Well, it’s a two-for-one final review before we tie the knot.
SUMMARY
The Office – “Niagara” – Well, it’s been a few months and Jim and a pregnant Pam are finally tying the knot. Unfortunately, they also invited the entire office, including Michael Scott, who didn’t realize how wedding blocks work, and thus doesn’t have a room at the hotel. Concerned that one of them will reveal Pam’s pregnancy and ruin the wedding, Jim warns them all, only for him to accidentally reveal it when he gets tongue-tied during a toast. Meanwhile, Dwight hooks up with Pam’s friend Isabella, only to mistreat her the next day and try to get another lady, Kevin loses his shoes, and Michael is forced to sleep in the vending area. However, Pam and Jim, at the end of their respective ropes after so many things go wrong, manage to sneak away and get married in secret at Niagara Falls, before returning and dealing with the rest of the ceremony and reception. Also, Michael ends up seducing Pam’s mom.
Schitt’s Creek – “Happy Ending” – It’s David’s wedding day and the day before the other Roses leave Schitt’s creek for California. David awakens to find out that a huge storm has wrecked his venue and prevented the officiant from being able to make it. The rest of the town scrambles to make alternate arrangements. In an effort to help him relax, David is treated to a massage by his fiance, Patrick, only for the masseuse to give David a “happy ending.” The wedding manages to happen, with Moira officiating, and everyone gets a beautiful ceremony and a wonderful send-off.
END SUMMARY
Q: Hold on, I need a minute to regain composure.
J: Take your time, we edit these. Or we should, anyway.
Q: I’ve seen both of these already and still, they got me so good. The Schitt’s Creek finale is so short. I forgot how short those episodes are, while The Office gave us a two-parter, which was honestly necessary with the very large cast of those episodes.
J: I feel like Schitt’s Creek could handle it because they’d pretty much wrapped up the rest of the series so the only thing that needed to happen was the wedding itself, whereas The Office was just giving us a mid-season two-parter which finale gave us the Jim and Pam wedding we’d been expecting for like 5 seasons.
Q: So long! We’d been waiting for that wedding for SO LONG! Which made the gross-out cold open that much bigger. “We know you came here to cry, but this is still a comedy show.” I think about that choice a lot. I truly did not expect it.
J: I don’t think anyone has ever said the writers of these shows didn’t know what they were doing. But yeah, the cold open of everyone puking because they don’t want to help Pam avoid nausea is hilarious. I still think the most impressive part is that Creed Bratton continues to just eat noodles and enjoy the show while everyone is hurling. He was one of the best characters on that show because they only used him when they had something good for him. But yeah, it’s a perfect way to open a romantic episode.
Q: And I mean, it’s not just the cold open – literally everything is going wrong, but not always in the way you expect. Jim and Pam remind everyone in the office not to spill the beans on Pam’s pregnancy, and then JIM slips while giving a toast at the rehearsal dinner, causing Pam’s Meemaw to threaten not to attend the wedding. Incredible. Andy injures himself trying to impress Erin and Pam, the only sober person available, has to drive him to the hospital. Michael misunderstands hotel blocks and has to sleep in the ice room. Pam’s veil snags and she dissolves into tears. It’s a series of unfortunate events, although really not too far out of the realm of real world possibility for wedding hijinks..
J: Jim revealing the pregnancy after warning a group of the most inept human beings, at least half of whom constantly reveal secrets, was genius. They did truly make a nightmare wedding scenario throughout the episode, but it all works out, because that’s what usually happens with problems during a wedding. You find a way to make them work. Granted, the botched wedding day is a staple of sitcoms, but still, this one is one of the best because it doesn’t go as crazy as some others (like Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s bomb scare or the blizzard from Friends).
Q: The Schitt’s Creek wedding is also very much “wedding comedy of errors” – rain ruins their outdoor venue and prevents their officiant from attending, so Moira has to step in as officiant. Johnny has to come up with an alternate venue. Since the wedding color scheme is black and white, Alexis had accidentally ordered herself a wedding dress for her attire and she at first vehemently denies that it’s a wedding dress. But of course, most memorably, Patrick arranges for a massage for notoriously neurotic David, and the massage therapist misunderstands his instructions and gives David a “happy ending.” I love that scene because not only is it hilarious, to me it’s a scene that would only happen in a queer show. There just isn’t a heteronormative way to use “I accidentally got a hand job from a masseuse because I thought you had arranged it for me” in a feel-good comedy show. And then calling back to that scene in the ceremony? Priceless.
J: I mean, it’s a triple-entendre, because it’s a reference to a “happy ending,” a “happy ending” for the characters, and a “happy ending” for the show. Amazing that Dan Levy wrote this in three hours. I mean, when you’re on a roll, you’re on a roll. I’d be surprised if the Office didn’t take a lot longer. They were meticulous about scripts and were not happy with a lot of improving or ad-libbing the way that Schitt’s Creek was. Also the episode is twice the length, but not counting that. I can’t imagine spending three hours and having crafted something as funny as Moira coming out dressed as a viking pope with a hat rim of hair, let alone the rest of the episode.
Q: That’s so interesting because I never would have guessed that The Office, with its mockumentary, naturalistic feel, would be more tightly scripted than Schitt’s Creek.
Both of these episodes have instant “burst into tears” moments for me. In Schitt’s Creek, they tend to be tear jerkers immediately followed by a laugh, so you are literally laughing through your tears. It starts when Alexis is waiting to walk David down the aisle, and she finally admits that what she is wearing is a wedding dress and she’s afraid that she’s ruined the wedding, and David says to her, “For what it’s worth, I am continuously impressed by you. Now can you please walk me down the aisle before people lose interest?” And then I just cry through Patrick and David’s vows until “…Patrick Brewer, you are my happy ending.”
In Niagara, we had to have Jim ruin the wedding first by spilling the beans on Pam’s pregnancy, and then being too drunk to help bring Andy to the hospital. But when Pam is crying over her torn veil and he grabs a pair of scissors and clips his tie? I’m a mess. And then he whisks her away to elope on the Maid of the Mist (which is a real thing you can do but you have to bring your own officiant) because he knew their coworkers and friends were going to ruin their actual wedding. And then we get that talking head where Jim reveals “I bought those boat tickets the day I saw that YouTube video. I knew we’d need a back-up plan. The boat was actually Plan C. The church was Plan B and Plan A was marrying her a long, long time ago. Pretty much the day I met her.”
Anyway, now I’m crying again.
J: I agree with you on the “continuously impressed” line, because it encompasses the entire relationship with these two over the show. They’ve gone from contentious spoiled brats to a pair of close-knit adult siblings. It works really well. As for the torn veil, I love Jim’s response, although I don’t think it brings me to tears, and I absolutely love the Maid of the Mist and the Plan A line. I also appreciate that neither episode ends on the saccharine lines, because they’re still comedy shows. Just like they came in, they went out with a laugh. In Schitt’s Creek, we see that the town sign now shows Moira appearing to bang Johnny in the backside and in the Office, we get an interview with Kevin that is funny and disgusting, but results in the reveal that Michael is banging Pam’s mom, something that sets up a very funny episode later in the season.
These episodes represent some of the best work from two great comedy shows.
And this represents the last of these reviews, because we’re getting married now! Hopefully I’ll start reviewing again in the future, because I do miss it.
Q: Your public misses you. But they’ll have to wait a little bit longer, you’re mine now.
J: I wouldn’t have it any other way, my love.