To explain this I’m going to go off on a brief tangent here. This past week I’ve been re-watching seasons one and two of Parks; they’re available on Netflix Instant and I have trouble getting to sleep at night so I have mini-marathons at one in the morning of my favorite shows. After watching the new episode last night I also saw “Christmas Scandal”, “The Set-Up”, and “Leslie’s House”. There is such a huge contrast between these season two episodes and “The Trial of Leslie Knope” that it felt like I was watching completely different shows. So I started thinking about what had changed in the series. The earlier seasons were definitely lighter to say the least, more jokes and less drama, at least far less than we’ve seen this season. Also Leslie’s relationships were not at the forefront of every episode, but were more of a side story to the main plot. With the addition of Ben in season three this completely changed, and so did the way that the writers treated Leslie Knope.
Let’s face it; Leslie from the first two seasons was just about five cats shy of a stereotype, especially with the hoarder house from hell. And even though she occasionally had boyfriends, Dave and Justin, she still had that forever alone vibe to her. April said in “Sister City”, and I’m paraphrasing here, “you work so hard at your job because you’re unhappy in your personal life.” Well in season three the writers decided to make Leslie happy at home as well as at work. Of course this remove an avenue for a lot of jokes, like when she bought a Man-Pillow that looked like Daniel Craig to keep her company, but it works because after three years of watching Leslie we genuinely want her to be happy. Which is why her not-so-funny trial episode works on so many levels. Parks and Recreation, despite some of its snarkier characters, is not a cynical show. True Love is real, it’s out there, and its name is Ben Wyatt, and dammnit we want Leslie to be with him so she can be happy. And that’s why I loved this episode.
The majority of my comments directly about the episode are going to be in my ‘Random Thoughts’ section, but I did want to make one more observation about this episode. I said in my last review that I was looking forward to seeing the gang’s reaction to Ben and Leslie going public. Well that did not happen at all in this episode, and it was very disappointing. Maybe they’re just operating under the assumption that everyone sort of knew already? Regardless, I really wanted to see what Tom’s reaction would have been.
Random Thoughts:
- The opening scene in this episode was amazing. Remember Ron, the internet is a series tubes, it does not live on your computer! If there’s ever a firebomb at google headquarters there may be a Swanson to blame.
- How dare NBC use Lil’ Sebastian for product placement! Although I really do want to buy one…
- Chris’ adventures in herbal supplements was a high point for me; sadly I know people like that in real life.
- We were treated to a number of new paintings in this episode, along with some new and rather gruesome backstory to Pawnee. Who knew elbows were so offensive?
- Apparently Ron failed at silencing the witnesses, although I would have wanted to see more of his attempts.
- Leslie and iMovie are a very scary combination, also her attempts at erasing the backgrounds from her pictures is a nice touch.
- Oh April, they don’t use you enough anymore. Also that was Ethel from the episode where Tom and Andy were forced to work on the fourth floor that she was screaming at.
- It turns out that watching 200 episodes of Law and Order are all you need to become a half decent lawyer?
- A secret cabin in the woods isn’t a secret anymore if the address goes out on the public record, poor Ron, time for a new cabin.
- Oh Tammy 2, what won’t you do? I do want to see what was on those fake pictures though.
- Flashbacks! A rare occurrence on Parks.
- Again Ron Swanson provides the words of wisdom; he’s essentially the Yoda of Pawnee.
- Suspended two weeks with pay? That’s called a vacation.
- I never knew a court transcript could be so sweet! I swear I awwwwwed constantly during the last five minutes of this episode.
- Jerry isn’t really Jerry? My world has been shattered. But more importantly, why didn’t this come out during the episode in season two where they try to find out each other’s secrets?
Favorite Quotes:
- “My herbalist took this weird bee pollen paste and rubbed it around my gums, and now my mouth feels like a spaceship!” Any bets that was not bee paste he gummed?
- “But when you let your reputation be destroyed you go down in history as a frozen whore!”
- “Ann! Ben and I hooked up last night! AHHHHHH. And I learned how to use iMovie!”
- “That would be like dating my older sister’s elderly aunt.”
- “Ethel Beavers did it! Beavers did it!”
- “I have ruined my fair share of hotel rooms, and trust me, nothing sexual happened in that room.”
- “Any woman caught laughing is a witch. That’s true.”
- “Bribing someone to cover up a sexcapade? I’m proud to call you a friend.”
- “Your actions wounded me to my core. Which is not easy, because the bulk of my workouts are focused on strengthening my core.”
- “Crying noise. Crying noise. Noseblow.”
- “Let it out? I guess?”
