Parks and Recreation - Episode 6.18 - Prom - Review

Leslie had another grand freak out this week. And it was so embarrassing that I couldn’t watch it for a moment. She’s mentally bracing herself to leave Pawnee and the Parks Department behind, and wants to get her ducks in a row before she does. One of these ducks happens to be Allison, aka France, aka Little Leslie. In a very thematic callback to “The Treaty” (Allison/France’s other episode), Leslie tries to deal with her inability to control everything by becoming doggedly obsessed with controlling one small thing absolutely. Unfortunately that didn’t turn out well for Allison either time; once Leslie ruined Model UN, and once she embarrassed her at prom. This crazy incident reaches an 8 on Ron’s scale (ranking Leslie’s current level of (in)sanity), which means he steps in to deliver advice she can’t ignore. His advice to her is that “blueprints for the future are a fool’s errand” - she can’t try to plan out everything to happen the way she wants it. Ron understands that it’s an inevitability that with Leslie’s drive and passion, one day she’s going to be somewhere else, and so he advises her to enjoy herself now.

I know some people get annoyed at the writers when Leslie starts obsessing over things to the point of crazy hijinks, but I tend to get more annoyed at Leslie. That’s her biggest flaw; when she’s worried or powerless she tries to take complete control over a situation. She’s fallen into this several times this year, which makes sense given that so much has been out of her control. Hopefully she’ll be able to pull away from the obsessing and the micromanaging enough to see that the department will be fine without her -- she’s just having a hard time admitting to herself that she might actually leave the city she just can’t seem to quit.

April and Andy have always had vastly disparate outlooks and personalities, and yet they clearly are very much in love with each other. April reluctantly goes to prom with Andy, but she does it her way, dressed in an old-fashioned black lace dress. She also deconstructs the moments of the event, saying goodbye to her “parents” (Orin as her mother and Champion as her father), as a sort of performance piece. Andy, on the other hand, buys into the idea of prom completely. So much so, in fact, that he thinks you’re legally not allowed in without a limo. It’s nice to see that April’s wondered about their odd pairing, noting that they would never have gotten together in high school. Luckily, for everyone really, life isn’t high school, and that’s not how it works. They’re together because they can make each other happy and have fun together, like April rigging the Prom King vote so Andy wins, and Andy taking to his role of monarch very quickly and appointing April his queen. Then they get kicked out of prom, making it April’s perfect prom. It was a sweet story and a nice contrast to Leslie’s crazy.

Elsewhere in the prom, Tom comes to a shocking realization: he’s old. Well, compared to 17-year-olds he is. Nobody’s into the beats he’s dropping, even though he doesn’t own a song if it’s not certified by him as a banger. Luckily Ben can swoop in with his classic rock and give the younin’s something to groove to. Tom’s fear that he’s not in the loop with what the kids like nowadays is amusing due to the constant mystery surrounding teens from an adult’s point of view. Everyone always seems to be trying to figure out what they like, what’s the new trend, what’s their new slang word -- and yet teens couldn’t care less.

Moment of the week: Ben thinking he’s dying when Leslie rigs confetti to explode from his desk.

EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to mention PIKITIS in this review.  I'm deeply sorry for that.  That kid should never be forgotten.  Because that's when he strikes and staples your dress to a tablecloth.

About the Author - Kimberly

Kimberly is a college student studying Writing for Film & TV, and a big TV nerd - willing to talk any show, any time. Her tastes are various and sundry, but she’s got a soft spot for comedy. She currently writes the SpoilerTV reviews for Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.