“Give me all the bacon and eggs you have. Do you understand?”
A funny thing happened tonight on Parks and Recreation. That funny thing is more accurately a lack of things. The funniest part? It absolutely worked.
Every episode of Parks and Recreation is full of funny moments, and I’d go as far as to say it’s the most consistent comedy on television right now. As the story unfolds, so do the laughs. Tonight, we had three stories in two places, and we got to sit back and just watch the ensemble interact.
First, we had Ron and Leslie heading to Indianapolis and ending up eating in Chris’ apartment. Second, Andy and April went on a date to the Snakehole Lounge, where our third story also takes place, that being Tom and Ben hanging out for the night. Most episodes have their share of hilarious quotes that you know you’ll see in a tweet or Facebook status before the next commercial break (your friends are fans of the show, right?) and I thought that while this episode only had a few of those, it was still funny from beginning to end. Let’s take a look at those laughs.
Ron’s steakhouse photo album kicked off the laughs, and I loved that he seemed to look almost the same in every picture, regardless of year. Tom has created a fragrance called Tommy Fresh, and his plan for the evening is to have Dennis Feinstein (who changed his name from Dante Fiero to that because it was somehow more exotic) smell it, resulting in the two going into business together. Andy tells April that his band is working on a new album, which he says is called April Ludgate is the Best Ever, Volume 1. We learned that Leslie was called Angela Lansbury in high school, not for her detective skills but instead for her haircut. On the ride to Indianapolis, Leslie suggestions for places to stop. One is at Indiana’s second largest rocking chair, and the other is a place where failed wax figures are sent, and if you can guess who it’s supposed to be, you get to keep it. Ron being upset to find the steakhouse closed, asking “what happened to the steaks that were in there when they closed? Do you think they were eaten?” almost in tears. I loved Ben’s “Yoda wouldn’t need networking” line to Tom, who thought he was the Yoda of networking. It was nice to see Leslie sticking up for her best friend Ann (“anyone who’d hurt her is someone I would murder probably”) even if her accusation was incorrect. Ron becoming physically ill after realizing he was grilling mushrooms and not steaks was perfect, and so was Leslie asking Chris for a cold compress for the weakened Ron. Rob Lowe continued his incredible work, telling Leslie he had concealer because “I’m a human being. Sometimes I get blemishes. I’m not perfect.” It was nice to see Ben supporting Tom, someone he’s not really even very close with, after Tommy Fresh was met with laughs from Dennis Feinstein.
I loved April and Andy’s game to see who could get the most free stuff throughout the night. The best part of it all was that they decided to hand the tips they’d made over to the employees, which is just a small example of how this show has its fun and its laughs but it doesn’t venture into the cynical or the crass and always shows the great heart that it possesses. In a show with many strengths, that just may be the greatest. Grade: A-
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