The Office "Traveling Salesmen" (2007)

The sales team heads out for sales call duty in pairs while one Dunder-Mifflin employee has come to the end of his tenure with the company, at least for now. I think this is my favorite episode so far this season as it took one interesting turn after another. Andy proposes a sales call day to Michael in order to spend some time with the boss man and try to take down Dwight in their ever increasing competition for position as Michael's right hand man. The Amazing Race starts off with Michael throwing Phyllis's keys underneath her car while Dwight refuses to ride shotgun with Jim because the back seat is the safest part of the car before Jim predictably stops short, hurtling Dwight into the back of his seat. Brilliant. I think I'll break down this episode into the pairs that we saw as it seems the best way to go about it.

Starting off with the heroic firemen (Michael/Andy), it's always awesome to see Michael as the expert salesman we always hear about, and seen all too briefly in episodes such as "The Client". He seems so normal and personable in those sales calls that I think he should just treat his entire life as one big potential sale. It was ironic to see Andy being the pompous ass that lampoons the sale and Michael, well aware of Andy's buffoonery, gives him a hard pinch in an effort to shut him up. It just surprises me that Michael can be so calm in his sales job but completely fail as a friend and boss. Maybe he's not management material, but he certainly does have people skills as was evidenced in this episode. You can be a better person, Mr. Scott. I also loved how he was not biting as Andy continually tried to bait him that Dwight is an awful employee. Unfortunately he succeeded in seeding enough doubt in Michael's mind that Dwight was after his job again, as in "The Coup", an early contender for favorite of the season. More on that front a little later.

Jumping over to the retired marines (Stanley/Ryan), Ryan is pleased that he was Stanley's first choice after "pass" and is looking to gain some critical analysis from the man known more for his knack of crossword puzzles than sales. Ryan of course crash and burns when he is faced with making a pitch to three middle-aged black men, like Stanley, and all he can come up with is "Hi. Hi. Hi." Stanley's critique of his work consists of mainly uncontrollable laughter regarding Ryan's huge new failure as a salesman which is continually cut to as we peek in at how the other teams are progressing. Anytime we see a happy Stanley is always a good thing and this may just go down as my favorite moment of his right along with he and Michael's tag team prevention of line cutters in "Initiation"'s Pretzel Day.

The mother/daughter team (Phyllis/Karen) get off to a start with some god-awful makeovers which I thought was Phyllis's response to Michael's Amazing Race where the biggest sale didn't actually matter. I think this episode gives strength to the characters because we see they are good at their jobs, with Andy and Ryan being some notable exceptions, as Phyllis wisely chose the makeovers to win over the client they were tasked with. Proving that it can't be all fun and games, Phyllis(!) is the first to let it slip about the PB & J drama that had plagued the Scranton office prior to Jim's departure. It surprised me 1) that it took so long for someone to bring this to Karen's attention as most of the Scranton people love to gossip and 2) that it was Phyllis who spilled the beans. My money was actually on Kevin as I could just picture him "So you know about the whole Jim and Pam thing, right? . . . You know, Jim liked Pam. . . . I think he might have been in love with her. . . . I'm pretty sure he was. . . . Probably why Pam called off her wedding. . . . You knew all that, right?"

Before we jump over to the last team, there was another fun pairing this week, coffee gals (Pam/Angela), that I wanted to talk a bit about. I loved seeing Angela so happy due to Dwight driving all the way to New York to file some paperwork that she had forgotten about (Kevin: Do you really not know? Because it is a big deal) essentially saving her ass. She's so elated by this turn of events that she wants to spend some time with Pam and they get on very well. She of course, disguises the story with some aptly chosen (middle name) aliases but I'm sure she knew that Pam was well aware of who she was actually talking about. I like more laid back Angela and I'm sure her office mates will as well. Unfortunately it was not bound to last long.

Finally onto the gay couple (Jim/Dwight) who used to go on sales calls together all the time. That picture of young Jim and young Dwight is priceless. I want that for my desktop background. Starting off with a nice slap to the face after Dwight is sure he cannot be attacked from the front, the two prove to be the best team out there with a unique and innovative pitch regarding customer service. Jim, of course, quickly hangs up on Kelly after making his point. I was surprised that for adversaries that the two are such an effective team but I guess it makes sense as I think they are Scranton's best sales associates. I could be wrong there, Dwight was #1 in the company and Jim was #8, but he apparently was doing very well in Stamford which gave even Dwight pause in "The Convention". Perhaps Dwight is trying to thaw their adversarial relationship as during the ride over he tells Jim that he likes Karen although they're not ready for double dating yet. It continues how Dwight tried to bond with Ryan in "Initiation" and maybe now he's trying to reconnect with Jim following his almost remorseful statement that he and Jim never got along in that previous episode.

Which brings us to Dwight's resignation rather than letting his relationship with Angela become public. Andy really crossed a line here. I had enjoyed their petty competition starting in "The Merger" but here I think Andy took it a step too far. Breaking into Dwight's car and framing him in order to turn Michael against him? I liked Andy but this episode has possibly changed things as I've seen people like this in my office who have nothing better to do than try and get others into trouble and I can't stand them. Time will tell if he can get back into my good graces, his rendition of "Oompa Loompa" notwithstanding. We'll also find out how Angela will get back at him as that zoom in on her glaring in the background was pretty unsettling for me and I wasn't even the focus of her rage.

Favorite moment: In an episode rife with great bits from everyone, it's going to be Dwight's farewell hug to Jim in the parking lot. He really considers Jim a friend despite all the pranks at his expense and I think they may have reconnected on some level during the sales call. It's good to see that even adversaries can become friends and I do believe Dwight was looking to patch things up. While I'm sure we'll still get pranks, I think maybe there is a better congeniality between the two now that wasn't present in the preceding episodes.