One Of The Best Moments In The Final Season Of The Office Came From Emily Blunt

"The Office" is one of the greatest television comedies of all time, which is probably why it's still one of the most popular streaming titles (with rights previously costing $500 million) nearly a decade after it premiered on NBC. Despite a few rough seasons in the back half of the show's run, the series still stands tall as a pinnacle of small screen hilarity. Those low points came after showrunner/creator Greg Daniels left the series at the end of season four to focus on "Parks & Recreation," and they got worse after Michael Scott left Dunder Mifflin (something Steve Carell didn't exactly choose to do).

With both of those pillars of "The Office" gone, the writers struggled to fill the holes left in the show, both comedically and narratively, by making Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) the new manager and leaning more into the family drama of Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) alongside the ensemble antics of the increasingly complicated paper company. Thankfully, when the final season rolled around, Greg Daniels returned to "The Office" to wrap everything up on a high point. With the exception of a few hiccups here and there (such as a failed attempt at a backdoor pilot for a Dwight-centric spin-off), the final season felt on par with some of the better seasons of the series, especially when it came to resolving the worrisome marriage woes of Jim and Pam. 

However, one of the greatest moments between the couple didn't come from Daniels. Instead, as revealed on a recent episode of "The Office Ladies" podcast hosted by Jenna Fischer and fellow cast member Angela Kinsey, a beautiful nostalgic look at the evolving romance of Jim and Pam came from Krasinski's impressive actress/producer of a wife, the lovely Emily Blunt.

One of the best moments between Jim and Pam comes in the two-part episode "A.A.R.M.," in which Jim convinces Dwight, the newly crowned Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin, that he needs to choose someone to act as the Assistant to the Assistant to the Regional Manager. Though Jim is content being back at the paper company, having helped Dwight achieve his dream while leaving his own behind, Pam worries that he might not truly be fulfilled, having missed out on the expansion of the sports marketing business that he helped start in Philadelphia, which nearly ruined their marriage. But most of all, Pam is worried that she might not be enough for him. 

Jim can't believe that Pam would think such a thing, so he talks directly to the documentary crew (even though it's against the rules) and asks them to help him prove Pam wrong. In one of those great big Jim gestures, he has the documentary crew put together a DVD featuring a collection of clips from the series showing off Jim and Pam's blossoming love over the years, cut to the Snow Patrol song "Open Your Eyes." While Jim briefly gets distracted by Dwight demanding advice on sorting out his unresolved feelings for Angela, Pam watches the DVD, and just like everyone watching the show, she's moved to tears.

When Jim returns, he tells Pam, "Well, then I guess you're ready for this," and he brings out the letter that he ultimately held back from the teapot Christmas gift. Though we don't know the specifics of what was in Jim's teapot letter to Pam, Jim says, "Everything you'll ever need to know is in that note." Though Pam (and Fischer) keep its contents secret, we know it was enough for them to reconcile all the problems they'd been facing recently. If that wasn't enough, Jim emotionally adds, "Not enough for me? You are everything."

While appearing on episode 205 of "The Office Ladies" podcast, John Krasinski revealed that it was Emily Blunt who came up with the idea to show Pam a series of clips looking back on their most romantic moments from the series.

On "The Office Ladies" podcast, Fischer recalled pitching to Greg Daniels how Jim and Pam could finally sort through all the complications they had been having in the show's later seasons. She said:

"I remember we had this big discussion with Greg where we were like, 'Okay, we kind of know what's going to kind of drive a wedge between Jim and Pam — this long distance job and this sort of disagreement about whether or not this is a good idea in general. But what's going to bring them back together?' And I remember saying, 'Greg, we have to reveal what is in the teapot note before we end this show.' Like, people need to know this, but like, how do you do that? Like how? Why? We couldn't figure it out. I was like, 'Please, please, please.'"

But that's just one part of the equation. Fischer went on to recall when Krasinski came to set giddy with a new idea:

"And I remember clear as day, John, we were in the break room for some reason, and it was a Monday, and you came in, and you were doing your little shoulder shake that you do when you get real excited about an idea. And you were like, 'You guys, you guys, you guys. I was talking to Emily this weekend. Listen, listen. Okay? What is the one thing that this couple has that, like, you wish you could have as a couple? They have their whole love story on tape. Like this documentary crew has been documenting this love story.' Like I remember you saying, 'Jenna, could you imagine if you could go back to that first date with Lee [Kirk] and like, someone had taped it and you could watch yourselves on that first date. Wouldn't you just, like, lose it?' And I was like, 'Oh my God, I would lose it.' And you're like, 'What if Jim asked the documentary crew to put together the footage, and he shows it to Pam?' And I was like, 'Oh my God, I would be a puddle.' And then we just all got so excited about this idea."

Krasinski confirmed Jenna's recollection by adding, "That sounds like a Blunt idea. That sounds like Blunt genius right there. And I just stole it." He went on to reaffirm how incredible the idea was by saying, "It was so smart. By the way, I remember when they were putting that together, I was so excited to see it too, 'cause we didn't know what they were gonna put together. Oh God, it was so much. It was so much."

This revelation just goes to show you how the best moments from our favorite shows are collaborative efforts. The greatest ideas can come from anywhere, and Greg Daniels is the kind of creator who recognized that time and time again, letting his cast and crew often help influence the trajectory of the characters and story. As the penultimate episode before the series finale of "The Office," this episode sets up Jim for their full happily ever after, which sees Pam turning the tables on Jim and pulling off a romantic gesture of her own by secretly selling their house and intending to move to Austin so Jim can rejoin the expanded sports marketing company he helped build. 

You couldn't ask for a better way to overcome the hurdles that Pam and Jim faced in some of the more questionable episodes of "The Office," and we'll forever be grateful to Emily Blunt for coming up with such a brilliant touchstone. Here's hoping Greg Daniels can tap back into that kind of sharpness when "The Office" gets a spinoff at Peacock.