Originally published on Set The Tape
A Quiet Place is a sharp contrast for many fans of actor John Krasinski. A horror film set in a post-apocalyptic landscape, it puts the actor/writer/director in a very different environment from what many fans are used to, having fallen in love with him during his time in The Office.
Before we head into the frightening landscape of A Quiet Place, let’s take a look back at some of his best moments from The Office.
10. Quad-Desk
After returning from paternity leave Jim (John Krasinski) discovers that Dwight (Rainn Wilson) has converted their desk clump into a three desk structure called ‘Megadesk’. Desperate to keep ‘Megadesk’ Dwight tries to manipulate Jim into taking more time off to spend with his new family. Unfortunately it falls flat for him when he enters the office to find that Jim has created ‘Quad-Desk’, a pyramid like structure made from three desks.
It’s not just the loss of ‘Mega-Desk’ that upsets Dwight, but also the fact that Jim has named it ‘Quad-Desk’ when it is made of three desks instead of four, plus the fact that he has to crawl under the desk to answer his own phone.
9. Vending Machine Prank
We discover that Jim is friends with the office vending machine maintenance man, which leads Jim to the perfect chance to pull a prank of Dwight, putting all of his desk objects in the vending machine, including his name plate, office supplies, and even his beloved bobble-head.
Dwight doesn’t feel too put out by the prank, however, as he vows to just buy back his own stuff. Until he realises that his wallet is also in the machine. Luckily for him Jim is on hand to give him a giant bag of nickles to help his get to work buying his stuff back from the machine.
8. Velcro Suit
A beautifully simple and quick prank, Jim learns that Dwight gets his suits dry cleaned and purchases an identical suit made from tearaway Velcro. Convincing the dry cleaners to switch suits, Jim waits for Dwight to arrive for work and then pulls his suit off in one motion, leaving Dwight standing in the parking lot in his vest and pants.
7. Pavlov Experiment
Jim is always willing to do the long con, and spends several weeks on this particular prank, taking inspiration from the classic conditioning exercise to train Dwight. Every time Jim boots up his computer he offers Dwight a mint when the log-in chime sounds.
Over the weeks Dwight comes to expect a mint when he hears the noise, automatically holding out his hand. Eventually, when Jim doesn’t give him a mint Dwight is left stunned and confused, ad finds his mouth suddenly tasting unexpectedly bad.
6. The Red Wire
When Dwight discovers a mysterious red wire attached to the back of his computer that he’d never seen before, and that no one else has on their computer, he becomes determined to figure out where it leads. He follows the wire around the office and eventually leaves the building.
It’s then that we learn that Jim bought the wire with the express purpose of messing with Dwight, a revelation that comes as we see Dwight scaling a telephone pole in the background. That Jim not only saw the wire on sale and knew exactly how he could mess with Dwight not only makes this great, but the fact that he himself scaled a telephone pole on the other side of the street just to set it up shows his determination to a prank.
5. ‘It Was Dwight’
When some of the members of the office get sent on a business trip to Florida, Jim is determined to prank Dwight whilst away. When Dwight and Erin (Ellie Kemper) enter Jim’s room they find the furniture tossed around, a rope made of sheets hanging over the balcony, and an open briefcase full of cash.
Dwight is distraught when he sees a message scrawled on the wall saying ‘It was Dwight’, protesting his innocence. He reads the instructions left behind to ‘find Luwanda at the alcohol club’, just before a ‘dead’ Jim falls out of the closet.
4. Messages From Future Dwight
When Jim moves to another branch he decides to take a box of Dwight’s personal stationary with him, using it to pull pranks on him from across the country. He uses Dwight’s stationary to send him faxes, from himself, from the future.
When Dwight receives a message from himself saying ‘Dwight, at 8AM today, someone poisons the coffee. Do not drink the coffee. More instructions will follow. Cordially, future Dwight.’
Seeing Stanley (Leslie David Baker) about to take a drink of his coffee Dwight sprints across the room, screaming, before smacking the mug from Stanley’s hand in a shower of liquid.
3. Christmas Desk
Not even Christmas time gives Dwight a break from the pranks, as he enters the office to find his desk, chair, computer, and everything on his desk individually wrapped in paper.
Confident that he can unwrap the whole thing in minutes, saying it’s a poor prank, Dwight takes a seat, only to find that everything is made from cardboard, collapsing under him.
2. Asian Jim
The best Jim pranks are always one’s that go that extra mile, and none are more elaborate than Asian Jim. When Dwight notices an Asian man he’s never seen before doing Jim’s job, dressed as Jim, and acting as Jim he immediately calls him out as an imposter, stating that Jim was never Asian.
Not only does the fake Jim claim to have always been Jim, praising Dwight on not noticing race, but the whole office is in on it. Jim’s wife Pam (Jenna Fischer) kisses him and tells him about their dinner plans, causing Dwight to warn her that he’s not the real Jim. Grabbing the photo on her desk to prove it to her he sees that Pam and Asian Jim are together in the photo, with their new children.
Dwight is left visibly shaken as he tries to work out if it’s all an elaborate prank, or if Jim really has been Asian for the past decade.
1. Best Man
In the final episode of The Office we get to see Dwight marry his long time partner Angela (Angela Kinsey), with Jim as his best man. Throughout the course of the episode Jim pulls a few pranks on Dwight, but none are better than his final prank.
Moments before the ceremony Jim tells Dwight that the priest has told him he can’t be Dwight’s best man, because best men have to be older than the groom. Dwight is unsure if this is true or not, but Jim tells him he can’t be there for him on his big day.
Dwight turns around and finds Michael (Steve Carell), who has been gone from the series for two seasons, is standing there, ready to take over for Jim. It’s a beautiful moment, one where all three characters are brought close to tears. Jim’s comment that it’s the ‘best prank ever’ rings true for the audience, who are just as delighted as the characters to see Michael back.
Bonus Prank – Dwight Destroys Jim
Jim makes Dwight the target of multiple pranks over the course of nine seasons, with many of them possibly considered cruel and unusual. Thankfully, the two of them are such good friends that many of these can be forgiven; but Dwight also manages to get some revenge of his own during one of the Christmas episodes.
When Jim throws a snowball at Dwight in the middle of the office the two of them agree to have a snowball fight to settle the argument. Over the course of the episode Dwight begins to harass Jim with snowballs, setting up presents that fire them at Jim, disguising himself as Pam to get close to him, and even hiding inside a snowman in order to launch a surprise attack.
The constant surprise attacks and tricks take their toll on Jim, and he eventually breaks down when he leaves for the day to find the parking lot filled with snowmen, any of which could be a trap. As Jim attacks the snowmen, having descended into a fear induced madness, Dwight watches from the rooftop at his broken foe.
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