Jim is celebrating a milestone. Rather, everyone else is celebrating Jim’s milestone. He is turning fifty. Yet for some reason, he is not a celebratory mood, and though Jim definitely has his moments where he is a bit of a sourpuss (to put it mildly), and it can be understood that he may not want to admit he is getting old – or at least older – no one really gets why he is so grumpy about it all.
Finally Cheryl gets the story out of him, and there was apparently an incident at a surprise party when he was just 13 that turned him against surprise parties. Once that comes out, things can move along, and the rest of the episode is mostly a reunion more of the capers that normally happen during the show.
Though the show had the feel of a wrap party, being that it was supposed to be a series finale (in the end, the series went on for another two seasons), it was a bit odd that the kids were not featured much. Maybe they were there and just not shown on the televised portion. Or maybe it was the adults hanging out and having an actual party, so the kids were not invited. It is really difficult to say what happened, but being that the kids had been phased out a bit recently – as they aged more – perhaps it is appropriate. It would have also been nice to have seen Ryan.
The final couple of minutes were a montage of sorts, just showing pictures of the family. Though the episode was a recap more than anything, and finales are not always the best of the series, this was not really much to remember. More like a walk down memory lane, with selected memories at that.
