[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.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-04-07T02:02:23Z
[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.