| "The Sting" | |||
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| The Office episode | |||
Michael, Jim, and Dwight secretly monitoring Danny through security cameras in the other room. |
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| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 5 |
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| Directed by | Randall Einhorn | ||
| Written by | Mindy Kaling | ||
| Production code | 705 | ||
| Original air date | October 21, 2010 | ||
| Guest stars | |||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of The Office (U.S.) episodes | |||
"The Sting" is the fifth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 131st episode overall. Written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Randall Einhorn, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on October 21, 2010. This episode has received positive reviews.
When a Dunder Mifflin client is stolen by a rival salesman named Danny Cordray (Timothy Olyphant), Michael, Dwight and Jim decide to set up a sting in order to uncover his sales secret. Elsewhere, Andy starts a band when he learns that one of his old college friends has a successful music career.
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Jim and Dwight are sent on assignment to make a sales pitch to a client named Steve Nash, and are eager to land the sale. However, their eagerness is short-lived as they see Danny Cordray, a rival paper salesman from the very small Osprey company who steals more potential sales away from Dunder Mifflin than anyone, has also arrived for a sales pitch. Desperate, Jim and Dwight call in Michael, who is ecstatic at getting a chance to make a sale, to come and try to save them. However, the company ends up taking Danny's offer, even after Michael promises at-cost paper sales and weekend delivery. The trio leaves the client's office and head back home, defeated. It is also revealed by Dwight that Danny had a romantic history with Pam (while Jim was dating Karen), a fact which Pam tries to reiterate to Jim that she and Danny only went out on two dates.
During a brainstorm session, Michael, Jim, and Dwight decide to set up a sting operation to see how Danny is stealing all of their clients and observe his sales techniques. They set up Meredith, as the CEO of Solartech (a fictional company), in Dwight's office, fitted with security cameras, and watch from another room. Danny is then sent in to try to make a sale. All starts well until Meredith attempts to seduce him, forcing Dwight and Jim to send in Oscar and Ryan to save the sting. When Meredith strong-arms both of them, a grossed-out Michael rushes in to call the whole thing off. Danny becomes infuriated and walks off, but before he leaves the building, Michael offers him a job, mentioning how much money he could make as a traveling salesman for them. He reluctantly accepts the offer, and Michael introduces him as the new salesman to the office. The rest of the sales staff (minus a distracted Andy) act disrespectful towards him, worrying that Danny will take their clients. Michael mentions to them how well sales numbers will go up with Danny a part of the branch now, and that he isn't going to rescind Danny's job offer just because it makes the other salespeople uncomfortable. Before Dwight leaves for the day, he viciously insults Danny about his alleged mistreatment of Pam and client-stealing past, then immediately welcomes him to the company.
In a final interview with the documentary crew, Michael boasts of his coup of stealing Danny, bragging that Dunder Mifflin didn't even need another traveling salesman since they have Todd Packer in the field, before immediately lamenting that he "forgot about Packer."
Andy starts a band after reading about how well one of his friends is doing in the music business. He manages to get Darryl and Kevin to join him in writing a song (Darryl accepts $40 an hour for the work), with Andy singing an anti-war song from the perspective of a little girl in falsetto. The song is poorly received by the rest of the office, and Andy returns to the drawing board. Seeing that Andy is dejected, Kevin and Darryl offer to stay and jam with him for a little extra time, and the trio come up with a lively song called "Bullfrog In Love".
"The Sting" was directed by Randall Einhorn and written by Mindy Kaling, who also plays Kelly Kapoor in the show. It was the first episode to feature Timothy Olyphant in a guest appearance as Danny Cordray, a rival paper salesman.
The cold open, in which Jim and Pam discover Michael can't ride a bike, does not fit into the series' continuity. In season three's "A Benihana Christmas", Michael is seen successfully riding a bike into the office. Also, in season six's "Double Date", Michael talks about how he would like to participate in a triathlon, saying how he already has the bike and run thing down, and just needs to practice swimming.
In its original American broadcast on October 21, 2010, "The Sting" was viewed by an estimated 6.87 million viewers and received a 3.4 rating/9% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The episode's rating dropped 11% from the previous episode to its lowest ever fall telecast.[1][2]
Jason Hughes of AOL's TV Squad gave the episode a positive review and stated that "It was a sweet moment when Darryl told Andy he didn't have to pay him any more to jam with them".[3] Myles McNutt of The A.V. Club rated the episode with an A. He felt the episode was the "highlight" of the season.[4] Entertainment Weekly's Margaret Lyons praised Mindy Kaling's writing saying "Leave it to Mindy Kaling to deliver the best episode of The Office in a long, long time."[5] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix gave the episode a mixed review. He felt the episode "was a complete cartoon" and also stated "It bore very little resemblance to what the show once was". Despite this he also stated, "I found myself laughing a surprising amount of the time, even more than at previous episodes this season that felt more "Office"-like".[6]
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