Brian Lowry of '' Variety '' wrote that the finale " ignored " the last few seasons ' missteps and was " awash in warmth and inside gags " . He concluded that the show " deserved to finish on top " , and that while some of the scenes , such as Dwight 's wedding , seemed " a little bit trite " , the resulting product was successful . Michael Tedder of '' Vulture '' awarded the episode five stars out of five and wrote that the episode was able to provide solid conclusions for all of the characters . Erik Adams of '' The A.V. Club '' awarded the episode an " A – " and wrote that " the quality of this series finale is found in the way it functions right now , in the afterglow of a TV show to which many devoted more than 100 hours of their lives . Some aspects of the episode fall flat , but when it hits , it hits . " Ultimately , he found that Finale ' is not a great piece of television " but that it was the finale that " '' The Office '' needed " because it was " the right point to jump off ... the circular track " , due to the series idea of thematic reoccurrence . Tom Gliatto of '' People '' magazine , however , gave the episode a negative review , and wrote that " this episode was poorly conceived and clumsily structured . It really was n't worthy of all the years of affectionate humor that had gone before it . " Steve Carell 's cameo received glowing reviews from critics . Campbell noted that he was " glad Carell 's return was still uncertain before the episode aired because the reveal was made that much sweeter . " Sepinwall noted that Carell 's return managed to not " overshadow the stories of the people who remained after he left , but which made sense for the characters , and the end of the series . " Adams noted that " Carell does n't get a lot to say — he 's already had his chance to say goodbye — but that just makes each of his lines count more " . Cornet felt that the cameo 's " brevity " was " the perfect amount of Michael for this particular episode " . Poniewozik described it as " a way that as best as possible walked the line between overplaying and underplaying Steve Carell 's cameo . " Lowry called it a " perfectly orchestrated cameo " . Basis wrote that the appearance was " pretty great " and that " the notion of Michael finally getting the family he 's always wanted was enough to melt the heart of even the nit-pickiest fan . " This episode received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards . Greg Daniels was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and Ben Patrick , John W. Cook , and Rob Carr were nominated for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series ( Half-Hour ) and Animation . David Rogers and Claire Scanlon won for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series , marking the fifth win for '' The Office '' at the Emmys overall and the series ' first win since 2009 . Rogers and Scanlon also won an ACE Eddie award for Best Edited Half-Hour Series for Television
65th Primetime Emmy Awards
65th Primetime Emmy Awards
Finale (The Office)