In the hit TV series The Office, the emotional and dramatic arcs for many of the characters change, and they can go from being bullying, self-titled, and completely unsympathetic to actually likable and good-hearted people, and vice versa. From the outset, the show seems to indicate that, aside from his love interest Pam, Jim Halpert is the only 'cool' and 'normal' person in this wacky office. Jim seems friendly, helpful, and charming, but what if he is not a nice guy at all? What if the show has convinced us to fall for a villain? Regardless of how great an actor John Krasinski may be, let’s take a look at some not-so-noble things his character Jim does.

Dwight and Jim, The Office's Bully

Dwight and Jim in The Office
NBCUniversal Television Distribution

One constant throughout the ever-changing show is the rivalry between Dwight and Jim. Dwight is clearly initially seen as a bad guy. He is an authoritarian tattle tale, a stickler for the rules, an arrogant self-centered ignoramus. With his big, glassed, beady eyes and old-fashioned clothing, he even looks the part and stands out as a nerd, a misfit, and a rube who runs a beet farm. Jim, on the other hand, initially appears handsome, charming, and seemingly laid back. But he is monomaniacally obsessed with pranking Dwight, humiliating him and giving him a hard time.

Every time Dwight does something “evil” to Jim it is in reaction to something Jim does first. In the show’s first episode, in the very first scene of the series, Jim pranks Dwight by putting his phone in a bowlful of Jello while everyone including Michael laughs. Imagine the frustration such destruction and sabotage would cause! Imagine the time it would take to have to clean up the mess, meticulously scrubbing the phone of all food residue. Imagine everyone laughing at you like you were the biggest sucker in the world. Jim’s prank is malicious, cruel, and destructive. It’s no wonder Dwight is fixated on knocking Jim down a notch.

Dwight in The Office
NBC

In one notorious episode, Dwight has been chosen to make a speech in front of the bigwigs of Dunder Mifflin. Jim lies and says he can help because he had taken a speech class in college. To “help” Dwight, Jim gives him the speeches of dictator Benito Mussolini to study from, so that he embarrasses himself making his speech. However, to Jim’s amazement, the speech is a success, and Jim is left perplexed and frustrated that his plans for a gigantic humiliation failed. Something like that could have cost Dwight his career and reputation.

Jim Needs to See The Office's HR Department

Jim Dwight and Michael in The Office
NBCUniversal Television Distribution

One prank in particular that Jim pulls on Dwight goes over the line. He exchanges Dwight’s clothes at the cleaners so that Dwight inadvertently shows up to work with tear-away clothing. In the parking lot, Jim runs up to Dwight and tears his clothes off, leaving him exposed, wearing nothing but his underwear in front of his colleagues who all laugh at him. This is every person’s worst nightmare! Who doesn’t have that horrible nightmare where you show up to school or work, and you are naked?

It’s a primal and common fear, and Jim succeeds in completely humiliating and emasculating Dwight, putting him through a possibly traumatic experience that is also a borderline crime. If Jim had done the same thing to a female it would look like some type of sexual assault or harassment. But because it is Dwight, it’s the funniest prank Jim has ever pulled off.

Jim also engages in activity that is bad for the business. Some might even call him a saboteur. He is considered a great salesman, but he is inherently lazy and always looking to goof off and steer both Michael and Dwight in the wrong direction by giving them bad advice, putting poison in their ears so that they do stuff that is embarrassing and humiliating - and there is often collateral damage with other workers being insulted.

How many times does Jim give deliberately bad advice to Dwight, Michael, and even Andy, just so that he can get a sadistic chuckle when the advice backfires? In this way, Jim is both a villain when it comes to Michael and a villain when it comes to Dwight. However, it is specifically in respect to Dwight that reveals Jim to be the show’s villain. Even Jim's interactions with his will-they-or-won't they love interest Pam have some disturbing malice lurking beneath the surface.

Jim is Actually the Wrong Choice For Pam

Jim and Pam's wedding in The Office
NBCUniversal Television Distribution

Before they were together, Jim was infatuated with Pam, who was in a relationship (which seems to be a Jim Halpert trademark) with Roy. Jealous Jim deliberately makes Pam’s fiancé look bad in a basketball game, and it is clear Jim is seething with anger and jealousy, knocking him to the ground at one point. He also chases after a woman who is engaged, which is pretty low, and he guilt-trips Pam and makes her feel terrible about her relationship with Roy. And when she finally dumps Roy, Jim is off dating someone else and Pam is alone and upset and depressed.

Related: The Office: Funniest Characters In The Hit Sit-Com, Ranked

Then, when Jim and Pam are engaged, he spends a large amount of money buying his parents’ house for himself and Pam without even consulting his fiancée, and knowing she is hardly in love with the fixer-upper house. In the most egregious example of cruel behavior, Jim goes off on a business trip while Pam stays home with the kids, who have a school play. Jim asks Pam to record the event for him, and Pam inadvertently neglects to film it. Jim gets home from his trip in a foul mood, telling Pam he just wants to see the video. When he finds out that she did not tape the event, he gets angry at her, yells, belittles her intelligence, and makes her feel worthless and guilty. She gets upset and starts crying and Jim is completely unforgiving, completely indifferent to her hurt feelings.

John Krasinski as Jim in The Office
NBCUniversal Television Distribution

In one episode, Jim takes a date on a work cruise. As she talks and laughs, we see that Jim just despises her because she is so different from Pam, and he rudely ignores her and then rejects her. At the same time, he causes Pam to feel jealous, because Jim is usually such a charming gentleman, and she has feelings for him which he knows, and this eventually destroys Pam’s relationship with Roy. Roy's no saint either, though, a tough guy with a violent streak who mocks Pam's artistic interests (between Roy and Jim, perhaps Pam needs some counseling to understand that she deserves better and is sabotaging herself).

When Pam finally has an art exhibit, it means so much to her. She is terrified of being nothing but a secretary and channels her energy into her art, even leaving Scranton for a semester to go to art school. Other than Oscar, who shows up just to say negative things about Pam’s art to his boyfriend before quickly leaving (and Pam hears every mean thing they say), only Michael shows up, and he makes it clear that he considers her a talented artist, which flatters Pam and boosts her ego. In contrast to Jim, Michael seems to actually be developing as a human being, coming a long way from the first episode where he made Pam cry.

Related: The Office is Getting Rebooted in Saudi Arabia

Where is Jim? Not at the art exhibit. And when Pam starts to consider dropping out of art school because she lacks talent, does Jim do the right thing and encourage her to go for her dream, knowing she will always regret the decision if she doesn’t? No, he welcomes her back and expresses his happiness. But when the situation is reversed and Jim is trying to get his new job in the sports marketing field, Pam (though reluctant at first) eventually takes Jim’s side and makes great sacrifices so that he can pursue his dream. It almost seems like the writers wanted to make Jim as much of an awful person as possible; he would've actually been worse if John Krasinski hadn't refused to shoot certain scenes.

Jim: The Office's Elitist Bully to the End

Jim pretending to be Dwight in The Office
NBC Universal Television Distribution

Towards the end of the show, The Office gets two interns. Jim approaches one and asks him about basketball (which Jim is obsessed with), and when he gives a funny answer implying he knows nothing about basketball, Jim decides the two have nothing in common. Jim is the type of person who will not waste his time trying to make friends with the new guy, who Jim sees as a loser because, unlike Jim and Darryl, he does not fetishize basketball.

Let’s not forgot the one episode in which Jim’s true self is revealed. He goes with Michael to a business meeting, and child-like Michael falls into a koi pond. Meredith manages to acquire security footage of the accident from a friend who worked at the office, and everyone gathers around to see their boss humiliated. Except for one person, who tries to sneak away: it’s Jim, and when we see the footage we know why. He clearly goes out of his way to not help Michael and let him fall into the koi pond he might as well have pushed him in! Everyone sees Jim for the duplicitous bad friend and person he really is.

Don’t let his good looks, charm, and humor deceive you. Jim is constantly ignoring his job to make things miserable for Dwight, to thwart his plans, and in general be a tremendous thorn in his side, a relentless bully. He belittles his boss and constantly upsets the woman he loves him. Yes, Jim has his moments. He is a complicated character with some positive traits, but his behavior, attitude, pranks, lies, schemes, machinations, and rumors make him The Office’s villain. This classic workplace comedy gets a lot darker when you realize this.