'The Office' Season 7, Episode 5 Recap (VIDEO)

['The Office' - 'The Sting']

There are generally two different types of 'Office' episodes. There are the ones where outrageous things happen, and that's where we get our laughs. And then there are the quieter ones where nothing out of the ordinary happens at all. Sometimes they're emotional or meaningful for one of the characters, as Pam and Jim's wedding was, and other times their job is to move the story forward, as when Michael had to say goodbye to Holly.

Humor is still found, but it's a different and gentler humor. Luckily, while this episode was 90 percent straightforward, there was one sequence of outright craziness that elevated everything around it. Surprisingly, though in context it was completely predictable, this moment featured Meredith at the center of it all.

Timothy Olyphant appeared as Danny Cordray, a rival salesman who'd been poaching clients from Dunder-Mifflin. To emphasize to the viewers how good he was, even an offer of paper at cost wasn't enough to sway one customer to stick with Michael and the gang at Scranton. It was a somber and serious moment, as Michael wasn't at all pleased to lose a sale.

In fact, Michael was surprisingly competent throughout this episode. Even that moment of Meredith-based insanity was Dwight's idea; Michael just allowed himself to be pulled into it. And when it went too far, it was Michael who broke into the room and shut down the fake sales meeting. Really, though, he was saving Danny from being attacked by Meredith in a sex-crazed frenzy, and saving everyone from having to witness the carnage.

Everything about Meredith's advances on Danny was hilarious and so spot-on for her character. Danny, as a good salesman, was willing to use flirtation to make a deal happen, but he had no idea what can of worms he had opened. I loved how quickly she shut down both Oscar and Ryan when they came in to try to stop her. It's as if they knew she was going to take this delicious piece of meat away from her. She knew there were cameras on and she was at work, but she'd lost all sense of control in Danny's deliciousness. It's even disturbing to write about.

Other than the patent absurdity of this scene, the rest of the episode was played pretty straight. Michael ultimately resolved the Danny situation by offering him the traveling salesman position. (It's just a shame he forgot about Packard, the guy already doing that.) I even respected his retort to the sales team's objections that he's not going to exclude good people from the staff because they're threatening to the sales team. It's a valid argument and it's good management. Every once in a while, he has those moments to remind us that underneath his drama and insecurities, he's actually an effective salesman and manager.

The other story was a simple burgeoning friendship and kinship forming between Andy and Darryl over music. Oh, and Kevin's on board as drummer and vocalist for any song in which he can be a frog. It was a sweet moment when Darryl told Andy he didn't have to pay him any more to jam with them.

It's interesting that twice now in three weeks we've had Darryl on keyboards and Andy singing. I realize Craig Robinson and Ed Helms have utilized their musicality in other projects, but I'm starting to wonder if there is an intention to make it a more prominent part of 'The Office.' Could it be ... 'Glee' envy? Is a musical episode forthcoming?

Other Fun Scraps:

-- Danny assuming Meredith was a homeless person they'd found to play the role of a company executive was just too perfect.

-- Of course Michael would assume Stanley has diabetes.

-- After everyone hated Andy's weird song where he sang in a falsetto from the point of view of a little girl, I loved that he said he was even more bummed out after Creed announced he did like it. Even better, Creed said, "You're welcome."

It was interesting to see Michael act as an effective and competent manager this week, considering we know he's going to be leaving the show by the end of the season. Is the idea to emphasize his stronger qualities as a leader so that there is a real reason to think his absence could impact the branch? Otherwise, what big loss is it to lose a crazy man-child who is far more disruptive of productivity than he is motivational or productive himself?

'The Office' airs Thur., 9PM ET on NBC

[Follow Jason @ultraversion21 on Twitter.]