What Happened, Yo!:
-Leslie and Ben (Despite his massive fear of cops) are hoping to get the endorsement of the retiring police chief, and though he likes her, he's not sure about endorsing her because the Newports give lots of money to the department for things like Kevlar vests. He tells them if they go to his retirement party, they might have a better chance. As they leave, they run into Leslie's old flame Dave, who is back from San Diego for a day to attend the chief's retirement party. Leslie invites him to dinner with her and Ben, because Dave is a good judge of character, and if he likes Ben, the other cops will like Ben.
-At the dinner though, Ben steps away for a minute and Dave tells Leslie he's still in love with her and wants to get back together. Leslie says no, and when Dave steps away later, she tells Ben. Dave wants to talk to Leslie again, but Ben wants to talk to Dave and when they do talk, Ben won't let Dave try to win back Leslie, so Dave handcuffs him to a urinal. Ben lets Leslie know with his cellphone what happened and Dave has to uncuff Ben. At the retirement party, Leslie and Dave have a talk, where Dave admits he went a bit crazy without Leslie and they end on good terms. And Ben is able to persuade the police chief that he should endorse Leslie.
-Meanwhile, Andy is in charge of writing Leslie's campaign song and he gets the rest of the team to be back-up. They go to the same recording studio where Ron records his stuff as Duke Silver, so Ron tasks April with getting rid of any Duke Silver memorabilia she finds. Andy just can't get the song to work and he's frustrated because he sees it as the only thing he can do to help the campaign. Ron tells him not to overthink it and secretly records a Saxophone solo, which makes the song much better in Andy's eyes.
-Also meanwhile, Tom is excited after his date with Ann, but Ann tells him not to make a big deal out of it and not to tell anyone. At the recording, Ann gets upset when she finds out that Tom texted everybody while they were on the date. Tom tries to make it better with grand gestures, but Ann just gets more mad at him. Eventually he gets her to have a "no gimmicks" talk with him, but he just sings that he wants her to be his beau until she agrees because he finally wore her down.
I Like This: In some ways, Dave Returns was an awesome blast from the past to season 2 of Parks, specifically the episode Practice Date, where the show had just found it's legs and was only beginning to show off what it was capable of. There was references to Duke Silver (It's been way too long), the term wiz palace (which may have been my favorite joke in Practice Date), and of course, Louie C.K was in it, as the delightfully (for the most part) awkward Dave. With Dave's still being in love with Leslie, and Ben's ongoing fear of cops (which never gets old), the dinner scene was full of awkward goodness, which I enjoyed. I also enjoyed how the whole encounter with Dave tied into Leslie's campaign, as they attempted to get the police chief's endorsement, and Ben powering through his fear long enough to provide a compotent argument for why Leslie is better for the department than Bobby was also good. Andy's storyline was good too, as he struggled with coming up with the perfect song, when all he needed was a sweet Sax solo from a mysterious source. I also enjoyed April being tasked with getting rid of all Duke Silver memorabillia, and I'm glad that the show is both trying a Tom and Ann relationship and not having Ann be open to it right away. There's a lot of history between these two characters and the show isn't ignoring that history so they can have the perfect romance, and that's just great.
But...: Dave was definitely more awkward than he had been in season 2, and while that was mostly fine, sometimes it felt like the show had amped up Dave's awkwardness a little much. He was much more down-to-earth in season 2, so it was a little jarring to see him be an awkward mess in every scene he was in (Though the show at least provided a plausible justification for his extreme behaviour.).
The Bottom Line: Dave Returns was another great episode that reminded me of how far the show has come.
Grade: 87% (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Ben: "I’m not afraid of cops, I have no reason to be. I never break any laws, ever. Because I’m deathly afraid of cops."
-Andy: "It's like 'We Are The World,' except I think it could actually make a real impact on society."
-April: "I dig your groovy tunes, man. Did you hear me? I said I dig your groovy tunes, man".
-Dave: "You look like I could use some company."
-Tom: "I don’t wanna brag, but I have a ton of experience with women being mad at me".
-Dave: “I still have feelings for Leslie, in a womanly fashion, and I believe she feels the same for me, in a manly way.”
-Ron to Andy: “I never thought I would say this about you, son, but you may be over-thinking this.”
-Tom: "The four sweetest words in the English language: you wore me down"
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