Parks and Recreation - Episode 3.03 - Time Capsule - Review

So I’ve watched “Time Capsule” three times now and I’m still not quite sure how I feel about it. Two main reasons, the first being that I’m not a fan of the Twilight series. Not necessarily that this episode hinges on whether or not you have a favorable opinion of the books or movies, but during nearly all of the references I was definitely cringing. I understand that this episode was shot last summer, when the phenomenon was a tad more culturally relevant, but here in the Parks universe I felt it detracted more than it added. The other issue was that shortly after this episode aired NBC posted a horror movie style trailer for next week’s episode, “Ron and Tammy II”. If you have not seen this yet, I will warn you it is the most mind-blowingly amazing two minutes you will ever see. Words cannot describe how awesome this trailer is. Thursday night cannot come soon enough, and seriously, who doesn’t want to see Ron Fucking Swanson in cornrows? I was so impressed by the video that my opinion of “Time Capsule” paled in comparison. That’s not to say it was a bad episode, because a mediocre episode of Parks and Rec is still ten times better than a majority of TV out there.

After that bummer of an intro, here’s what I liked. The cold open packed so much comedy into the first two minutes, it’s a shame that the pattern didn’t continue throughout the episode. In such a short span of time we get another good laugh at Jerry, who was Tinkerbell in school play, Eduardo laughing at Jerry, which was funny by itself, Andy awkwardly suggesting that it would be funny if they kill Eduardo in the time capsule, and then the piece de resistance, a history of Pawnee’s slogans. Parks and Rec seems to excel in these moments where a single character recites a long list, such as Andy listing off the previous names of Mouse Rat, or Leslie listing off things that have happened to her on bad dates. The slogans of Pawnee did not disappoint, and I put my favorites in the quote section below.

Another main draw to Parks and Rec is the pairing of characters. Almost all of the characters are amazing by themselves, but paired together is where they really shine. I am convinced that you could write down all of the characters from Parks, put them in a hat, pick two of them, and whoever they are the pairing would be comedically unstoppable. This week we have a ne pairing in the budding bromance of Andy and Chris, who on the face of things appear to be total opposites. Luckily Andy is not intimidated by Chris and Chris is essentially Jesus reincarnated and therefore is unpretentious and non-judgmental. Having Chris help Andy out with April was a perfect pairing, that led to another short lasting amazing pairing, Andy and Eduardo.

With the strategy of “Nice” and “Band” at work, Andy befriends Eduardo with a joint interest in Dave Matthews Band. More shockingly, Eduardo seems to know more English than he has previously demonstrated. Well it turns out that April was just dating her socialist hottie to make Andy jealous, and now that they’re friends she dumps him. So let’s just assume that the inevitable has finally arrived and that April and Andy are back on. Very glad they didn’t turn this into a multi-season Jim/Pam unrequited love fest, as the characters work better together than they do apart.

Now back to the Twilight/Time Capsule debacle. Does anyone else love that Ron has a hacksaw in his desk drawer? Probably the only thing in there too. The only thing in this plot line that really worked for me was the town hall debate. Into our third season it is really gratifying as a viewer to look into that crowd and see many familiar faces, some from other Town Halls like the little old lady who always shows up, and some from full episodes like the lady who tried to get Leslie to resign for gay-marrying penguins. Not sure if the minor extras are actually cast or if those are just crew members that they have filling the audience, but just the same it’s enjoyable to recognize the people of Pawnee, making the town all that more real to us viewers. The ever-expanding number of time capsules in an attempt to appease everyone was a nice touch too.

The other thing that bothered me with this episode is that it was a break in the Harvest Festival momentum. No mention of the festival whatsoever in the episode. I’m looking forward to that plot line, and because it was missing this episode felt out of place with the other two in this season. Whatever this episode was lacking should be more than made up for in next weeks episode, which like I said in the beginning of the review, contains the return of Tammy II.

Screenshot of the Episode:

Favorite Quotes:

• "JJ’s Diner, home of the world’s best breakfast dish, the Four Horse-Meals of the Egg-Pork-Alypse."
• "Pawnee. Welcome German Soldiers! After the Nazis took France, our Mayor kind of panicked."
• "Pawnee. Welcome Vietnamese Soldiers!"
• "Pawnee. Welcome Taliban Soldiers!"
• "Ahhh you are the person who has been emailing me about Twilight. I thought you would be younger. And a girl."
• “You look sad.” “You look like a weird goon that’s obsessed with a kids book.”
• "Leslie, no. We don’t negotiate with weirdoes."
• "There are girls…quivering!"
• "I realize things have gotten a little out of control. And that’s Ben’s fault. And he’s sorry."