Parks and Recreation (S02E13)

1 comments

Parks and Recreation (S02E13)

Monday, January 18, 2010

You know, at first I wasn't too big a fan of Parks and Recreation, but as season two got underway, the quality of the show really kind of skyrocketed. If Ron Swanson isn't one of the best characters on TV right now, I'll eat Josh's lunch. Don't test me!

Reviewer
Kaitis
Categories
TV Shows

Reviewed by Michael Kaitis

Parks and Recreation (S02E13) - "The Set Up"

I'm not really sure why The Office didn't come back this week with Parks, but I was happy to at least have one of them. Plus it's the show that for the past few weeks has kept me more consistently laughing. This week had two pretty great guest stars in Mr. Amy Poehler aka Will Arnett, and Justin Theroux, who I've only seen as Joe on Six Feet Under. After the credits rolled, I was really distracted by the giant picture of Louis C.K.'s head. Interestingly enough, they don't explain it in the regular cut, but do in the producer's cut, which includes a slightly humorous bit about how she stole it. It's not really important why lawyer Justin is in the Parks and Rec. department, but he's got a great story about the ridiculous product that is Fire-In-A-Can, which by how he describes it sounds like it's insane enough to be a Cinco product.

Most of the episode revolves around Leslie getting back into dating, and that's where Will Arnett comes in. In a floating head shot, filmed only a few feet away from the table they're sitting at on a date, Leslie says, "Good job, Ann". Will Arnett's Chris doesn't hesitate to go, "I actually heard that." I haven't laughed that hard at a floating head interview in ages. The producers cut actually saw the date getting worse than the televised moments could fully show. It's a shame that they couldn't air all of it on TV, but at least it has a home online.

Ron Swanson almost had quite a few good moments himself in the assistant search. He got to the point where two phone calls in a row was enough to rip the phone cable out of the wall. After Tom Haverford brought him a terrible option for an assistant he got to "I wanna punch you in the face so bad right now." They used this situation to not only create an entertaining storyline, but with some clever writing they managed to work it into the whole April liking Andy thing. Speaking of which, Andy was extremely hilarious this episode and I for one couldn't be more supportive of bringing Mouse Rat back onto the show. I also love that this is the second time we've heard a recording of the band, and both times have been songs they played in S01E06, "Rock Show". Continuity is always funny.

As much as I would prefer not having any bullshit relationship moments written in a la The Office, it was really good for character interaction. Mark going to Andy for help about "Justin? I hate Justin." Of course, this eventually worked itself into another one of Andy's trying-to-get-Ann-back schemes, maybe his most brilliant one yet. I think most importantly, focusing on that little bit of relationship trouble gave Paul Schneider the most screen time he's had all season. I may be alone in this thought, but he should really be on more. Even though he's typically a serious actor, he works really well with the strong writing staff. He may not deliver fully laugh out loud funny jokes like the other characters, but this episode did a terrific job of showing that when used with subtle humor, Brandanawicz can still shine.

Read more TV Shows