(S06E19) It's starting to feel like Sabre's purchase of Dunder-Mifflin was just the jumping-odd point the writers needed to bring the Scranton branch dynamic back to something that feels like the old days. For the second week in a row, we have an episode that felt very much like the ones from the first couple of seasons -- without the Jim/Pam drama -- with the entire office interacting with each other and a large amount of mistrust floating about. And it made for one of the funniest episodes in years.

With sales being king at Sabre, the sales staff was letting their elevated status go to their heads. This brings about some interesting character aspects we haven't seen much of. Phyllis, for instance, gets to take her status out on Michael, who's embarrassed her any number of times, and Angela, who she just plain hates. Andy walks out of a tedious Michael-called meeting. Stanley actually looks like he's doing work. It's amazing how a high commission can motivate even the most sedentary salesperson, huh?

What seems to be happening during this transition, though, is that Michael is almost looking like a real manager. He stood up to Jo Bennett last week and let his folks go celebrate St. Patty's Day. And this week, he tried valiantly to knock the sales staff down a couple of notches by withholding the hot sales leads Sabre got them.

It was a pretty smart move on Michael's part; if he has to give out the leads, he'll do it in a way that makes the sales staff earn it. My favorite method was Kelly and Ryan giving leads to Stanley when ol' Stan would agree with one of them during one of their constant lovers' spats. Who knew that Stanley was such a fan of the Kardashians? Second favorite was Angela getting her revenge on Phyllis by ordering her to fill out paperwork then watch her shred it. It's the first time I've ever rooted for Angela in the Angela-Phyllis cold war.

Hearing folks like Dwight and Andy -- who was so conflicted when he thought Erin hid her leads in her bra -- clamor for leads made this episode look like some sort of low-grade version of 'Glengarry Glen Ross.' At a certain point I was expecting Alec Baldwin to come in and yell at the staff to "Always Be Closing."

Of course, Michael being Michael, there's always potential for a colossal screw-up. Here's a question for you: Couldn't Gabe have just reprinted the leads Michael lost? Or are they so precious that the addresses and phone numbers aren't stored anywhere. Maybe Michael just didn't want to admit he stupidly gave leads to Kevin. Though his clue for Dwight to find them with "the man who never breeds."

In fact, Michael's clues to Jim were pretty funny, only because Jim was probably acting the least obnoxious out of all the sales staff. But it was funny for Jim to lament that he has to deal with "having two babies." Though, in this case, Michael's childishness was pretty justified. Luckily, Jim had Pam to help decipher Mike's clues. She's always been good at that. And, who didn't laugh at "Now That's Italian!" being a clue that one of the leads was hidden in a big can of ravioli? Who the hell has a big ravioli can in the office anyway? Kevin?

More fun stuff:
-- Jim tried to get the sales staff to make nice with the rest of the crew. He really tried, especially after even a pic of his daughter in a onesie couldn't sway Kelly and Oscar. But was it his fault that the rest of the crew interpreted the cookies and other sweets as the peace offering? After Stanley almost spilled about the 2%, Jim was the first one to cover. The guy's got a greedy streak we never knew about.
-- Not sure how I feel about the Michael/Dwight scenes in the dump. Has Dwight's opinion of Michael been going down for awhile or just since the Sabre sales edict? But it was refreshing to hear him not suck up to Michael for once. They even brought out the old "Assistant to" joke from the old days.
-- That being said, Dwight choking Kevin wasn't cool, even for someone as extreme as Dwight.
-- You never know; Johnny Depp could be living in Michael's condo complex. He's just that odd; maybe he's really living in Scranton, not France.
-- I like Darryl in the office. He took down Andy pretty easily, and even beat Michael to the punch on "that's what she said." He needs to stay there.
-- Andy and Erin being Pam/Jim II is really starting to become an in-joke on the show, aren't they? Of course, while Pam is snarky and smart (though seems to love iPods), Erin is pretty innocent. "People love shells from faraway beaches." I mean, their first kiss wasn't in the office, it was in the dump. It's almost as if the writers are trying to point out that Arin is the low-rent version of Jam.

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