Parks & Rec & the Women of Pawnee — Season 2 (part one)
First off…
I went into season one previously. This is the season the show really started nailing it and I suppose NBC must have agreed as they gave it twenty-four episodes after the first season’s mere six. With that tall order, I’ll be splitting this season into two recaps to keep this bite-sized.
In a nutshell…
Leslie kicks off the season by spontaneously rapping Will Smith’s “Parents Just Don’t Understand” from memory (in the nerdiest, most delightful way) and marrying two penguins at the zoo. It turns out they were male, but she doesn't back down, despite heat from new nemesis Marcia Langman and Pawnee Today host Joan Calamezzo, partly because Pawnee’s gay community has made her an icon and partly because because “I firmly believed that it would be cute. And it was!” Also, Mark has been asking Ann out and Leslie gives her blessing to it, but feels weird about it until she meets Officer Dave (Louis C.K.). She says no to dating him at first, believing they have too little in common, but finds him to be such a good guy that she wants to try. But Leslie’s nervous about dating in general after a string of horrible experiences and she and Ann have a practice date to work out her nerves (with Ann playing the part of an evil version of Dave) and it helps until they get drunk and Leslie stumbles over to Dave’s to tell him how awesome their date will be. He ends up finding it charming, if weird.
We meet April’s gay boyfriend, Derek, and his boyfriend, Ben, who April hates and vice-versa. Ann finds out Andy’s been living in the pit to keep an eye on her and, though she does take pity on him once and let him in during a rainstorm (and during a date with Mark), she’s not happy. Meanwhile, during an office-wide competition to dig up dirt on each other, Ron discovers Tom’s marriage is of the green card variety, so his Canadian wife can stay in the country, explaining both his hot wife and how much time he spends desperately hitting on any other woman he meets (and Ann repeatedly). Ron says he’ll keep the secret, but Tom guarantees it by finding out Ron’s darkest secret: his alter-ego, jazz saxophone god Duke Silver. This season also officially starts kicking poor Jerry with Mark digging up that Jerry’s birth mother’s criminal record (when Jerry didn’t know he was adopted). The seaminess of the whole thing inspires Mark to confess most of his “dirt” to Ann.
As for other events, Leslie and Co. host the folks from their sister city, a dictatorship in Venezuela, but Leslie rejects the bond with the richer city, even though they would have funded the pit/park due to how they have treated the Pawneeans. Later, Leslie is inspired by a group called “KABOOM!” that builds playgrounds to rent a backhoe and just fill in the pit, asking for forgiveness instead of permission. Unfortunately, Andy (despite having moved in with a friend) is in it and injured again. He almost sues, thinking having money will help him get Ann back, but Leslie convinces him not to take shortcuts if he’s sincere. They conspire to have him demand the pit is filled in to prevent him getting injured again rather than money and the pit becomes Lot 49. Leslie also helps Andy get a job running the City Hall shoeshine stand, which annoys Mark (fine by me) and Ann, but delights everyone else as Andy is a ball of fun.
When Leslie (against Donna’s warnings) reunites Ron with his sociopath ex, Tammy 1 (played with demonic glee by Megan Mullally), it’s up to Leslie to help him stand up to Tammy when she tries to use her influence over him to make him turn the lot into a library (apparently, the library folks and the parks folks are in a bitter feud).
Leslie insists to Ron she wants “me, Tom, and all the other ladies included on” his annual hunting trip with Mark and Jerry as Leslie knows how to hunt. Tom accidentally shoots Ron (and Donna’s Mercedes), but Leslie takes the blame (even when the sexist ranger treats her with annoying condescension) and Ron’s ire as Tom didn’t have his hunting license and could have gone to jail. It’s a move Ron respects.
Meanwhile, April stays behind and spends the day goofing off with Andy and developing a crush, which Andy stays oblivious to for some time. When Tom can divorce his wife without raising suspicion, he does and insists to Leslie he’s fine, but she doesn't believe him and drags him and everyone from the office all over town to cheer him up. She’s right, in the end, as Tom has feelings for his “wife,” which come out more fully when Ron expresses interest in her. After a half-season of trying to get between Mark and Ann, Andy mostly gives up, even though he stays adorably oblivious to April’s feelings for him (he does everything adorably).
Leslie meets scandalous Councilman Dexhart and tabloids mistakenly call her his mistress, which he encourages as she’s less scandalous than his other exploits. Leslie’s boyfriend, Dave, is called in by his army reserve unit in San Diego. He asks her to think of moving to be with him in light of the scandal she’s embroiled in. Even when the truth comes out (by way of Leslie showing Joan Callamezzo her butt on Pawnee Today, long story), she loves her work in Pawnee more than Officer Dave and chooses to stay.
The Women of Pawnee
Leslie is still a bit bumbling at times, but this season showed she has a clear idea of what’s right and wrong with the world and firmly believes she’s the woman to fix it, like when she’s fighting for smarter, more accomplished and charity minded girl to win the beauty pageant in “Miss Pawnee” over the other judges’ choice: the party girl in the short sparkly dress. Sadly, the world doesn’t work that way. But you get the sense that, with more Leslie Knopes running things, it could. She already runs a lot of her little world. Even though Ron’s her boss, he seems to prefer she run the show due to his distaste for doing… anything. She even carries her coworkers to an extent, something seen very clearly in “Christmas Scandal,” when she takes time off to deal with the Dexhart drama. Ron and the other workers can barely cover all she does and welcome her back eagerly.
Ann begins a relationship with Mark and seems happy enough that he’s grown up and responsible and that their relationship is stable and devoid of fighting. We do see the first instance of Ann sort of taking on traits depending on her boyfriends, something that will be nailed down in later seasons. With Mark, she’s deadpan and sarcastic, which she rarely is when not around him. I enjoyed Ann more this season. They let her out of her Only Sane Person box every now and then and gave her some genuinely hilarious moments, especially when Ann impersonates the worst date ever during “Practice Date” and, really, all of that episode.
We got to know April better this season. Like that she’s half Puerto Rican, speaks fluent Spanish, and, of course, about her terribly interesting romantic life. April does the Miss Pawnee pageant mentioned above (and seeing her paste on a smile for it is rather disturbing), but abruptly walks out when she finds the $600 prize is actually in coupons. We find out she has a criminal history and her disinterest inadvertently attracts men… except Andy, it seems.
Donna is not in the opening credits yet, along with Jerry, but the camera increasingly pans to her for reactions and her role starts to expand, starting with the dirt-digging, something Donna really enjoys, in “Practice Date.” I love that all the Venezuelan delegates in “Sister City” find Donna to be the most attractive woman, to the point of bringing her there to vacation and be treated like a queen, to which Donna is “not surprised at all.” We also learn Donna is the office manager and has been around longer than Leslie and really has a handle on everyone else there.
Joan Callamezzo has Tom on her show constantly just to tell her how beautiful she is. That there explains a lot of about Joan. She goes after Leslie for the gay penguins and Dexhart and with any other excuse through the years. She definitely always seems to be directly opposed to Leslie, but I think that’s just for ratings. She’s not her nemesis. That title goes to…
Marcia Langman doesn’t just want the gay penguin marriage annulled because “gay marriage ruins marriage for the rest of us,” but Leslie’s resignation. It’s something she demands a few other times throughout the show.
We see her in “Sister City” and “Christmas Scandal.” According to IMDB, she’s called Weird Woman in one, Muriel in the other, then Beverly in the next season. I just call her Angry Forum Lady 1. Whatever her name is, she’s played by Karen Teliha and definitely representative of the grumpy, food-obsessed citizens of Pawnee.
Passing The Bechdel Test…
It’s an 8/4 pass, over these 12 episodes. Honestly, even when our Pawnee Ladies don’t interact with each other one-on-one, they’re instrumental in the plot, Leslie especially, so I’d argue this show always passes. As much as I love using The Bechdel Test to measure how well a show does in making sure its women are more than an accessory to the male characters, the criteria doesn’t always apply. But I’ll continue to use it as it really does help me step back and think about what I just watched and how well it served to portray women.
Other Notes…
This really was a season where Parks learned to play to its strengths, utilizing their cast better, playing up those that needed it (Retta!) and giving less focus to those who still weren’t working out (Sorry, Schneider). By the end of season 2, the show as we know it was finally in place. But we’ll get there.
Fangasms!
Required Ron Swanson worship corner: Ron has an alter-ego and a fanbase of older women who worship him! The first Ron and Tammy reunion was so fun, especially knowing Offerman and Mullally are married in the real and fictional worlds. Also love Ron’s red polo, black pants uniform for after he’s gotten laid, his scarily good mood, and his creepily graphic descriptions of their sex. I also love the establishment of his love of breakfast food. Ron’s disinterest in the strippers (“I get the feeling every one of these women is running a low-grade fever.”) and marked enthusiasm for the breakfast buffet at the strip club in “Tom’s Divorce” remains one of my favorite Ron moments. As Leslie put it he’s “one of the good ones.”
Andy, Andy, Andy! He’s lazy and thoughtless and not the smartest. But damned if there isn’t so much sweetness to him. I can see why Chris Pratt’s become a box office big shot now. There aren’t a lot of men that can make the meathead jock into such a lovable teddy bear.
Louis C.K. was surprisingly perfect in the role of sweet, awkward, stalwart Officer Dave.
The vehemence with which the people of Pawnee hate libraries and vegetables never fails to fill me with giggles. Also this season has the first appearances of PERD HAPLEY! Love him!
Next up: Season Two (part two)
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