Emergency Fire Drill
Who can forget probably one of the most memorable and hilarious scenes in TV history with Dwight’s staged fire drill. Even people who haven’t watched The Office know this scene. To test the office’s fire safety skills, Dwight thinks it’s a good idea to start a fire in the office, sealing off the exits and cutting off the phone lines to see how everyone responds. Of course, chaos ensues from Michael smashing the windows to call for help, Angela’s cat falling through the roof eventually leading to Stanley’s heart attack. The scene has inspired memes since its premiere, particularly Michael’s “Ok it’s happening” reaction to the fire, telling them all to stay calm when he is far from it.
CPR Training
Blessed in the same episode as Dwight’s fire safety drill, the office must take a CPR session following Stanley’s heart attack. After the instructor tells Michael to pump the heart to 'Staying Alive', they all instead start to sing the song rather than take the CPR session seriously. Things only go from bad to worse when Dwight cuts the face off the dummy, pretending to be Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs.
Dinner Party
After being invited for a dinner party by Jan and Michael, Jim, Pam, Andy and Angela have to witness their toxic relationship from awkward sleeping arrangements, a tiny plasma screen TV and having to listen to Jan’s assistant’s love song (which is clearly about her) while she dances. Even the cast have said this was the best and worst episode to shoot, because they couldn’t keep a straight face.
Pam’s Pregnancy
One of the more touching moments of the series has to be when Jim and Pam find out Pam is pregnant. After injuring herself at the Dunder Mifflin games day and being rushed to hospital, the doctor tells Pam she’s pregnant, but this is done without microphones so the audience can’t hear anything. It’s obvious based on Jim’s tear-filled reaction to the news as he tells Dwight to round up the subs for the game.
Michael Returns for Dwight’s Wedding
As Angela and Dwight prepare to walk down aisle, Jim has one final surprise for Dwight: Michael. Despite leaving Scranton 2 years prior to marry Holly, Michael returns for Dwight’s wedding, bringing with him his trademark line “that’s what she said” in a heartfelt scene between the two. Showing Pam pictures of his new family and life with Holly, this was the perfect way to end the series as the office reunites.
Jim and Pam’s Wedding
Another emotional moment in the series is when Jim and Pam get married at Niagara Falls, abandoning their church wedding to share this moment for themselves. Their marriage was long overdue, as we watched them engage in a will-they/won’t they relationship for three years before they finally found the right timing. Things only get better when they get back to the official ceremony, where the guests dance along the aisle to ‘Forever’ by Chris Brown (Michael’s idea obviously).
Identity Theft is not a Joke Jim!
Although many fans think Jim’s best prank was Asian Jim, for me it has to be when Jim impersonated Dwight. From the voice to Dwight’s signature fashion sense, it’s safe to say Jim perfected this impression, making it one of his most iconic pranks. Let’s not forget: “Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica”.
The Ceiling Prank
Turning his attention to Andy now that Dwight is gone, Andy becomes Jim’s new prank victim as he hides his phone in the ceiling as his ringtone (Andy’s a cappella band) plays on repeat. Not realising he has severe anger issues, paired with Michael’s rejecting Andy as a friend, Jim keeps calling the phone until Andy becomes so angry that he punches the wall then acts like nothing happened.
Dwight’s Betrayal
After Angela convinces Dwight he’d make a better branch manager than Michael, Dwight does the ultimate betrayal by going behind Michael’s back and asking Jan if he can be branch manager. Finding out from Jan about what Dwight has done, Michael decides to mess with him and pretend he has been promoted to his job. As Dwight tries to dictate the office, Michael soon reveals he knows what he did, punishing him by making him do his laundry for a year and stand on the desk branding a traitor sign around his neck.
The DVD Logo
During a boring meeting, the office watch the DVD logo on the screen behind Michael, waiting for it to bounce off the corner of the screen. As they react to the logo as it almost hits the corner, Michael thinks they’re all reacting to his announcements, making the scene even funnier when they all celebrate when it finally does hit the corner.
Threat Level Midnight
Abandoning all their work, the office watch Michael’s highly-anticipated action movie ‘Threat Level Midnight” which stars them all in some capacity. With Michael leading as Agent Michael Scarn, he must defeat his archnemesis Goldenface (Jim) and free the hostages alongside other events, like teaching everybody his iconic dance ‘the Scarn’.
There are so many more moments that I could have mentioned in this series, it seems endless to put them all into one. Some honourable mentions include Prison Mike, “Ryan started the fire" and any scene involving Michael and his hatred of Toby. Still re-watched and quoted to this day, The Office will go down as one of the most iconic and well-written series in TV.
