7x05 Gryzzlbox

[7.0/10] Perfectly acceptable, though kind of eh episode. The main story, about invasion of privacy by otherwise cool-seeming tech companies, is topical, but without much meat on it. It’s a shallow critique, which hey, it’s a sitcom, not The McLaughlin Group, but still, the whole Gryzzl thing has been kind of weak to start with and the whole Amazon/Google mashup satire is all a bit basic.

Still, there’s some good stuff to come out of it. It’s really rushed, but I like Ben worrying that this is Ice Town all over again and Leslie reassuring him that he’s done a lot for the town and people appreciate that. Ron thinking that anyone who got their privacy invaded had it coming, and then showing up on their doorstep with a shot down drone and a shotgun, angry that Gryzzl knew about his son, is a great image and nice way to set up Ron being on their side. And we even got another great town hall meeting segment.

Plus, my god, the Perdples Court was great. All the “Judge Perd Is Not a Judge” disclaimers were very funny. Perd declaring a mistrial because he can’t find his “judge hammer” was a nice bit. And him referring to Leslie’s garbled speech as “well put” was a highlight.

The other two stories were hit or miss. Tom acting as Andy’s agent with the head of the local station (Dax Shepherd) was a promising plot, but didn’t amount to much. It’s nice that Tom wants Andy to be able to retain the rights to Johnny Karate, but the episode didn’t wring much humor out of the negotiations.

Lastly, April trying to scare off other Parks Dept. interns so that they don’t make the same “mistake” she did was a simple but sweet story. April resenting the job because it got her ten years into a career it turns out she doesn’t want, only to be reminded by Craig that she’s really lucky to have worked for Leslie even if she wants to do something else eventually is a really good beat to end on, especially with her playing the WWLD game and wrangling a bunch more interns. Plus Craig was pretty good once again! This time it was his combination of encouragement and thinking of nice things instead of yelling.

Overall, not the best episode of the show ever, but still enjoyable.