Parks & Recreation is back and off to quite a start. I was feverishly writing notes and couldn't keep up with the sheer plethora of laughs and tidbits the premiere threw at us.
The plot was simple and straight forward, setting the board for the season, but all the character beats killed from start to finish. Leslie's campaign is thrust forward after our favorite sewage employee sends a picture of his penis to all the women at city hall. Leslie’s campaign team sees an opportunity to position herself as a woman, who can't possibly send a picture of her penis to anyone. This forces Leslie's hand with Ben, three months prematurely, and we are treated to possibly the sweetest breakup scene I have ever seen. Adam Scott just nails it and it ends the relationship on as upbeat a note as possible to assure their eventual rekindling. Surely we will see some romantic entanglements along the way though right? It could be interesting to throw a scandal into the race. I am curious, who is Leslie’s antagonist going to be and will Tom’s company represent them in some capacity?
That's about it for plot though; the rest is all set up. Andy replacing Tom is an interesting choice, don't see him lasting long to be honest, but it will be nice to see Andy do something different (yes I know he has been an assistant for the Parks Department before). I will miss Andy and his antics/interactions at the shoe shine station; who is going to not buy Mouse Rat CD’s now.
It takes the whole episode for anything interesting to happen to Ron, besides grow his epic beard in three weeks, but this audit is going to entangle him with the government and Tammy 1 which is basically Ron's worst nightmare. Seeing Ron on the defensive this season is going to allow us to see an interesting side of the character I feel that will allow Nick Offerman to continue to grow one of the funniest characters on TV.
All in all a great start to the season and it really looks like this is the year of, "Leslie 'F***ing' Knope."
Lots of bullets:
-Entertainment 7twenty seems to not do a whole lot in its infancy, but I think the possible Andy/Tom dynamic could be great if Andy ends up working for the upstart.
-Was almost caught off guard by how fast Wiener scandal got used, but they used it to great effect. Anne constantly getting emails and Chris' line, "Your inbox is, literally, filled with penises," took full advantage of the premise. Loved the use of the sound effect on Anne's phone.
-Tom's business card is the best since Patrick Bateman, the magnetism might put him over the top. Oh, and his shoes are something else; leopard print!
-The realization of Ron's emergency pack and the fact that he has apparently never used a vacation day, stocking up over 200, were two more great anecdotes into the legend of Ron Swanson.
-And again, how bout that beard? 3 weeks!
-Of course it is the Sewage Department that started the whole Penis mess, also love how every guy in Pawnee's government is a dirty pervert.
-April taking over for Ron didn’t feel like a far stretch, and I especially believe she had complete control over poor Jerry.
-Or maybe not poor Jerry, "biggest penis I have ever seen." Finally a win for Jerry!
-What was up with Rob Lowe's hair?
-Ron hated paperwork already at 12, lost his pinky toe for it, the legend grows further.
-Leslie giving speeches in her sleep is something I hope we get a call back on down the line this season.
And now a landslide of great lines:
-"Too bad, deal with your problems."
-"I really need to shoot a gun.” Ron, "Fishing."
-"The whiz palace"
-"Full disclosure, I didn't listen to what you just said."
-"I don't know what you mean, but you had the cadence of a joke."
-"You really know your testes."
-“The testicles are the ears of the genital system, essential but not nice to look at."
-"Go back in times and cut your eyes out."
That is it for this week. Parks & Recreation, arguably the best network comedy, is back and already firing on all cylinders. The episode was fast paced with laugh after laugh coming at you and never letting up. If this is what they have in store for us this year, we are going to be some happy campers.
