What I'm Watching: The Office

The Office: Season 7, Episode 5 “The Sting” (B+)

At first, I didn't even recognize Timothy Olyphant, superb star of FX's “Justified,” as the rival salesman who so intimidated Jim and Dwight that they had to call Michael to ask for his help. This show has never been showy about its guest stars, mostly because it hasn't had many of note, with the exception of Kathy Bates, Idris Elba, Amy Ryan, and Amy Adams (am I missing anyone?). I consider that a good thing, and Olyphant seems like just the right fit for this character, even though he hasn't really been used to his full potential yet. Michael hiring him is clearly going to pan out very, very poorly since he just remembered that his good buddy Todd is already a traveling salesman, but it should make for some fun scrambling on Michael's part in the coming week or weeks. I loved how Pam was incorporated into the plotline as a clearly jealous Jim interrogated her about it, prompting her to ask him if he's forgotten that they're married, and then having Dwight rise to her defense, even though he was mistakenly certain that she didn't wear makeup. Jim choosing Meredith based solely on her being free for lunch was clearly a mistake, and Ryan's desire to pose as the head of Google, before being relegated to a Spanish-speaking janitor, was quite amusing. My favorite part of the entire episode was Darryl's response to Andy offering to pay him to be in his band, negotiating his salary down from $60 to $40 after deeming his original offer ridiculous. I am a huge fan of their dynamic.