Parks and Recreation
I was sitting at my computer, trying to figure out a slant to write this review of Parks and Recreation, and I couldn’t think of anything. How sad is that? Sure, I could talk about the growth of the characters – Wow, hasn’t April come so far – or I could talk about Ron Swanson’s love of contrarianism – Oh, he’s meditating even while trying not to meditate – but I don’t really have much to say about that stuff. All I could think of during this episode was how much I loved The West Wing.
It’s also kind of clear how much the writers of the show love The West Wing too. This episode was filled with references to the great Aaron Sorkin show, from a walk and talk at the beginning to the line at the end, “We play with live ammo here.” And there was also the napkin that said “Pillner for Pawnee,” the same way Leo’s napkin said “Barlett for President” on The West Wing.
Now that I think about it, there are a lot of similarities between the two shows. Optimistic lead characters (Leslie Knope and Jeb Bartlett) believing that the political system can actually help people. Smart, witty characters (Ben Wyatt and Josh Lyman) to help the leader on his/her way. Failures which you would think would discourage the people involved, but which only drive them to work harder. And, oh, Rob Lowe. Both shows have Rob Lowe.
Leslie Knope is definitely an Aaron Sorkin-esque character, and her drive in this episode to save the Parks Department from budget cuts is just the type of storyline that would be featured on The West Wing. There, however, it would be dramatic and fraught with political problems, and here, in Pawnee, it’s funny and filled with brilliant character moments from the cast.
I don’t want to go into the plot of the show, because if you’re sitting, reading this review, I assume you have seen it, but I want to point out the things that made the episode for me. First, there was April actually caring about a Parks project because she likes animals better than people. While I have been finding April mildly annoying this season, and while I think loving animals more than people is a character trait that signifies social retardation, I enjoyed how much she got involved with trying to find homes for the animals. I also really like Donna’s face when Andy actually thought the cat was in Boogie Nights.
As for Leslie, the best part was when she decided to commit “political suicide.” I loved when she sat down, told Barkley that she can have the news cycle this week because next week, there will be a debate and Leslie will trounce Newport. It made me so excited to see what comes next that I can’t wait until next Thursday.
I’m thrilled that the show is back and I’m eager to see what they have in store for the next few weeks. I know it’s gonna be good.
Grade: A (A= “The Hunting Trip”/”Telethon”/”Smallest Park”)
Finally: The Rest of the week
Mary the TV Maven 