Parks and Recreation Review - 4.10 'Citizen Knope'

Posted by Dimitri Dorlis on 12.09.2011

It's Christmas in Pawnee, although you wouldn't know it. Did Parks and Recreation go into the midseason break on a high note? Of course they did, but how they get there is half of the fun, isn't it? Plus we learn how to build gingerbread houses from Andy.

Today has been an interesting day for me. I woke up this morning, turned on the tv, and saw that Albert Pujols had signed a deal with my beloved Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. As if that wasn’t enough, less than an hour later, CJ Wilson decided he was also going to take his talents to Newport Beach, and suddenly it was the best morning ever.

Later, word spread that my beloved Los Angeles Lakers (who, as always, are better than you) had come to agreement on a trade to bring Chris Paul to the club. Of course, villainous cur Dan Gilbert, who is not happy unless he is ruining someone’s life, convinced a chunk of owners to pressure the commissioner into pulling the plug on the deal.

So yeah, kind of a see-saw day. Not that it isn’t fun, though.



It’s Christmas week at NBC, which normally means abusing the theme to its fullest potential. Of course, this is Parks and Recreation, a show that earlier this year used Halloween as a mere backdrop for one of the best episodes of the season. Why did I think Christmas would be any different? In fact, the Christmas theme was barely noticeable in this episode, with it only playing a big role in the B-plot involving the rest of the office. But we’ll get to that in a bit.

See, this episode played upon three traits that have become obvious by now: Leslie Knope has to be doing something at all times or she goes insane, Ben is a huge nerd, and the rest of the office feels indebted to Leslie because of how nice a person she is. In essence, all things we have seen before from this show. So why is it that Parks and Rec can repeat storylines and make them interesting while a show like Glee struggles with consistency on a weekly basis?

Anyone who’s read my columns by now knows how much I give credit to writing staffs, and there’s a reason. A good writing staff can take a show featuring the weirdest plots for a spy show in history, and turn them into the greatness that was Alias. Good writing staffs are the reason Once Upon a Time and Grimm have already been renewed while Terra Nova and Pan Am get to stare into the eyes of cancellation. I could keep this up for awhile (the next example would be about Heroes. I’ll let you figure that one out on your own). That’s not to say that bad writing doesn’t have its place. Much of CBS and CW feature poorly-written shows, they just benefit from the fact that their audiences are either too old to be paying much attention to what their new-fangled color tvs are saying, or too young to understand why a dog eating a heart at the hospital is bad storytelling. Point is, Parks and Rec can get away with repeating themes in its storylines BECAUSE the writing is so good. Sure, the same underlying message is there, but it’s always presented in a new and interesting way.

Let’s take, for example, Leslie’s plot. Having been suspended for two weeks at the end of the last episode, Leslie is trying to find a way to keep busy. It’s not exactly working out, as evidenced by her break-in attempt at the beginning of the episode. On top of all this, her campaign organizers have urged her to take a break and relax for a bit, while they gauge how the scandal has affected her campaign. It’s a classic storytelling device: take a character and put her in a situation outside of her comfort zone, and then let the story progress towards its conclusion. For Chris, this would be a McDonalds. For Jerry, it would be anywhere with people. For Leslie, it is at home, doing nothing. Of course, Leslie can’t sit still, and ends up forming a citizen’s action committee to continue getting things done at the Parks Department.

The PCP stuff, while inoffensive, served as only a placeholder before a bombshell was dropped: Leslie’s campaign managers can’t see any more viability in her campaign, and are going to withdraw their support. Obviously this is huge news in the overall story-arc in this season, which had been aimed focused on Leslie’s election up to that point, and you had to figure there would be a resolution to this by the end of the episode, but damn if that wasn’t a hard pill to swallow in a midseason finale. As for the resolution, well, we’ll get to that.

Then let’s take a look at Ben’s storyline. Ben is an awkward nerd. This is established (and hilarious) fact. And yet, while the idea of being an accountant for accountants sounds great in Ben’s head, the reality of the situation is not ideal. After interviewing with a couple other jobs (all for accounting as well), Ben returns to the first accounting job, although it is obvious to everyone watching how he feels about the situation. Thankfully, the show’s voice of reason, Jean Ralphio, shows up in time to talk to Ben about following his dreams. Again, no new ground is really being covered here (hell, the same basic idea was used as a Ben plot twice already this season), but it still feels new and interesting. Sure, it didn’t end up with Ben in a Batman suit, but Ben is now set up for the second half of the season in whatever new job he takes.

And then we turn to the rest of the office. I’m going to make a comparison here that’s going to sound a little off at the start, but bare with me. We often refer to the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia as a bunch of horrible people. The same could really be said for the Parks Department sans Leslie. Ron is a libertarian employed by a government he believes is useless, April is a surly girl in her 20s who will start a fight just to have one, Tom is self-possessed to the point of self-worship, Donna is basically a female Tom, and Jerry is a coward afraid of confrontation. Andy and Ann are not part of the Parks Department (Andy runs the concession stand and Ann is a nurse) and are thus exempt from this comparison, but it works. The Parks Department is filled with horrible people. And yet, when you add Leslie into the equation, somehow those horrible people become a little nicer. Ron shows he has a heart and can actually feel emotions, April puts in a hint of an effort, Tom and Donna try to help other people that aren’t each other, and even Jerry grows a backbone. Ok, so it doesn’t work for Jerry (when does it ever work for Jerry?) but the point is that Leslie changes the entire complexion and dynamics of the office that these horrible people end up become good just by being around her.

Remember when I said this was a Christmas episode? Well, here is your Christmas, as Leslie has given everyone their Christmas gifts. Ron rallies the troops in an attempt to pay back Leslie for all the good things she has given them. To that end, the department decides to make a gingerbread replica of the Parks Department, complete with candy versions of everyone. The plot here was satisfactory, if not a reminder that Ron Swanson is human and can fail at things, specifically making gingerbread houses, while pseudo-kids Andy and April turn out to be experts at this sort of thing. Nothing here was offensive, plus there were subtle continuations of the background story of how close Ron, April, and Andy are becoming.

I think it took me till the end of the episode to realize this was the midseason finale (I’m not sure who’s fault that is, but I’m going to go with NBC as usual), but it did have the ending that a show like this needs. Back during the first episode of the season, I mentioned the idea of stakes in a television show. For any show to be interesting, it has to have clearly established goals for its main character to achieve. This season, Parks and Recreation upped its ante with Leslie’s political campaign, but the campaign was brought to a screeching halt midway through this episode. That being said, the final segment of this episode was dedicated to setting up the second half of the season: Ben is going to pursue whatever weird nerd dream he has, and the Parks Department, who has received so much from Leslie over the years, is going to try and help her achieve her dream of winning a seat on the city council. It’s a bold, albeit necessary step, for a show that is, first and foremost, a comedy to take, but I’ve realized something about the show. Parks and Recreation is no longer a mere comedy. It’s transcended its label to become something much bigger. How big it gets remains up to the show to decide.

And I’ll be here the whole time, watching.

Stray Observations
- “LESLIE, NO! I AM MUCH FASTER THAN YOU! I HAVE BUMBLEFLEX!”
- I Can’t Believe It’s Not Salger!
- Ben can’t stop saying “resigned in disgrace”. I hope that stays a thing for a few weeks.
- “These are the Black Eyed Peas. And I finally killed them. It’s a Christmas miracle.”
- Ron’s present is easily the greatest thing ever. Automatic doors seem like something he should have had years ago.
- Jerry’s ideal gift: socks. Is it surprising?
- “Well, calc-u-later!” Ben has suddenly become the coolest person at this office. It’s as funny as it sounds.
- Ok, Andy and April busting out of the closet to eat Leslie’s dinner could be the best way to head to commercial.
- If there’s one thing that I love about this show, it’s that Andy and April both see Ron as a sort-of pseudo-dad, and they’re always trying to make him proud.
- Pawnee: the one city in America that would hold a public forum about games in the rec center.
- Jean-Ralphio makes every episode better. This is established fact.
- “Why do you jump straight to model trains? I mean….it’s accurate….” God dammit I love Ben.
- “Oh my god I love it! I love you guys and Ann specifically and all of you!” Hidden highlight: watch Ann smile and get giddy whenever she finds out about how much Leslie thinks of her.
- “April Ludgate. Youth Outreach and Director of New Media.” “Tom Haverford. Image Consultant, Swagger Coach.” “Ann Perkins. Office Manager and Volunteer Coordinator.” “Andy Dwyer. Security, Sweets, Body Man. Javelin, if need be.” “Donna Meagle. Transpo aka Rides in my Benz.” “You guys didn’t tell me we were doing this.” “Ron Swanson. Any other damn thing you might need.”
- I would give Jean-Ralphio his own episode, and just fill it with him going about his day. That end scene with him at the accounting firm was just comedic gold.
- Midseason finale means no new reviews till January. That doesn’t mean I’ll be sitting around at home, though. I’ll be popping up in a bunch of the Year End Awards coming up (those didn’t stop being a thing), plus I may be covering a few columns over the break, so stay tuned. As always, thanks for any and all support you guys give.
- Finally, our thoughts and prayers go out to the campus of Virginia Tech. I don’t know what that school did to earn the string of terrible situations that have befallen the school, but two different shootings in 5 years is hard to think about.

The 411: Ok, I got really analytical in there, and I apologize, but that’s just how good this show is now. I wouldn’t waste my time studying characters and story structure if the show was mediocre, but Parks and Recreation is a great show. It isn’t at the level that we hold shows like Arrested Development yet, but I guarantee that if it keeps up the current pace, it will be there in a year or so.

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]