Liz Lemon Is Pregnant? Jim Willingly Does His Job?

Normally I would've turned in my oh-so-brilliant commentary on The Office and 30 Rock last night, but I was out late at the wrap party for MTV's reality competition Rock the Cradle. The finale was action-packed with quite a few twists -- nobody I was with expected Kenny Loggins' son, Crosby Loggins, to win the night like he did. Whether I agree with the decision or not (and I don't), I got to see Dee Snider perform "We're Not Gonna Take It," and that's going down as one of my highlights of 2008.

When I finally got home, I dropped my ass in front of the television and caught up on the evening's new episodes of The Office and 30 Rock -- which, much to my heart's dismay -- wrapped up its second season last night. Despite what others here at film.com might think, I have found great fault in the post-strike episodes; there is plenty to laugh at in every one, sure, but the attempt to crunch numerous remaining story arcs into the truncated season has resulted in a rushed, often discombobulated feeling that never lets audiences really enjoy what's taking place. Consider the final moments of last night's episode, which should have possessed a poignancy that made my girlfriend cry. Liz, you see, spent the entire episode convinced she was pregnant with Lloyd the Beeper King's baby. Between freaking out about and ultimately accepting this, Liz leaves a string of messages on Jack's voice mail, which he gets at the end of a long day at his crappy Homeland Security job in Washington. The final message reveals that Liz is, in fact, not pregnant -- false alarm. Jack, knowing Liz so well, drives through the night to be there for her, a nod to their secret love for each other that's been sorely lacking for several episodes now. Like I said, this should've made my girlfriend cry and me grin with secret, girly joy. Nothing. Rushed. Hopefully when they have a whole season to play with next year, Tina Fey and company will give these moments the attention they need.

Over on The Office, things are ramping up for Jim's big proposal next episode. We don't know this for sure, but what else are they going to do for a season finale? Jim, by the way, has succumbed to the office conundrum that traps so much of America; he's got a future planned with Pam, but has no way to pay for it, so he's left with no choice now but to actually try to do his crappy job well in order to keep it. Meanwhile, Michael leads a small troupe to a local high school job fair in order to find a summer intern, but, as always, gets in his own way; I find it fascinating how the writers manage to make sure he's always three seconds of hard thinking away from realizing how bad his life is -- but they always give him the mental escape pods to flee from the hard truth. By the time Michael returns to the office and watches Jim embrace Pam to celebrate a new paper contract, he confides to the viewers that Jim, whom he obviously admires, could do anything he wants in life, absolutely anything, but he chooses to work at Dunder-Mifflin like Michael. Selling paper just like Michael. It's the kind of poignant moment I wanted to end this week's 30 Rock.

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