Parks & Rec & the Women of Pawnee — Season One
First off…
Well, apparently NBC went and scheduled the final season the very day after my intro piece went up (read it here if you’d like). I’m trying to decide if that means I have magic powers. If I do, they’re not working in my favor because that means I have only five weeks to cover six seasons. They’re also squeezing thirteen episodes into seven weeks. That bothers me. Not so much because, when I catch up, I have two eps at a time, but because they did this before and it shows a lack of regard for the show. Throughout Parks’ run, NBC has shifted it, squeezed it, and showed barely any interest in it, so I guess they’re going to end it the way they began. Putting a half-hour comedy into a one-hour block, where it’s not best absorbed because they have lost the ability to nurture a show or let it build an audience. As I might have mentioned, NBC and I have been in a bitter feud over their increasingly horrible decisions for at least a decade now.
Anyway, season one…
In a nutshell…
We first meet Leslie Knope, Deputy Director of the Pawnee Park’s and Recreation Department as she’s questioning a little girl about her opinion on the park she’s playing in with a clipboard and in all seriousness. This was something that made me roll my eyes at first at the extreme level of quirky, but now… that’s just Leslie. She even describes the people yelling at her in an open forum as “people caring loudly at me.” At that very open forum, we meet Ann Perkins, a nurse with a live-in boyfriend who fell into an open pit left from a failed condominium project. Leslie sees this as her big chance to plan her own park? Who wouldn’t want a Park instead of a pit?
A few people, apparently. City Planner Mark Brendanawicz warns her about all the red tape involved and that this won’t be as simple as Leslie thinks. We also learn Leslie had a one-night stand with Mark years ago (that Mark barely remembers) and has been fixated on him since for some reason I can’t see. We meet “legend in his own mind” Tom Haverford and bored teen intern April Ludgate. We also meet Ann’s lazy, annoying (before he was awesome), musician boyfriend, Andy, and his two broken legs. And we meet the pit… just before Leslie falls into it.
Ann patches her up as Leslie exaggerates her injuries to Ann, then to her superior, Ron Swanson (a staunch libertarian who only works for the government to make sure it does as little as possible). He rejects the park even as she pesters him doggedly. Eventually, Mark sways him by calling in a favor for some unspecified past deed (we never do learn what). Mark also confiscates the humiliating pictures of Leslie’s pit-fall, which Tom and April were spreading around. I still don’t care for Mark.
We next see the gang canvassing Ann’s neighborhood and find that Tom is lazy, except when the task agrees with his swaggering attitude, that April is still barely interested as is Mark, and at least one citizen of Pawnee is vocally opposed to parks. Unfortunately, that’s the one Leslie angers (“You don’t care about your kids if you don’t support this park!”), guaranteeing the offended woman will be at the meeting.
Leslie tries to get the meeting canceled, tries to use April as an audience plant to drum up support, tries to filibuster by reading a children’s book, but the crowd is wise to each trick. Finally, she runs out the clock by having every audience member speak. Since everyone loves yapping about their complaints, this works and she’s able to close the meeting without the impending downvote. Worst of all, Leslie’s mother, a school system higher-up who is unimpressed by Leslie’s progress up the town’s political ladder, is there to see the train wreck… which it is, but she gives Leslie some mild encouragement by the end and Leslie feels bolstered. Even when one audience member yells, “Hey, park lady, you suck,” Leslie just hears the “park lady” part, which she loves.
Soon after, Leslie has local journalist Shauna Malwae-Tweep interview her for a story on the pit/park. Between Andy revealing he was drunk when he fell in the pit and Leslie’s own paranoia, it’s another train wreck. She begs Mark to help her fix it, which he apparently thinks sleeping with Shauna will do. Considering Leslie’s crush, she’s a little bitter. She chastises Mark and he emotionlessly (because he’s Mark and part robot) quits her committee. Ann steps in and convinces Mark to talk to Shauna, which doesn't help as his cavalier attitude about their hook-up cements her mostly negative story, which Leslie still tries to dredge up optimism about.
Either way, Leslie and Mark make up (Meh!) and, through all this, Leslie and Ann’s friendship is growing (Yes!). We learn Tom purposely loses scrabble games to Ron to kiss up and that Ron is awesome (it’s something we’ll re-learn every episode). We also officially meet Jerry Gurgich, who will develop into the Parks Department’s own personal Buttmonkey.
Leslie breaks her own code and some city rules when she tries to infiltrate a city hall boys club (and impress Mark). When they run out of beer, she provides wine and cheese from a gift basket she should not have accepted. Things get worse when a bored (and underage) April drinks some of the wine and posts a video of herself to the pit’s website. Leslie doesn't berate her, but takes all the blame on herself. And no one is harder on Leslie than Leslie. Ron stands up for her at a disciplinary meeting, pointing out how Leslie has never broken a rule, presumably in her life, and the repercussions amount to a letter in her file. Also, we learn Andy is a rather lovable lazy idiot as he works through his injury to clean up the house and himself to impress Ann.
Leslie makes a speech at a banquet honoring her mother, who convinces her to use the opportunity to schmooze higher-ups (even to the point of blackmail) to drum up support for the park. This is very against Leslie’s nature. Incidentally, she wears a tuxedo and gets her hair done by a male barber and brings Ann as her date, who is wearing what looks like either a prom or pageant dress while everyone else is in business casual.
On the upside, they are repeatedly congratulated on their bravery and openness. Ann’s humiliated and Leslie’s oblivious and they argue about Leslie’s blind worship of her mother and Ann bending over backward for Andy. Later, Leslie and Ann acknowledge that both of them had a point in their fight and make up.
Meanwhile, Mark goes off womanizing with Tom (and his strange, experimental pick-up methods) and finds he’s not that interested in picking up bar girls anymore and goes back to the banquet, presumably because of growing feelings for either Leslie or Ann (It’s Ann). Tom is married, but claims he has an open marriage and that the both of them are disappointed he “hasn't come close to cheating on her.” Having known Tom for a few weeks, I believe it.
The finale, set around Andy’s triumphant return to rocking, starts with him getting his casts off. Everyone’s happy until Ann, who works with Andy’s doctor, learns Andy was supposed to get them off two weeks ago, but didn’t to prolong her “waiting on him hand and foot.” Leslie’s mother sets her up for a business meeting with a much older Pawnee bigwig that turns out to be a blind date (Seriously, Marlene?). She angrily brings her date to Andy’s band’s performance… where he falls asleep.
There, we meet Tom’s successful, attractive “wife” and Andy’s band, which has gone through more than a dozen names, though Mouse Rat seems to be the one they come back to most. He dedicates a song to her, but it’s not enough to appease her. She complains to Mark who, upset with how little he’s achieved and feeling lonely, makes a pass at Ann while she’s vulnerable. It angers her further and she reams Mark, then takes Andy home to fight. It doesn't go well and she kicks him out. Meanwhile, a drunken Mark buys Leslie a few beers than takes her to the pit, where he makes a pass at her, too. Luckily, Leslie doesn't want another one-night stand Mark barely remembers and she tells him to go home. He stumbles right into the pit instead. Andy has seen the end of this and rushes to gleefully tell Ann about it, making himself at home again while she runs off to help Mark.
The Women of Pawnee
Throughout the first season, we learn that Leslie Knope is hardworking, enthusiastic, ambitious, conscientious, scrupulous — and all of these to obsessive levels. Leslie’s tearful apology to all women in politics after the gift basket incident, who she begins to list by name, is painfully earnest and rather adorable. My main issue with Leslie in season one is that we see how much she wants to be good at her job. We only learn, as we go on, that Leslie is actually extremely competent and maybe too good for her position, something that’s not apparent in the first season under her layers of desperation and excitement. But it’s so rare a show that is not geared specifically to women has a female protagonist, so I got invested, despite finding Leslie a little… much is the only word I have for her then. I’m so glad I did, as I admired her so much more once the show slowly let us know her more fully.
Ann Perkins’ function in the first season is mostly as a shoulder for Leslie to lean on and a sounding board for her little schemes and, a few times, a voice of reason when her schemes get out of hand. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, considering how few episodes they had. You can see a lot of who Ann is through her deepening friendship with Leslie. Ann doesn’t have Leslie’s ambition and is more likely to settle for “good enough.” I think, without Leslie in her life she might have stayed with Andy. Even though I grew to love Andy, their relationship was never equal, like a grown woman dating a manchild.
In season one, April Ludgate isn't given too much to do except stand around and look annoyed at everyone and everything around her. But there’s an intelligence under all that disdain. It’s no wonder Aubrey Plaza was picked for College Humor’s fake Daria movie trailer. She kind of embodies disaffected youth, but in a strangely lovable way. We do see the first little glimmers of her crush on Andy in how much cooler she seems to find him than her co-workers in their brief interaction. We also meet her gay boyfriend, Derek. It’s a complicated relationship that will be explored more next season.
You’ll notice I’m not showing Donna’s season one hair. That’s because that hair, as well as her entire role (or lack thereof) in this season is unworthy of realtor, mogul, and Queen of all Pawnee, Donna Meagle. We do see her in glances. She sits awesomely at her desk, then regally at a table during the Easter egg hunt, then talks epically, I assume, on the phone. But we don’t hear her deep, buttery voice until episode three, arguing with Tom and Jerry (hey! Just made that connection!) about a basket. It’s both beneath her and so very her. Luckily for all of us, the producers made more use of Retta in seasons to come.
Marlene Griggs-Knope intimidates Ron Swanson, so maybe that’s all you need to know. Well, not really. Apparently, he did give her the nickname “The Iron [two or three words censored] of Pawnee,” something Leslie repeats, claiming everyone just calls her that lovingly. It’s clear Leslie does, at least. Leslie respects her mother much more than is reciprocated. Though I think Marlene roots for Leslie, she seems to find it hard to relate to her. She is the polar opposite of Leslie in this little world of small town politics: shrewd, unrelenting, and willing to play dirty where Leslie…. Well, just see the gift basket mea culpas. Leslie must take after her late father, who we don’t learn much about. Either way, it’s impressive she managed to raise Leslie alone and succeed in school system politics, so good for Marlene.
Shauna Malwae-Tweep is the first reporter we meet in Pawnee (of many as this show loves to skewer the media within its little microcosm). Though she’s a bit hard on Leslie’s park in her article, we’ll soon learn she’s one of the softer Pawnee journalists. How could she not be? She works for a paper whose major headline is “Spring is here!” In the first season, she has just one appearance and it’s not great because, you know, she sleeps with Mark. I kid, I kid! (not really) Anyway, we’ll be seeing more of Shauna and her hard-hitting investigative reporting as we go.
Kate Speevak appears just once in Pawnee (so far?), but I am including her as she is definitely the first of many outraged mothers in Pawnee who Leslie rubs the wrong way. We may have seen the last of Kate, but her darker doppelgangers are coming (Marcia Langman *shudder* for one).
Passing The Bechdel Test
It would be tedious for me to list examples. But every episode passes, usually because of a conversation between Ann and Leslie, except for “Rock Show,” where Leslie only talks to Ann and Marlene about her geriatric date.
Other Notes
I can tell that Daniels, Schur and company were very interested in showing how most small town governments work in the beginning. It is admirable and interesting, but not necessarily something that connected with viewers or critics as much as later seasons. That’s one of the reasons I’m glad NBC actually (in a move unusual for them) gave it a chance. From season two on, the writers let the characters and the strengths of the actors guide things, which made it all funnier, more engaging, and easier to invest in for me.
You might have noticed how little I enjoy Mark. Considering he’s third-billed, I think the creators must have had hopes for him. Honestly, it’s really nothing against the actor. He actually comes off very realistically as a miserable, disillusioned man working at a job he can’t dredge up any enthusiasm for and among people he barely stands. Hey, that’s a relatable situation for a lot of us. But then they have him barely remember his one-nighter with Leslie, sleep with Shauna and discard her, and have Tom idolize him for the number of women he’s slept with. He just doesn’t display anything likable and Leslie’s infatuation with him didn’t do her character any favors (though I suppose a lot of us have been there, fixating on the wrong man). Even when Mark did something redeeming, I could only go from disdain to ambivalence about him.
But perhaps the biggest strike against Mark is that he isn't very funny. We already have a much more interesting miserable, disillusioned man with semi-deadpan delivery in Ron Swanson (see Fangasms for more on him). If you want Leslie’s optimism to infect someone, he’s the more fun option to watch and maybe that’s why Mark was Put On A Bus in season two. But we’ll get there.
Fangasms…
Ron Swanson, Ron Swanson, Ron Swanson!
Ron Swanson hoarding all the bacon wrapped shrimp (the only reason he goes to fancy banquets)!
Ron Swanson claiming parks and, really, the entire world should be run like Chuck-E-Cheese (“Put in a token, look at a duck.”)
Ron Swanson: “My idea of a perfect government is one guy who sits in a small room at a desk, and the only thing he’s allowed to decide is who to nuke. The man is chosen based on some kind of IQ test, and maybe also a physical tournament, like a decathlon. And women are brought to him, maybe…when he desires them.”
I don’t know what it is. Half the things Ron Swanson says seem insane, yet Nick Offerman embodies him with a sort of cockiness devoid of aggression that makes it all so damned cool! He’s not the internet’s favorite bacon advocate for nothing!
Warning: In the coming seasons, with the rest of my recaps being so taken with the our Pawnee ladies, this section might be 75–80% Ron Swanson quotes.
In the interest of fairness, I’ll also add that the first instance of Tom winning people over by flirting with the powerful older women of Pawnee is rather adorable. I can’t stand when he’s being slimy about younger women, but something about him flirting with Marlene (and, later, Joan Callamezzo) is endearing.
Next up: Season Two
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All images from Parks and Recreation are property of NBC Universal, Greg Daniels, Michael Schur, Howard Klein (among many other entities) and used here for criticism and analysis only.
