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[6.6/10] Pretty middling stuff all around, only saved by the show leaning into its most foundational relationship – the begrudging but heartfelt friendship between Ron and Leslie. Jeremy Jamm is a dud of a character and having him pit Ron and Leslie against one another over potential budget cuts to the local mini-golf range is pretty silly stuff. But there’s the core of some good things there. Ron being principled, and Leslie telling him that she believes they’re the wrong principles is an important thing for their relationship. Leslie appreciating Ron’s honorableness even if she disagrees with his positions is a good look, especially after she tries to do the right thing in an ethically questionable way. (Jamm saying they’re peas in a pod is a thuddingly obvious but nevertheless effective epiphany moments.) And the two sharing a drink and reflecting on what it all means is nice.

It’s just a weak path to get to that point. Look, I love the idea of Leslie saying she imagined City Council would be like working with Ron – passionate if occasionally disagreeing people striving for good, and Ron telling her that there’s a lot Jamms in politics and she needs to think about whether that’s the path she wants. It’s really good stuff and great moments with the characters. But they lay on the honor thing really thick in the lead up, and the mini-golf issue seems cooked up and exaggerated when it comes down to a golf game to win Jamm’s vote. Great finish, middling-to-bad setup.

The other stories aren’t great either. I kind of hate the Mona Lisa character. She is super annoying and not in a particularly funny or well-written way. There’s some comedy juice from Tom and Ann both trying to be rid of her, but her presence just brings down the whole thing immediately.

And the last story, featuring Andy feeling kicked out of Mouserat, was fairly weak too. The silver lining is the sweetness of April encouraging Andy not to retire from music, even though she’s not into his particular style, because she knows it’s important to him. But as much as I normally love the Andy character, his characteristically over the top reaction to feeling spurned by his own bandmates just didn’t do it for me.

Overall, a lot of good idea and themes, but weak execution.

[9.1/10] A tremendous idea for an episode. I love the perfect poetry of Leslie giving up her day off to try to make all Jerry's work dreams come true, only to realize that he did realize his dreams -- they were just with his family and happened off the clock. It serves both as a nice redemption for Jerry, who is still the butt of every joke in the Park Department, but is happy, assured, and confident when at home with his loving wife and daughters, and a nice reminder for Leslie, who as the episode shows, is admirably devoted to her job and her coworkers but can throw herself into her work at the expense of the personal at times. The humor of her trying to fulfill Jerry's dreams is great, from him talking to a gravestone to getting a memorial plaque, and her insecurity about the years blowing by is conveyed in great comic and emotional tones as well.

I also really enjoy the B-story, with Tom (aka File-o Pile-O) worrying that he'll become the new Jerry and trying to avoid that fate. I love Ron's notion that "nature" guarantees a new Jerry will emerge, and Tom's ill-fated attempts to avoid that becoming him. The notion of Andy as a dog who isn't embarrassed by anything is great, and the hunky intern who takes over is plenty amusing as a way to foil Tom's plan as well. But what elevates the story is Tom admitting to Ron that he was always the Jerry growing up, a geeky, different kid who got picked on, who worked really hard to change his image. It adds pathos to a silly, semi-meta bit, and makes it heartening when Ron brings back Jerry part-time to save Tom.

And hey, I even liked the Ann and Chris stuff! I'm not necessarily on board with the two of them getting back together romantically. That said, I really like that the show leans into the weirdness of their situation, and their attempts to put off the decision and try not to face the magnitude of what they're doing are the cutest and funniest the two are as a pair.

Overall, a stellar episode with strong material in each storyline.

[8.3/10] Very nice episode. Anytime you can fit Patton Oswalt onto your show, you're doing something right. I like the theme of the episode -- that Leslie is inclined to uphold the historical traditions of the town, but sees that anachronisms can be harmful too and works to repeal the town's old, out of date laws (like the "Ted" dumping). Oswalt's character makes a great foil, playing up the actor's nerdy persona in an old timey standoff. Anytime two characters on a sitcom get into a big wager, it's a recipe for a certain amount of cheese, but the reveal that Oswalt's character has no friends, and Leslie's ensuing push to get him on the Historical Society Board is a nice way to resolve it. Lots of funny stuff from both comic pros playing off one another.

The B-story, with Chris and Ron having a similarly cheesy wager about whose managerial style works better was good for some laughs. Again, Ron and Chris and their conflicting personalities usually generates some comedic sparks, and this was no exception. Their attempts to motivate Jerry had some good humor to it, and the reveal that April played them against one another to avoid having to do a leadership seminar was the perfect button.

The C-story was serviceable, with Ann and Ben fighting over an old waffle-maker from JJ's diner to give to Leslie for each of their hyper-specific Leslie-invented holidays. It's the kind of thing that makes Leslie seem a little too cartoony in her friendliness and preparedness for my tastes, but there's some good humor in the pair's competition and attempt to cut this off at the pass together.

Overall, a very funny episode with solid stories in each part.

[8.1/10] A very good episode. Solid A-story with the attempts to find a new head of animal control and Leslie trying to fight Jamm's cronyism. I have, once again, quickly grown tired of Jamm as a cartoonishly evil antagonist, but I like the story of Leslie pushing April too far too fast, while April comes up with an unorthodox solution. The stoner animal control guys are hilarious; injured Chris is a treat with Leslie wheeling him around, and April is her usual amusingly caustic self. The resolution, where April suggests animal control be folded into the parks dept., is a nice middle ground that gives April her victory and a bit of a promotion, prevents Jamm from giving the job to his buddy, and once again puts Leslie back a bit for being a bit to forceful with her friends' lives.

The B-story with Ben, Tom, and Andy trying to schmooze Dennis Feinstein is generally funny. There's great humor to be wrung from Feinstein's over and unabashed terribleness about pretty much anything, and Ben grinning and bearing it. It's cathartic when after all of his efforts to be silent, Andy cannot help but call him a dick. There's not much of an ending to it (beyond Ben reaffirming that Feinstein is, in fact,a major dick, and saying it to the guy's face no less) but it's still good stuff.

My favorite bit though is probably the C-story with Ron feeling sick and Ann encouraging him to get medical help. Ron shivering to death shows Nick Offerman's talents as a physical comedian. His interactions with Ann and the doctor, particularly his answers to the intake questions, were pretty hilarious. And there's even a touch of heart, with Ann telling him to take care of himself since he has Diane and her kids to think about now. The ensuing scene, where Ron struggle to eat a banana, eventually smashing it into a burger, while looking at a photo of his nascent new family, is the right combination of physical comedy and sweetness.

Overall, it's a nice episode, where the plots aren't as tight as might be preferred, but the comedy and the character work is still there in spades.

[7.1/10] Certainly a pleasant enough episode, though one that takes a fair number of shortcuts.

The main story is fun, though a little disjointed. Getting J.K. Simmons as the mayor of Ben's hometown is a boon, Ben tripping on morphine was a comedic delight, and Leslie's back and forth with the unruly, booing citizens of Patridge made for some great comedy. But the theme -- Leslie trying to get Ben closure on his shame from Ice Town and Ben deciding that he doesn't need it -- only flits in and out. There's good material, but it's all rushed and a little aimless. (Though Ben's sister going "I have to get out of here" was a nice touch.)

The B-story with Ron being sued by Jamm was good for 90% of the way. There's something noble about Ron being willing to suffer from the legal machinations of a dishonest man so long as he and his friends are honest about it. April, Andy, and Tom lying on his behalf, and then telling the truth at his insistence led to some good bits of both comedy and character. But the finish, where the three of them blackmail Jamm into dropping the suit felt like too easy a tie-up and Tom pretending he was assaulted by Jamm was too much.

The C-story was pretty meh. I've already said my piece on the Ann/Chris baby storytline, but suffiice it to say the whole compatibility test angle didn't do much for me. There was some good humor wrung from them giving simultaneous, contradictory answers to their counselor, but otherwise, it was just OK.

On the whole, there's a lot of good material in the episode that keeps it in "good territory" but the sewn-together nature of the episode hurts it overall.

[7.4/10] Another fun episode, though the storytelling gets a little jumbled in places. I like that the episode centers around an ideological disagreement between Leslie and Ron. The show does very well at having these two people who disagree with one another but respect each other, and throwing in Jason Schwartzman (who’s playing, I can only assume, the grown up version of his character from Rushmore) is a treat as well.

I particularly enjoy their conflicting notions about what to do about Schwartzman’s failing movie rental store. Leslie wants to “bail it out” by declaring it a historical landmark which would give it a taxbreak, and capitalist Ron thinks that the failing business should go away and let the free market decide what should replace it. I particularly like that Leslie wins, but gets more than she bargained for when the video store turns into a pornography outlet. It’s the kind “be careful what you wish for” turn that plays with notions of what the government gets tarred with when it dips into this sort of thing that works well for a politically-minded sitcom. The fact that she finds another solution – using the community center to host movie nights, is a nice touch as well, and the jabs at videos – from Schwartzman’s inaccessible cinephile tastes to “Too Big to Nail” the erotic dramatization of these events, are quite funny.

The B-story, where Chris tries to be a father to Tom as a way of seeing whether he’d be okay as a dad has some funny moments. That said, I forgot this was the introduction of Mona Lisa, and she annoys the crap out of me. In fairness, she’s supposed to, but I don’t really like what she brings to the table or brings out of Tom.

But the other B-story, with Ann forcing April to bond with her in exchange for a letter of recommendation is really good. There’s a charm to the prickly April tolerating and eventually finding common ground with try-hard Ann. The fact that amid all the traditional bonding stuff, April wants to know what’s really bothering Ann, and is actually supportive once she finds out that Ann is fretting over the Chris sperm donation situation, is a very nice beat for the two of them. No show does non-mutually-agreeable hugs like Parks and Rec.
Overall, this isn’t as tight or insightful as the show is at its best, but it has some fun character comedy and the humor that comes from conflicting ideologies and unintended consequences.

[6.4/10] It’s always strange when a show comes back from a would-be finale. You never know where the show is going or how it’s going to reposition itself going forward. Thankfully, Parks delivers a fairly normal episode, but unfortunately it’s just OK.

The A-story about Leslie getting hacked by a reporter from the Pawnee Sun is fine but unspectacular. I want to say this is a reference to the Rupert Murdoch newscorp hacking scandal, but I’m sketchy on the timing. Leslie’s frustrations when her enemies from the Sun steals her speech at the correspondents’ lunch doesn’t get as much comic mileage as it could. I do like that it’s Donna who saves the day (using midichlorians no less!) and she’s stealthily become one of my favorite characters on the show during this rewatch. She always has funny lines and a unique presence, and it’s nice to see her used more.

The B-story about Ann getting up the courage to ask Chris to be her sperm donor is also a little meh. Again, this whole thing is kind of a weird storyline. Its heart’s in the right place, and it’s nice to see Ron as the wise “just do it” sort of Yoda character here, but the episode does a weak job at making it compelling.

The C-story, with Ben having to pick a charity for Sweetums to support is also a mixed bag. I like that it focuses on Andy feeling depressed after failing to become a cop, and Ben recognizing that he has a talent for charitable work. But the comedy in the segments are pretty lackluster aside from Chris Pratt’s physical humor.

Overall, not a bad episode, but one that made me wonder how much gas the show had left in the tank after its semi-finale in the prior episode.

[9.1/10] I wouldn’t call “Leslie and Ben,” another one of the show’s almost series finales, its best episode. It’s a little lumpy, some its choices are a little too cute, and there is a sense of “this is a sitcom! We need obstacles, damnit!” to it.

But damn if it doesn’t nail the moments it absolutely has to, and that lifts all boats.

The first is the one between Ben and Chris, where Chris presents his friend with a framed version of the letter that brought them to Pawnee, and expresses gratitude for the winds of change that took them to this time and place. It’s a heartfelt exchange, that finds the truth in the outsized character and his genuine affection for Ben and this town.

The second is between Ron and Leslie. As the folks on Star Trek learned with Spock, the beauty of having a character who is taciturn and unemotional is that it makes the moments where they are emotional, in their own reserved way, all the more meaningful. The taciturn, stoic Ron telling Leslie that he treasures their friendship has all the more weight coming from a man who resists all connections to other human beings to the extent possible, and especially abhors expressing such things. It’s a quiet tribute to the show’s greatest relationship (one reinforced by Leslie telling Ron earlier that he is like a father to her and the wedding can’t go on without him) and Leslie’s response, “OK weirdo” is perfect.

(I’ll throw in a shoutout to the other such moment in the episode which didn’t strike me as much -- the one with Leslie and Ann where Ann unveils the dress. Maybe it’s just that finishing the dress with all of Leslie’s bills and proposals is a little too on the nose for me, but it didn’t land as well. I appreciate what the show’s trying to do here -- show that Ann is Leslie-level prepared for whatever crazy things may happen and that she gets what’s important to Leslie, the execution just doesn’t really work for me.)

And, of course, it nails the moment when Leslie and Ben actually get married. The surprise of Ron opening that door and seeing the makeshift chapel assembled in the Parks Department is brilliantly done. The little character moments therein are just as superb. Most importantly, Ben and Leslie’s vows, interspersed with scenes from their past, convey the weight of the moment and everything that led up to it in an outstanding fashion. Ben talking about how all his travels were unwittingly an effort to find Leslie, and Leslie talking about how Ben changed her life, nail the emotional heft that this show could muster at its best.

Apart from those big moments, there were nice little side stories for everyone, abbreviated though they may be. Tom struggling to train Jerry as a substitute officiant led to some mild chuckles. April and Andy tracking down a marriage license made for some good comic hijinx. Donna singing the wedding anthem made for a nice touch. And Andy reeling from not getting to be a cop, and Chris showing his own growth and encouragement on how we proceed from failure (replete with a cheery thumbs up and declaration of “Therapy!”) was lovely.

Of course it closes with a bit of communal harmony, the kind that is Parks and Recreation’s bread and butter. They join together and sing “Bye Bye Li’l Sebastian” (after a sighting of a “licensed impersonator” lets Leslie know this is the right day to get married). All of these people are together, Leslie and Ben make their escape, with a nod from Ron Swanson to carry them. It is a group of people who sustain one another through hardship and victory alike, celebrating love between and among them. It’s not perfect, but those moments similarly sustain this episode, and make it what would have been a fitting capper to the whole series.

[7.5/10] Definitely an enjoyable episode, and hey! It’s Mike from Veep!

I like the animating crisis of this one, that right in the middle of a big project, Leslie is pulled away for a test drill by the state examining board. To be honest, the whole gala thing and need to make up the $50,000 dollars to get the Pawnee Commons off the ground feels pretty rushed and shoehorned in, but it works as a goal.

The actual faux-crisis leads to some good laughs. Leslie’s fake news clips are hilarious, and a nice chance for Amy Poehler to show off her skills at silly accents and newsperson voices. The various emergency responses are amusing, particularly the guy from animal control. I also like both the reveal that this was all set up by Jamm to keep Leslie occupied and Leslie’s unorthodox solution of not only failing the test but speeding up the process so that it can conclude and she can get back to setting up the gala.

That also leaves everyone else to pick up the pieces in suitably amusing ways. Ron ending up as the de facto host of Pawnee Today was a very funny choice. Between his pithy, hand-carved wisdom and Joan’s “allergies” there was a lot of fun to be had. There’s also fun character moments for everyone else, between Tom figuring out how to use the threat of competition from paunchburger to have food trucks cater, Donna finding…a chair, Jerry panicking because he doesn’t know the drill is fake, and Ben using the fake triage center as a way to attract attendees.

The one story that’s funny but a little odd is Andy failing his personality exam for the police department while acing the written exam. The “idiot is actually a genius” trope is kind of played out, though there’s been the occasional hint. The exam itself, or at least the bits we see, are pretty hilarious though.

Of course, things all work out for getting the money for Pawnee Commons and Leslie is touched. And we’ll have more time to talk about the ending when we get to the next episode!

[7.6/10] This is another episode where I’m not crazy about the A-story, but both of the B-stories is so good that the episode still comes off pretty shining.

The A-story combines two elements that have never been my favorite things on P&R: 1. The show not knowing what to do with Ann and 2. Leslie trying to control her friends’ lives and overstepping her bounds. The whole hunt for a sperm-donor has some good comedy moments in it (Sewage Joe and Pistol Pete have great little moments), but it seems like a sort of strange place to go with Ann’s “I’m dating myself” story this season, and knowing where it leads makes it feel sort of convenient.

On top of that, The Douche has never been my favorite side-character on the show, and using him as the fulcrum for Leslie to try to prevent this and then make up for hurting Ann lowered the overall comedy quotient. It’s the kind of well the show’s gone back to a few times before, and it’s just never my favorite story.

But both of the B-stories are fantastic. For one thing, the physical comedy of Ben, Ron, and Chris trying to get to the phone and call Tom while suffering from food poisoning is just out of this world. Everything from Ron’s halting walk to Ben rolling over and dialing with his nose is just great. There’s some nice character moments between Tom’s foody reviews and Ron’s disdain for “food my food eats” and having the wedding catered by J.J.’s Diner is a nicely Knope-ian solution to the problem.

The other B-story, which sees April having to lead a public forum is another absolute winner. For one thing, April trying to be Leslie is just hilarious, as the contrast between her dour demeanor squeezed into Leslie’s cheeriness is outstanding. Second, the forums themselves are always great comedy, from people asking twenty stupid questions, to demanding topless parks, to trying to start chant. Never a bad public forum scene. And last but not least, I love the choice that Andy intentionally “loses” the pantsuit to get April to stop imitating Leslie and just be herself up there and it works! It’s a nice moment for the both of them as a couple.

Overall, the A-story sags quite a bit, but both of the supporting stories are so fun that the whole thing works.

[7.6/10] Another good episode where everybody has something to do. The main story, which features Leslie and April going on a garbage route to prove that women can do manual labor in government as well as men, is good stuff. It leads to a great deal of good humor about the backwards sexism of Pawnee (the old sexist councilmember is an unexpected funny addition, and Leslie’s reaction to him is great). The problem is wrapped up a little too tidily, with Leslie just being able to find a food kitchen to take the heavy fridge, and that being enough to convince sanitation to hire more female workers, but there’s a lot of good material there.

The subplot of all of this – Chris trying to figure out what his relationship with Shawna Malway-Tweep is – also has its moments. There’s some good comedy to be wrung from his confusion over the new dating scene.

Ron and Ann’s babysitting adventures are good for some laughs as well. Ron soldiering his way through in good spirits, and Ann’s initially abortive but eventually successful attempts to relate to the kids lead to a lot of laughs. And Ron admitting his loves Diane, and then telling her, adds some sweetness to the moppet-fueled insanity.

The weakest story is probably Ben and Andy teaching Tom to play basketball. The physical humor just isn’t as sharp for whatever reason – possibly because the gags are obvious. Still, Tom’s solution of pitching Rent-a-Swag as the answer to middle school kids emulating the post-game interview fashions of their NBA idols is a clever one.

Overall, the A-story is a little rushed, and the basketball story is weaker, but it’s all very funny (especially April’s fascination with garbage and invading privacy) and the Ron-April story is a real winner both in terms of comedy and character.

[8.6/10] Lots of fun stuff in this one. The boys’ bachelor parties are basically wish fulfillment gone amok, but it’s too funny to care. The notion that none of the gang got to have a bachelor party, so they’re each getting to do an activity during Ben’s, is a fun story engine. There’s lots of comedy to be had from everyone’s reactions to one another’s ideas of fun (Ron’s bewilderment at the club Tom picked is especially funny) and their buddy-buddy vibe through the whole thing is very sweet.

The celebrity cameos feel a little gratuitous. (Andrew Luck, Reggie Wayne, Jim Irsay, Roy Hibbert again, Newt Gingrich?) but there’s such a sense of whimsy on this show that much of it can get a pass, no pun intended. I especially like that they turn it around and make it about everyone being appreciative of Chris’s friendship, and part of Chris’s progression as a character being about learning to appreciate the real important, intangible things in life. Setting him up with Tweep on the same terms is a nice button.

Leslie’s bachelorette party turned scheme to prevent Jamm from getting started on the lot for the Pawnee Commons is a nice story too. Ann’s attempts to create a party that will appeal to Leslie while Leslie is fueled by her usual civic-minded mania and then regret are great. And bringing back the head of the Wamapoke Casino to not only have Leslie come clean, but have him use his guilt on Jamm and the Paunchburger rep in appreciate of Leslie is a nice and funny beat.

Overall, a very enjoyable episode that’s a nice stop along the way to Ben and Leslie getting married.

[9.2/10] So much to like about this one. Let’s start with the main story. I’m a big fan of the setup for this one – that Ron is taking to Diane to an important event (in this instance, a woodworking awards ceremony) and Leslie is there as his emotional guardian to make sure he’s okay. Then, Tammy 2 shows up to throw a monkey wrench into all of this (and Megan Mullally is at her evil best here), with Leslie worrying that Tammy will ruin everything. That is a fairly standard sitcom setup.

But there’s a great twist, that for all of Tammy’s machinations and lascivious come-ons, it’s not Tammy that Diane is worried about, but rather Leslie, because romantic or not, the two are, as Ron begrudgingly admits, close friends, and Diane is worried about whether Ron will ever let her in like that. Now that is a more complex place to take the story, and I love it. For one thing, it allows Leslie and Tammy to go off on their own and do some big comedy. Poehler and Mullaly are just gangbusters together, and it makes me wished they’d been paired in scenes more often.

But it also leads to a really nice moment between Ron and Diane. For one thing, the very fact that Ron brought Diane is a nice indication of how he feels about her, and seeing how giddy and invested he is in the award is a nice note for the character to play. Even better is his heart-to-heart with her at Cozy’s letting Diane know that his relationship with her is a different sort of thing than his relationship with Leslie, and him letting her in on Duke Silver (and referring to her as his “duchess”) is the perfect way to dramatize that. (And I love the two women in the crowd telling Diane that she’s lucky, and that “I’ll kill you” respectively).

On to the B-stories! Chris and Ben are great together at Jerry’s party. For one thing, there’s so many little quirks about the sort of party Jerry would throw. I forgot that this was the first time we see Gail on camera, and the gag that he has this beautiful wife and beautiful set of daughters is funny in and of itself. But better yet is Ben worrying that Chris is going to fall apart when he (a.) realizes he’s aging, (b.) has a full fat drink, and (c.) realizes his ex-girlfriend is engaged to a younger man. Again, that would be a pretty typical sitcom setup.
But this is P&R, so the twist is that thanks to therapy, Chris is fine, and Ben is hovering and worrying about him for nothing. And yet, Chris is touched at how much Ben cares and is trying to look out for him. It becomes an indication of friendship rather than of emotional instability.

Last but not least is the rest of the gang going to have a “Jerry Dinner” i.e. a meal paid for with the funds they collect by throwing a dollar into a jar every time Jerry does something stupid. I have been waiting and waiting for this show to call its characters out for how mean they are to Jerry, and I appreciate that Ann gets to be the voice of reason on that front. April, Andy, and Tom realizing that they were, in fact, being too mean to Jerry, and deciding to give the money to Jerry as a “collection” for his health problems is a lovely touch, and the stealthy reference to It’s a Wonderful Life when Jerry calls himself the luckiest man in the world seals the deal.

Overall, it’s a wonderful X-mas episode, and a great episode of the show generally, that mixes great comedy, super character moments, and a long-overdue acknowledgement that the Jerry stuff can go too far with a heartwarming finish. One of the best of the season.

[6.5/10] Eagleton has never been my favorite part of Parks & Rec. While I love the rival town as an abstraction – something unseen and generally resented – when our heroes actually go there it’s just too cartoonishly posh to fit even the grounded-but-exaggerated tone of the show. It tends to bend the reality of the series too far for me, and take it into broad territory that just doesn’t work.

I like the idea of there being a noble Eagletonian park designer who just wants to help Pawnee build a park because he respects Ben and Leslie’s passion. It just gets bogged down in a bunch of overly-cartoony Eagleton park details and Leslie’s sort of mean hatred for this guy she’s never met. I know that’s supposed to be her arc – coming to terms with the idea that there can be a good person from Eagleton, but it just goes too far before she gets to that point for me.

(That said, I love love love the return of the NPR parody. Who knew the guy that voices Homer Simpson could do such a great public radio voice.)

I’m also not a big fan of Tom’s story, given how exaggerated it gets. There’s the germ of a good idea there – that Tom is so gunshy about his overspending after E720 imploded that he’s super careful with his money when launching Rent-A-Swag – but it goes to such implausible extremes like him painting his store phlem yellow or announcing he won’t chip in for gas when being invited to lunch. It’s a nice little arc to play with the character, but the execution is too lacking and broad.

The one part of this episode I did really like was Andy and April. For one thing, their playacting is always a treat, and one of those places where the show’s cartoonier qualities pay off. But it also works as a step in Andy figuring out how to be a policeman and what he’s good at, and it comes from him setting aside the Burt Macklin persona, just being Andy Dwyer, and helping a lost kid. It’s a fun final(?) outing for Macklin, and a nice character beat as well.

Overall, definitely a lesser episode, but the Andy story helps it out.

[6.2/10] The thing about Parks and Rec is that once you get past the first season, there’s not very many bad episodes. The show became confident and capable in its abilities, so even when it’s not firing on all cylinders, like here, it’s still watchable and enjoyable enough.

But it’s episodes like these that remind me why I though Season 5 was a step down after the highs of the past few season. To wit, April and Leslie’s story is a blend of unpleasant character conflict and semi-absurd stuff that puts me off. We’ve seen Leslie be this territorial or harsh on occasion (with Ben and the Model U.N. for instance), but it’s never a good luck, and it feels out of character. You can get how she would be protective of the lot behind Ann’s house, but it seems like a stretch that she would go so far as to try to thwart April making a dog park there in such mean terms.

And what’s frustrating is that April has to apologize to Leslie for it…I guess because April didn’t listen to Leslie about Jamm? When Leslie just recently learned about Jamm in the first place? I don’t know. The whole thing just comes off wrong, and while the two of them making up and saying they love on another is sweet, it’s a mild salve on the unpleasant, Orin barn-filled path to get there.

The Ben-Tom story fares a little better. It’s amusing seeing Ben going around to support Tom as Tom tries to get his business off the ground, only for Tom to get rejected everywhere he goes while Ben gets offered jobs. The notion of Ben wanting to try something new, and deciding to help Tom is a nice cinch on that, and the tag with him quitting the accounting job again is the funniest part of the episode.

The story of Andy investigating the lost computer isn’t as solid. It’s fine, I suppose, and I like the idea that Andy realizes being a cop isn’t what he imagined, so trying things out as a security guard is a nice half-step, but the comedy just isn’t there with the character like it normally is.

Again, on any other show, this would be a perfectly good episode, it’s just not quite up to P&R’s usual standards.

[7.2/10] There's lots of good stuff here. As a Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul fan, getting Jonathan Banks to play Ben's dad is a major boon. The show captures the complicated dance for children of divorced parents well, and the familial discord is nicely realized. I also like the contrast between Ben's absolute pessismism about how things will go versus Leslie's self-assured confidence that she can make it work. The ending where people agree to play nice is a little pat, but there's lots of good stuff, and it gives us Ron Swanson and would-be Mike Ehrmentraut staring one another down over a piece of shrinp, which, come on, you just have to love.

Speaking of Ron, the B-story where Tom is trying to figure out how to get him to invest in Rent-A-Swag is well done. I like that the story is about Tom realizing that he needs to get rid of Jean Ralphio (who was pretty great here), and that alone convinces Ron that Tom is serious and worth investing in. Ron's interactions with Jean Ralphio (his insane skewering in particular) were outsized but well done.

The rest of the episode is a little jumbled. Chris was always an exagerrated character, but the therapy stuff is making him even more caricatured to its detriment, especially when coupled with Ann's own personal journey. But April and Andy giving him conflicting good/bad things to cheer him up is funny enough. By the same token, the scene where everyone insists that Ben not hurt Leslie is hilarious for Ben's increasing bewilderment that they think he ever would.

Overall, not a standout episode, but still a funny one with plenty of good moments.

[9.3/10] It’s easy to get swept up in the episode with the big moment at the end, but there’s so much great stuff that leads up to that point. I really like the main story here, because it’s a nice dramatization of the simple idea that we can plan and plan and plan and envision how our lives are going to go (and lord knows that’s in-character for Leslie) but that we cannot control how things work out, and sometimes the twists and turns of life can surprise, sometimes even in wonderful, life-changing ways.

It’s a little on-the-nose, but I like the way that Leslie projects her own insecurities onto Jerry. The whole “fart attack” thing is kind of lame humor, but it’s better that Leslie works really hard to try to take care of and raise money for Jerry as a way to reassure herself about the uncertainty in her own life. The fact that Jerry is the one who says he’s not worried about life holds in the future so long as he has his loved ones has a nice bit of poetry to it, and it sets up what’s to come very well.

It also, in a roundabout way, dovetails into the superb B-story of the episode, where Ron is hitting it off with Dianne, but is a bit out of sorts when it comes to her kids. It’s no surprise that young, energetic, noisy things would not be Ron’s forte, but the whole story is done in a kind of adorable fashion. Halloween as a way to bring that to a fore is a nice choice, and I like the subsequent detail, where Ron refuses to apologize for his crappy job as a substitute parent (breaking the tiara is perfect Ron logic), but then is coached up by April and comes clean about how he’s not really acquainted with kids but wants to learn. It’s very sweet.

April and Andy don’t have too much to do here, but they’re used well. Again, April as a voice of reason is a rare but encouraging thing, and it fits with her and Ron’s special relationship. And Andy, as an overgrown kid, is right at home with Diane’s daughters, especially when he’s trying to practice observations for police training.

The rest of the cast is well-used in small doses. Ann selling her old boyfriend stuff because she’s “dating herself” is mild, but her reaction to Leslie trying to auction off a date is good. Donna’s live-tweeting and horror movie fascinations are very funny. And Chris’s journey to therapy – facing his fear of getting old – leads to some nice material for him too.

And yeah, the episode nails that last moment where Ben proposes to Leslie, that bumps this one up a notch. It’s a well-done swerve, with the episode really suckering you into believing that Ben will take the job managing the governor’s campaign in Florida under Jennifer Barkley. But then he fulfills Jerry’s prophecy, saying that whatever he does, he just wants to be with Leslie. The ring box in a box is the perfect touch, as is Leslie stopping him because she wants to remember the moment where she thought her life was a “pile of crap” and it turned out to be perfect. It’s heartwarming as all get out, and one of those high points for the show.

Overall, this one has a very strong A-story and B-story, with lots of good laughs and nice character moments for everyone else, including that wallop of a capper at the end. Certainly one of the show’s finer installments.

[7.2/10] I’ve talked about this before, but I think of this as the point where Parks and Rec got a little blunter. I’m 100% against abstinence-only education, but like with the Sweetums business in Ep. 2 of this season, when you make your opponent such a caricature, it takes away the force of you conquering them. Marcia and Marshall Langman have their laugh moments (Marshal’s rap in particular) but they’re straw men, and the show makes one side serious and noble and the other side cartoonishly ridiculous. That’s not really a recipe for persuasion and it undercuts the humor.

What I do like about the episode and this season is how it embraces the difficulty and complexity of governing. It’s not that Leslie was infallible, but in seasons past she had a solution for every problem no matter how challenging. Here, she’s facing situations where the public is against her, the press is against her, and that makes her job a lot harder – taking a stand means taking a hit. As sanctimonious as Ann is about this (admittedly, in taking a position I agree whole-heartedly with) I like that Leslie stands up for what she believes but that there’s a cost to it. That’s true of governance and it’s good storytelling.

But in the less grandiose stuff, my god to I love Perd. From his “Perd-verts” name for his fans, to his random aside about Pier One, to this usual redundancy, he was just a nonstop series of laughs this episode. The same goes for Andy being grossed out by all the seniors sex stuff, and the seniors themselves. (I especially liked when Leslie asked the crowd of seniors what the risks of unprotected sex were and someone yelled out “falling in love!”)

Tom and Ron’s story wore on me at first. Tom gets kind of obnoxious in his swagger business at times, and I know it’s intentional but it starts to great. Still, by the time it got to the sequence of Tom talking about the things he does on social media while Ron does outdoorsy things, and it went on and on and on, it was comically delightful as a contrast.

I don’t know that the story really earned its ending, with Tom saying he uses screens as a distraction because things in his life haven’t necessarily been going great. The problem is similar to the deal with Marcia Langman – if you make Tom so ridiculous so much of the time, it’s harder to pull back and view him as a down-to-earth human being afterward. Still, Ron wanting to help him, and telling him to go to Leslie when he feels like he needs someone to talk to about his problems because she “lives for that” is a good button to put on it.
Last, but certainly not least, I love the mini-story of Ben and April realizing that their congressional candidate is a veritable robot. They’ve developed a great dynamic this season, and their making fun of the guy, and ribbing each other, is delightful.

Plus I like the subtext of the episode – that Ben is good at what he does, but emotionally unsatisfied at putting all his effort into this candidate who’s an empty shell. It’s not as invigorating as working to support someone whom you not only love, but who gives their all into being a good legislator and works hard to make government better, as opposed to the perfect marionette for public (office) consumption.

Overall, the ham-fistedness of the A-story brings it down, and B-story with Ron and Tom takes a little while to get going and doesn’t perfectly stick the landing, but there’s still some good laughs and I appreciate it embracing the complexity.

[7.7/10] I never really cared for Jeremy Jamm. As much as I enjoy a nice Late Night with Conan O’Brien alum getting a bigger role, he was always just a little too cartoonishly villainous for my tastes. Still, I like Leslie seeing the less pleasant side of politics – realizing that not all elected officials are as idealistic and honorable as she is.

I still think that Jamm wanting the right to use Leslie’s bathroom and other personal incentives in exchange for support for her bill is too much, as is the ridiculous old councilman (though Tom’s quiet takedowns of him are great), but I like the sentiment behind it. Leslie realizing that being an elected official isn’t the rose garden she imagined is a nice place to take the eternally optimistic character.

But the B-stories are both great. Ron and Diane clicking because they’re both to the point, no nonsense people is a good way to have a romantic pairing for Ron. They are initially lightly frosty with one another, but only because deep down they’re on the same page, and that makes Ron showing up to fix the pothole from the impromptu 311 a nice chance to develop them as a pairing quickly. On top of that, Andy playing with Diane’s daughter’s is adorable, and him writing on the pothole in sidewalk chalk to send Diane a message to ask out Ron is sweet in its own way.

The other B-story is well done too. Ben and April are not always the most natural pairing, but this episode makes them seem natural. Having them stuck in a car together, and share little pieces of themselves in the process is a nice bit. There’s not much of a progression to it; it’s more just a slice of life sort of thing, but it’s entertaining every time the show cuts back to it, and it’s a nice way to build their budding but unlikely friendship.

Overall, the A-story is a mixed bag, but both of the other story are filled with laughs and nice character-focused storytelling.

[8.1/10] So to get it out of the way – I hate the giant soda bit here, and if I don’t stop and catch myself it comes close to souring me on the episode out of the gate. There’s nothing wrong with exaggerating for comic effect, but you can’t then knock down your own soda-strawman, and complaining about the soda cup you can stick your head into is a bridge too far.

That said, it’s like two minutes in an otherwise great episode and I should learn to compartmentalize it, because the rest of this is very good. I like the soda tax a dilemma for Leslie. Lots of episodes have her facing some challenge in government, but rarely is she unsure of herself. This tax (which is a reference to a real soda tax in New York City) legitimately makes her uncertain of what she ought to do, with public health vs. jobs, not to mention the threat of a recall, leading her to waffling, and not in a good J.J.’s diner sort of way.

But I like that the thing that pulls her back is Ron, and not Ron giving her one of his trademark motivating speeches. Instead, it’s him admitting that he tried to fire her…four times. It’s a mildly shocking revelation, and a reminder that Leslie would absolutely be a pain in the ass for someone like Ron. But I also like the point of the gesture – that he kept her around because she’s someone who sticks to her principles rather than kisses the behind of whoever’s around, and that will serve her well even if she’s in uncharted territory.

Speaking of ass-kissing, I also like the dichotomy between Ben needling his congressional campaign interns over font sizes like a vice principal on the one hand, but then trying to be the cool boss when he realizes they’re all connected. Ben’s attempts to be cool are hilarious in their ineptitude (especially his out-of-date SNL reference). But I like that they bring it back to his relationship with April, and the fact that he thinks of her as a friend and someone who has potential, and I like even more that his disappointment and hurt motivates her to do better, albeit in her own, very April-y way.

The last story is not bad either. Andy is great for comedy here as he tries to run track and exercise, and him and Chris always make for a good pairing. I also like the focus on Chris’s part of the story here, trying to face internal challenges rather than external ones. It’s a nice direction to take the character after his funks last season, and Tom even gets a nice moment of pointing out that Chris can fall to pieces over small things and maybe it’s a sign he needs some support.

Overall, it’s a great episode with a dilemma for Leslie that brings out a startling truth but also an inspiring one, a challenge for Ben and April that makes Ben a dork (or at least a bigger one) and motivates April, and provides a good direction for Chris this season to boot.

[8.1/10] One of the most difficult things in the world is to achieve your dream, to be where you always wanted to be, and feel like everyone still sees you as small potatoes. It makes you feel like that thing you worked so hard for maybe wasn’t worth it, that you’re deluded about how much, if anything, you’ve accomplished.

That’s what Leslie goes through when she visits Ben in Washington D.C., and it’s a nice way for the show to reposition itself after the drama and excitement of Season 4’s campaign arc. When Leslie goes to D.C. and meets the people Ben is rubbing elbows with she sees people younger than her, taller than her, and more accomplished than her, who don’t even know which Pawnee she’s from. She gets all ginned up for her meeting at the Department of the Interior, only to be brushed aside and have the proposal she worked so hard on placed in a giant pile of them, where, again, nobody knows which Pawnee she’s from.

We’re not used to seeing Leslie this insecure and defeated. Her self-effacing face-to-face with Barbara Boxer and Olympia Snowe is a sign that she’s so dejected by this that she can’t even enjoy meeting folks from “Leslie’s Awesome Women List.” (And it leads to a great bit of comedy with John McCain too!).

But Leslie gets some encouragement from, of all people, Andy (whose attempted use of the word amalgam is hilarious). Andy may not know much, but he knows how kickass Leslie is, and both he and Ben believe in her. That’s enough to get Leslie back to her old self, ready not to have to wait for anyone else to help, but working on the big project – cleaning up a local park – all by herself.

The Leslie-Andy pairing is one we don’t get enough on the show, not only because it leads to sweet moments like that, but because there’s a teacher and student vibe to these two outsized characters, and it leads to a lot of laughs, like Andy throwing Leslie’s book away or Leslie trying to prevent him from going all National Treasure on a chewed up piece of gum.

As for the B-story, there’s a good amount of comedy from Ron being forced to host an employee appreciation barbecue and getting pissy because he’s such a stickler for how he believes barbecues should go. Chris’s speech to him about needing to lead the department if he’s going to stay where he is is a great one, and the end, where Ron does serve everyone barbecue, and compromises to include corn, is a nice way of illustrating that he’s willing to make sacrifices of his own personal beliefs in service of others as part of this job.

And god help me, I even liked the C-story. Ann and Chris pretending to be together just to spite Donna and all the people who were smug about them failing seems like a jab directed at fans like me and critics who thought their storyline was dumb. But rest assured, we can take it, and showing Chris and Ann squabbling constantly while trying to keep up the ruse was the funniest they’ve been together.
Overall, it’s a great way to kick off Season 5, with Leslie feeling belittled but rising up, Ron learning to compromise his principled stances a little, and Ann and Tom being resolved in about the best way possible.

[9.8/10] It’s easy for me to forget that Parks and Recreation started life as a spinoff of The Office. Ann was supposed to be Jim’s ex Karen starting a new life elsewhere. Instead, Michael Shur (whom you may remember as Dwight’s cousin Mose on The Office) started fresh, and despite the shared mockumentary format and commitment to regular, if exaggerated folks, P&R quickly cut its own path and distinguished itself from its predecessor.

But it’s episodes like “Win, Lose, or Draw” that remind me where Parks and Rec came from. It reminded me of “Casino Night,” one of The Office’s biggest episodes, not because the two share much in plot or character or even comedy. It’s because they share an energy, a toned, a heightened sense of this being a finale that captures the personal and universal, the wacky and the rawly human, and everything in between.

This is, after all, the episode where Leslie stands in the voting booth, fulfills a lifelong dream of voting for herself in a real election, and starts to tear up as the enormity of that moment begins to dawn on her. Awards are silly, but it is a damn shame that Amy Poehler never won an Emmy for her performance as Leslie Knope. She is such a multitalented comic actress, who knows how to go big and deliver a punchline and turn on a dime. But she’s also just as capable of selling those big dramatic moments that tug your heartstrings like no other.

But it’s also the episode where immediately afterward, she has to help Bobby Newport in the neighboring booth because he managed to get ink all over his hand and detach his “pen thing.” That is just this show in a nutshell. One of those gripping emotional moments is punctuated by a bit of dopey-feller hilarity and charm.

That’s what’s so impressive about what is arguably P&R’s greatest season finale. It balances so many things. Of course, there is the drama and excitement as to who is going to win the election, a story that the show has been building to since the end of last season. But “Win” also packs in a story that could have sustained its own episode and maybe two or three – whether Ben will accept Jennifer Barkley’s job offer – that immediately complicates things for Leslie and Ben on a night that should be the culmination of their triumph or tragedy on the campaign trail. Suddenly, the waters are muddied, and the thing that has consumed them for nine months (more? less? the timeline’s always been a bit fuzzy) is suddenly secondary, or at least clouded, by yet another event that tests their relationship and what it means to care about someone.

In the midst of all of this, “Win” also includes tons of little stories that give you little slices of all the series’ characters who are a little more tangential to the action that drives the episode. Tom has an outrageous dream that he and Ann will get back together (and their drunken deal to not only date but move in together afterward is a nice button to it.) Jerry gets a prototypical Jerry story where he forgets to vote and adorably frets the whole night that his single vote will cost Leslie the election. Chris Trager finds that the solution to his recent funk was having some futon-based fun with Jennifer Barkley, and the pair have one last fling before she ships out to D.C., which is, once again, kind of an odd capper to his storyline this season, but it works well enough.

Last, but certainly not least, April accidentally deletes all the files in the Parks Dept. and Andy tries to cheer her up. Much of this, which is the most fulsome of the B-stories, is just a good comic opportunity for Andy to play up his lovable idiot side (like his hilarious attempts to fix April’s computer like he “fixes” their XBOX). It’s also, however, a nice opportunity for Donna to get to save the day (and their three-man hug is sweet as heck), but on top of that, it’s a way to show that for however much April complains and slacks off, she cares about her job and she cares about disappointing Leslie.

That’s the cinch of the episode. Ron is back to playing Yoda to Leslie’s Luke Skywalker, comforting her when the election results come back and she’s lost by twenty-one votes, and the recount is on. When Leslie tells him that she’s worried about letting everyone down, about how much time and effort they put into her campaign, and the responsibility to vindicate them rests on her shoulders, he tells her that they didn’t do it because they wanted to ride her coattails to glory. They did it because they care about her, and that’s what you do for people you care about. It’s a personal thing, something Ron isn’t apt to say to most people, but Leslie isn’t most people, and it’s what she needs to hear.

It’s what she needs to hear because it’s what prompts her to tell Ben to take Jennifer Barkley’s offer to run a congressional campaign in D.C. Leslie and Ben care about one another like mad, and Leslie notes that Ben put his whole life on hold for her to pursue her dream; she wants to return the favor. It’s such an incredible moment, because it represents a great sacrifice from Leslie, giving up the chance for a normal life with Ben after months of madness, but also a great kindness, a sign that she really loves him, as much as his willingness to give up that dream to stay with her shows he loves her too. Only this show could bind up such an incredible personal moment with one of its biggest plot moments ever.

Reader, she wins the election. The recount is a bit cheesy as heightened drama, and as Leslie herself points out, Ann’s fake out with the delivery is a little sneaky, but holy cow does that moment land with so much force. From the maniacal laughter when Leslie thinks she lost, to the hard but heartening moment when she tells Ben to follow his dream, to the gobsmacked, grateful, poignant reaction she has on hearing that she pulled it out, you get every shade of Leslie Knope here, and the episode saves the best for last.

Leslie and Ben are, as Ron notes, the sort of people who hold hands and jump off a cliff, ready to face whatever comes next. That’s not Ron, who decides to stay where he is rather than take Ben’s old job, but it is Ben himself, who doesn’t write a concession speech for Leslie because even uber-prepared Mr. Wyatt believes in Leslie Knope that much.

The speech Leslie gives after the election results are released sum up Parks and Recreation’s worldview as well as any sentiment in the rest of the series. It evinces a belief that the great achievements in life come thanks to the people we surround ourselves with, that they are a product of a great deal of support and risk-taking and hard work from people who care. That may be the thing Parks and Recreation shares the most with The Office, despite the different directions the two series took – a belief that regular people, banding together, at work or off the clock, make the meaning in our lives, comforting us through our greatest losses, spurring us to our greatest victories, and making us laugh, smile, and be thankful in between.

[9.3/10] Rewtching this episode, it stands out to me how great it was that Parks and Rec got Katherine Hahn and Paul Rudd as ringers this season. Hahn is still so great as Jennifer Barkley, with that right sort of bemused mercenary, not at all attached tone that cuts the right contrast with Leslie and Ben’s complete and total commitment to this race. I also enjoy her sort of resignation at Bobby being Bobby, where she’s maneuvered him into smooth sailing and he keeps finding creative ways to take on water. Her look of disgust after he brings Leslie up on stage alone is amazing.

Rudd is absolutely stellar as well. It would be so easy to take a character with no brains, an absolute sense of entitlement, and a massive amount of privilege and have them be utterly unlikable. Instead, Parks and Rudd turn him into such an endearing, albeit misguided little dolt. Though he is ill-equipped to understand anything that’s happening, the notion that he just wanted to impress his dad makes him relatable, and Rudd plays him with such a guilelessness that you can’t help but kind of go “aww” at the guy even as he steals (and butchers) Leslie’s story or misconstrues the point of it being that both his and her parents are dicks.

That’s also why I really like Leslie’s mini-character arc in this episode. For most of the episode, her goal is to do whatever political maneuvers are necessary to keep her momentum in the polls up, even after she inadvertently called Bobby Newport’s dad a jerk right after he died. Ann is the voice of reason, telling her to just apologize, but Leslie and Ben continually try to have their cake and eat it too, making the perfunctory act of contrition but trying to spin it to their advantage.

That, of course, leads to them being outflanked by the “faster, smarter” Barkley, and backfire in hilarious fashion. Leslie’s attempts at an “official response” are hilarious, from her quote of “bummer,” to her immediate realization that that’s the wrong thing to say, to the dancers and t-shirt gunners emerging at the absolutely perfect, inappropriate time. And the Knope campaign bus backing into Nick Newport’s portrait is so cringey but so hilarious, especially Leslie’s sheepish hello and asking of whether she’s late afterward.

But when she sets aside politics and just talks to Bobby, with the empathy and sincerity that are her trademark, it pays off. Their heart-to-heart has sweetness that stems from Leslie being legitimately comforting and from Bobby basically just being an overgrown ten year old. It has weight both from their interactions but also from the fact that Leslie is basically sacrificing her political ambitions to be a good person, and that has resonance. The resolution, where Bobby essentially endorses Leslie -- thereby wiping away her public fopa -- is a karmic repayment for Leslie being a human being instead of a candidate. It speaks to the optimistic ethos of this show, which says that hard work and kindness will ultimately be rewarded. I’d be lying if I said that my cynical disposition leads me to agree, but it’s a pleasant thing to see nonetheless.

The B-story, with Tom, Donna, and Ron going to confront a man who’s reneging on his agreement to provide Team Knope van rentals so they can ferry seniors to the polls has sort of the reverse point, oddly enough. Ron exemplifies his best when he emphasizes the importance of sticking to your principles but acknowledging that sometimes you’re just dealing with an “asshole” and have to do what you have to do.

There’s a couple of great character moments here. Ron’s willingness to pay the $10,000 (in private, of course) is a nice way to show how committed he is to Leslie and her campaign. By the same token, Donna’s willingness to sacrifice her precious car to strongarm the (nicely performed) jerkass car rental guy is a nice bit from her as well. Tom is Tom, but he works well enough in the story even if he doesn’t get any moments as cool as either of those.

The C-stories are pretty delightful too. I had forgotten how long this season lingers on Chris trying to outpace his depression spurred by lack of romantic success. The way it’s resolved, with Barkley making advances on him which he finds flattering, is pretty silly, but it’s played well, and the scene where April tries to cheer him up is a great beat for that character who’s grown and been developed a lot this season.

But the master of the slight but entertaining C-stories is Andy solving the case of who threw a pie at Jerry. I’m going to run out of ways to describe Chris Pratt’s greatness on this show, but like Rudd’s Newport, he just commits so hard to being a well-meaning but undeniably dim-witted fellow that you can’t help but root for him even in his most insane endeavors.

There’s maybe five minutes of time devoted to his pie-investigation, but they’re all pretty damn funny. His puzzling over the ol’ corkboard diagram, which in this instance just has one string between a picture of Leslie and a picture of a pie, is such a great quickhit parody of conspiracy thrillers. The scene where he slowly recreates the pie-throwing with Jerry is just so absurd as to be brilliant. And I absolutely love the reveal that it’s Sewage Joe trying to get revenge on Ben for firing him which is a culprit and a motivation that is as ridiculous as the man investigating it, and even has a nice continuity nod to boot. The icing on the cake is that even after he actually manages to solve the mystery, Andy can’t stop it from happening again!

Overall, this is one of those Parks and Rec episodes where everyone has something to do, and between the meaty but hilarious A-story, and the collection of pure comedy and great character moments in all the other stories, you get something truly tremendous.

[9.0/10] This one could get to “excellent” on Leslie’s speech alone. I have to admit, even knowing it was coming, her speech about loving where you’re from and working to make it better, believing in it and not threatening it or punishing it, gave me chills. I don’t think I felt that the first time I watched this episode. In truth, it’s Parks and Rec at its most didactic, laying its philosophy bare, and that sort of directness doesn’t always work for me. But we are at a different place as a country now than we were in 2012 when this aired, and the message seems all the more poignant. I, at least, was utterly defenseless.

But even apart from that one great moment, the episode is full of great debate-related parodies and moments. Whether it’s getting questions from Twitter, Perd eating up all of Leslie’s time, or the fringe candidates (including Buddy from Friday Night Lights!), there is a good helping of the classic P&R small town lunacy that adds color to the proceedings.

And there’s a more pointed satire of debates on top of that, with the prepared, knowledgeable Knope losing to the likable but platitude-offering dope thanks to his unassuming charm. It pokes at the dog and pony show of debates and the ways they’re both compromised (Sweetums being a sponsor is a nice touch) but also pretty far removed from representing who would make a good leader versus who knows how to play to the crowd and to the camera. It’s sharp satire grounded in great character work and a particularly stellar performance from Poehler.

(Honorable mention to the moment where Ben stops his cautiousness and tells Leslie to go kick Newport’s ass. They are such a great pairing.)

Of course, it can’t all be sharp political satire. We get bogged down in another chapter of Tom and Ann, this time adding in Chris for a strained love triangle. The show does its best to redeem Tom a bit here, trying to chalk up his immature behavior to him not knowing how to express his genuinely sweet feelings, but it’s something of a fig leaf on a relationship and a set of behaviors that, as Chris accurately points out, defies all logic. I do appreciate that Ann doesn’t suddenly pick a new boyfriend, but responds in a mature fashion to both Chris and Tom’s advances, choosing her own path. But the whole story amounts to a bandaid on a pretty poor decision.

Still, there’s also some trifling fun to tide us over! It’s not particularly deep or meaningful, but the C-story with Ron, April, and Andy is great. Andy reenacting his favorite movies after the cable goes out is just comedy gold. There’s such a childlike enthusiasm to everything he does, and Chris Pratt’s natural charm really comes through. By the same token, Ron stealing cable, singing “Lineman for the County,” and mildly panicking when he hears sirens is fun stuff as well.

Overall, the A-story is the powerhouse here, with heart, wit, and incisive observation about debates, politics, and governance writ large, with a weak B-story and a fun C-story that balance one another out in the shadow of the bigger, better part of the episode.

[8.6/10] The first time I watched Parks and Recreation (or at least up through Season 5 or so when I caught up), I hadn’t seen The West Wing. I knew enough through cultural osmosis to get that this was something of an homage, but it didn’t have much of an impact on me as a reference.

Coming back to it having since seen the entirety of Aaron Sorkin’s and John Wells’s fascinating series, the main story has a lot more force. It’s not just the presence of Bradley Whitford (who’s great here in a comedic guise, whether or not you’re processing him as Josh Lyman), or the “Pillner for Pawnee” napkin, or the “we play with live ammo around here” borrowed line. It’s the very idea of the episode – that all of these political choices come with tradeoffs and compromises.

In truth, The West Wing wasn’t always a great vehicle for that message, with the show just as often having its heroes find some brilliant solution to whatever the crisis of the week is without too much compromise or consequence. But it’s still a great lesson for Leslie here and great showcase of her character.

I love the way she keeps trying to find extra room in the budget, and each fire she tries to put out starts another one. Solving the Parks dept. budget means closing the animal shelter. Saving the animal shelter means Ann (and other employees) getting fired. Ann keeping her job means either the Parks dept. budget shrinks or something else has to have a bite taken out of it. There is, again, a certain I Love Lucy quality to Leslie’s solutions (particularly her adopting all the animals) but I love her last one.

Leslie is the kind of person willing to take the political hit – to give Bobby Newport the win, in order to do the most good for Pawnee. Having him fund the shelter himself is a canny solution to the problem, and it serves many purposes here. It shows Leslie acknowledging that there is a cost to all of this, that you can’t have everything, but that she is always going to be the one to pay that cost herself rather than inflict it on others. A really stellar A-story to be sure.

The rest of the episode has strong material as well. I enjoy April trying to do Leslie’s job and coming up frustrated. Someone like Leslie is used to taking a licking and keeping on ticking, but for April, trying doesn’t come as naturally so every setback stings all the more. I like her trying to pursue a big idea (having a pet adoption event), get little traction and get frustrated. But I like even more than Tom gets to be a good guy instead of just a swaggery dudebro about it. Him pumping April up, and by extension Leslie, by reminding April that she’s face a lot of crap in local government, but that the good she can do is worth it, is a really nice beat for both of them.

And last but not least, Chris and Ron make for, once again, a surprisingly successful pairing. Ron inadvertently clearing his mind at the meditation center is a nice gag. It’s also another good story beat, with Ron admitting that meditation isn’t his thing, but Chris explaining it was just a test of sorts for Ron to show that he can be flexible. The reveal that Chris might lose his job if Bobby wins seems a little cheesy, but I like that it creates another moment of bonding for the two of them where Ron helps Chris out with some whiskey and friendly advice (and yet another Chris-Ann tease). Ron blowing off Chris in the tag by pretending to be meditating is a great button as well.

Overall, it’s an episode with a lot of nice moments, and a good down-to-earth message about government and the realities of it throughout.

[9.7/10] I’m not sure you’ll find an episode where everyone in the whole cast is used as well as they are here. You have Leslie in another minor I Love Lucy-type situation, where she gets drunk but then has to do a make-or-break interview unexpectedly. What I like about this story is that Buddy Wood is the kind of antagonist who absolutely pushes Leslie’s buttons more than Joan or Bobby or Jennifer – the kind who condescends to her and talks about Pawnee as a backwards, hopeless place. That just runs counter to everything she believes, and offends her on principle. Sean Hayes does a great job making Buddy a smug, repugnant snob, and you can see why he would bother Leslie so much.

But I also like the poetry of how she wins without even realizing it. Somebody like Leslie pays attention to the little guy; she cares about this town and fights for the people in it. And that means that, as with the police chief helping out with the Harvest Festival without compunction for her, when she’s in a jam, the citizens of Pawnee have her back. Buddy’s luggage with the embarrassing tape getting “lost” is a great resolution to the story.

You also get a great mini-arc for Ben, who is clearly wound up a bit too tight, and after that victory, gets a chance to kick back and have fun. Ann and Tom are even downright bearable and even a little fun here! Tom counting the hours that they’ve gone without breaking up is a nice running gag, as is reaction when he thinks he almost blew it. The pair have a chummy vibe together that almost makes you believe they would date for a little while, even if it’s still a stretch that it would continue this long. Still, the countdown thing says the show knows that, and wrings some humor out of it.

The other story centers on Andy passing his Women’s Studies course, and celebrating at a dinner with April, Ron, his professor, and Chris. First and foremost, Andy is just in top hilarious form here. Between the way he tries to casually talk about Susan B. Anthony being born in Adams, Massachusetts, tells his dinnermates that he’s “very proud of me and so are all of you” and tells Ron that “someone” told him to face his problems like an adult, only for him to then realize it was Ron(!), there are so many great Andy moments that could carry this B-story on its own.

But I also really like the meat of the story, which centers on April trying to setup sad sack but sensitive Chris with Andy’s women’s studies professor, continuing the arc of her empathy for him, only for the professor to instead choose laconic carnivore Ron instead. It’s a nice swerve, with good character beats for everyone.

The best part is the ending though. I love that they remembered about Ron’s Tiger Woods shirt as a minor detail. But more importantly, I do like that Ron has to hear his words back from Andy, and despite his reluctance to get involved in awkward personal stuff, he acts like an adult and tells Chris straight up. And there’s nothing more consistently amusing on this show than Ron being hugged!

There’s even a great little Donna and Jerry story! Jerry’s trance-like state when packing letters because this sort of work “makes sense to me” is so weird but so fun, as is Donna’s fascination with it. Jim O’Heir does a great job of selling Jerry’s hypnotic devotion to his task, and Retta conveys how much intrigue this holds for Donna well.

Overall, there is nothing so major that happens in this episode, or any big heartwarming moments, but it’s an episode where every character on the show is being used and used well. That is impressive in and of itself, and brings all sorts of laughs and great character moments in the process.

[7.6/10] Another very solid episode. I love the addition of Kathryn Hahn as Jennifer Barkley to this season. She has such a great characterization as an outsider who is as friendly and genial as all get out off the campaign trail as she is ruthless and effect it on it, and bemused and bewildered at all the details of Pawnee. This is her coming out party, and the way she is willing to buy Leslie waffles at J.J.’s and then excoriate her on live television makes for a great dynamic.

It’s also a nice excuse to pair Ben and Leslie up for the episode. We haven’t gotten a lot of time to see them as a couple taking on challenges since they got together, so it’s fun to see them trying to solve this seemingly intractable challenge and being cute together. It also creates both a win and a loss for them. The fact that Barkley was brought in means that Ben was succeeding as a campaign manager and Leslie was connecting with voters, but her arrival means there’s a difficulty they might not be able to overcome.

Still, the back and forth of ramps vs. lifts (with Carl Reiner doing his usual funny schtick) and the hilarious “Final Word with Perd” create for some fun comedic setups. Jennifer is a believable and funny obstacle for Ben and Leslie that also nicely parodies political spin.

The B-story is enjoyable too. I love Ron being between a rock and a hard place -- not wanting to actually do a government project, but also not wanting to hire someone new to fill-in for Leslie, forcing him to choose the lesser of two evils. The whole water fountain thing is such a nice absurd touch for a project to solve to boot. It’s one of those weirdly specific things that makes Pawnee seem like a collection of loonies.

It’s also a bit easy, but such a great comedic scene when Ron assures Chris that everything’s going great, only to open the door and see the manic water balloon fight taking place. Andy’s kamikaze balloon pack is a particularly great bit. But I also like where they take the story in terms of character, with April coming up with the actual cost-effective idea, and Ron putting her up to take on Leslie’s responsibilities. It’s a nice trajectory for April, and it’s a nice character touch for Ron, showing that despite his personal preference for her as his assistant, it’s not letting her achieve her greatest potential, even if it has to be in the public rather than the private sector.

Overall, a very nice episode with the introduction of a fantastic recurring character and a great April-Ron story baked into a wacky comedy plot.

[6.8/10] Another weaker entry in the season, though only by P&R’s usually sterling standards. The main story, about Leslie overextending herself by trying to both deputorily direct the parks department and campaign for city council at the same time is a solid enough if somewhat generic premise. It fits Leslie’s “do it all” character, and I like that Ron is a patient but insistent counterweight encouraging her to focus.

The wacky hijinks of Leslie trying to keep all the plates spinning are amusing enough, particularly her and Ron barging on Jerry in the bath and her exchange with the guy from the sign store who put a URL rather than a picture on the campaign poster. Her stepping across the threshold to the office, Homer in Australia-style in the cold open is pretty funny too. But the best part is her heart-to-heart with Ron in the gorgeous setting of Donna’s lakehouse. His “don’t half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing” speech works as a nice resolution, and Leslie agreeing to cut down to 10 hours a week is a nice save that’s true to her character.

The thing that drags this one down is the other major story, centering on Ann and Tom having a big fight over how little they have in common. I like that April is trapped in the middle of it (though her refuge in champagne is a little odd), but otherwise it’s a lot to take. The show just drives home the point that Tom and Ann don’t really work together, in personality or in interests, and then doesn’t really resolve it or give a good reason why they would stay together. Their clashes also aren’t particularly funny, and the jokes are repetitive. I’ve already harped on “Tann” enough, but suffice it to say it’s the continuing element in this episode that just doesn’t work.

That said, I like the C-story well enough, which features Andy and Chris clashing a bit after Chris gets attached to Champion. The thrust of the story is a little odd, but the two make for a funny pairing, and the ending -- that Chris uses his dog whistle to convince Andy his song made Champion come back, is a nice one. There’s a lot of humor in the goofus and gallant dog trainer routine between the two of them, and capper, with Andy realizing how happy Champion makes the previously downtrodden Chris and saying he can play with him whenever he wants, is a nice touch too.

Overall, nothing in this one is so bad, but it’s all just a bit below the show’s usual great standard, which lowers the score for it.

[9.5/10] Back into top form! Louis C.K.’s Dave was and is such a great part of this show. He has just the right combination of stilted awkwardness that makes him entirely believable as a big square, but also this inherent, innocent sweetness that also makes him a big teddy bear. Lesser shows than Parks and Rec would draw this out as some sort of love triangle, but the situation between he, Leslie, and Ben just turns into one great font of comedy.

I also love how it dovetails so perfectly with Ben’s pre-established fear of cops. Again, I love how P&R zigs where other shows would zag. Rather than be intimidated by Dave, Ben bonds with him then stands up to him. Rather than be tempted by her old beau, Leslie gently but immediately shuts down Dave’s advances and responds the way a mature woman would. And it never ceases to be funny!
Dave’s cringe-y attempts to navigate this social situation and woo Leslie are as adorable as they are misguided. Ben’s patient but insistent resistance (and the continuing gags about his uncomfortableness around cops, especially his “just tell me what you want me to do!” line) is superb. And Leslie is in top form with her reactions to everything. Just well-written scene after well-written scene that never devolves into sitcom tropes.

The B-story is another all-time great one too. I can’t tell you how many times Mrs. Bloom and I will break into the cheesy tones of “Catch Your Dreams.” There’s so many laughs at the recording studio. April being put on the case to distract from all the Duke Silver merch leads to some excellent stuff (I particularly enjoy the smashed coffee cup). Chris giving a terrible rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was hilarious. And the bewildered reactions of Mouserat are worth a chuckle too.

On top of that, there’s heart to the story. Ron’s little arc is pretty typical for him, but it still works to see the guy who is so reserved and private offering a hidden away piece of himself to help his erstwhile young ward. There are so many great lines, but Ron saying “I never thought I’d say this, son, but you may be overthinking is” is a truly fantastic one.

And even Andy, who is at his most outsized here (with his terrific “awful” to “funny” word salad), but also his sad and sweetest. I love the idea that he’s especially driven here because he knows he’s not the smartest guy in the world, and so he thinks this is the only or at least most effective way to contribute to Leslie’s campaign. It adds character to an otherwise silly story, and helps the episode as a whole.
The only part of the episode that I didn’t quite love was, you guessed it, the Ann and Tom story. Ann’s love life has just never been as interesting an avenue of storytelling as Parks and Rec thinks it is, and it’s in no way improved by Tom not only pestering and hectoring and creeping on her throughout the episode, but it actually working. I generally like Tom as an ingredient in P&R’s character stew, but more than anyone else on the show, he has the capacity to get grating and annoying. Some of that was assuredly intentional here, but it doesn’t make him or this story any more pleasant in this episode.

Still, it’s a small part of what is otherwise an outstanding episode of Parks and Recreation. The Leslie-Ben-Dave triumvirate are a great combination of comedy and smart writing, and the songwriting portion of the episode is more purely comedic, but has a nice character focus as well. One of my favorite bits from the campaign arc.

[7.3/10] Why does everybody have to get paired up in sitcoms? Ben and Leslie are amazing together, and April and Andy are adorable, but that doesn’t mean that every remaining pair of warm-blooded singles in the orbit of the Parks Dept. needs to take a turn dating one another. The show at least acknowledges how weird it is to have Ann and Tom go out on a date, positing it as Ann trying out a “wildcard” after other attempts go poorly. But that doesn’t obviate the fact that it feels like the show running out of ideas about what to do with these two characters during the campaign arc and defaulting to lazily tossing them together.

That said, for a choice I disagree with, I liked two things about how they did it. First of all, it was a nice little swerve. The episode sets you up to think that with Chris on the rebound and Ann feeling a bit lonely on V-Day herself, the pair will fall back into old habits. The bad idea boyfriend being Tom instead is at least a surprise. I also appreciated that the move is part of a small character arc for April trying to be a friend to Ann at Leslie’s encouragement. Ensconcing the move in April’s pretzel logic and good intentions takes some of the edge off, even if the pairing strains credulity a bit.

I did enjoy sad sack Chris. Seeing such a relentless positive character be down in the dumps leads to some good comedy. Chris abusing the word literally (in a different way), playing weird or depressing songs as a DJ at a couple’s dance, and gazing longingly at Jerry are all solid laughs.

But the thing that really makes this episode for me is Ben going on Leslie’s scavenger hunt with the assistance of Ron and Andy. It’s just such a buffet of comedy from all three of them. Ron is so great here, being absolutely giddy at having these riddles to solve while trying his best not to let on. The contrast between how into it he is and how he tries to keep his disinterested veneer is great. Andy is in top form as a dope, between his whipped cream escapade and the swerve with him smashing the display case. And Ben is superb as usual, with Adam Scott doing great at seeming overwhelmed by all the intricate clues Leslie left for him, and his knowing glance to the camera when Leslie talks about how much he loves L’il Sebastian now. Plus, I particularly loved Martin Starr’s brief cameo and sarcastic wit as the Snowglobe Museum clerk, having a mini-Party Down reunion with Adam Scott.

Overall, once again the main story is a little weak, and takes characters in a direction I disagree with, but the B-story is so good and so funny that it could almost carry the episode by itself.