'The Office' hands out some golden tickets

This week's episode of "The Office" was kind of silly and sitcommy -- but it also served to set up a pretty big storyline for the rest of the spring. Michael and Dwight's little show in front of David Wallace is going to come back to haunt the Scranton branch manager, methinks.

These spoilers all got into the same shipment.

We were talking last week about how much easier to live with the newish, more self-aware Michael is, and even as he was doing a pretty despicable thing -- blaming Dwight for the seemingly disastrous golden ticket promotion -- there were flashes of that Michael to be seen. Take, for instance, his reasoning as to why Dwight should take the fall and get fired: "You're cooped up in there all day, you don't get to do your farming, you're not dating Angela anymore -- it doesn't matter if you get fired for taking credit for the gold ticket idea. Me on the other hand -- I would be lost without this place."

He's not wrong, is he? Not that it excuses what he did, because trying to hang Dwight out to dry like that ranks among the worst things -- worst work-related things, anyway -- that Michael has ever done. So, hands up, everyone who saw it coming that the idea would end up working out and Dwight would be hailed as brilliant instead. OK -- looks like most of you.

Had Michael just left things alone, Dwight would have probably hung himself, because it was clear he had no idea what to do in the call with the marketing folks and would have been tossing out horse boat-quality ideas within the space of a few minutes. He can't, of course; he's Michael. So instead he storms into the conference room -- his genuine outrage that Dwight wouldn't stop lying about Michael's initial lie was one of the episode's more amusing moments -- and we're soon awash in talk of toilet nets and sponges ("I have a lot of toilet ideas," Michael asserts).

Annndd, that's it for David Wallace. Frequent guest star Andy Buckley got a nice little showcase as David finally got fed up with Michael's antics and washed his hands of the branch -- and also provided the setup for "Wire" alum Idris Elba's guest stint, which starts next week. He's going to be much less forgiving of Michael's foibles than other corporate types have been, so steel yourselves for more Michael Scott flop-sweat in the coming weeks.

As for the comedy tonight? Less than usual, although Michael's Willy Wonka antics before the promotion went south let Steve Carell do some good physical comedy. The brainstorming meeting had a couple of good moments as well, including Andy getting stuck on the word "golden" ("Golden Girls" ... because how great was that show? Golden Grahams -- I don't get this") and the inspirational words Michael put on the whiteboard (Marketing, Greatness, Michael) so as to "profiligate" good ideas.

Most of the laughs, for me anyway, came in the B story of Jim, Pam and Andy all trying to advise Kevin on how to approach Lynn, the woman he met last week. Taking the honeymoons apparently hasn't calmed Andy down too much, as he let loose with one this spectacularly embittered bit of oversharing in a contentious talking head with Jim and Pam:

"... Your heart is on fire like this, and it turns into a blackened carbon brick in a barbecue sauce of shame and rage, and two hot people with a perfect relationship wouldn't understand that." Um ... yeah, wow.

The more subtle differences between Jim and Pam were funny too, with Jim advising basically to do what he did with Pam (because that worked so well for the first few years they knew one another) and Pam urging him to be a little more assertive than that.

In the end, my man Kevin did exactly the right thing by just saying what was on his mind: "You have the nicest smile. I'd like to take you out to dinner and a movie." Lynn: "OK." Kevin: "Nice. ... Boobs." OK, so maybe not exactly the right thing, but pretty close.

Other notes from this week's episode:

• I get the sense that Jim's playing along with the notion that Dwight thought of the golden tickets was less about him committing to a gag and more about him still being angry with Michael for the potential huge hit to his sales figures.
• Michael to Jim re: impressing Pam by buying a house: "That's why carnations exist." Creed: "That's not why." Anyone else find that line a little frightening?
• Pam recites Michael's list of excuses for ducking calls: "Stopping a fight in the parking lot. An Obama fashion show -- whatever that is. Or trapped in an oil painting. I'm gonna save that one."
• Good bookends with the knock-knock/doorbell jokes at the beginning and end of the episode. However, my local affiliate cut in with basketball before the end of the final joke. Help me out -- what came after Jim said he was brushing his teeth?
• Michael and Darryl is the gift that keeps on giving. Darryl: "Were the boxes near each other?" Michael: "Irrelevant." Darryl: "I put three pallets on a truck to Blue Cross once a week. They use a lot of paper." Michael: "I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to be honest: What is a pallet?"

How'd you like this week's "Office" -- sweet like jellybeans or sour like Warheads? Are you OK with the episode serving as a setup for things to come?

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