The Office Baby Eventually Gets Delivered

The Office baby was the second big 'Jam' milestone event of the season. With The Office baby coming five months after the wedding, Jim and Pam have officially concluded their journey. Of course, their adventures are far from over, but now that they've ended their "will they-won't they" journey, gotten married, and had a baby, they've checked off every big TV milestone possible. But The Office baby took a while to come in and complete that journey, and not without some typically cringe-worthy comedy.

When the show got Jim and Pam married this past October, the sentiment did not take a back seat to the typical, uncomfortable Office madness. Jim and Pam are usually the voices of reason in such antics, but in this case, they were in no mood to be reasonable. Pam, in particular, nearly lost it in her quest to not have the baby before midnight - one which even Michael Scott tried to stop by the end.

The delivery of The Office baby didn't take place until the second half hour. Even after little miss Cecelia Marie Halpert was born, the couple didn't have an easy first day with her. But that was almost preferable to what Dwight wound up doing in their house while they were gone.

Once again, the show defied the usual expectations for these special TV events. In the wedding special and The Office baby episodes, the uncomfortable, socially awkward madness was increased, if anything. This time, no one recreated the YouTube wedding dance or tore their scrotum, but there were more than enough breastfeeding mishaps to balance that out.

The problem fans have isn't with the special episodes this year, but what comes after. Following the wedding show, and leading up to The Office baby special, the show has gotten very mixed reactions this season. With no Jim and Pam angst to power the action, and now no more milestones left for the couple, they've had to use corporate drama and new romances to drive this year.

In addition to the delivery, Dwight and Angela actually had new developments for the first time in over a year. Meanwhile, the newest hard luck would-be Office couple, Andy and Erin, had yet another mixup - thanks in part to matchmaking Michael - before Andy finally made a breakthrough. As for new Dunder Mifflin owners Sabre - led by Kathy Bates - they took a week off before their new reign resumes in future episodes.

Now that The Office baby is here, and the cycle of this TV couple is complete, Jim and Pam now move on to the most difficult stage of all. Few couples stay loved on TV after getting together, getting married and having a baby, since there's little non "jump the shark" storylines left after that.

The Office is already starting to lose buzz in Season Six, and they have no more Jim and Pam specials left to plan for, so they have a crucial string of episodes ahead of them.

Sources

Office Tally

Television Without Pity- "The Delivery"