Episode Title: "Company Picnic"

Synopsis: The staffers attend the annual Dunder Mifflin company picnic in the fifth-season finale, where Michael and ex-flame Holly reunite; the Scranton branch tries to outwit, outplay, and outlast the competition in a volleyball tournament.

Guest Stars: Idris Elba, Amy Ryan

Discuss.

This is the shortest season finale since the first season, which only had six episodes and not a typical finale. The finales have always been top notch ("Casino Night," "The Job," and "Goodbye, Toby"). Here is hoping for a good one tonight.

This is the 100th episode of the series.

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Okay, I'm an Amy Ryan fan again. I loved this episode, and Dwight was really great here!

Dwight was hilarious. The Slumdog Millionaire takeoff was so funny (loved the microphone/cattle prod combo, & poor Buffalo). The interplay between Amy Ryan and Steve Carrell was wonderful. Several little funny moments. And at the end, awwwww! :-)

You know, I would be totally fine if Amy Ryan never appeared on The Office again. There have been to many episodes this year that have consisted of Michael and Holly staring at each other and doing the same impressions over and over for half the episode. There scenes really drag. I do not feel it was a coincidence that the comedy factor was upped after Amy Ryan 6 episode stint was up.

Overall a very solid episode with a nice surprise at the end with Pam being knocked up. Cafe Disco or Broke would have fit better as finales but this was alright. This isn't a Series Emmy tape.

Erin continues to be a very good addition to the cast. Here is to hoping that they sign her on as a series regular soon.

^^^I agree about Amy Ryan, but today I paid attention to her, and was less annoyed. Maybe because the rest of the episode was so awesome. I loved Dwight kicking the ball, and then slowly proceeding to get it.

I've always loved Amy Ryan on the show and she would be a series regular in a perfect world. Tonight, was no exception. Carell and Ryan were terrific together.

The last scene was so joyful...reminded me of Jim asking Pam on a date.

Ok.

The Vball stuff was hilarious!

Amy and Steve are real cute together, but there really is too much of them just staring at each other. It was funny the first couple times.

Erin is a great addition to the cast. I hope she stays!

And I'm ready to get hated on, but that ending was unnecessary. I don't know why The Office fells the need to have mind blowing/game changing finales. It feels like they just through that at us cause they felt they had too. I don't need Jim/Pam developments in my Office finale. I just need them to be funny! Hopefully they won't Murphy Brown it next season.

I agree with whoever said Cafe Disco or Broke would have made better finales. They were much stronger.

Grade: B
Season: B+ (Though a solid A for the last half)

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This was a quiet finale, but I was so okay with that. There were so many beautiful little subtleties -- the look on Michael's face when he learned Holly and her boyfriend were building a house, their interactions while planning their skit, Michael's speech about their story being a long one (that was bittersweet and brilliantly delivered by Carell), and of course that final scene with Jim and Pam -- so well played by Krasinski. I really hope Amy Ryan returns in some capacity next season and also manages an Emmy nod for her arch on the show -- she's a joy to watch.

Overall, this was a fantastic season for The Office; as great as 30 Rock is, this show needs another Comedy Series Emmy, and they really brought it (for the most part) this season. Cheers.

Episode Grade for "Company Picnic": A-
Season 5 Grade: B+/A

The volleyball game was fun, and the Pam reveal at the end was really good, but other than that this was an okay finale. I love Amy Ryan, but Holly and Michael need to stop with the staring. lol.

B

Season Grade: B+
Season MVP: Steve Carell

Series Tapes: "Weight Loss," "Stress Relief," "Broke," & "Cafe Disco"

I thought the final part of this season starting with "The Michael Scott Paper Company" has been brilliant -- and everything leading up to it was quite good as well. In fact I think it has outshone "30 Rock" as the best comedy on TV this season. With that said, this finale was mediocre. They didn't get nearly enough mileage out of the Michael/Holly reunion and only very sporadic parts of the company picnic lived up to their comic potential. Luckily the final scene between Jim and Pam was so beautiful that it really made the episode worthwhile for me. I can't wait for next season.

Grade for "Company Picnic": B
Grade for Season Five: A-

Ok, I know the Holly return & Pam ending were huge, but this episode just didn't do it for me. It felt dull compared to the last 5 or 6 stellar episodes.

In my opinion, the weakest season finale since the first season.

"It must be nice to get a rest from all of your rest."

"Maybe I played volleyball in junior high. And high school. And some in college. AND VOLLEYBALL CAMP MOST SUMMERS!"

"I usually don't enjoy the theatre, but this is delightful."

This was a fairly ho-hum episode to be a season finale, but there were some great moments with it. Loved Amy Ryan's return, the volleyball match-ups leading up to Scranton vs. corporate, the "Slumdog Millionaire" send-up with Holly and Michael's sketch, and then the last reveal with Jim and Pam at the hospital. This pregnancy is definitely a pointed direction to take. I hope that works out for the show in the long-run. Some kind of Michael/Holly reconcilation would have made this good episode a great one, but there was still nice moments from the ensemble (Stanley, Phyllis, Angela, David, etc.). Now seeing the full season play out, I wish that the MSPC had lasted a bit longer than it did, b/c that was the season pinnacle, and I really wanted to see Michael succeed with his own thing and how Ryan and Pam would play into that. But the show's moving its characters along amazingly well, and I look forward to season 6.

Grade for "Company Picnic": B
Season Average: B+

Considering the bigness of the Office's regular finale's this fell a little flat.

However, as an episode of the show it worked well. I'm not sure if i liked the Buffalo branch closing since they didn't follow through with the storyline (we never got to see the end of the volleyball game), however it was still fun.

Did we ever hear the words "you're pregnant"? Is there anything else they could possibly be happy about? Even though they dropped that huge hint with the radiation.

Too much of this felt like it was all created to get Pam in the hospitable, but quite a bit of it worked.

This was my least favourite finale yet, including "Hot Girl". There was little comedy and while the baby reveal was sweet, it was unnecessary. My series tape suggestions for submission are "Stress Relief (Parts 1 & 2)"; "New Boss"/"Two Weeks" and "The Michael Scott Paper Company"/"Broke". The rest of my picks for all of the regular actors, writers and directors are located in the sticky thread (link). I do not have "Company Picnic" for anyone in the cast or crew, as they already had better submissions.

Kind of an average episode, but the last three minutes were fantastic. Michael's speech about Holly was perfectly delivered. Too bad Carell will probably never win an Emmy. Also, Jim's reaction to Pam's pregnancy was the best moment Krasinski has ever had on the show (IMO).

I think they should go with these tapes:

Tape A: Weight Loss
Tape B: Stress Relief
Tape C: Broke/Cafe Disco

I really think they need to stay away from the MSPC episodes. For me, it was a very weak, unfunny plot.

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I thought this was fantastic. The opening (with changing the clocks) was hilarious, and the company picnic was a ton of fun, from Michael/Holly's sketch, to Pam playing volleyball, Phyllis sitting down, Dwight's best friend, and so on. I also agree that Erin is a great addition to the cast.

And yeah, the last few minutes were perfection. Carell was wonderful, and Fischer and Krasinski's reactions were beautiful.
A

This season should get Fischer back into the Supporting Actress race, and it should win Best Comedy Series again.

30 Rock may have the better season finale, but The Office has the more consistent season.

The Office for Outstanding Comedy Series 2009!!

I thought it was a great finale. I think the Pam-Jim pregnancy is a legitimate take on real life, and therefore, I don't mind it as any sort of unnecessary ploy. Michael and Holly are beautiful together. I'm sure there would have been more stuff featuring the supporting players had the episode been longer than the traditional 22 minutes. I look forward to seeing if there is more on the DVD release.

I would certainly put "The Office" ahead of "30 Rock" in the comedy series race this year. Hopefully, Carell will finally get an Emmy win. I'd like to see Fischer return to the Emmy race and it would be nice to see Krasinski get some recognition (how brilliant was his look at the end of this episode?). His best season was still probably season two, but something is better than nothing. However, Wilson will probably get in before him, and I don't know if the show can get two nods in that category. Hopefully, there are a couple writing and directing nominations, and a nomination for Amy Ryan as well.

G'Day,
Forgot to comment on this.

A nice funny final, but not the greatness of Goodbye Toby, Casino Night or The Job.

The vollyball game was amazing as was Slumdunder Mifflinaire. However I'm not sure about the rest.

The pregnancy bombshell was a nice moment and provided great acting from Krasinski and Fischer (although I'm very worried Fischer will go for this episode). However it meant all the other storylines from the episode were dropped (vollyball game, buffalo branch) and seemed like they are trying to hard to put a game changing twist at the end of each season and am worried about what this could mean for next season.

Wouldn't be a terrible choice for a series tape but wouldn't be a good one. This has been an amazing season for the office and they could very well deserve to win. I'd still suggest they submit:

TAPE A: Stress Relief
TAPE B: Dream Team / The Michael Scott Paper Company
TAPE C: Two Weeks / Broke