As you might have noticed, I failed to review last week's episode, "Campaign Shake-Up." I took a bit of a hiatus from writing entries last week due to some personal things, but I think I lucked out when it comes to Parks and Recreation, because last week's episode and this week's installment, "Lucky," seem in many ways to kind of go hand in hand. Ergo I will attempt to compile some coherent and insightful thoughts on both of them.
First, talk about phenomenal guest stars, amIright? Last week we had Kathryn Hahn as Bobby Newport's conniving campaign manager who is very much only in it for the money. She was the perfect villain and a great counterpart to Bobby's cluelessness (which we were treated to a few weeks ago, and will see again before season's end), making you love to hate or hate to love her in every scene. When even Leslie Knope can't really decide about a person, you know that person is probably complicated and definitely dangerous. Then this week saw Sean Hayes' appearance as Buddy Wood, the "Matt Lauer of Indianapolis" (at least, that's how showrunner Mike Schur describes him), a Pawnee-hating wannabe superstar who I wish we'd have seen a bit more of. Hayes didn't get quite as much time to really get into his stride in the role, overshadowed by Amy Poehler's always hilarious drunk-Leslie antics, but then his character had a very small purpose to serve anyway.
As I've mentioned, these episodes felt like two that really complement each other, both giving us snapshots of moments in Leslie's campaign and both providing us with quickly dismissed (perhaps too quickly, in Hahn's case) human obstacles standing in the way of our favorite Parks lady's ascent to power. I think the chief reason these two installments seem attached to each other is due to the lack of resolution in "Campaign Shake-Up." The end saw Ben and Leslie reflecting on this newly established complication, but it had been by no means eliminated by episode's end. Maybe that's what made "Lucky" just a little disappointing as a stand-alone: by wrapping up the interview debacle neatly at the end, it was almost as though it had never happened at all. I would have much rather seen either greater consequences as a result of Leslie's disastrous interview, or else another week devoted to the campaign crunch and the rise of Leslie's opponents (I think this might all have had something to do with the availability of Hahn and or Paul Rudd, who portrays Bobby Newport). This week marks, as other reviewers have noted, the first occasion on which Leslie's campaign feels just a little too dragged out. I know they're hoping to give us an exciting finale come May 10th (intel from PaleyFest is that both a Leslie victory and a Leslie loss have been shot and only a handful of people know which will be used), but in the mean time it might behoove them to distract us with a B-plot that isn't totally disposable, as they have been the past few weeks.
Speaking of B-plots, I really loved this week's with Ron, April, and Andy (oh, and Chris I guess). Nick Offerman wrote this episode, and one thing I loved about this part of it was the numerous self-referential moments, little nods to details we've learned about the characters in previous episodes (especially Ron,which I suppose is understandable given that Offerman plays him). I love that we got to see the conclusion of Andy's foray into higher education (although I'd love to see him continue on and very slowly earn a degree in women's studies), and that we got to see a woman choose Ron over Chris (that must have been fun to write).
Overall, I think I was just hoping for a stronger episode leading into hiatus, where we'll be sadly Parks free for five weeks. Of course, the show's writers didn't know at the time that NBC would once again mindlessly shuffle its Thursday night lineup (yet another sign The Office should be preparing its swan song, but that's another story), so they couldn't plan accordingly with some kind of cliffhanger or major development. The good news is that when Parks does return in late April we will be treated to an episode written and directed by Amy Poehler and (as if that weren't enough) featuring a fierce debate between all of the candidates running for this much-coveted City Council seat. By the time I'm writing my next review we'll be edging toward May sweeps, and I for one am hoping this show has a few more tricks up its sleeve than just the mystery of whether Leslie will win or lose.
No comments:
Post a Comment