Parks and Recreation: The Trial of Leslie Knope

What Happened, Yo!:

-Leslie and Ben disclose their relationship to Chris, who even though he believes they are exemplary employees, has no choice but to set up ethics trials for the two of them to figure out how to proceed.
-Leslie's trial is first and while Ben can't be there, he tells her he'll be right outside, adjacent to an ugly portrait of a Pawnee Judge whose face was exploded by dynamite.
-As the trial begins, Leslie admits to having an illicit relationship, and insists that's the only rule she's broken. She's shocked however, when Chris announces he believes the relationship started sooner than she claimed, she got special treatment over it, and that she's guilty of bribery, and that he's bringing in 14 witnesses to prove it. This makes her decide to fight back.
-As she goes through all the witnesses, she disproves every one of Chris' claims. He still supposedly has a killer witness though. This seems to be Tammy 2 until Chris points out that she will be fired and prosecuted if she lies, causing her to leave.
-It then turns out that the killer witness is the maintenance worker that Leslie and Ben bribed in the season 3 finale.
-Leslie knows she's sunk now and has half an hour to find something to help her case. She gets everyone to help look and even sends Donna to get Ben. But Ben is no longer where he said he would be for some reason.
-As she worries to Ron that she's a bad person, Ron tells her that a good person can still do bad things. But a good person owns up to what they've done. Leslie stops searching for a loophole and decides to take the punishment.
-Ultimately she is given a two weeks paid suspension, because Ben has accepted full responsibility for everything and has resigned, despite Chris' protests.
-Chris tells Leslie once again that she is a great government worker, but he also adds that she is the only woman he knows who is worthy of dating Ben. He advises she hear the last page of Ben's testimony and we find out he declared his love for her.
-That night, she comes home to him with the court stenographer who reads Leslie's own court-recorded declaration of love to Ben. They kiss.
-In the end, we see Jerry's testimony, and learn that Jerry's name is really Gary, but the first park's director he worked for called him Jerry, and Jerry didn't bother to correct him. Leslie is still going to call him Jerry, but she and Chris can't get over this revelation and end his testimony prematurely.

I Liked This: Boom. This episode finally brings the story of Leslie and Ben's secret romance to a conclusion, and what a conclusion it was. It was full of heart and lots of comedic moments. In fact the seriousness of the situation was pretty underplayed until the big second act reveal. I liked how it alluded to the events of past episodes (and cut to clips from them when necessary), but still made it so a first time viewer could understand what was happening. I was also a fan of Chris this episode, who got to struggle with his duty as City Manager, and was only the bad guy because he was forced to be. For a guy who can be ultra over-the-top at times, it was good to see his more human side come out (though his over-the-topness was still there, through the insane amount of vitamin supplements he was taking and his jumping up and down during Ben's resignation, followed by his uncontrollable sobbing in Ben's arms). And of course, the rest of the ensemble also got their chance to shine. I also liked how the episode limited the use of Ben, making his final scenes that much more powerful. And anytime where we learn tidbits/see murals of the history of Pawnee is a good time, and this episode was loaded with them (My favorite tidbit being that it's still illegal for black people to use the sidewalk apparently.).

But...: One quibble. If Jerry really is Gary, than how come his mother referred to him as Gerald in her diary in the episode Time Capsule. Explain that Gar/Jerry.

The Bottom Line: Smallest Park didn't have a long reign as best episode of the season. The Trial of Leslie Knope truly shines as one of the series best.

Grade: Holy BLANK! (Perfect)

Memorable Moments

-The cold open with Ron learning about Google Earth was pure shiny gold.
-Leslie: "Marcus Everett Langley was Pawnee's greatest lawyer at the turn of century. His nickname was Old Stoneface because of his steely demeanor… and because he got in an accident at the rock quarry and dynamite blew up his face."
-Leslie: “Sarah Nelson Quindle exposed her elbow outdoors which was a class A felony. Although she felt the law unjust, she acknowledged that she had broken it and she nobly accepted her punishment: to be set adrift on Lake Michigan like a human Popsicle.” Honestly, this may be my new favorite mural Parks has done, right up there with the secret wedding one from 94 Meetings and the one of the Magician being burned at the stake in 1974 from the Harvest Festival Producer's cut.
-On the night Leslie and Ben first hooked up, Leslie also discovered iMovie, made a ridiculous trailer, and sent it to Ann.
-Leslie kissing Tom is brought up again, but Tom insists dating Leslie would be like dating his older sister's elderly aunt. "No it wouldn't", says Leslie, distracted for a moment.
-Ron refusing to let the address of his cabin be spoken, despite it being important to Leslie's case was also great.
-At one point, Pawnee outlawed every sex position except Missionary. Two years later, Missionary was also banned.
-Another great old law. Any woman caught laughing is a witch.
-Chris: “Your actions wounded me to my core. Which is not easy since the bulk of my workouts are focused on core strengthening.”
-Ethel in the midst of Leslie and Ben's kiss: "Can I get a ride home? It's freezing out!"

Parks and Recreation: Smallest Park

What Happened, Yo!:

-Leslie and Ben have turned an abandoned spot of concrete into Indiana's smallest park.
-Ben informs Leslie that he is going to ask Chris that he doesn't want to work with the Parks Department as much anymore, because he still can't handle being around Leslie.
-Leslie refuses to accept this, and decides that she's going to drag the project out for as long as she can by turning public opinion against the park.
-But the public is surprisingly in favour of the tourist attraction and the forum about it lasts only 45 minutes. Even when Leslie gets them riled up by planning a lengthy list of activities to happen at the park, they're appeased when Ben just cancels all the activities.
-Ben says that Leslie is a steamroller who doesn't care about what anyone else wants as long as she gets her way and asks Chris to transfer.
-Ann tells Leslie that Ben is right and she is a steamroller.
-Leslie apologizes to Ben, and finally understands why he doesn't want to be around her. They end amicably...
-Until she asks him if he wants to start dating again, no matter how bad that will affect her career or campaign. Ben agrees and they kiss.
-Elsewhere Chris gets Tom and Jerry to "redesign" the parks department logo (as in choose the new font.). Tom decides to do some over-the-top redesigns but Jerry just wants to stick to the assignment.
-Tom keeps insisting that he should dream big and Jerry points out that's how he got into trouble with Entertainment 720 in the first place, which gets Tom depressed.
-Jerry tries to encourage Tom by saying the best thing for the job is to do everything the same. When he shows off his original ID badge that he still uses though, it gives Tom an idea to bring back the retro logo.
-Chris likes the idea and Tom gives much of the credit to Jerry. Awww.
-Meanwhile again, Andy is going to enroll at community college for one class and Andy and Ron are helping him pick.
-April encourages him to do something he'll be good at, like Guitar for Beginners, but he gets bored and can't pretend he's no good.
-Ron wants him to challenge himself so he tries Intro to Lasers, but gets upset when he learns that they don't actually get to use lasers.
-Andy picks a class at random and tries Women Studies. He enjoys it but is disheartened to learn that tuition is almost 1000 dollars, which he doesn't have.
-He decides to shine shoes again to try and get the money, but Ron gives it to him because he likes Andy and has the money. Awww again.

I Liked This:

This may be the best episode Parks and Recreation has done all season. All three of the storylines were strong, and all contained plenty of laughs. Pawnee citizens are always good for a laugh and this episode was no exception. Andy continues to be one of the shows funniest characters, and he gets many of the funniest lines this episode. It was also nice to see Tom be nice to Jerry for once (even if being nice to him meant Jerry becoming Tom's number 4 in place of number 3). And of course, Ron Swanson's soft side is always a treat, and him paying for Andy's class was a heartwarming moment. But the big thing this episode had going for it was the Leslie storyline.

As I've mentioned before, it's good that we get these storylines that remind us that Leslie isn't perfect. But this storyline took that one step farther by having Leslie being bluntly and directly confronting with this fact. It then had Leslie recognize this, accept this, and decides to make a change. And that's why this episode is so good. It has our main character realize that she has to improve herself, and it does it in a way that pays off the episodes that came before us. Leslie has reached a critical point in her character arc and it'll be interesting to see where she goes from there. Not to mention, now that she's coming clean, the possibilities of what could happen next are genuinely thrilling.

But...: I literally cannot think of anything I disliked about Smallest Park.

Bottom Line: Smallest Park didn't have as many laughs as Ron and Tammys. But it was a strong character story with some great emotional beats and some honest character growth. And for that I hereby call it...

Grade: Holy BLANK! (Perfect)

Memorable Moments

 -Funniest Citizen Moment: The women who doesn't want a basketball course because it attracts a certain kind of people, who almost straight out says what kind of people she dislikes. With lots of black people around.
-Everyone but Jerry laughing when Chris said Tom could learn a lot from Jerry was great.
-.000003 square miles is a very small park
-Andy: "I did not graduate college because I did not attend it."
-Andy's reaction to learning Intro to Lasers doesn't involve using lasers was classic: "One of the most significant bummers of my lifetime", he says with a sad face.
-Leslie:  "Your quiet supports means the world to me, as well as your tacit endorsement of all my behaviors."
-Andy: "Then it's settled. Andy Dwyer will be taking Women's Lasers."
-Ron: "April, where have you been? Over two phone calls came in unimpeded!"
-Ron: "My first day of college my father dropped me off at the steel mill. He didn't think I should go to college, but I hitched a ride, enrolled, and learned a lot."

Community: Remedial Chaos Theory

Life is full of choices and decisions. But sometimes when you have to make a tough choice, you turn to chance. You flip a coin or roll a die. You act based on what chance decides. But what if you made the other choice? Is there an alternate timeline where you made the other choice and something totally different happened. Last Thursday's Community was all about alternate timelines and alternate choices, showing us all the things that could happen, based on a seemingly inconsequential choice: who leaves the group for a minute to get the pizza. And it was also probably one of the best episodes of Community ever (and the first episode I talk about to get a rare perfect rating. But that's getting ahead of myself.).

Remedial Chaos Theory was the first "experimental" episode Community has done this season, but it was also a simple bottle episode and a character study, as we learned new information about most of the characters and saw them relate with each other. It's also an episode that demands multiple viewings in order to catch all the foreshadowing before events happen and all the jokes, background and foreground. Plus you'll probably want to see it again anyways. It's that good.

The episode starts off simple enough, as we find ourselves at Troy and Abed's new apartment (which should always be said to the tune of Troy and Abed in the morning.) for their housewarming party. Right away, we notice little details that are going to get expanded upon later. Shirley is busy baking, which doesn't seem to be welcome. Annie has taken the brick that keeps the outside door open, and jumps when the buzzer rings. Britta is overly into Abed's scale model of the rolling boulder scene from Raiders. Pierce casually mentions that Troy used to live in a mansion with him. Jeff cracks a joke at Troy's expense and Troy calls him a "fellow adult". The gang is ready to play some Yahtzee (Or Peuortan Rican chess), when the pizza guy comes, meaning someone has to go down and get the pizza. No one wants to go. Then Jeff picks up a die and things get interesting.

"Ok, starting on my left with one, you're number comes up: you go." "Just so you know Jeff, you are now creating six different timelines." "Of course I am, Abed".

So he rolls the die. 2 comes up. Annie goes. Britta puts on Police classic "Roxanne" and her attempts to sing along are thwarted by Jeff. Pierce mentions he slept with Eartha Kitt in an airplane bathroom. Troy sees a gun in Annie's purse. His concern distracts him from Pierce's housewarming gift. No one seems interested in Shirley's pies. Britta goes into the bathroom, and when she comes out seems strange (plus the bathroom smells weird.) This alone could be an interesting episode, but when Abed wonders how things are going in the other timelines and Jeff insists there are no other timelines, we hear the sound of the door buzzer and well...

"Ok, starting on my left with one, you're number comes up: you go." "Just so you know Jeff, you are now creating six different timelines." "Of course I am, Abed".

And so we move through all seven possibilities. Sometimes they end fine, like when Britta and Troy share a moment when Troy expresses frustration about Jeff always treating him like a kid, when he's 21. Sometimes they end bad, like when Shirley learns that the gang doesn't want her to have an identity based around baking, has a bit of a breakdown and storms out or most of the gang ends up mad at each other. Sometimes they end weird, like when Britta comes back from getting the pizza to announce she's fallen in love with the creepy pizza delivery boy and plans to marry him.


Along the way, we learn more and more details. Pierce is resentful that Troy moved out and his gift to Troy is a norwegian Troll doll, that Troy is terrified of. Britta is high and gets more high whenever she goes into the bathroom. Shirley thinks baking is all she's good for in the group. Annie's apartment is really dangerous and part of her attraction to Jeff may be because he reminds her of her father. Jeff sees Troy as a threat, because as a man, Troy could challenge him for leadership of the group. There are also constants. Pierce always mentions he slept with Eartha Kitt and Jeff always hits his head on the ceiling fan. Britta always tries to sing along to Roxanne (except when she goes for the pizza) and is always immediately shut down by Jeff. And of course, there are plenty of Chekov's Guns if you will (That's a minor plot point/detail which turns out to be important later on for those not in the know.). The rare liquor, the cigarettes, the boulder from the model, the norwegian troll doll. And of course, Annie's actual gun. This all comes together when Jeff rolls a 1, Troy leaves and chaos ensues. Sweet glorious chaos.

But ultimately, after seeing all the timelines, we go back to the true timeline where Abed catches the die, and gives a beautiful speech about how they should be weathering the chaos together, instead of creating more of it. He then points out that Jeff's system ensures that he never has to go get the pizza, so Jeff has to leave. He still hits his head on the fan, but Annie shows him no sympathy this time. Troy organically sets up Pierce for his Eartha Kitt boast, but Pierce decides not to and ultimately throws out his bitter housewarming gift (out the window actually, if you pay close attention), while everyone sings and dances to Roxanne. Jeff sees this after getting the people, and amused, watches on after saying "See what happens when I leave you guys alone?" This points out the ultimate constant in the alternate, mostly worse timelines: Jeff. When Troy leaves, we get the worse timeline. When Jeff leaves, we get the best timeline. The implications of this are staggering and hopefully, we see more of this down the road.

Now if the episode had ended there, it'd be almost perfect, but the tag pushes it over the edge. We go back to the darkest timeline, where Pierce has died from his gunshot wound, Annie has gone insane from guilt, Shirley is a drunk, Jeff has lost his arm in the fire, Troy's lost his larynx from trying to destroy the burning troll doll by eating it, and Britta has put a blue streak in her hair. The funniest, most chaotic sitcommy scenario has turned into the darkest, funniest, most realistic (?) thing ever. Abed regrets not catching the die and has a plan for the study group to go evil (complete with fake goatees until they can grow their own), and try to get back to the prime timeline and replace their past selves. No one is amused with this or wants to go with it. No one except Troy. "Evil Troy and Evil Abed". Wow (if the show ever finds a plausible way for these guys to return, I'll be psyched).

I could say more about this episode, but I won't. Because in the end, all you really need to see is this:

Grade: HOLY (BLANK)! (Perfect)

Memorable Moments

-I wanted to list lots, but this took a long time to write, so I'll only put a few down.
-Troy and Abed read a book on how to throw the perfect party. Advice given includes "Avoid difficult topics, like the Negro issue." The book was written in the 40's.
-Pierce: "Man, pizza boys are getting worse and worse. I guess all the good ones went into porn".
-Before Britta meets the pizza guy, everyone else points out how creepy he is.
-I'll be more timely with the next episode, which has been delayed a week to coincide with Halloween.