I’m completely divided on what I thought of “Job Fair”, last night’s penultimate episode of The Office.

When it was all over, I felt like nothing much had happened and a handful of awesome opportunities for plot development and characterization — Pam’s old school, Dwight and Angela alone all afternoon—had been tossed aside.

And yet the online fandom is abuzz with developments between Jim Pam, even though they shared very little screentime before that passionate kiss at the end.

What I think it comes down to is we were just handed a set-up, a springboard for some serious action in next week’s hour-long finale. Jim’s job is at stake. And while he seemed to save it, something tells me Ryan isn’t interested in judging his performance on merit. Pam, meanwhile, now has visions of New York or Philadelphia dancing in her head, and I don’t know how they can keep her behind reception in Scranton much longer.

There’s a proposal coming soon. And a Dwanela reunion. Ryan’s headed for a fall, and Toby’s headed for the door. Michael, somehow, has traveled a long road to end up not too far from where we met him three years ago. Where the pieces land one week from now, I won’t even venture to guess.

Like Matt and Kevin over at the That’s What She Said podcast, I love when the cold opens relate to the main story. It was weird to see Oscar standing by Pam at reception, but we soon see he’s waiting to leave with Michael, Pam and Darryl for the local high school job fair.

Michael’s dressed decidedly casual for the occasion and he wants to see some energy from his cohorts. (How cute was Pam’s rah-rah gesture when Michael says “show me excited”? Right up there with her chair swoosh sound from “Chairmodel” if you ask me.)

The goal today is to find some some fresh blood to euthanize—err, youth-anize the office.

Darryl followed Oscar’s lead and got all dressed up like Barack Obama, according to Kelly, whose view of black people is apparently similar to that of Michael: narrow. But, as a fellow fan astutely noted, a day after John McCain gave a shout-out to The Office, The Office gave a shout-out to Obama.

Michael: Why are you dressed like that?
Darryl: Like what?
Michael: Like you’re applying for a loan.
Dwight: Maybe he’s going to church. Or to court.
Darryl: I I figured I’d look presentable. You…went another way.

Darryl’s not going for interns but to hire some kids who, let’s face it, probably not going to college. Where’d you go to college, Michael? Zing!

Meanwhile, out on the links, Jim’s looking to land a big client. He’s motivated by the fact that Ryan, who was the temp and is now his boss’s boss, has put him on probation. That was out of left field to me. A formal warning leads directly to probation? Anyway, it’s not a good time for Jim to lose his job, given his long term plans with Pam that he’d like her parents to be psyched about.

He’s going to be bold. He’s going to try. That’s all we ever wanted from the guy. That and pranks.0

Unfortunately, he brough Andy along, and in a scene reminiscent of his sales call with Michael in “Traveling Salesman”, Andy overstates the Cornell-Dartmouth rivalry in introducing himself to the potential client. Andy’s grandfather would be spinning in his urn if he golfed with the guy.

He might have just shook the guy’s hands, but he can’t. He’s got some blisties.

Andy (TH): Hit about 1,200 balls last night in preparation for today, so my hands are a little tender. It’s actually not funny at all. It’s incredibly painful.

And graphically nasty. Kevin’s along too and gung ho to gamble. His gambling lingo was probably meant to be funnier than it was. He got some petty cash from Oscar and he plans to turn it into next month’s rent. Now that’s funny, and not the first time he’s done that, if you recall the 2006 webisodes.

Meanwhile, we catch up with Pam at her old high school:

Pam (TH): So many memories in this old gym. Pretending I had PMS so I didn’t have to play volleyball. Pretending I had PMS so I didn’t have to play basketball. Those were the days.

The Dunder Mifflin team’s presentation materials amount to a single piece of paper. It equals endless possibilities, Michael explains. Or endless waiting for the day to end.

On the course, Andy explains he hated golf lessons as much as anyone when he was a kid. So he used to hang with the sailing club instead. And got his knot on. Killer line.

Back at the office, the left-behinds want to bug out for the day—Creed finished his work months ago—but Dwight isn’t hearing it. He’s third or fourth in command—all he needs is for Michael, Jim and Andy to be gone—and they have to listen to him. Well, apparently Stanley doesn’t have to listen. But Dwight will tell on the rest of them if they leave. My, he’s 8.

We come upon Pam selling the idea of an office internship to a student, but Michael doesn’t like the kid’s looks, literally. I guess a hottie intern like Ryan is hard to follow. Michael has been on a mean streak lately, starting with Pam’s homely landlord. He’s so rude and condescending, with his sing-song ‘Hey, how ya doing?’, explaining how handsome, funny, smart, funny looking kids shouldn’t limit themselves.

Justin could be a classy janitor or a cashier with dignity or even a migraine worker. He should make paper a hobby. So he chases the kid off, but not before Justin sullies their presentation materials by signing his name.

Yeah, now it’s lame. They need another piece of paper.

Pam: We brought the one.
Michael: Are you mental?
Pam: Michael, do you remember? You specifically told me to only bring one sheet of paper. You said it only takes one sheet to make a difference. And I said, are you sure Michael? And you said, Pam, Pam, Pam. And then you sneezed in my tea. And then you said don’t worry, it’s just allergies. Do you remember that?
Michael: I don’t.
Pam: OK, I’ll go look for another one.
Michael: And that is why I need a smart intern.

It was funny how, when one random kid saunters by, Oscar’s very mention of the company name scares him off.

Michael (TH): Yeah, I’m trying to lure these kids into my booth, but kids are very wary of being lured these days. Thank you Dateline.

Back on the golf course, Jim tries his sales pitch, but the client shoots him down, and hard. His plans are not unfolding well.

At the office, everyone sneaks out when Dwight goes to the men’s room. Creed gets the line of the night, the kind of line that has historically tempted writers to overuse the character, when calls Angela: “Hiya pumpkin it’s Creed. Say, we’re gonna ditch this bitch. You in?” She stays and looks annoyed.Pam, in search of paper, goes to her old art room in search of paper. I was excited about the prospect of her running into an old art teacher who might give her some insights about where she’d gone wrong in her pursuit of her talents. It never happens, though. Before she leaves the room, she looks around for an old piece of her artwork to show the camera but then figures it was taken down.

Why’d she think it’d still be up 10 years later? I hoped it would be, but that’s kind of crazy. It’s time her her to move on, as an online chum pointed out, and she shouldn’t need an old teacher to tell her that anyway.

Back in the gym, Michael gets a call from tattletale Dwight, who has taken down everyone’s name who left and docked them one personal day. But Michael doesn’t care, dashing Dwight’s enthusiasm. Pam returns back with non-Dunder Mifflin paper, which naturally angers Michael, who sends her back to the office for ultra-white card stock. This is the first, but not last time I expected her to deck him.

Pam: Are you serious?
Michael: Yes, and don’t call me Shirley.

Flash back to the golf course, the client is stuck in the bunker but determined to get himself out.

An at the office, Pam walks in, Dwight and Angela look up, Pam angrily takes a sheet of paper from the copier and leaves without a word. On her way back, she calls Jim, whose phone egregiously rings in the middle of Andy’s putt. I guess that’s a real no-no. But Jim doesn’t rush off, which I thought was nice, despite Andy looking like he waas going to wrap his putter around Jim’s neck.

At the end of the call, Jim drops an “I like you” on Pam, a line which I’ve annoying overanalyzed on the web forums. (Probably owe a few apologies there.) But I contend it was a little clichéd and contradictory of the writers to go there, and here’s why. We’ve never heard Pam express her love for Jim. We can assume she has, but it’s never been shown. He, on the other hand, has done so a few times, notably on “Casino Night” in the most momentous scene of the series. So now to pretend they’re so in love that they don’t even have to say it strikes me as disingenuous on the writers’ part, since Pam’s failure to say the words is still a dangling, unaddressed plot point. Never mind that the cynic in me thinks that people who say they don’t need to say “I love you” are really uncomfortable with the words or don’t say them because they don’t mean them.

Anyway, it was a nice moment for Jim and Pam, and one that was overwhelmingly popular with the fans I’ve heard from.

And as Jim takes another stab at the sale, it’s still a no go.

Cue sight gag: Andy takes off in the cart with Kevin running behind, and Andy immediately crashes into the bunker, the top of the cart comes off and he lands face down in the sand. I thought it was hilarious. Random, but hilarious.

Back at the office, Angela is glaring at Dwight in line for the copier. And nothing else happens. Hmmmm.

At the job fair, Michael’s lamenting that all the other jobs suck. He’d rather live on a beach off a large inheritance than take one of them. He’s really pissy at this point. And he’s lowered his standards, giving Justin, the kid he rejected before, another chance. Justin’s the ugly girl in the movie who’s hot when she takes off her glasses. And he’s the most important thing in Michael’s life.

So Michael introduces him to Oscar, Darryl, and Pam, the office hottie. She’ll do you, Michael says. No, but she has dated two guys in the office…that we know of. She storms off. Again, why not just hit him?

Michael would never tell Pam to her face, but she’s a wonderful person and a gifted artist. Oscar shrilly asks why he wouldn’t tell her that, but Michael’s too dumb to realize what he has said. He’s too focused on Justin, telling him the guys he didn’t bring from the office are even better. But Justin’s not hearing it, dissing Michael’s two-faced act.

At the office, Dwight sneezes and Angela says bless you. Her glance lingers. And nothing else happens.

On the 19th hole, Andy’s struggling to drink a beer no-handed. Kevin, meanwhile, cleaned up.

Kevin: OK Jim you owe me $120, and Phil, you owe me $230.
The client: Let’s open a tab, because you and me are going to be playing more often.
Andy: Count me in!
The client: Nope.
Andy: Alright.

He’s still not biting Jim’s sales pitch.

Jim (TH): You know, it’s a tough thing seeing a grown man take six shots to get out of a sand trap. I had to give Phil credit for not quitting, which is what I told him. I also told him that I don’t quit either. And I’d call him every single day until he gave me his business, which he then did…after 15 minutes of me blocking his car. So I am now his paper supplier. And I shot a 102 today, so I’m feeling pretty good.

I think him bragging about shooting a 102 is akin to me bragging about the 142 I once bowled. That was pretty awesome, though. Jim applied himself more than ever and landed the big client. I don’t know how it’ll save him from Ryan’s axe, but we’ll see.

With the job fair winding down, meanwhile, Michael snaps. He grabs the mic and bashes all the other companies, except the Air Force. The Air Force is cool. What does H&R Block even do? He really sold it with the no college credit and no pay. For the record, Michael has had way funnier, way more uncomfortable freak-outs. I guess sometimes less isn’t more.

At the office, the clock strikes 5, and Dwight and Angela pack up to leave without a word. But he holds the door for her, and she thanks him. For them, that is steamy hot. Early speculation is that they got down and dirty on the elevator.

Jim’s toasting the big sale with Kevin and Andy as Pam walks in. When he tells her he made the sale she gives him the kind of kiss JAM fans have been longing to see for years now. They downplay it for the camera, but Jim says screw this and plants one on her, to the porno a capella stylings of Andy and Kevin.

Michael (TH): Today I did something stupid. I questioned myself, and I will never do that again. Because I look at Jim Halpert and I think that guy could do anything he wants to do. He could do anything, and he chooses to work here selling paper. Just like me.

Then Michael walks up behind Jim and Pam and says, “Kiss her. Kiss her good.” That was a little too creepy for them to keep it going at that point.

The final tag had more plot development than the prior 28 minutes. We see Pam approach a graphic design recruiter at the job fair, only to learn she’s woefully unqualified for the entry level position. If she’s serious, she should think about New York or Philadelphia, he tells her. Food for thought.

Michael’s comment about Jim choosing to stay when he could go anywhere, contrasts ominously with Pam’s apparent dawning realization that she probably has to leave Scranton if she’s ever going to follow her dreams.

There hasn’t been a rough patch for these two all season, but we’ve got ourselves a finale ripe for angst.

I really like this show. No. You know what? I love it. There, I said it. See? Not so hard.