This is the official finale of the series, but it is not the final episode. In between crafting Episode 12 and this finale, I did come up with a bonus chapter to follow this one up. I suppose I'm like Peter Jackson when he just wouldn't let Lord of the Rings end....a bit of movie humor from the TV guy.
In any case, while an extra chapter will be up soon to officially put a bow on this, this is still technically the final episode of the temp's journey. And it kind of resembles the first one as well. To those fans who came in from the beginning of that first outing and to those who came in along the way, thank you again.
July 2012
I was back in New York and at 30 Rockefeller Center much earlier than usual this year. To add to how different this was, I wasn't here to temp for "SNL" or "30 Rock" especially since they hadn't resumed filming yet. In addition, I was actually a plus one guest at a party held above Studio 8H and in the actual offices of NBC. Being Alison Brie's plus one also added a final kick to it as well.
I envisioned none of this three months ago when I was caught having sex with Lea Michele on the "Glee" set and made tabloid infamy. But thanks to some encouragement from the actresses in my past; and some in-person encouragement from Alison; I weathered the storm in the end. Alison plugged my work and my clothed talents every day on Twitter, while I used my account and my writing skills to counter the tabloids and blogs. Eventually they backed off; either because I beat them back or because they had other scandals to cover soon enough.
I did get a few words in to defend Lea and "Glee" from the criticism they were getting. The scandal did still stick longer to them than it did to me, yet I commented on every online article or editorial I could to stick up for them. Soon enough, it was safe for Lea to call me and assure me that she would be okay and would get through it. I still offered whatever help I could, whether online, over the phone or in person. I chose to be encouraged that she didn't need to call that much after that, although my lines were always open to her.
Lea still had a lot ahead of her no matter what, while I had a more uphill battle. Determined to make sure that this scandal wouldn't define me for the rest of my career, I hunkered down on every book idea or script idea I could think of. With no temp jobs on the way, I had more time to work on them and submit them everywhere I could. And fortunately, Alison had a few connections she could use to get them to the right people.
This brought me back to New York in July, as I would try to further sell my services to NBC at this party with Alison's help. The network's bosses and its various stars would all be there, so I had a few avenues to plug myself in. NBC was in dire enough strengths that they could possibly need me for something, whether to submit pilot scripts or give them rights to adapt my future books or to join a writing staff. Given that they finally brought "Community" back for Season 4; which helped Alison get invited to this and make me a plus one to begin with; maybe the network's decisions were getting better.
Regardless, I couldn't pass up another chance to go to 30 Rock, although my trip wasn't all expenses paid by the temp agency this time. But I paid my own way with only a little bit of help from Alison. She still had enough for a sparkling gray dress to wear, while I used my spare bucks on a nice light black suit.
Since I was a plus one, this couldn't technically be called a date. Technically we weren't dating, although Alison made an effort to hang out with me in between "Community" work and promotions. Once the season ended and the show was officially spared, we did have a bit more time together; which included a couple more sex sessions. While we weren't an item, at the least we were certainly friends; as she was actually more like my manager too in some aspects. So as a manager and friend, she got me this trip back to New York and assured me that the NBC bosses and stars wouldn't just focus on my scandal.
I did get the occasional question and comment about it from the other guests, but I usually steered the topic back to the rest of my resume. I offered that with my experience at NBC and in this building, I could be a full time asset in some capacity for some show. I gave them business cards, told them where to find my online work, and made sure to plug my work and devotion to NBC shows in particular.
After all, this was the network that, for all its faults and bad decisions, aired many of my favorite comedies. And on a more personal level, it did play a part in about half of my trysts with actresses....including the one who took me here and the one who began it all for me.
With that train of thought, I thought I was seeing things in the ballroom when I glanced at Alison; the actress who brought me here; and saw her talking with Jenna Fischer; the one who began it all. But after rubbing my eyes three times, I realized it wasn't an illusion. At about that time, they finally noticed me and waved me over to join them.
As I walked over, it hit me that this was the first time I'd seen Jenna in over four years. She was one of the actress who called me three months ago before Alison came over, so we were caught up in a way, at least. But seeing her in person was in another ballpark, particularly since she had on a purple dress for the occasion. Although I hadn't seen her in person for so long and she had given birth to a baby boy 10 months ago, she still looked as beautiful to me as she did back then.
That was another reason for me to feel a bit uneasy when I got to her; not to mention the fact that Alison was right there as well. But Jenna broke the ice by asking "Do you need a laptop to type me a hello?" in a tongue-in-cheek manner when I didn't speak up.
"No, no of course not. Hello..." I said with a growing smile as Jenna went over to hug me. I tried not to hug her back too tight or savor the feel of her, especially with Alison there. Yet the fact was that Alison was there and she already knew that Jenna was my first actress; which made me more curious why they were together. "I, um, see you've met my plus-one, Alison Brie."
"And told her I'm happy we're both still on Thursday nights," Jenna filled in. "Don't worry, I'm happy you got through your crappy spring too."
"Yeah, I finally did. I still get bugged about it once in a while, but it won't define my career for long. At least if my shameless promoting goes well tonight," I added.
"From what Alison's told me, you've already met half these people. I'll bet the shameless stuff wins over the other half, too," Jenna predicted. But the main thing I took out of that was that Alison talked to her about my NBC experience; so I wonder what else she mentioned.
"Hey, not everyone has a crappy spring to get past," Alison pointed out. "I know Jenna's been pretty lucky since you last saw her." It took me a second to remember what she was hinting at, but I soon got it. "Oh right, the husband and baby! I already said congrats on the phone, but that deserves a few in person," I realized as I instinctively hugged her again. "Did they, um, make the trip with you?"
"No, I let Lee have some daddy time back in L.A.," Jenna explained. I noted that the corners of my lips almost went up into a smile before I caught myself.
"That's really great, Jenna. It's something how far you've both come from just four years ago," Alison reflected. "I filled her in about you the best I could, but I probably can't tell it as well as you can. So you can try proving me wrong while I go catch up with my friends, K?" Before I could think of anything to say, Alison nodded with a chipper smile and went off to find her "Community" co-stars. This left me all alone with Jenna, in a rather suspicious turn of events.
"So you actually found an actress girlfriend out of all this?" Jenna inquired.
"No....I can't say that exactly," I said when I snapped out of it. "We are friends, and that means a lot to me too. We haven't talked about if we're anything more yet. But as long as she's around me, I'm happy to be whatever we are now."
"And if she wanted to be more?" Jenna went on.
"Oh, that'd be no problem too. I mean, come on!" I exclaimed, pointing at Alison as she caught up to the "Community" gang across the room. Jenna nodded in understanding, stating "I guess I shouldn't be offended. I was your first crush, I knew there were others, even before a few months ago."
"Well, I think you already had an idea years ago," I added, as I now pointed her attention to Tina Fey, who I once again made sure to run into earlier in the party. "I never did thank you in person for bragging about me to her. If you didn't get me that job....maybe you would been the only notch on my actress belt after all."
"I just gave you Tina, you handled those nine others without me just fine," Jenna said, remembering to lower her voice in case people were listening. No bloggers or tabloids could crash this party, yet NBC big wigs and stars could be just as nosy and damaging.
"Nine? That's quite specific.....so Alison told you a lot before I came over. Sounds like you don't need me to fill in the blanks at all," I mentioned quietly.
"Well, she could only go into detail about you and her. Tina filled me in on you and her, and I read all about you and Lea. It's just Christina, Kaley, Kristen, Sofia, Mila, Anne and Emma that I have less on," Jenna recounted.
"I couldn't do that here....people might here, or they might see the....effect telling those stories has on me," I tried to allude to gracefully. "It's hard enough keeping it down around you and Alison already," I went on before I could stop myself.
"So even after all those other hotties, you still have that....problem around me? Even though you have more on your resume now?" Jenna alluded.
"I'd have that problem around any one of them. And no matter who the others are and what I did with them, you were my first. Even if I got to do more with some of them, you set the bar no matter what. I can never repay you for that....even though you're the one who said you owed me one over the phone."