Parks and Recreation - The Stakeout

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 gang didn't do it tonight. Ron's creepiness and stoicism in the face of excruciating hernia pain wash hilarious. This is a testament to the writing and acting. The humor was built totally of the auxiliary character's reactions to his silent ordeal. I loved every second of it.

I know I talk about Tom a lot (who couldn't) but one of favorite things about him is his willingness to do anything with Leslie. This could be in the name of his own personal laughs but he proved at the end of the episode that in spite of his disdain for her naivety, he actually cares about her. I thought this was an interesting step in the show that needed it.

Highlights:

- I was born ready. I'm Ron Fucking Swanson.

- Great addition of Louis CK to the crew. I didn't tons about this guy until my buddy James sent me a link to his stand up a few weeks back. In all honesty I was just happy to now who he was.

- Hos before bros.

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