Episode Five

"Closing Time"

Bach turns off the lights in the Office in the final shot of the show.

### Writer

Briton Graber, Genevieve Howley, Evan Kagarise, Brynn Lackey, Bryan Ly, Jack Powell, Trevor Schoeny, Liza Shourds

### Director

Genevieve Howley

**Episode Five** is the fifth and final installation to ***The Office Life***, giving the series its definitive conclusion. It was filmed on May 3, 2019, the last day of school before seniors left for their senior projects.

## Summary

### Before the Work Day

Martha wakes up in the Office for the final time, and looks to find that **Kate** has been stuffed into a cabinet, surviving be eating Lysol wipes. Doug walks up to the Office and sees a "For Lease" sign taped on the door. He takes it down and frantically knocks on the window. Martha, seeing the sign, lets Doug in for the first and only time in the series.

**Peter** then enters, first applying Chapstick to his own lips then putting some of it on the outlet. Molly enters, does a twirl, and smacks the outlet with her hand. **Tom** then enters, wearing a Styrofoam bowl on his head. He takes it off of his head and puts it against the outlet, yelling "WOOOOOO!" **Jacob** enters last, informing everyone that his **mother** has died, which none of the other workers care about.

### During the Work Day

The workers do their jobs for the day- Jacob points to a piece of paper, Peter fervently erases a single spot on the whiteboard (the one on the wall), Kate builds a fort out of wooden bricks, Molly reads a magazine, and Tom sprays spray glue on his hand. While they do this, Martha and Doug write on the **whiteboard**, attempting to calculate what they must do to save the Office. Doug says that they must put their competition aside and both take on the title of the **boss** so that they can properly break the news to the workers.

At a meeting, Doug panics before he and Martha break the news to the workers. At first the workers do not understand what Martha and Doug are saying, as initially their calculations indicated that the Office going up for lease would mean the end of the human race. While they talk, Kate's fort falls down and she screams. As Doug tries to talk them through how serious the situation is, Martha alters a calculation and shows them the new answer: the destruction of the Office.

In the next scene, the workers frantically contact whoever they can to get money to save the Office. Martha and Molly call each other, but don't realize this and end up on a loop of asking one another for money. Doug and Kate also call each other on accident, but end up having a conversation about the death of Jacob's mother (though Kate mistakes Jacob for Tim, as she always does). Jacob begs the **Donkey** to let him stay in the Office, and reveals that he has always been in love with the Donkey. As Jacob asks the Donkey to kiss him on the lips, Peter yells, "KA-KAW!" while talking to an ostrich over boomwhackers.

The workers reconvene and discuss their findings, Doug saying he got a flower pedal from Home Depot, Jacob saying that he called Kentuckyville but they responded with "something [he couldn't] say out loud," and Peter saying that the ostrich "just squawked." The workers frantically try to come up with something new, but they are cut off by Tom admitting that it's all over. As the reality of the situation sets in for the workers, music begins and they all turn to see **Bach** himself standing in the doorway. All of the workers (except for Kate who stays in her fort) run after Bach, chasing him around the the back entrance of the Office, where Doug has caught him and is holding his hands behind his back. They take him to the piano in the Office and tell him to play, which he does, immediately causing all of the workers to fall to the ground.

Later, Bach plays say music for everyone while Molly performs a *breathtaking* interpretive dance. In a meeting, the workers plead with Bach to save **Company Company**. Bach says that he cannot save it, as it is trash, to which the workers have no choice but to agree. He speaks a prophecy that all of them will do "very interesting things in life," prompting Peter to share that he had always wanted to sell pomegranates.

The workers begin packing up the Office and preparing to leave. Martha and Tom both take cleaning supplies out of the cabinet. Doug takes the whiteboard. Jacob is seen with his **decimation** chair. Peter picks up his computer and personal belongings, and Kate tries to fit as many of the bricks from her fort as she can into her shirt. Molly whispers to the water fountain that it is the only one that has always been for her when she needed it, and asks to drink from it's precious waters one last time. She dispenses it's waters into a Styrofoam bowl and drinks.

### End of the Day

Molly gets her final pep talk at the end of the day, admitting that none of them worked hard, but all of them affirming, "We ate lots."

#### **Memories Montage**

Upon saying this line, all of the workers look up and reminisce, with the following moments being shown in a montage:

* Episode One
	+ Martha writing "Once upon a time..." on the whiteboard, as seen in the opening song
	+ Doug and Martha attempting to start a meeting at the same time
	+ Molly, Doug, and Martha playing "Hot Crossed Buns" on the boomwhackers
	+ The first time Molly told Martha to kiss Doug
	+ Molly saying "We worked hard, we ate lots."
	+ **Mike** finding Martha sleeping in the Office
* Episode Two
	+ Doug knocking aside the tape Martha put across the doorway
	+ The interns (Kate, Jacob, and **Tim**) entering for the first time
	+ Molly yelling "SHUT UP!" at the other workers while trying to feed Tim
	+ Martha asking the questions for interns, specifically the first question and Jacob's response
	+ Doug saying, "Success is good," after Kate's tapeworm revelation
	+ Tom finding the purple thumbtack missing and Martha's subsequent panic attack
	+ Martha going asleep for the day

* Episode Three
	+ Doug remembering that it's National Oven Mitts Day
	+ Tim throws the Party
	+ Jacob committing the decimation
	+ Molly going "Doooouuuuug"
	+ Martha kissing Doug on the hand
	+ Tom being made boss
* Episode Four
	+ The workers forming an arch by the doorway and chanting "Welcome Tim, welcome Tim..."
	+ Tim attempting to start a meeting and being shushed by the workers before they return to watching Peter tap his fingers on the Lemon Fisch
	+ Doug saying, "Strike one," when Tim erases his work on the whiteboard
	+ Doug saying, "No, no we can't lose our head guys," while mimicking strangling Tim
	+ Peter creating a flyer for the now missing Lemon Fisch
	+ The workers all getting phone calls and running towards Tim while saying, "It's for you!"
	+ The workers deciding that they will kill Tim by playing Bach
	+ The killing of Tim
	+ Martha going to sleep for the day

After the memory montage, Jacob is first to say goodbye. Bach plays somber music throughout all of the exits. He confirms with Molly that she did in fact kill his mother and thanks her for it. Doug encourages Jacob to build his own Kentuckyville, to which Jacob says "I will!" before blowing them all a kiss goodbye and leaving. Tom says that he must go as his mother called him, Doug remarking sentimentally, "It's Pacific Time!" Tom admits to Doug that he at Doug's breakfast, which Doug does not care about. Tom turns to walk out before Doug stops him and goes "Wait wait... goodbye.," a callback joke to Tom's first exit in episode one. Tom then walks out of the Office, slapping the door VERY HARD in a fit of tears.

Peter makes to leave, saying, "The pomegranates won't, uh, pom themselves," and giving everyone a group hug. He promises to bring them all fresh pomegranates (though Doug does not want any), and leaves. Next Molly leaves, crying while hugging Kate and Martha and saying, "I still don't know what we sold." Doug reminds her that she killed three people during her time at the Office, and through tears she says, "I did, I have more kills than any of you." She walks out the door, looks both ways, and disappears in the hallway. Doug and Martha share a tear-filled hug, and Doug quietly walks out.

Martha taps Bach on the shoulder to tell him to stop playing, which he does not do, so she has to yell at him. Martha gets up onto her table preparing for sleep, and the lights go out. Suddenly Doug re-enters, turns the lights back on, and tells Martha that it's time to go. She gets off and Doug offers her an arm, saying, "Hey, we were both the bosses in the end." The walk out with arms around each other, and Doug takes one last look around the Office before closing the door.

Bach approaches the camera and speaks directly to it, saying, "You too. You did good." He takes the camera and turns it around, showing **you** (played by director and cameraman **Genevieve Howley**). You too take one last look around, give a nod to the camera, and leave. Kate, who has been gathering up her bricks, realizes that everyone has left her, and she leaps to her feet spilling the bricks everywhere. She slams on the door, though it does not open. The other workers are seen trying to get it open, but they cannot. A **guardian angel** opens the door for Kate, and she finally leaves the Office.

All that is left is Bach holding the camera. He walks to the light switches, slowly turns both of them off, and the screen goes black. This is the last that is seen of the Office. Bach, a time god, presumably teleported from the Office after he turned of the lights, leaving it completely empty. And that's how it shall stay.

The end credits play over a cast recording of the opening song. The following people are thanked: Mr. Staggs, Miss Piggy, Lemon Fisch, Yeeto-A-Cheat, Jiggly Jiggly, and Bach.

The final frame of the series is the quote said by Jacob at the end of Episode Three: "And oven mitts, stay off the road."

## Production

The Finale was filmed on May 3, 2019, the last day before the senior members of the cast (Briton Graber, Bryan Ly, Trevor Schoeny, and Nick Tortora) left for their senior projects. The students entered to see that Mr. Staggs was absent that day. Famously, Mr. Staggs's instructions to the substitute for class that day were: "The class is to film the final episode of *The Office Life*." The class later had a viewing party and it was lots of fun.

## Trivia

* The song played upon Bach's entrance was "Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047"
* When the workers chased Bach out the door, they ran into a group of men delivering large pieces to a stage for orchestra and got yelled at. They had to wait until they were finished, this is why them running after Bach and them bringing him in is two different takes.
* The finale is by far the longest episode in the entire series.
* The sub can be seen in the background when Martha tells Bach to stop playing.
* Director Genevieve Howley made "And oven mitts, stay off the road," the final word of *The Office Life* because she felt the quote did not get enough attention.
* The "For Lease" sign is written over a magazine with Justin Trudeau on it. This is a cinematic Easter egg as Trudeau is a relative of Tim.
* The finale is actually really sad and a good ending and you should know that.