17 Times "The Office" Was A Lot Smarter Than You Thought It Was
"I want the ketchup fights and the tickling and the giggling."
1. In Season 2, we meet Michael's Lawyer, James P. Albini.
James P. Albini looks right in the camera and discloses the specific types of cases he handles.
In the Season 3 episode "Safety Training," Michael wants to show the office and the warehouse a visual representation of depression.
During one of the tests, he accidentally launches a watermelon onto Stanley's car. He tells Dwight to contact James P. Albini to see if he handles hate crimes.
2. In Season 5, Jim buys Pam a house with a painting of a scary clown that's apparently "crucial to the structural integrity of the building."
But it later shows up at the office garage sale in Season 7.
I guess Jim and Pam were able to get it off the wall.
3. Michael tells Jan he's going to frame their "love contract."
Jan and Michael attend David Wallace's party and Jan gives Michael a copy of the form he has to sign, disclosing his relationship with Jan to corporate.
During Jan's deposition, he brings a copy of his "love contract" as proof, which he did in fact frame.
4. Mr. Brown shows up in Season 1 with Diversity Today.
He gets called in by corporate to do a presentation on diversity because of Michael's "Chris Rock" routine.
Mr. Brown makes a second appearance at the Stamford branch after Michael kisses Oscar in the first episode of Season 3.
5. In the Season 3 Christmas episode, Pam wises up and trades her iPod to Dwight for the teapot, because Roy tells her he's going to get her one (or was going to).
During "The Injury," Dwight notices Pam has a Prism Duro Sport, which is better than an iPod because they're chunkier and more solid.
6. In the Season 3 episode "Grief Counseling," Michael has a hard time dealing with Ed Truck's death and grieves through the death of a little bird.
Dwight of course has his recorder on him and they are able to put together a funeral for the little guy.
In "The Return," Oscar comes back to the office asking where Dwight is. Creed gives him an update, which Jim doesn't believe.
Creed was actually right for once, even about the decapitation... despite the fact it was Ed Truck and not Dwight that was decapitated.
7. During "Women's Appreciation," Ryan reveals he emailed Karen asking her out since he assumed she and Jim were no longer together.
He was unbothered since he didn't want to be involved in an office romance anyway...
But when Ryan comes back in "Dunder Mifflin Infinity", he tells Kelly a different version of that story.
8. Speaking of Jim's ex-girlfriends... Ryan seemed to want to date a lot of Jim's girlfriends.
First was Katie, the purse girl.
Then he asks out Pam when he comes back to Scranton.
9. At "Cafe Disco", Kelly and Andy get into a dance battle. Andy makes Kelly aware that their dance competition isn't over.
In fact, the dance battle continued during Jim and Pam's wedding in Niagara Falls.
This results in Andy tearing his scrotum after attempting a split when he's never done one before.
10. Toby first revealed his plans to move to Costa Rica in Season 4.
When the Scranton branch almost gets shutdown, so do Toby's dreams of going to Costa Rica.
And then he actually made those plans come true in the Season 4 finale.
Unfortunately, he didn't get to enjoy his vacation.
11. Stanley explains how he was left with two toasters after Pam and Roy called off their wedding.
He decides to re-gift it to Phyllis for her wedding, only to be disappointed when he finds out Jim and Karen also bought Phyllis and Bob Vance (from Vance Refrigeration), the same gift.
How ironic.
12. Before Phyllis' wedding, Dwight notes the difference between his family's wedding traditions compared to more conventional ones.
And that tradition is shown at his own wedding with Angela during the series' finale.
13. Pam made note of an important lesson she learned from Jim.
She ends up using it when Dwight asks her to be his secret assistant to the regional manager.
Jim is shown using the line two seasons earlier when Dwight asks him to be in an alliance.
And in a fun twist, Dwight ends up using it when Pam asks him if he wants to haze Dwight Jr.
14. Meredith gets pretty drunk during the Season 2 Christmas party and flashes Michael in his office.
Michael proceeds to take a picture of her boobs. He walks away disgusted.
During the "Roast of Michael Scott" in Season 5, we find out what Michael did with that picture of Meredith's boobs.
15. Michael's paper mâché costume doesn't just make one appearance.
Michael was very proud of his Season 2 Halloween costume.
He ends up getting a second use out of it for Kelly's Diwali party, which he says is essentially a "Hindu Halloween."
16. When Jan is fired from Dunder Mifflin, she says goodbye to her assistant and boy toy, Hunter.
She gives him some words of encouragement before leaving.
During the infamous dinner party one season later, Jan plays some of Hunter's music, which gives some ~insight~ into their relationship.
17. And finally, the ketchup fights...
Michael and Jan get into a fight after David Wallace's party. Michael expresses his feelings to Jan and tells her what he wants in a relationship.
When Michael finally finishes putting together his masterpiece Threat Level Midnight, we see his dream come true.
