REGARD. Boy, let me tell you, though, reading those posts, I'm still getting a huge kick out of the fact that our ships just NEVER QUITE ALIGN.

The show's TBBT, by the way. Guess what I ship and you'll win a prize (like, maybe +10 to my admiration).

[firthgal.livejournal.com]

TINTED_GLASS!!!!!!!! *runs to you in slo-mo with open arms* I have missed you so!

I too miss our good ol' fandom days. Tumblr will just never work for me. It's impersonal and chaotic and blah. I MISS LIVEJOURNAL. But no one uses LJ anymore.

Hahahahaha, is your TBBT ship Sheldon/Howard? My first inkling was Sheldon/Leonard, but then I was like, "Nah, that's too normal for her." HOWARD/RAJ 4EVR!!1!1!!! What's sad is that I stopped watching the show not when the Sheldon/Penny subtext stopped, but when they toned down the Howard/Raj subtext and tried to tell us that Raj was in love with Howard's girlfriend. PAH! I will never, ever believe that, show. Ever.

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

/HUGS AND KISSES AND SUNSET BEACH MONTAGES

Tumblr. Oh dear. Yes, I read that you have tried Tumblr. And that it frustrates you. And. Honestly, I have to say, spot-on opinion of Tumblr, my dear friend. Spot-on. Keep that wit about you.

In all seriousness, though, Tumblr is horrible. It's the most user unfriendly social media site that I know and yet somehow it SUCKED ME INTO THE VORTEX FOR TWO WHOLE YEARS, and I'm not entirely convinced I've escaped yet. Like, I've been away for an entire month but I think a relapse is just around the corner. I've been infected and there is no hope for my soul.

L
M
A
O
Oh no, I've become normal. Pat yourself on the back for getting it right on the first go, though. Your firthgal senses must still be tingling. Ugh, I ship Sheldon/Leonard so much. SO MUCH OKAY.

so. damn. much. i actually. maybe. started
RPing
it
um

*clears throat* I've totally read Sheldon/Howard fanfiction, though. What a good hatemance, but I prefer Sheldon/Wil Wheaton if we're fulfilling that particular quota.

I also ship Howard/Raj and Amy/Penny. Basically I ship all the BFFs with their respective BFFs and the canon romances just bore me.

OMG SOBS THE TONED DOWN HOWARD/RAJ ENDED IT FOR YOU AND NOT THE TONED DOWN SHELDON/PENNY. Consider me both shocked and empathetic. Yes, it was quite sad when they toned down Howard and Raj's obvious big gay love. But oh man. This past season, it was pretty good on the Howard/Raj front. In one ep, Bernadette spoke in Raj's accent and Howard told her to use that voice more often because it's 'kind of a turn-on.' Bernadette just looked at him. "It turns you on when I sound like Raj?" and Howard got this deer in the headlights expression and TURNED AROUND REALLY FAST AND TRIED TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT OMG IT WAS GLORIOUS.

[firthgal.livejournal.com]

Ha! I thought that Sheldon/Leonard rang true to your shipping tendencies, but it's so shippable that I was like, "...Nah, it's gotta be more rare than that." I think I maybe shipped them when I watched the first season? A little bit? I can't remember, I just remember thinking that the show would be so much better if it focused more on the odd couple thing and less on the Nice Guy pining after the Hot Girl (in fact, I just wanted that storyline gone). I still think that, actually. But I did used to really dig Sheldon/Penny. Like, a lot. But then Howard/Raj stole my OTP'ing heart.

In one ep, Bernadette spoke in Raj's accent and Howard told her to use that voice more often because it's 'kind of a turn-on.' Bernadette just looked at him. "It turns you on when I sound like Raj?" and Howard got this deer in the headlights expression and TURNED AROUND REALLY FAST AND TRIED TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT OMG IT WAS GLORIOUS.

WHAAAAAAAAAT?!!! AND I MISSED IT? AAAAAAAAAAH. I've been thinking about getting back into the show recently, but... well... I'm lazy when it comes to such things. Or, more like I spend all my free time watching Asian dramas, therefore I can never catch up with my American shows. I have been trying to work my way through the 4th season of Arrested Development for the past month.

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

I thought that Sheldon/Leonard rang true to your shipping tendencies, but it's so shippable that I was like, "...Nah, it's gotta be more rare than that."

You know, man, I thought the same thing. I looked at Sheldon/Leonard and thought, "that is so shippable," which naturally lead to the conclusion, "I bet a lot of people ship them." Then I actually looked for Sheldon/Leonard fanfiction and found a veritable dearth of it. IT IS AMAZINGLY UNPOPULAR. TBBT is a really het-centric fandom. All of the main ships are het. And with the exception of Sheldon/Penny, they're all canon ships, too. I don't even think Sheldon/Penny is all that popular anymore, not after the show started hitting the audience hard with the Shamy. Ugh I could. Rant about that here, about what they've done to Sheldon's character this season just for the sake of SPEEDING SHELDON/AMY along but. I'll restrain myself. Barely. You're welcome. (Lmfao don't even get me started on Leonard/Penny oh man I have so many issues with their relationship, SO MANY)

WHAAAAAAAAAT?!!! AND I MISSED IT? AAAAAAAAAAH. I've been thinking about getting back into the show recently, but... well... I'm lazy when it comes to such things. Or, more like I spend all my free time watching Asian dramas, therefore I can never catch up with my American shows. I have been trying to work my way through the 4th season of Arrested Development for the past month.

Ahaha, yeah, it was a great moment. There are some other lovely moments between them as well but that is by far the highlight. Howard/Raj is so completely canon imo, like it's not even subtext anymore when it's just flat-out gay. CRIES UGH I LOVE THEM A LOT. I also love that you're still watching Asian dramas, omg. Bless you.

[firthgal.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear, my Asian drama watching is out of hand at this point. I don't even know how many I've watched. Over 100, definitely. It is a weird and crazy addiction, especially since I don't have much of a fandom fueling my love for it! I do for K-dramas, I suppose (Dramabeans), but I don't really comment on that blog or anything. I feel out of place and there are like 500 comments on every blog post and only the first page really has any back and forth, and I am never there in time for that. The drama reviews do plenty of analyzing, so I don't really have anything valuable to say anyway, but sometimes I just want to voice my love for the old guys! Not everyone wants an androgynous 19 year old idol as a boyfriend, okay? Ahjussi love!

Sheldon/Amy, ugh, don't even get me started. I'm not sure which one I find more grating: Sheldon/Amy or Leonard/Penny. Well... I'd probably still say Leonard/Penny.

[tinted-glass.livejournal.com]

You've watched over 100? OMG. I'm impressed.

It is a weird and crazy addiction, especially since I don't have much of a fandom fueling my love for it!

I guess we've always been on the fringes of fandom though, what with our tendency of liking unpopular characters and ships. So maybe it's not that big of a surprise for you to be doing your own thang? :>

Oh, good, I am glad we are on the same page: re: Sheldon/Amy and Leonard/Penny. I think the solution is obvious. The show should pair off Sheldon/Leonard and Amy/Penny. As a sidebar, Raj should go live with Howard and Bernadette and they should just have threesomes or take turns sharing I'M JUST SAYING.

But seriously, I find both Sheldon/Amy and Leonard/Penny problematic. Which... isn't bad for storytelling, honestly. Problematic relationships can be really interesting and engaging. THEY ARE MY FAVORITE THINGS in fact, but the issue I take with those two ships is how the writers try to make it sound like they're both working towards an ideal WHEN GOD THAT IS THE FARTHEST THING FROM THE TRUTH.