It's been a long time coming, but I'm glad the folks at The Office played the delivery of Jim and Pam's baby the way they did. It wasn't about surprises or silliness, at least for the most part. Instead, it was a solidly realistic depiction of what it's like to be a new parent. "The Deliver" also gave a new perspective on the occasional necessity of hour-long episodes of The Office. Much of this episode was padding and tangentially related subplots, but they helped the central narrative sink in where a half hour episode would have felt too rushed. The end result was moving but fittingly mundane. People have babies every day, and the young Halpert family are nothing if not everyday people.

The episode starts out with Pam going into labor in the office, then spending several hours avoiding a trip to the hospital on false pretenses. Of course she's only stalling because she's scared, but at least we got Andy doing the Evolution of Dance as a consolation prize. When it's nearly too late, they finally haul off the hospital with half of Dunder-Mifflin Scranton close behind.

Because it would be ridiculous and distracting to have the office clowns crowding the maternity ward, they are instead relegated to a series of serviceable subplots. In one, Dwight and Angela get their own bizarre version of baby fever and spend several days hammering out a contract that includes such terms as "must be male". This development is too goofy by a half, but given that Dwight and Angela haven't yet enacted the contract means that there's the possibility the joke will die in an episode or two.

The strongest subplot also involved Dwight, though with much lower stakes. Sent on an errand to retrieve Pam's ipod from the Halpert home, Dwight launches a renovation campaign when he stumbles across some mold in the kitchen. It was funny on its own, but Jim's quietly resigned reaction upon returning to find his house full of carpenters was priceless.

"The Delivery" was thankfully not too crowded with Michael. He predictably tried to make the day all about him, but soon got distracted trying to play matchmaker to other Scranton workers after realizing that Jim and Pam's romance was such a success. He pairs Erin off with Kevin, which ended up being a particularly cruel way to push Andy into finally making his feelings known. There was very little humor in that plot and I feel like Kevin's character has evolved beyond being the schlubby sad sack this episode makes him. On the plus side, no more mutual hesitation between Andy and Erin.

Best Moment: Jim and Pam realizing that they've been nursing somebody else's baby in the middle of the night. There may be no phrase more strange and hilarious than "Wrong baby!"

Notes: What's The Office going to look like now that every bit of social drama has been played for Jim and Pam?

Episode Rating: 4.9/5- The important parts were excellently done and there were laughs a plenty. I'm taking a little bit off for the humorless cruelty to Kevin. Otherwise, welcome to the fictional world, Cecelia Halpert.