Parks and Recreation – Hooray! If you have the Season 2 DVD set (and if not, why not?), you already got a short look at this premiere, with the Parks Department going back to work in the midst of a budget crisis. This episode gave
us Ron Swanson and Andy as youth basketball coaches. (As you can imagine, Ron’s approach was a little more intense than Andy’s.) We saw Tom deal with the revelation that Ron’s dating his ex-wife in the most Tom-like way possible. That is to say, he took it out on children. Leslie tried to prostitute her best friend (“but not for money”). April and Andy’s relationship hit yet another snag, and Ann went on a date with Rob Lowe’s Chris. Everything just clicked – the way Chris still always calls her “Ann Perkins”, Tom remaining in his Lady Footlocker uniform (including name tag) right up until the final scenes, the great dynamic between Chris and Ben, Jerry’s landscape – it was wonderful. From the retro “Previously on Parks and Recreation…” opener to the screamingly funny reaction shot of Rob Lowe at the end of the episode, the best comedy of last year is back, and they’re clearly making a run at the title once again. We’d be remiss if we didn’t single out Leslie’s ideas for making Ann’s date outfit sexier (including “one of those shirts that looks like it’s always wet” and “fingerless gloves”) and, of course, “The Swanson Pyramid of Greatness”. We’re going to be watching that scene over and over again to determine all the necessary elements to be more like Ron Swanson. (“Crying – OK only at funerals and the Grand Canyon”)
