Parks and Recreation Review - 4.13 'Bowling for Votes'

Posted by Dimitri Dorlis on 01.27.2012

Leslie hosts a bowling rally...thing....WHO CARES THERE'S BOWLING! Plus Tom is finally better than Ron at something, and Jerry hosts a fundraising event.

I promised I’d talk about the lack of Ann this season, but then I found out this would be a bowling episode, and I have to talk about bowling. Like, I haaaaaaaave to talk about bowling.

Also I will be at PWG’s Kurt Russelreunion this Sunday. I hope I see none of you there. But seriously you should go support PWG.



Like, I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally have to talk about bowling.

But I’ll get there in a second. See, after making some headway in the race, Leslie and Ben decide to hold a focus group to better understand what people like and don’t like about her. Of course, this being Pawnee, the group is pretty bad, but one person sticks out to Leslie, as poor Derek mentions that he wouldn’t want to go bowling with Leslie. This sets up the main plot so well, as Leslie sets up a bowling meet and greet just so that Derek will show up and be won over by Leslie.

Now back to bowling, and how it relates to political events. As we all know, the point of bowling is to knock over as many pins as possible. The same can be said for political events, in which you try and meet and win over as many people as possible. Unfortunately, Leslie can’t bring herself to do that, as she is fixated on making one person like her. Leslie completely ignores Ben’s pleas for her to mingle with other people, instead bowling with Derek and letting him purposely win. And then, when it turns out that Derek still won’t vote for Leslie, she makes a bet on the next bowling game, which of course Leslie wins, because she’s very good at bowling. Just ask Ron. In a surprising twist on the normal story, Derek still hates Leslie, and calls her a bitch, prompting Ben to defend his lady. At a press conference the next day, Leslie stands by Ben’s actions, solidifying their relationship even further.

Also at the bowling alley were Ron, Tom, and Ann. Tom turns out to be some kind of bowling savant with his unorthodox granny-style release, which infuriates Ron. In an attempt to win, Ron ends up smashing Tom’s fingers, leading to some of the best comedy of the night, with Tom’s high-pitched screams of pain being the second-best thing he’s done all season (first is Entertainment 720, obviously). And even with Ron’s cheating, Tom manages to win their game, prompting Ron to show up to the bowling alley the next day, rent out the farthest lane, and bowl a 300 game with Tom’s style.

Meanwhile, over in secondary character-land, Jerry leads the 12th Leslie Knope fundraising event, which was really just a way to have people on screen. The sequence where everyone turned out to be extremely incompetent was great, highlighted by Jerry being convinced to tell someone else his social security number. Unfortunately, they tried to squeeze two more plots into this, with April trying to beat Chris at raising the most money in order to make him less happy, and Jerry’s daughter coming over to break up with Chris. If they had kept just the April/Chris plot here, it would have been fine, but there was just too much going on for a minor plot. At least the end scene where April gave Chris the movie tickets on the condition that he, April, and Andy would go to the movies was a nice touch, and reminded us that these people have grown to become a family, no matter how gross and disgusting they might be. I’m talking about you here, Jerry.

Stray Observations
- The people of Pawnee: still morons.
- “Oh, I don’t know, Jerry. It’s Sunday night, I’m making phone calls to strangers, and you’re in my house. My life couldn’t be worse.” And immediately Chris shows up.
- The bowling alley restaurant serves the following: hot dogs and hamburgers. No wonder Ron loves it.
- “Who’s ready to bowl so hard?”
- Ron’s bowling style: straight down the middle. Tom’s bowling style: granny style.
- Ron just cannot get over the fact that Tom does well.
- “I’d like to introduce you to my good friend, anyone else.”
- “I wished for his happiness to go away. I might be a wizard.”
- And so Millicent leaves the show. Kinda hoping she comes back. Preferably in a bikini.
- “Oww, my fingy still hurts…”
- And of course Ron bowls a perfect game using Tom’s strategy.
- For the record, I have my own bowling ball, and my best bowling game is a 228. Just ask Ron.
- Also, I was happy with Denise Richards showing up on 30 Rock the last two weeks. I feel like she has gotten much hotter in recent years.

The 411: I don’t know if I was just tired, or what, but this episode didn’t do that much for me. Sure there was major arc movement in Leslie’s campaign, and everyone had something to do. Plus there were some great jokes. Problem was they were few and far between, and was really hampered by poorly-conceived c-plot. I feel like the producers tried to jam as much story into this episode as possible, which has never been Parks and Rec’s strong suit.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]