The Office Season 7
Overview
Everyone knew this was Steve Carell's last season, and the show builds toward Michael Scott's goodbye with surprising care. Early on it's business as usual — Michael is still desperate to be loved, still torturing Toby, still turning every meeting into a cry for help — but the return of Holly Flax changes the trajectory. Amy Ryan is the one person who genuinely matches Michael's weirdness, and watching him grow up just enough to deserve her is the season's real story. His farewell run of episodes, especially "Goodbye, Michael," is about as perfect a sitcom exit as you'll find; bring tissues for his last scenes with Jim and Pam. Around the edges you've got Will Ferrell stopping by as the dangerously incompetent Deangelo Vickers, a very young Cece Halpert, and the staff slowly realizing the office will have to exist without its ridiculous center. The season isn't the show's funniest overall, and you can feel it auditioning replacements near the end. But as a goodbye to one of TV's great characters, it absolutely sticks the landing.
