One of the things that I love most about on Parks and Recreation is how unique the cast of characters are. I’m not going to lie; I watch a shit ton of TV. Even the shows that I don’t watch I still sort of keep up with, thanks to SpoilerTV of course! Yet thinking back I can’t seem to ever remember seeing a character like Leslie Knope before, or Ron Swanson, or even Jerry/Gary Gergich. In an era where stereotyping is common, Parks bucks the trend continuously and tonight’s new character was no exception. Played to perfection by Paul Rudd, Bobby Newport is heir to the Sweetums factory fortune, has never had to actually work a day in his life, and since his dad employs half of the town you really should vote for him if you want to keep your job making NutriYums. Other shows would have made this a stereotypically evil politician character, out to get Leslie and destroy the town. But as usual Parks bucks the trend by making Bobby a pretty nice guy who’s just a wealthy idiot that had his feelings hurt by a ten-year old Leslie. I guess the only stereotype they stuck to was the awesome head of hair which could give Jean-Ralphio a run for his money. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Bobby Newport; Leslie has bumped up against various Sweetums family members in the past with hilarious results, and it would be great to see Nick Jr., Dakota, Denver, and of course Shoelace again.
I mentioned last week that this season’s focus on politics gives the writers a mountain of satire material, and this week we focused on political commercials. If you live in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina you might have been too scarred from the endless onslaught of attack ads to find this episode funny, but I sincerely hope that this was not the case. Leslie feels the same way; she hates attack ads and wants to create a positive ad that tells people why she is qualified, while Ben wants to create an ad that points out how unqualified Bobby Newport is. They have an ad-off competition, and as usual Leslie goes overboard with her positive ad which ends up listing pretty much everything that she supports no matter how frivolous, including ‘legalize Korean’. If someone can get me a complete list of what ran on that ad I’d love to post it, unfortunately I have work to do today so I can’t sit around and transcribe it without getting fired. Ben’s ad is the clear winner but Leslie just can’t accept that, so they compromise and create a ‘factual’ attack ad that features a ten-year old Leslie as the cutest kid with political aspirations ever put on video. Since they lost the airtime the ad gets posted on the internet where it goes viral, or as viral as a city councilman political ad for a small town in Indiana can get. My guess is that we have more real life comedy ahead of us; look for Leslie to be backed up by the internet through a 99% style internet campaign, while Bobby Newport clearly fits into the 1%.
Oh April and Andy, whatever shall we do with you? I would have preferred something more Knope 2012 oriented for their side story this week, but the health care storyline worked too, mostly thanks to Chris Pratt’s perfection of physical comedy. I am fairly sure that man just offers up his body for the sake of the comedy gods, and this episode was one hell of a tribute. Sneezing into walls, running into ambulances, all while learning that having health insurance in America doesn’t mean that your health care is completely paid for. I’m guessing this was another stop on the learning-to-be-adults-storylines train for April and Andy, except that they didn’t appear to learn anything.
Also my favorite pairing ever happened again, Chris and Ron, and it looks like it might be a permanent thing in the future! Now that Ben is gone Chris needs a new Assistant City Manager to deliver bad news to departments. Heartless Ron Swanson to the rescue! This led to some great scenes and some great promise for future Parks episodes, and if Ron is promoted that gives Leslie the option to step up to director in case she loses her election. But she’s going to win, right?
Next week revolves around a campaign event at a bowling alley and the other half of the gang competes on who can raise the most money for the Leslie, so I’ll so you next Friday for my take on the episode. As always, thanks for reading! And please leave any comments or thoughts below; I really do love reading them!
Random Thoughts:
- At least Bobby Newport doesn’t have Leslie’s old campaign managers, that would have sucked for poor Leslie.
- I love how all of Bobby’s signs also have Sweetums logo’s all over the place. And that they all say ‘Paid for by Bobby Newport’s Dad.’
- Did anyone else catch that Pawnee High’s mascot was the puppies? Awwww. And Eagleton for some reason has a cheetah mascot as opposed to, say, an eagle.
- Also, loving Donna’s new hairstyle. Just thought I’d throw that out there.
- Just wondering, Andy’s been in the hospital plenty of times in prior seasons, how was he paying for his stays before?
- I thought about writing down the funny quotes from all the Bobby Newport commercials, but then I would be here all night. Also, what the hell was his dogs name?
- I’m glad to see that Champion is back! I was worried that he might be a one episode gag about a three legged dog.
- Also, I’m really hoping that there’s some Karl Rove type of character behind Bobby Newport who’s pulling the strings.
- Tom really didn’t have too much to do in this episode except straddle the fence between Leslie and Ben. Where’s the swagger coach we were promised?
- Nice to see that Leslie’s ad was shot in front of Salvatore’s barber shop, which is a reference to way back in season one when she gets her hair done there.
- I laughed way too much at the voice over scene. Jerry’s was the best!
- I tried to get a screenshot of Leslie’s freeze-frame jump at the end of her commercial, but the damn ‘buffer’ was in the way.
- How is Leslie and Ben’s relationship going to survive their campaign? I predict trouble ahead.
- Damn mini Leslie is so cute! And she understands a progressive tax system!
- Kyle! It’s been awhile! I’m sure Andy misses your hilarious stories about identity theft.
Favorite Quotes:
- “Do you want me to sign that to Ms. Knope, or just Nesnie?”
- “Hey Ann, are you still a nurse or did they fire you because you slept with all the doctors?”
- “Ok well some of those things are symptoms, and some of them are just being a person.”
- “This is exactly how I dreamed it would be as a kid. Except we weren’t seventy points behind, and my campaign manager was Mr. Belvedere.”
- “Look to the left, right, whatever.”
- “I’ve got a weird rash in my knee pit, area. And my tongue, on this side, doesn’t taste anything anymore. Sometimes when I walk my ankles make like a weird rattle, snake sound. Things that are far away from my eyes are fuzzy. I once ate a Twix with the wrapper on it, and I’ve never seen the wrapper come out. Also I’ve swallowed every piece of gum that I’ve chewed for the past twenty-five years. Broke my thumb on the way over here.”
- “Dams dead. Have a nice day.”
- “Oh my god you drove us here!”
- “Ron Swanson! I want to thank you for being so ruthless and cruel in the meetings yesterday!” “You’ll have to be more specific.”
- “They took my blood away to use for science!”
- “I am Leslie Knope and I do not approve this message!”
- “Call an ambulance! A different ambulance than the one I ran into!”
- “It was mean. You guys are mean!”
- “Just gimme the election! I’m sorry. Please.”
