Parks & Recreation - Season 3 (1 Viewer)

[joshEH]

ONE MORE DAY!!!

(And to whet your appetite, enjoy Rob Lowe being awesome and dropping "F"-bombs galore.)

 

[TravisR]

"This... hasn't been on TV for 5 months?!"

 

[joshEH]

Damn, it was good to have this show back.

Loved Ann telling Leslie that if she wants to talk about the budget with Chris so bad, she should come to the restaurant herself -- and, of course, Leslie's already there. ("Ann Perkins!!")

And, of course, the Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness:

 

[ChadMcCallum]

Ron Swanson just might be my favorite television character ever. That pyramid is hilarious and I loved him throwing the chair and storming out of the basketball court last night. I thought the voice over intro was a bit odd. It didn't seem to fit the tone of the show. The best exchange last night was:

Leslie: The answer to out problem has been staring us in the face the whole time.
*She gestures to a wall were a poster saying "Check your testicles for lumps" hangs*
April: Ew! "Check your testicles?"
Leslie: No, not that, though it is good advice, Jerry.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Good episode, even if I'm still not over resenting the show a bit for stealing Adam Scott away from "Party Down". I loved Andy's tactic to win April back, with his typical enthusiasm and complete obliviousness.

 

[TravisR]

In previous episodes, I found Rob Lowe's character a semi-annoying oddball but his 'origin' story really won me over. Plus, his crying over Leslie's speech was really funny.

Also, I agree with a surprising number of Ron's rules.

 

[joshEH]

"Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys into men, from men into gladiators, and from gladiators into Swansons."

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

"You had me at Meat Tornado."

I also loved that after two seasons of Ann trying to win April over with niceness and failing, Ann's angry rant at April actually made April like her a little bit -- when April was at maximum reason to hate Ann, no less. Subtle details like April's little smile after Andy leaves her hospital room and Ron's schoolgirl giggle as he chased after Andy in the parking lot are what elevates this show.

"Stop. Pooping."

 

[joshEH]

"Stop. Pooping."

Jesus, that was great. GREAT. This show really came out the Season 3 gate running. Terrific episode. Every storyline paid off. I loves me some Community, but Parks won the night. As I said to my wife after last week's episode, Rob Lowe is this show's secret awesome-sauce.

I just want an episode of Ron and Andy doing manly shit the whole time. ("Magazines and lipstick. Woman-stuff.") Aubrey Plaza is so very cute when she actually smiles. The football scene was great, as was the fact they were grilling meats inside Ron's office after eating the Meat Tornado.

"Oh, God...the microchip has been COMPROMISED."

 

[Kevin Hewell]

What a fantastic episode. DopedUpFluLeslie is hilarious.

 

[joshEH]

Since ancient times, "ridiculous badass" has come in only one flavor: Ron Swanson.

What killed me was when Rob Lowe mentioned that he had vomited somewhere in the room, and the camera panned over to that half-open drawer.

 

[Brent M]

Couldn't agree with you more. This show is running like a perfectly oiled machine and this week's episode might be my favorite of the series yet(it's a close race between it and The Hunting Trip). Ron and Andy are absolute comic gold together!!! Loved the idea of Ron grilling more meat after devouring a Meat Tornado.

 

[joshEH]

The lack of Ron in this episode was a downer. A very good episode, but still needed about 100% more Swanson.

I hope we haven't seen the last of Natalie Morales. I wonder if she got a pilot, so they had to hastily write her out of the show?

 

[Derek Miner]

Originally Posted by joshEH

I hope we haven't seen the last of Natalie Morales. I wonder if she got a pilot, so they had to hastily write her out of the show?

I was thinking the same thing. She's just a great presence, I want to watch her in SOMETHING.

I thought she would just be disposed of with Tom's mockery and photo defacing, never to be seen again, so when we got a nice little scene with the two of them, I was really happy.

 

[TravisR]

My guess is that they just chose to break up Tom and Natalie Morales' character out so they can have stories where Tom is jealous of Ron dating his ex-wife and she'll be back at some point. Plus, many of these episodes were shot in the spring or early summer (so they could have episodes to air in the fall and give Amy Poehler time to have her kid) so Morales was probably still available.

 

[joshEH]

Mullally beating the shit out of Ansari, to the horrified reactions of her fellow librarians, made me bust a gut, as did Ron Swanson with cornrows and a kimono. Fantastic. And the Post-It Notes! Oh, God, the Post-It Notes.

What's interesting to me is how this show started off so shakily, and managed to find its legs in such a grand fashion that Parks and Recreation is easily the best of the Thursday comedy block, save for Community, which it's equitable to.

I feel like The Office and yes, even 30 Rock, are both either "over" or coming to an end, but Parks and Rec is just getting started; so far, this season has really bumped up the funny, and episode's like Thursday's are the perfect examples.

Ron, after watching his emergency self-intervention video:

Ron: "You people don't know what you're talking about."

Leslie: "That...that was YOU just talking right now!"

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Originally Posted by joshEH
What's interesting to me is how this show started off so shakily, and managed to find its legs in such a grand fashion that Parks and Recreation is easily the best of the Thursday comedy block, save for Community, which it's equitable to.

During the first season, this was far and away my most disliked show on Thursdays. I stuck with it only because it was wedged between other shows I liked. By the end of last season, it was my favorite show on Thursday by a pretty large margin. The biggest differences are: 1) Amy Poehler toned her performance WAY down. During the first season she was so shrill and criminally clueless that she brought the show to a screeching halt every time she was on screen, which was most of the episode. 2) The writers stopped mocking the characters. None of the characters were really likeable during the first season, and watch nasty people get ridiculed isn't a very fun way to spend a half hour. When the show came back for the second season, they found ways to make the characters relatable, and in many cases kind of noble, without doing a 180-degree turn on the characterizations. Now the humor comes from the characters in such a way that we're laughing affectionately with them instead of at them. That's a fine line, but an important one. Andy being revealed as an enthusiastic moron instead of a cynical moocher; Ron's anger and fiery libertarianism being softened by his honesty, loyalty, and fatherly impulses towards Leslie and his staff; April's anti-social monotone being melted a bit by Andy's sunny optimism; Tom's manipulative douchebaggery being offset by his affection for Leslie and unrequited feelings for his green card wife. The show didn't eliminate the qualities of the characters that made them unlikable in the first season, but it helped justify them for some characters and overcome them for other characters.

 

[Citizen87645]

Parks and Rec is the feature story in this week's Entertainment Weekly, with 101 reasons why the show is so great. It also reveals that Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson) and Megan Mullally are real life husband and wife, which makes the whole thing between them even funnier.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt
During the first season, this was far and away my most disliked show on Thursdays. I stuck with it only because it was wedged between other shows I liked. By the end of last season, it was my favorite show on Thursday by a pretty large margin.

While I think Community is a great show, I have the same exact feelings. That second season premiere when Leslie inadvertantly married the two male penguins won me over and I've loved the show since then. I've rewatched the S1 episodes and they play much better now that I like the characters and the show as a whole (the same thing happened with the first season of The Office for me). One surprising thing about S1 was that April was barely a supporting character in the first year.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

As far as bosses go, you could do a lot worse than Ron Swanson. He told April what she needed to hear, more or less in the manner she deserved to hear it.

I'm finally starting to like Adam Scott on this show. Until this episode, I resented that Ben Wyatt was basically Henry Pollard as a failed mayor instead of a failed actor. His on camera meltdowns ventured into new territory, and that was sorely needed.

Rob Lowe's created a character type I've never seen before.

Still my favorite show on Thursday nights.