On tonight’s season six finale “Whistleblower”, Sabre probes Dunder Mifflin for the employee who leaked the news about the faulty printers.
Jo visits the office to find out who told the press about the malfunctioning printers and interrogates all of the employees. Andy squirms as he vehemently denies to the camera crew and to Michael that he was not the whistleblower despite everyone believing that it was him. Darryl, who did have a part in documenting the smokey printer, tells Michael that he was the leak.
Pam confesses to Jim that she was the leak, having told the wife of a reporter about the printers. Out of guilt for Andy, she tells Michael who arranges a meeting with all of the whistleblowers in Meredith’s van. Kelly also joins them, as she believes that she is the leak because she typically spends the entire day talking. They agree that they will confess as long as Michael convinces Jo to not fire them.
Meanwhile, Dwight’s attitude and work performance impress Jo while she is questioning him. She suggests that given his exceptionally good income this year, he should invest in a property. Dwight takes Jo’s advice and makes an offer on the Scranton Business Park itself.
When Michael tries to convince Jo that the best punishment is to let the whistleblower keep his or her job, she because suspicious of Michael and takes him on a ride to her private jet where he confesses that he’s had a rough year. Jo confides in Michael that she has too much self respect to make a public apology about the printers and manipulates Michael into taking her place.
Gabe concludes the investigation in Jo’s absence and decides to implicate Andy as the leak, according to the evidence. Nick, the scarcely seen Sabre IT guy, decides to say goodbye to the office as he’s leaving for another job. Aggravated at the disrespect he’s given, he says that in investigating everyone’s hard drives, he knows for a fact that Andy was the leak. Andy becomes more of a pariah, though Erin feels that he was brave for going to the press. His exit from the office is left ambiguous as to whether he was fired or not.
The episode ends with Michael making his apology at a press conference. Jo thanks him later on, telling him to let her know if he ever needs help with anything. Michael jokingly says that she could transfer Holly back from the Nashua branch, to which Jo replies, “Let me see what I can do.”
I can’t help but feel that with the exception of the very last scene, which came out of nowhere, this season finale was absolutely anti-climactic. The revelation of there being multiple leaks to the press was hilarious, as was Nick’s sudden hostility towards everyone and his outing of several employees, not to mention David Wallace’s short cameo. The B plot involving Dwight purchasing the business park is very odd, compounding yet another Dwight story on top of the already unlikely Dwight/Angela pregnancy. The weakest link of the faulty printer arc was that the story was conceived in the first place. I didn’t feel that Sabre was sturdy enough for anyone to invest any interest in, let alone more employee turnover that will just be overruled next season anyway.
Michael’s monologue aboard Jo’s jet mirrored the tone of entire sixth season: it’s just been kind of a downer (adultery, bankruptcy, Dwight getting the upper hand on Jim, Jim’s unsuccessful turn at office manager) despite the few exceptionally bright bits here and there (the wedding, the birth). But surely Michael deserves for Holly to be back, which may be the next step considering Andy’s ambiguous exit. Also, next season may be the most ideal time to let Michael move on and get married after Steve Carell stated that he “most likely” will not return for an eighth season.
It’s been a rocky season for these characters as well as the audience. Here’s to next season being a bit brighter and bringing back some glow to a sitcom that’s grown significantly darker in just one season.
