'The Office': Who's Really the Best Salesman?

NBC

This week we meet Danny Cordray, the single best salesman in all the land, whom the staff finds intimidating thanks to his looks, skills, and the fact that he once dated Pam. When he steals the big Frames Select account, even after Michael personally attends to the Dwight-Jim team sales call, Michael, Jim, and Dwight decide to pull a sting(er). They have Meredith pretend to be a CEO in the fake Pennsylvania Solar Tech and get Danny to try to sell her some paper.

Of course, Meredith being Meredith things go wrong and take a Mad Men turn.

Michael ends up offering Danny a job with Dunder Mifflin, which Danny reluctantly accepts. But will the rest of staff (other than Meredith, Kelly, Pam, and even...Angela) ever accept him?

With all of these honeytraps and flirtations, Dunder Mifflin Scranton didn't get much work done this week. They did, however, get to practice their favorite hobbies:

Cycling: Oscar, ever the emerging hipster, cycles to work everyday. Michael cycles too...three times a month at spin class. And with those two extra wheels on the back to provide stability.

Sports: Jim gets excited because the chief buyer for Frames Select is named Steve Nash, the NBA player. Dwight instantly derides him as "Mr. Jock Hipster."

Reading: Andy is deep into an issue of the Cornell alumni mag, envious of his Here Comes Treble buddy, Broccoli Rob, who puts out a song with Trey Anastasio that ends up in a milk commercial ("I was the artsy musical one!"). So he decides his best course of action is...

Starting a Band: With Kevin on drums and Darryl on keyboard, Andy comes up with a weird falsetto number about bringing the troops home sung from the point of view of a little girl. It could end up in a car commercial, he says. Or someone could figure skate to it...in the Olympics.

Friendships: Andy originally pays Daryl 40 bucks a session to join his band. In the end they end up jamming—like real friends. And how about that burgeoning Halpert-Schrute friendship. Dwight even defends Pam's womanhood against the supposed 4-year old rejection by Danny, declaring her "one of the plain, hearty women of Scranton who make this city great."

Unlike the rest of staff, Dwight seems to get the work-play divide best. "It's after five," he tells Jim. "I'm not going to take this home."

The Michael Meter (scale of 1-10, Michael's importance in this episode): 6.5

Best Joke You're Most Likely to Forget: Dwight's anecdote about his visit to the Penis Museum.

Prediction of the Week For Who Will be Scranton's Next Regional Manager: Meredith. See the way she bossed Oscar and Ryan around?