When your regular reviewer Kimberly asked for someone to write up this week’s episode (and fear not – Kimberly will be posting her own thoughts soon), I jumped at the chance to pinch hit. “Parks and Recreation” is probably my favorite comedy series currently airing and what better opportunity to comment on it than the 100th episode.
Unsurprisingly, Leslie is still having a hard time with her recall from the city council, going through stages of grief including cat adoption and “Murphy Brown” marathons. That reality sinks in as she packs up her office and shows around her replacement – Ingrid de Forest. These were fun scenes. In her third appearance, Kristen Bell really clicked as the benignly pretentious Ingrid, but it’s also nice that Ingrid clearly feels bad for Leslie and means it when she says she respects her work and wants to continue that legacy.
So when Councilman Dexhart gets embroiled in an old-school sex scandal (I loved when his “good wife” finally just turned away from the cameras in disgust as he droned on about “text mexting” and the like), Leslie naturally sees it as a sign that she should run for his seat. She latches onto this “second chunce” with her usual ferocity of spirit, even though Ben and her friends don’t seem to think it’s such a good idea.
Earlier in the episode, Ben was brainstorming a gift to cheer Leslie up (like a nice candle!) and what he comes up ends up being a gift for me as well – the return of Jennifer Barkley. I looove Jennifer Barkley. Kathryn Hahn is such a hoot in this role and I always liked that, while she’s served as an antagonist in the past, Jennifer Barkley’s not a malicious one (like Jamm, for example).
And Jennifer Barkley ended up being the perfect person to get through to Leslie. As she so eloquently puts it, “Don’t be the kid who graduates high school, hangs out in the school parking lot. Be the woman who moves away, climbs the ladder, and then confidently comes back and has sex with her hot old English teacher just for kicks.” It’s one of the major themes of “Parks and Recreation.” Nothing in life is static. Friends, jobs, relationships, they all change and evolve. So Leslie takes that advice, closes this chapter of her life, and jets off on a romantic trip to France with Ben (the show really squeezed every last drop out of their Europe trip, huh!). I’m curious to see what new challenge the writers will cook up for her next.
Tom is also going through a transition. With the buyout from Rent-a-Swag complete, he’s concerned about being back where he started and begins contemplating his next business venture. This leads to a “Shark Tank” spoof that feels a little too safe so thankfully is brief. I do think there’s potential in Tom’s new self-appointed position as Pawnee’s business liaison (I thought back to Tom schmoozing car dealership owners way back in “The Flu”). Plus, Talking Tissue - perfect for when you have the sniffies!
A disappointing dud was the Ann/Chris subplot. With Leslie and Tom both considering their futures, I got the parallel they were going for having the couple find out the sex of their baby. But the story was pure sitcom stock (pregnant Ann is a hormonal eating machine – how wacky!) and mostly seemed like a reason to squeeze in appearances by Jean-Ralphio and Henry Winkler. And it rang extremely false to me that Ann wasn’t around to support Leslie during this tough time or that Leslie didn’t seek hers or Chris’ counsel re: running for office again.
Finally, Chris Pratt is finished filming “Guardians of the Galaxy” so Andy’s back in Pawnee full-time. The show wisely eased him back in and the joke of Andy’s jet lag led to a lot of fun sight gags. I couldn’t help wondering, though – wasn’t Andy working at the Sweetums charity foundation with Ben? Why is he back in shirt and tie at the parks department?
So what did you think of the centennial episode? And which of the show’s many supporting players were you most happy to see (Jennifer Barkley aside, Shauna Malawe-Tweep!) or most bummed were no-shows (wherefore art thou, Joan Callamezzo!).
