NBC’s ‘The Office’ season 9, episode 23 review: Jim proves his love to Pam, Dwight is engaged

Tonight’s episode of “The Office” is the last one before the big finale next week, so we are expecting tonight’s show to really be setting things up for next week more then anything else. Ready to get to the good stuff?  Let’s see what’s going on with everyone.

Angela: Moving in with Oscar has turned them into an old married couple. She can’t find a sitter so she brings her son to work and their “marriage” type relationship continues at the office.

Dwight: Now that he is manager, he’s decided to take the next step with his girlfriend and ask her to marry him, but when he sees Angela’s son acting like he used to when he was a kid he holds off on asking. Dwight spends some time with Angela’s son and is convinced that this is his son. He calls Angela into his office and tells her that he thinks that Phillip is his son and that he will propose to her if he is, but because he offers this as some sort of contract she tells him that her son is not his. Dwight asks Jim for advice about proposing to Esther or Angela and he tells Dwight that it’s been obvious that he’s been in love with Angela for years. Dwight chases Angela down and tells her that he loves her and wants to marry her. She accepts and tells him the truth about Phillip – it’s Dwight’s son.

Andy: He’s gone from Dunder Mifflin and is auditioning  for an “American Idol” type show for acapella singers. While in line he meets a women who is very passionate about singing as well. When he is told that the judges are done seeing people for the day, Andy totally hijacks someone else’s audition, and even though he’s obviously got some singing chops, he picks bad songs and makes a terrible impression on the judges. Also Clay Aiken needs to be on the new “American Idol” judging panel immediately if not sooner.

Jim and Pam: Jim’s partners are trying to get him to accept the 3 month traveling gig, but he’s still not budging. Pam on the other hand is happy that he’s chosen her over his job, but she also feels guilty taking the opportunity away from him. After Pam runs into Darryl and he tells her that he doesn’t really believe that Jim is happy staying in Scranton selling paper, she realizes that she can’t hold him back from his dream. Pam tells Jim that she thinks that she’s not enough for him and is afraid that he will resent her later in life that he didn’t go on the trip. Jim enlists the help of the documentary crew to help show Pam that she is more then enough for him. He gives her a disc and when she puts it into the computer she sees every beautiful Jim and Pam moment that they have shared over the past 9 years including the love letter he was going to give her at Christmas with the teapot back when the series first started. After she finishes watching the DVD, Jim gives her the love letter from so many years back and with tears streaming down her face she understands how much she means to him. We are also sobbing uncontrollably like a baby now – le sigh.

It’s been a long time since we’ve laughed this hard at an episode of “The Office” (we totally want a bean bag that has “NOW” written on it to throw around our own office), but it was a great set up for the big finale next week. While we go off to get a box of tissues to clean up our keyboard from all the tears, feel free to tell us what you thought of tonight’s episode of “The Office”.

Photo: NBC