[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.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-03-27T17:41:08Z
[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.