Mindy Kaling (Kelly) made her directorial debut as Pam and Jim work on their first sales pitch together to Donna, the manager of a local restaurant.

Michael keeps misreading the signals that Donna, familiar to viewers from "Happy Hour" a few weeks ago, is giving. He think she's really into him.

It turns out everyone else was similarly confused this time, though, so it wasn't merely Michael alone bungling a situation for everyone else to see.

It was nice to see him not be the obvious butt of a joke for once, although he still kind of was, and Pam was even sympathetic to him at the end.

Where does Donna fit into the long-range dating plans of Michael Scott? That we will have to wait to find out. But looks like she might be a keeper.

Elsewhere, Gabe encourages Darryl to apply for the minority executive program at Sabre. Dwight, upset that he cannot apply, hatches a plan.

He tries to install Kelly as the minority candidate instead, so as to manipulate her from behind the scenes. The snag? Ryan sees the opportunity too.

Looking at his girlfriend as his own ticket back to management status, he is all for the idea, gets more attention, and frustrates Dwight.

Just once, can't a puppet master get a break?