Parks and Recreation: The Treaty

Last week's Parks and Rec had Leslie and Ben agree to be friends. But that's not always easy for exes (even exes who had as graceful a break-up as Leslie and Ben), so this week's episode had Ben deciding he couldn't do it. Of course, Leslie wasn't that happy about it and so the main conflict of The Treaty was revealed, as she tried to use a high schools model UN to go to war.

This whole storyline was a solid one with a good emotional component. After the first part of the season had little focus on Leslie and Ben following their break-up, it's been nice for these past two episodes to show that it's still an issue. And this time, their unsettled issues almost ruined a group of kid's (well, teenagers) Model UN. Of course, once they settle their issues and decide to have one fun conversation at work a day, they manage to right their wrongs, but it was nice to remind us that Leslie isn't perfect. Of course, the storyline still delivered on the laughs as well, many of them coming from Andy (who's traded all of Finland's boring stuff like armies for every country's lions.) and April (who insists on being the moon.). But Leslie's whole war on Peru was entertaining too, especially with her over the top threat.

Meanwhile, The Treaty also finally brought Tom back into the fold. I appreciate that they dragged his decision to leave for as long as they could, because if he had come back in episode 1 or 2 of the season, it would've felt like a cop-out. But they waited until episode 7, and had Tom be too prideful to come back right away, which allowed for us to watch Ron interview an endless string of Pawnee Oddballs for the position. The best of these was him pretending to be amused when one applicant put "Yes, please" beside the section for Sex. And even when Tom had Ron put on a public show to try and get him back, Tom refused, planning to come back in a couple days, but his plan got derailed when Ron grabbed him and forced him to accept. Anyways, Tom is back where he belongs now, but I'm still hoping that we'll see some of the aftereffects of his experience with Entertainment 720.

The Treaty also gave Ann a chance to finally air out her relationship grievances with Chris, after a season of some unresolved issues. Chris is concerned because Millicent won't return his calls, so he gathers Ann, Donna, and a very reluctant Jerry to try and figure out why. Ann's whole thing about how Chris basically turned her into him and left when he got bored, and how he has to give Millicent space to be herself was very true, and a nice character moment for Ann, who's really coming into her own this year, as someone who's more than just Leslie's friend.

All in all, I felt The Treaty was a very strong episode of Parks and Recreation, that advanced the emotional arcs of many of the characters, while still allowing for some good comedy. Parks and Recreation continues to be dynamite and refusing to get off of the stride they've been on since mid-season 2. I can't wait to see what happens to these characters next.

Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)

Memorable Moments

-Tom explains what he's done during his time at the Parks department.: "In my four years here I revolutionized the position of administrator and made this place cool. I was the first person to abbreviate Parks and Recreation department. First it was Parks and Recreation, then Parks and Rec. Then P&R, then I lengthened just a little bit to… Tommy's Place."
-Andy: "I just traded Finland's military to Kenya for 50 lions. That's pretty good, right?"
-Leslie: "I'm back! Or as they say in Denmark: 'I’m back.' Most people speak English."
 -One of the applicants for Tom's job is from Gary, Indiana. His name is Gary. Tom is not impressed.
-Leslie: “The only thing I will be waving is your decapitated head on a stick in front of your weeping mother!”
-Andy: "If you re-arrange the letters of Peru, you get Europe."
-Leslie is glad when April announces the Moon will join her war on Peru: "We got the freakin' moon. What are you gonna do without tides Peru?"
-April: "OK. You guys are being stupid. Why don't you work it out while Andy and I..." Andy (picking up an Erlenmeyer Flask): "...Throw these scientist bottles off the roof."