It's been a year since the events of last week's episode, and the documentary crew is supposedly back to shoot some "where are they now" bonus footage, but really to wrap everything up. Which takes roughly five acts.
First, it's the night before Dwight's wedding and things are going great for him. He's chosen Jim as his "Bestisch Mensch," and Jim promises to rise to the occasion with only good pranks or guten pranken. Andy (now Internet-infamous as "Baby Wawa" due to his disastrous audition going viral), Darryl (currently living the good life in Austin with the company Jim left behind) and Toby (long since fired by Dwight and now trying to be a writer in New York) are all in from out of town so they can join the bachelor party for which Jim has arranged for Dwight to fire a bazooka, receive a lap dance and do something else I'll get to in a minute. Angela's bachelorette party goes less smoothly, however. Rachael Harris is almost completely wasted as Angela's sister, the stripper turns out to be Meredith's son and Angela herself is kidnapped by Mose, who has apparently been acting weirder than usual. However, we soon find out that the abduction is a Schrute tradition that requires Dwight to find the kidnapper at a bar and buy everyone drinks. Which brings us to the third thing Jim has arranged: a chance for Dwight to make up with Kevin, who now owns said bar after Dwight fired him. Dwight does so and retrieves Angela from the trunk of Mose's car.
The next morning, the local PBS station is hosting a panel at the local cultural center where the public can come and ask the employees (and ex-employees) questions. Stanley has flown in from Florida and David Wallace is also there for some reason. There are a few uncomfortable moments where Jim and Pam are put on the spot regarding the relative rockiness of their marriage over the past season, but all that gets back-burnered when Joan Cusack comes to the microphone to ask about Erin's search for her birth mother. Who she, of course, is and she's brought Erin's birth father (Ed Begley, Jr.) with her. Obviously it's a joyous reunion, even if everybody else has clearly forgotten that Erin is her middle name and everyone called her Kelly until she started at Dunder Mifflin.
The third act is Dwight's wedding. Original Kelly has returned with her boyfriend Ravi. And so has Ryan, with his baby. Yes, Ryan has a baby, who his girlfriend ditched with him. Kelly and Ryan end up running off together, abandoning her fiancé and his son at one stroke. Nellie is only too happy to take possession of Ryan's child and return to Europe with him, and the kid seems more than aware that he's caught a break. As for the actual wedding, it runs into a hitch or two. Angela's legs are still non-functional after her time in Mose's trunk, so Phyllis has to carry her down the aisle. And Jim tells Dwight that the Bestisch Mensch must be older than the groom, so he's not able to be there for him. Fortunately, Jim has managed to wrangle up a last-minute replacement: Michael Scott. Michael's a little grayer, and he's left Holly at home with the kids (!), but in Jim's own words… best prank ever.
Or is it? Because in act four, when Jim and Pam get home from the reception, Carol the realtor is exiting their house with a couple of potential buyers. This is quite the surprise for Jim, which is exactly how Pam wanted it. Turns out Pam's been showing the house for the last two months, so that she can show Jim how much she loves him and that he doesn't have to give up anything for her. And thus it looks like they're moving to Austin so Jim can rejoin Darryl at Athlead. Sorry, Athleap now. Clearly Jim's first day back at the new job is going to have to involve doing something about that name.
Finally, everyone proceeds to the after-party at Dunder Mifflin. There's a reception at the warehouse, where Pam unveils draft two of her warehouse mural. It turns out to be a cast portrait, which the warehouse workers should be thrilled about. However, the real after-party turns out to be the one with the core cast in the bullpen, saying farewell to each other and to the people behind the cameras and to us. But mostly -- and most importantly -- to the people behind the cameras, because come on.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!
"one year later..." reads the subtitle as Dwight's new muscle car roars down the street. He asks why the film crew is back, a year after the documentary aired, and an off-camera voice explains that it's bonus footage for the DVD. As if this wouldn't have come up while they were getting into the car. Dwight sneers a bit about DVDs and PBS, and brings us up to speed as his car passes some campaign signs, including one advertising Oscar for state senate. The entire Scranton paper market is in Dwight's back pocket, his wedding is tomorrow and there will be a "mini-reunion" at a local theater. "I haven't seen Kevin since we let him go," he muses. Cue a clip of Manager-Dwight rolling three huge cakes into the conference room. One is to commemorate Stanley's retirement, and the second is frosted with a message for Kevin to get out. Everyone protests at Dwight's callous treatment of him, and although they fall silent when Dwight asks for a merit-based argument to save Kevin, Pam points out that Toby always stops everyone from getting fired. Which turns out to be what the third cake is for. "Bye-bye, Toby!" Dwight sings as he Pollacks a squiggle of frosting onto Toby's cake. "At least I got chocolate," Kevin sobs through the mouthful that he's eating with his bare hands.
Full credits, which include the names of all the regulars during the theme song. I was hoping they'd do that. I was also hoping for shots of them individually, but this is better than nothing.
Jim pedals his bicycle into the parking lot, an endeavor that seems to be going better than when he tried it in Stamford. "Saves on gas, cheaper than a vasectomy, and, oh yeah, it's good for the environment," he smirks. With that, he hurries to join the tai chi class Dwight is leading. Pam's already there, so I'm not sure about the total effect on the Halperts' carbon footprint. He VOs that things are great with him and Pam, who finished her (long-forgotten) mural for the Irish cultural center. "And Dwight is imitating Japanese business practices for reasons he explained to us in Japanese." As the tai chi proceeds, Pam and Angela have a whispered conversation that doesn't have much purpose other than to show how they're apparently friends now. Dwight adjourns the class, and Angela comes up to give him a kiss, which requires quite a vertical leap on her part. She's excited about the wedding, but Dwight says he's going to miss some of the old gang. Angela says it only needs to be the two of them. "And the old man to feed us the cheese that he's been fermenting since the day of my birth," Dwight reminds her, setting up a bit that never pays off.
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