Friday, April 15, 2011

VEGGIE LOAF, SWEETENED WITH FRUIT REDUCTION: I don't really have anything to say, but I felt like somebody should say something about how Parks & Rec consistently proves, including with last night's episode, how you don't actually need to choose between sweet and riotously funny. Long ago, before Seinfeld, all sitcoms ended with what Wm. Stephen Humphries called "the moment of shit" -- the two minutes at the end where every conflict miraculously resolved in a way that left everybody happy and everybody could still be friends. The miracle of Parks & Rec is that it can so often maintain fidelity to that formula -- good things happen and people like each other and problems get fixed in unrealistic ways -- without ever making it appear as if the formula dictates the events in the show, the same way that Shakespearean language doesn't feel dictated by iambic pentameter.

As originally conceived, the show set Leslie Knope's incurable optimism in opposition to the cynicism of everybody around her. Ken Tremendous & Co.'s stroke of genius after Season 1 was to make the real arc of the series the way that that cynicism ultimately yields to Leslie's optimism, and it continues to pay off in spades. Dour April, aloof Ron, scheming Tom, and clueless Andy could be largely one-note characters, great for comic relief in small doses but unsuitable for anything more. Instead, tempered by their affection for Leslie and swayed by her loopy sunnyness, the characters get to grow, and the actors get to shade them. April can drop her sarcasm for sincere moments with Leslie and Andy; Ron can be paternal for Andy and avuncular for April; Andy can grow out of his Season 1 selfishness; we can see both the benefits and the costs of Tom's ambition; Donna can reluctantly take over as Ann's flirting coach (just as Ann served in the same role for Leslie), and it's all because Leslie helped them out of their comfortable shells, bit by bit over two years. So the tidy endings feel earned, not forced.

17 comments:

  1. Loved last night's episode, from the cold open (Tom and Ben's reactions being the high points) to the sweet, strange, and yet appropriate wedding.  The one thing that bugged is that the Ann-Donna plot (while funny and well-executed on its own) didn't seem to fit with the rest of the episode.  Was Donna not invited to the party?  (And if so, why was office punching bag Jerry invited?)  Seemed like they recognized that having Ann at the party would be weird and awkward and they needed a plot strand for her, and Donna was the easiest character to take out of the other storyline.

    ReplyDelete
  2. lauri1:22 PM

    thanks for the post, isaac.  last night's episode was awesome....with the opening bit making me laugh out loud and view repeatedly.  parks and rec has become my favorite thursday night sitcom, and i never would have thought that after the first season.  

    ReplyDelete
  3. Marsha1:23 PM

    SPOILERS BELOW

    An instant classic that will deservedly be on every critic's Top Ten episodes list in December.

    So much in here that made me laugh out loud (Rob Lowe dancing, Rob Lowe with scary Orin, Ann trying to flirt, the entire cold open), so much that made me smile (everything Leslie and Ben, Ron's talk with Leslie, the honeymoon video), and so many things that made me cry (the vows, "April Come She Will," April and Leslie at the end, really everything about the wedding).

    I am so glad that I had completely forgotten about that mistaken promo spoiler a while back and had no idea that this was happening in the episode.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1:56 PM

    Rob Lowe dancing absolutely slayed me.  Loved this episode.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rewatching on Hulu--bugs even more.  Donna is invited to the party in the first scene after the opening credits, and neither her absence at the party or her rejection of the invitation is ever mentioned.  Yes, there's the call between Ann and Leslie, and the brief exchange between Donna and Ann about Ann being a little hurt, but it still feels tacked in.

    That said--Rob Lowe Dancing is added to "Never Not Funny" alongside "Stop Pooping!"

    ReplyDelete
  6. isaac_spaceman3:01 PM

    I don't see this as a problem at all.  Donna got invited to a party at the last minute, but already had plans to do a singles event, for which I imagine she already paid.  It is not at all uncharacteristic of Donna to think that the singles party is more important than Andy and April's dinner party.  It's not like she knew it was a wedding (where she might get to meet groomsmen).  The show can trust us to come to these conclusions (or alternative ones) without spending a line or a scene to explain literally everything. 

    ReplyDelete
  7. Watts3:11 PM

    After seeing the episode last night, I thought, "I want that Rob Lowe dancing on a loop that I can watch over and over."  I love you, Interwebs, for providing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Watts3:12 PM

    I have to admit to getting choked up at the beginning of "April Come She Will" but I was surprised that they continued to play it (with the lyrics quieted, but not silenced) because that song is SO sad by the end of it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dan Suitor3:46 PM

    Honestly, this episode just flat out made me happy. I laugh at a lot of things, or appreciate the well-crafted nature of a lot of shows, but Parks and Recreation has demostrated the ability to pull genuine joy out of my smoldering, cynical husk.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Watts4:09 PM

    This picture made me laugh real hard: http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/photos/awesome-sauce-wedding-photos/7363/#item=168412

    ReplyDelete
  11. I buy that part of it--it's just that the plot thread as a whole (while funny and well-executed) didn't really mesh with the rest of the episode.  It kind of felt like "well, we need something for Rashida to do this week, and she doesn't fit into the A plot, and we have this idea for a story for her, so let's throw it in there."

    ReplyDelete
  12. J. Bowman5:19 PM

    "Not only does this exist, but you've deprived everyone of cake?!"

    My favorite part was Leslie giving Ben what looks like a smoldering glance, only to find out, "Orrin's behind me, isn't he?"

    ReplyDelete
  13. kd bart10:26 PM

    All that was mentioned plus an appearance by Jean Ralphio.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Only false note - a fancy party without DJ Roomba.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Paul Tabachneck10:43 AM

    Also, I love that Retta got to shine this week -- we so rarely get more than a few lines out of her.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Andrew6:45 PM

    No DJ Roomba, but there was MOUSE RAT!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Marsha1:57 PM

    And this one made me cry - http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/photos/awesome-sauce-wedding-photos/7363/#item=168396

    ReplyDelete