Skip to main content

Parks and Recreation - The Banquet

By

Unlike you, I am from the Channelup lineage, so I understand Leslie. She hails from the Knope dynasty; a powerful Pawnee, Indiana political family. We are cut from the same cloth. Much like the Kennedys, Rockefellers, and Carnegies we aspire to political and social excellence. We don't take 'no' for an answer and we strive for world domination. (or at minimum to be mayor)

Leslie's mother is up for a big time award. You may have heard of it: the Tellyson Award for excellence in public service. Its like the Nobel Prize but for smalltown yokels with their priorities all askew. Some people get the insignificance (Mark and Ron) while others people thrive on it (Leslie and her mom).

Before attending the award ceremony, Leslie's warped sensibilities point her in the direction of the local barber shop. She strives to be "one of the guys," which precipitates her getting a Hillary Clinton/boy hair cut. Poor Leslie. All she wants to do is enter the boys club, be on the inside, get the goods, wheel and deal, and make some moves. She doesn't know how to pull it off.

I think in the end, Leslie just wants to be her mother. This is a small, small feat but in Leslie's eyes it is the acme of success. She wants to be the kind of woman that has all the inside info, exerts her influence and makes things happen out of sheer will. I almost envy her sensibility here as it is, in effect, striving for so little. How could one fail? Unfortunately Leslie can. She isn't able to pull of even the minute details of political interplay and ends up apologizing after a failed attempt at extortion. What a shame.

One of the things that makes Parks and Recreation funny is Leslie's awe in respect to the average politico. She never ceases to be amazed by the the third rung political figures in her presence. Whether it be the head of the zoning board, some former town councilman or the like. She knows them all and here her political savvy/ obsession comes into play. Its like being the biggest "trekkie" or Star Wars fan. The excess of specific knowledge may work in a few select circles, but for the most part it just make you look the fool. Leslie is guilty in this respect.


Highlights:

- Ron Swanson's increased role in this show. His two main contributions tonight were eating all the bacon-wrapped shrimp (its my first favorite food wrapped in my third favorite food) and being completely honest in his speech

- the implication is that Mark is yearning for Leslie, but I think it is obvious he wants to hook up with Ann Perkins (Rasheeda Jones)

- Tom admitting, after many failed attempts at scoring the ladies, that he is married. He said it in the first episode but no other mention has come of it. I can't wait to meet his wife.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Office - Cafe Disco

By
The Office hasn't been the same since Michael came back. At least that's his claim and it precipitates the inception of the "party room." Who wouldn't love this in their job? A room where they played techno music and everyone raved all day? Scratch that, I would hate it. Michael doesn't have the same connection with the larger staff at Dunder Mifflin as he had with his workforce of three at Michael Scott Paper (Pam and Ryan). He yearns for the same connectivity and tries to achieve it through exxpresso (sic) and house music at annoyingly loud decibels. He turns the old Michael Scott Paper into a meet-and-greet disco type place for office workers to kick back and relax. Unfortunately, no one can take it easy with Michael around. Nor do they want to. It isn't until Michael gives up all hope of the space that the two Kelly's (secretary and customer service) take it over and make it into the party atmosphere Michael dreamed off. I loved how th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Parks and Recreation - The Stakeout

By
Leslie is such a active member of the the Pawnee landscape that she literally has started a community garden in the vacant pit. Can you blame someone for growing pot in said garden? I cannot. The Stakeout was an interesting episode for Parks and Recreation . I liked it for a couple of reasons. for starters, it featured considerably less Leslie Knope. This is a positive move considering the writer's seeming over reliance on her character. Tonight's episode spread the wealth in such a way that I didn't feel The Stakeout was about any particular character but instead about the cast as a whole. It was about everyone and no one all at once. Mark and Ann's date, Tom's idiocy in the name of racial profiling, Ron's hernia, and Andy's decent into the literal pit of hell. I liked The Stakeout for it uniformity. A couple of other notes on the episode. It isnt easy making a guy just sitting totally still and doing nothing funny. Damned if Ken Tremendous and the...
Post a Comment
Read more

24 - 6AM - 8AM

By
I am going to to let you in on three quotes that basically sum up the 24 finale (and probably the season). "We don't have that much ACTUAL intelligence." "We can harvest everything we need from his blood." "I can make him talk." SPOILERS AHEAD This season of 24 has been pretty par for the course considering the show's history. 24 employs the "layers of onion" concept to its story arcs. Peel away one and realize that another layer sits there awaiting your attention. Nothing really new here. Each time a bad guy is caught, we find out it was another badder guy giving the actual instructions. That's just the way it goes in the 24 universe. Tonight, in the season finale, we do peel away the onion to find a man named Alan Wilson (Coach Yoast). When Jack is taken hostage we learn the terrorists plan on using his blood and organs to harvest the virus in his blood. This premise was comical at best. Hearing Tony and company talking abo...
2 comments
Read more