Jim Halpert

James "Jim" Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office. The character is named after Jim Halpert, a childhood friend of executive producer Greg Daniels.

Overview

At the beginning of the series, Jim Halpert is a paper salesman at the Scranton branch of fictitious paper-goods distributor Dunder Mifflin. Intelligent but unmotivated, Jim spends much of his time conspiring with office receptionist Pam Beesly to engineer pranks on his overbearing deskmate Dwight Schrute. Much of the dramatic content of the early episodes of the show derives from Jim's secret crush on the engaged receptionist. It is often implied through the context of Jim's comments and through the comments of others that he is not only overqualified for his job but is not interested in it and that he only stays because of his hope to be with Pam.

Character profile

A five-year veteran of Dunder Mifflin, Jim insists the job is just an extended stop on his career path and once stated that if it were his career, he would throw himself in front of a train. It is indicated throughout the series that Jim is an extremely talented salesman—in "Office Olympics" he mentions closing two sales during his lunch break. Jim won an award for being the 9th best salesman in the company that year, with Dwight taking top honors ("Dwight's Speech"). In an episode from the previous year ("Diversity Day"), Dwight stole Jim's biggest client while Jim was forced to attend a meeting, which may have affected the standings. Despite Jim's talent for paper sales, he would often rather participate in (or instigate) office pranks than work and dislikes his job.

While in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Jim rented a house with a roommate, Mark. By his own admission during a conversation with Pam, Jim didn't have much of a social life, staying home and watching TV most nights, although he enjoys cycling ("Email Surveillance", deleted scene) and often babysits Toby's daughter Sasha ("Take Your Daughter To Work Day", deleted scene).

Despite his professed lack of a social life, Jim shows a remarkable ability to make friends quickly. Dwight notes that he's a close friend of Steve, the delivery man who restocks the vending machines ("Booze Cruise"). He seems to know several firefighters who respond to a fire alarm ("The Fire"). The IT guy attends a barbecue at Jim's house after only meeting him that day ("Email Surveillance"). Jim quickly bonds with Kevin's fiancée's daughter on "Take Your Daughter To Work Day"; she invites him to dinner at their house that night. He is also well-liked by most everyone at the Dunder Mifflin office, except of course, his frequent prank-target Dwight.

Jim's nonchalant and cynical attitude toward Dunder Mifflin is manifested by a PlayStation Portable spotted on his desk, his comic deadpan camera mugging in reaction to what would normally be surprising developments in the office, and his inciting comments during employee meetings. As mentioned above, Jim's favorite pastime is to play practical jokes on deskmate Dwight, who makes himself an easy target. These are usually whimsical and in good fun; e.g. performing an uncanny impression of Dwight using a $4 pair of glasses or placing the contents of Dwight's desk as well as his wallet in a vending machine. Occasionally, though, these pranks inadvertently backfire on Jim, such as in "The Alliance" or "The Fight" where Jim's flirtation with Pam gets physically awkward; or "Conflict Resolution" when his prank involving an I.D. badge pushes Dwight over the edge and he demands that Michael either fire Jim or transfer him out of the Scranton office.

Although Jim is very fond of elaborate pranks, he is essentially a kind person. When an uninvited Michael crashes his party and sings karaoke in yet another painfully awkward attention-hog moment, Jim saves him from humiliation by joining in. When he and Pam realize Michael will seriously injure himself in an ill-conceived attempt to illustrate the dangers of office-related depression and suicide ("Safety Training"), he's the first one to tell Michael, "don't jump on the bouncy castle." Jim also cheers Andy up in "Product Recall" when Andy becomes depressed after discovering his girlfriend is a highschool student.

Co-worker Andy Bernard nicknamed Jim "Big Tuna" after his choice of lunch on his first day at Stamford. Andy later nicknamed Jim "Big Haircut" when he got a new haircut.

Not much is known about Jim's family or childhood, although he does note that he played basketball in high school ("Basketball"). Jim lists "Larissa Halpert" (presumably his mother) as his emergency contact ("The Fight"). It is possible Jim grew up in nearby Dunmore because he mentions having previously attended Dunmore High School in a deleted scene from "Product Recall"

His favorite food is soft-shell crab ("Halloween"). According to Ryan ("Dwight's Speech"), Jim eats a ham-and-cheese sandwich every day for lunch. Jim even orders the meal when being treated to lunch at Hooters ("The Secret"). On the other hand, Jim brought a tuna sandwich to work in a deleted scene from "The Alliance". In a deleted scene from "Diwali", Jim favored eel sushi over tuna, much to the surprise of Andy, who nicknamed him "Big Tuna" based on his lunch the first day at Stamford.

Jim likes Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Arcade Fire, and Travis: The latter's song "Side" was playing at his barbecue party, and he sways with Pam to "Sing". Jim is also a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Philadelphia 76ers, as evidenced in ("The Job") when CFO David Wallace says "I don't know if I can hire a Sixers fan", to which Jim replies, "I should go...".

In earlier episodes, Jim drives an early 2000s maroon Toyota Corolla. In the third season, he drives a Saab 9-2X

Character history

Seasons 1 & 2

Jim's relationship with Pam is occasionally the subject of office speculation, which was particularly uncomfortable when Pam was engaged to Roy Anderson, a Dunder Mifflin warehouse worker. It was revealed (in a deleted scene) that Jim and Pam went out for lunch together when they first met and had an amazing time, until Jim found out that she was already engaged to Roy. For several months, Jim dated a purse salesgirl named Katy but broke up with her on a company "booze cruise" after watching Roy suddenly announce to the whole ship, "It's time to set a date, babe" (for his wedding to Pam). Dejected, Jim privately reveals his feelings for Pam to his boss, Michael Scott, who in an uncharacteristically serious moment encourages Jim to "never give up".

From this point, Jim develops a seemingly unsteady attitude toward Pam's impending nuptials. On the one hand, he asks out Brenda, a corporate office employee who came along for the Booze Cruise; he also tells Kelly that if a person on whom she has a crush doesn't like her, she should just forget about it and move on, indicating that he has done the same. On the other hand, he gets upset when he sees Pam and Roy eating lunch together, and most tellingly, becomes so depressed hearing Pam discuss the wedding that he calls a travel agency and schedules a trip to Australia, deliberately making himself unable to attend the wedding.

Feeling bored by work, guilty about a stack of complaints that Dwight has made about him, and tortured by his situation with Pam, he investigates a transfer to Dunder Mifflin's branch in Stamford, Connecticut. After Jan confirms that he's gotten the transfer, Jim confesses his love for Pam in the season two finale "Casino Night". Pam, whose wedding to Roy is all planned out and just weeks away, clearly shows her anguish but gently turns him down, yet he returns to kiss her minutes later.

Season 3

At the start of season three, Jim has already transferred to the Stamford branch and received a promotion in the process. (In the episode "Diwali", the title on his nameplate reads Asst. Regional Manager.) He earns the nickname "Big Tuna" from his coworker Andy Bernard (because Jim brought a tuna sandwich to lunch the first day). Jim has trouble fitting in—a few months into his tenure at Stamford, he admits he doesn't think the other employees even know his name. His pranks elicit extreme anger from Andy; Karen Filippelli mocks his tendency to mug at the camera when surprised by something; and both regard him as a suck-up to management. He even casually confesses that he misses the atmosphere of the laid-back Scranton office in favor of the supposedly more rigid Stamford branch.

Despite the branch's rigid reputation, everyone at the Stamford office spends as much spare time as they can get playing the online game Call of Duty during work hours. However, even their recreation frustrates Jim, as he proves to be spectacularly inept at the game to the point that co-workers yell at him and threaten him for screwing up. While playing, however, Karen tells the camera she thinks he looks cute when he struggles with the game, and by the end of the day, it appears that their friendship is blossoming into something deeper (though it's hinted that her feelings are stronger than his).

When Jim meets up with Michael at a paper distributors' convention, he reveals that he knows that Pam didn't go through with her wedding, though he never makes it clear when he found out. (He indicates that he "heard about it", and when he heard Michael telling Pam "Have fun on your date!" during a phone call earlier that day, Jim reacted with obvious surprise.)

During the same convention, he tells Michael that he considers him a "great boss" and admits that he only transferred because of Pam. Michael considers Jim his best friend after this. Jim ends up summarizing his feelings about Michael when learning that his Stamford boss Josh Porter has accepted a job at Staples, therefore dooming the Stamford branch and putting most of his employees out of work; Jim muses to the camera during an interview: "Say what you will about Michael Scott, but he would never do that."

Jim was about to be named to the number two position at Dunder Mifflin Northeast, a new division that would have been created had Stamford absorbed Scranton. However, with Josh's departure, Scranton absorbs Stamford instead. Jim is still offered the promotion, but he must relocate back to his old office. Jim is at first unwilling to return to Scranton because of Pam but finally decides to do so. Karen, who is now involved with Jim, goes to Scranton as well, along with a few other Stamford employees.

In Scranton, Jim's and Pam's reunion is awkward. Pam is overjoyed, but Jim is clearly uncomfortable. He lets Pam know that he is seeing someone, and gradually Karen is introduced as his girlfriend. Although on the surface he truly seems to enjoy being with Karen, Jim vaguely hints during a conversation with Michael that he's not really interested in her and is only in the relationship to avoid dealing with his conflicted feelings for Pam.

As he settles back in at Scranton, Jim isn't surprised at all at once more being subjected to Michael's immature actions. He has been promoted to the number two position (presumed, though never explicitly stated, to be "Assistant Regional Manager"), the job (and title) that Dwight always wanted. But despite how he seems to have "evolved," claiming that pulling pranks again would send him back to his old slacker lifestyle, Jim does return to his old ways by focusing his pranks on Andy Bernard, his ex-Stamford coworker, as well as Dwight. Although the relationship between Jim and Dwight seems to be improving slightly, as the two later embark on a sales trip that results in a success and Dwight compliments Jim on Karen, and Dwight defends Jim from being attacked by Roy, when he sprays him in the face with pepper spray.

His feelings toward Pam still seem to be affecting his relationship with Karen. He resists the idea of her moving out of the hotel in Scranton where she has been living since the merger and moving into a house two blocks away from his own because "it would be like we were living together." Jim only relents when Pam herself tells him he's being unreasonable. Karen accidentally learns of Jim's feelings for Pam during a sales call with Phyllis and confronts him about it over coffee. Jim, acting on his first instinct, lies to her, but relents and admits what happened but says that he's happy with his new relationship.

When Dwight resigns (rather than reveal his relationship with officemate Angela, subsequently taking a sales floor job at Staples), and Andy begins to suck up to Jim and Michael to an obnoxious degree, Jim decides to rattle him by pulling a prank on him. Karen and Ryan decline to participate, and so Pam becomes his (very willing) accomplice. Not only does the prank lead Andy to lose control and punch a hole in the office wall, but it also leads Karen to confront Jim about Pam. Jim admits to still having feelings for Pam. Pam has meanwhile been through ups and downs and an unsuccessful blind date, and when she suddenly asks Ryan to set her up with one of his business school classmates in front of Jim, the camera catches his discomfort. In Phyllis' Wedding, Jim hints that he would be interested if, hypothetically, Pam were interested in him. Unfortunately, Jim then sees Pam leave Phyllis' reception hand in hand with Roy, and declares "Here's a non-hypothetical. I'm really happy I'm with Karen." Jim seems committed to the statement, to the point of mocking the documentary crew on one occasion while answering a question about office relationships.

In "Cocktails", Roy reacts violently when Pam tells him she kissed Jim during "Casino Night" and attempts to attack him at the beginning of "The Negotiation". When he does, Dwight saves Jim from Roy with pepper spray (which also gets into the faces of several others, including himself, Jim and Pam). Jim tries to repay Dwight by giving him a glass case for his bobblehead, offering him a beer, and leaving him a fake certificate for being a hero in the office, but Dwight turns them all down, insisting that "heroes" don't accept such payment. Jim later accidentally catches Dwight and Angela making out at her desk and reacts by promising the camera that he'll never tell anybody what he just saw, considering that to be his repayment to Dwight.

Following the incident with Roy, Pam apologizes to Jim for "almost getting him killed," but he doesn't seem to care. When Pam assures him it's over between her and Roy for good, Jim doesn't believe this and tells her so. Jim and Pam work together in "Safety Training" to stop Michael from jumping off the roof.

However, their relationship becomes tense once again in "Beach Games" when on a company outing at the beach, Pam confesses to Jim in front of everyone that he was the reason why she broke off her wedding to Roy, because she realized there was more out there when she met Jim, and cites that she has missed their friendship since he left Scranton for Stamford.

In The Job, he interviews for the corporate position with David Wallace, the CFO. During the interview he notices an affectionate note from Pam. After the interview he drives back to Scranton (without Karen) and asks Pam to dinner, and after she accepts, he says "It's a date." In a webisode titled "Office Summer Vacation," found on NBC's website, Karen states that Jim "dumped her ass" and left her crying at the fountain.

Season 4

After breaking up with Jim, Karen came back to the office from New York to face him. She says that their breakup changes nothing and that she will not be going anywhere. The next day her desk is cleaned out and there is no mention of Karen returning. ("Fun Run")

Pam and Jim initially attempt to keep their relationship status a secret from their office co-workers as well as the documentary camera crew, but when the camera crew catch them together sharing a quick kiss while parked on the side of the street, they admit that they are dating and both claim to be very happy. ("Fun Run")

Jim's pranks

One of the central elements to Jim's character as originally conceived is his devotion to playing pranks at the office to relieve boredom. By far, his most common target is his overbearing deskmate Dwight Schrute, and moves on to playing pranks on Stamford co-worker Andy Bernard when he transfers branches. Here are some of the more notable pranks Jim has played on Dwight, Andy, or any other unsuspecting co-worker. Major pranks, generally important to the plot, are in boldface.

• Encased Dwight's stapler in Jell-O. ("Pilot")
• Built a pencil fence between his and Dwight's desk. ("Pilot")
• Encased Michael's 'World's Best Boss' coffee mug in Jell-O. ("Pilot")
• Changed Dwight's assigned "race" from "Asian" to "Dwight" in the Diversity Day exercise. ("Diversity Day", deleted scene)
• Locked Dwight inside his own "work space". ("Health Care")
• Assisted Pam in preparing a list of absurd medical conditions. ("Health Care")
• Agreed to participate in an "alliance" with Dwight, using it to feed his paranoia in a variety of ways. ("The Alliance")
• Convinced Dwight to purchase a purse from a vendor ("Hot Girl"), and then made fun of him for having it (deleted scene).
• Found Dwight's wallet in the parking lot, and decided, on Pam's suggestion, to give the wallet back to Dwight intact and unchanged. Dwight, not believing Jim, immediately canceled all his credit cards. ("Office Olympics", deleted scene)
• With Pam, posted Dwight's résumé online. ("Halloween")
• Relocated Dwight's desk to the men's restroom. ("The Fight")
• Popped Dwight's fitness orb. ("Performance Review")
• Convinced Dwight a Thursday was a Friday, causing him to be late for work the next day. ("Performance Review")
• Made Dwight believe that Jim's party was a surprise party for Michael.("E-mail Surveillance")
• Placed Dwight's wallet and desk items in the vending machine. ("Booze Cruise")
• Gave Dwight dubious "tips" on public speaking. ("Dwight's Speech") The prank backfired; the speech was a success.
• Paid coworkers five dollars to call Dwight "Dwayne" for an entire day. (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
• Convinced Dwight an abandoned infant was in the women's restroom, causing him to walk in on Meredith "on the can." (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
• Used a macro so that every time Dwight typed his name, it appeared as "diapers". (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
• Replaced Dwight's writing instruments with crayons. (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
• Incrementally increased the weight of Dwight's telephone handset, then abruptly decreased the weight, causing Dwight to smack himself in the face with the phone. (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
• Placed a bloody glove in Dwight's desk and attempted to convince him that he had committed murder. Dwight, in fact, thought that "Jim was the real killer." (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
• Created an absurd identification badge for Dwight. ("Conflict Resolution")
• Repositioned Dwight's desk by moving it an inch at a time over the course of the day. (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
• Encircled Dwight's desk in police tape. ("Conflict Resolution", deleted scene).
• With Pam, convinced Dwight that he (Jim) had telekinetic powers. ("Casino Night")
• Held Dwight's bobblehead doll for $5 ransom. (Third Season Primetime Preview)
• Encased Andy's calculator in Jell-O. ("Gay Witch Hunt") This prank backfired when Andy reacted violently.
• Convinced Dwight (and Michael) that gaydar was a genuine device. ("Gay Witch Hunt")
• Gained access to Dwight's hotel room at a paper convention in Philadelphia just to find a hooker in his room that is actually Angela Martin. ("The Convention")
• With Pam, made high-pitched noises hoping Dwight would schedule an appointment with an ear doctor. (Mentioned in "The Coup")
• Sent faxes signed "Future Dwight" on Dwight's own stationery. ("Branch Closing")
• Stared at Dwight's forehead for no reason. ("The Merger")
• Gave Andy wildly incorrect "tips" on winning Pam's affections. ("The Convict")
• Ordered fifteen large sausage pizzas to the office under the name 'Dwight'. ("The Convict" Deleted Scene)
• With Pam, tricked Dwight into believing he was being recruited by the CIA. ("A Benihana Christmas")
• Told Dwight that their waitress couldn't remember how to butcher a goose, causing Dwight to tell her how to in violent detail. ("A Benihana Christmas")
• Told Dwight that the Benihana Waitress was asleep when really Andy was telling her to close her eyes and imagine her dream home. ("A Benihana Christmas")
• "Narrated" Dwight's absurd behavior when Dwight taped a meeting. This prank backfired when Andy took the joke too far. ("Back from Vacation")
• Glued Dwight's office drawers together. (Mentioned in "Back from Vacation", deleted scene)
• Changed Dwight's voicemail to make him sound like a chipmunk. (Mentioned in "Back from Vacation", deleted scene)
• Told Dwight there was a 4am meeting. (Mentioned in "Back from Vacation", deleted scene)
• Shipped Dwight's desk by mail to Roswell, New Mexico, where Dwight was vacationing. (Mentioned in "Back from Vacation", deleted scene)
• Hid Andy's cell phone in the ceiling tiles, then, with Pam, called it repeatedly. ("The Return") This resulted in Andy punching a hole in the office wall.
• Hired a Benjamin Franklin impersonator instead of a male stripper for Phyllis's bachelorette party. ("Ben Franklin")
• Told Dwight that the Ben Franklin impersonator was the real Franklin. ("Ben Franklin")
• Conditioned Dwight to expect an Altoid mint each time he heard a computer chime. ("Phyllis' Wedding")
• Manipulated Dwight into patrolling for wedding crashers. ("Phyllis' Wedding")
• Convinced Dwight that he (Jim) was turning into a vampire. ("Business School")
• Hid the key to Michael's straitjacket. ("Cocktails")
• Relayed intentionally incorrect messages from Dwight to Andy. ("Safety Training")
• Dressed up as Dwight and parodied him. ("Product Recall"). Dwight returned the favor later in the episode.

External links

• Jim Halpert Quotes - at QuotesFromTheOffice.com