Is Jim The Villain Of The Office? John Krasinski Reacts To The Accusation
John Krasinski spent many years cementing himself in our hearts as a lovable, floppy-haired paper salesman on "The Office," but now that goodwill is being questioned. Jim Halpert might be the hopeless romantic who made millions swoon with his heartfelt declarations to Pam (Jenna Fischer), but does that make him a good person? The internet thinks not. And John Krasinski might agree.
During his recent appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," Krasinski was confronted with a MovieWeb article asking if Jim is the real villain of the workplace sitcom. For his part, Fallon was totally affronted by the accusation, saying, "Why would anyone do this? Jim is one of the most lovable characters and funniest characters in the world. This is not true. This is garbage." This is obviously the natural response of someone whose favorite hero has been accused of villainy, but it's hardly the worst Jim Halpert rumor floating around the internet. Some fans are suggesting the man is a stone-cold sociopath, while the article in question merely accused him of being a pretty shady dude.
As for Krasinski, he laughed it off, "They're onto me, because I played it as a supervillain." He even joked that spending so many years as Jim encouraged him to take the part of Reed Richards in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," saying, "That's why I did 'Fantastic Four' — to balance it out. I had already done the villain." Could this be Krasinski's way of saying that Mr. Fantastic was more than a one-off appearance for him? Hopefully not, otherwise Kevin Feige's Marvel assassins will have to hunt him down for slipping up. And frankly, Krasinski has enough to deal with not that "The Office" fans are on the verge of turning against him.
Jim Halpert — hero or villain?
This might be hard to swallow but the villainous Jim theory has a point. As usual, love has been blinding our collective common sense. Jim's flaws were there all along, but since we were all so invested in his relationship with Pam, they were easy to dismiss. When we first meet the evil fiend, he's got a dopey smile and a crush on the receptionist. He's impossible not to root for! Especially since said receptionist is trapped in a basically loveless engagement to an irritating fiancé. Jim is the nice guy who makes her happiness seem possible! He understands her, makes her laugh, spends years pining, and even nurses a broken heart over Pam. What's not to like? Believe it or not, there's a pretty long list.
Most of the arguments against Jim point to two of his defining characteristics: Jim is a "nice guy" and a known prankster. The latter makes him a terrible co-worker, which is a big no-no in a workplace sitcom. Say what you will about Michael Scott (Steve Carell), but when it comes down to it, he's an excellent salesman, a kind boss, and an even better friend. As for Jim? He's pretty good at his job, but could obviously be much better. It would probably help if he didn't split his time between complaining, flirting with Pam, and torturing his co-workers.
While Jim is totally off the hook for the way he tortured Ryan (B.J. Novak), and even gets a pass for pranking Andy (Ed Helms), it's his bullying of Dwight (Rainn Wilson) that can't be excused. Dwight is a dedicated salesman who, admittedly, lacks the social norms of your average co-worker and occasionally needs to be reminded not to start fires in the office. But he certainly doesn't deserve to be constantly harassed by Jim's increasingly elaborate schemes.
The worst kind of Nice Guy
It's not hard to make a case against Jim as a bad Dunder Mifflin employee, but what about his all-too important relationship with Pam? Imagine walking your significant other into your childhood home and casually informing them, "This is where you live now." That sounds like the start of a psychological thriller about a kidnapping. At the very least, it's a very extreme example of an uneven relationship. And yet, this is what happens in the fifth season of "The Office," when Jim buys his childhood home without consulting his wife. In the end, Pam is thrilled (a classic case of Stockholm syndrome, folks), but the lead up to her reaction is uncomfortably tense because we and the show both understand that Jim has behaved like a walking red flag. Shouldn't Pam have a say in their new family home? Shouldn't he have consulted his wife before making this major financial decision? But okay, fine, everyone makes mistakes. It's not like he would ever do anything this crazy ever again, right?
About four seasons later, when they're two kids into their marriage, Jim invests $10,000 of their savings into a startup that he plans to quit his job for, despite the fact that it's located three hours away from his wife and children. Does he let Pam in on this plan? Of course not! Then he promptly abandons her in Scranton to go work in Philadelphia, while Pam continues her full-time job and looks after their kids. That's some serious supervillain behavior, Halpert.
Jim's worst crime
There are plenty of other Halpert offenses worth unpacking, and I'm confident that a cursory Google search of, "Is Jim Halpert a bad person," will continue proving this theory right. We could dwell on the fact that he pursued Pam while she was engaged to another man. Or we could examine his brief relationship with Amy Adams' Katy, in which Jim was an absolute jerk, looked down on her, then dumped her in the middle of a cruise. Speaking of past relationships, he wasn't much better when it came to Karen — a woman who uprooted her life for him but got dumped the second Pam reentered the picture. Or we could just dismiss those entirely, since they were "in the name of love." But none of that excuses the whole Athlead debacle, or absolutely everything he does in the final season of "The Office."
But ya know what? Nevermind all that, because personally, I think Jim's biggest crime of all was not showing up to Pam's art show in the season 3 episode "Business School." Leaving his wife out of major life decisions is a big deal, but the look on Pam's face when she's standing by her artwork all alone is an unforgivable crime. All this to say that the internet is right: Jim Halpert is a monster. If Krasinksi wants to rehabilitate his image as a likable guy then he might want to suit back up for a Marvel movie. Then again, there are some better options out there for Reed Richards too.