Parks and Recreation: Knope Floats

With less than seven weeks until the return of my favorite show on television, I decided it was time to fire up the old blog and relive some of the best episodes of Season 2 of Parks and Recreation. Arguably one of the most well-crafted comedy seasons in the history of NBC's "Must-See TV" Thursday night line up, Parks and Rec delivered quality episodes time and again while 30 Rock and The Office struggled to maintain creative and funny story lines. Parks and Rec separates itself from other comedies on television through its use of developed and likeable characters as well as uproariously comedic one-liners and a breakout ensemble cast.

Originally, I was skeptical of Leslie Knope. In the first season, she seemed like Michael Scott part-deux, delusional and awkward. I was pleasantly surprised in Season 2 when the creative team made her an actual human being capable of earning the viewer's respect. Her unending enthusiasm despite working at a thankless job surrounded by career bureaucrats is a positive message that I appreciate. The show offers sentimentality without cramming it in our faces as if we aren't smart enough to understand that it was supposed to be heartwarming. Amy Poehler's performance as Leslie Knope guides the series and her talents as a comedian are not wasted in the background of a sketch.

"Practice Date" made me laugh at loud throughout the entire episode. My standard of hilarity is based on laughs per half hour/how many people are watching with me. I watched this episode alone and laughed for 24 minutes. The episode begins with a city councilman's live press conference explaining his adulterous affair in a cave in Brazil with his stone-faced wife behind him. His excuse: "It was my birthday and I wanted to." Remember, this was over a year ago when being a politician was synonymous with being an adulterer.. This leads the Pawnee staff to engage in a game of who can dig up the most dirt on their coworkers. Meanwhile, Leslie and Dave the cop have agreed to their first date.

As I said before, the ensemble cast makes the show. While the A story is Leslie's practice date with Ann, the background players steal the show with their one-upmanship during the game in the B plot. Poor Jerry is always the butt of the joke but you never feel as though he's the poor whipping boy. The show straddles the line of bullying Jerry and making the viewer feel like Jerry is on the joke. Aziz Ansari plays Tom Haverford as the guy that's been striving his whole life to be cool and now surrounded by the citizens of Pawnee, he occasionally succeeds. Nick Offerman must have known someone exactly like Ron Swanson because his portrayal of the Parks Department head is so nuanced it seems as though this person must exist.

Ron finds out that Tom's marriage is in fact a green card marriage and revels in the fact he bested Tom, who thought himself unbestable. Tom seeks to destroy Ron and Mark Brendanawicz provides him the name Duke Silver and the bar to find the mysterious man in Eagleton. Tom heads to the neighboring town only to find that Ron and Duke Silver are one and the same. Ron Swanson moonlights as the swoon-inducing jazz saxophonist with not one but two cd's. Next month you can puchase, "Memories of Now".

No Andy this episode and very little April except for the trailer. Her video of riding a lawn mower through a Nordstrom and throwing clothes on the ground is a newfound dream of mine.

Leslie's description of her terrible first dates is exactly what everyone fears. I mean who hasn't had nightmares about rolling down stairs while riding in a detached side car or accidentally taking Ambien and having to punch your leg to stay awake in the middle of a date. This was Rashida Jones' turn to step into the comedy spotlight while immersing Leslie in a bad date. Normally, Ann is the straight person and her role is important because it gives a good base for how zany the other characters act but she is pretty funny and I think they should let her use her skills more often. Even on The Office, she never really got to be anything more that Pam's nemesis in the love triangle. Plus, I really enjoy Leslie and Ann's friendship on the show. They are just the most unlikely of compadres but they enjoy each other's company. There are many bromances on tv but so many female friendships are about back-stabbing and cattyness so I like when they show a female equivalent of brohood (that doesn't have a cool name because gal pal isn't going to fly).

And of course, no one plays anxious better than Poehler, bringing conversation cards to the practice date that say "whales, parades, and electricity." or forgetting the name of the bathroom and calling it a "whiz palace". The show also doesn't dumb down the the dialogue. One of Leslie's concerns is "What if I don't bring up Darfur enough?".

Louis C.K. had a great stint as Dave and I think he is a much better actor on this show than he was on his own. Leslie and Dave were perfect romantic foils because they both seem uncomfortable in their own skin while providing each other what the other lacked. Fun in Dave's case and consistency for Leslie. Sidenote- The best part of Louie was his stand-up, the other 20 minutes of the show were so uncomfortable and disconcerting that it was hard to watch. Yet, the show was given second and third chances until it was pretty much to unbearable to continue. If I want to see Louis C.K., I'll go see his stand-up.

A wonderful episode in a wonderful season that only got better from there. If you haven't seen this yet, purchase a Netflix subscription and watch it now or regret it forever.