Parks and Rec: "The Flu"

A review of second of the pre-maternity leave episodes, coming up after the jump... 

Tonight's episode was like our beloved Leslie Knope: slightly spastic yet charmingly sweet. The flu has hit Pawnee, sending the whole of the Parks Department into a fever-dream like spiral. Leslie, April, and Chris all fall ill, and Ben, Tom, Ron, and Andy must shuffle the responsibility deck in order to keep things running semi-smoothly.

It is under this overarching plot device that the show can branch out and tell several small stories, and yet not feel overly scatterbrained. It also helped that most of these stories were continuations of stories we are already familiar with. April acts out against Anne (her nurse in the hospitable) because she kissed Andy. Ben continues to flirt with Leslie, and Ann and Chris continue there stop-and-go romance.

And while this episode was hilarious, I was the sweetness underneath that really got to me, really sold me that is a classic P&R episode. I am mostly referring here to the Ron/Andy subplot, as even as they were hanging out as MEN, there was an obvious yet touching father-son dynamic to their scenes together. The show also made good use of Tom tonight. As a character whose main traits are horniness and narcissism, it can be hard to see how Tom fits into the fairly tight-nit family of the Park Department, so it was nice to see that his seemingly selfish trip to spa turned into a favor for Leslie and her Harvest Festival campaign. And of course this is not to mention the continued saga of Andy and April, which was far less soapy this week, returning to the low-key nature that has allowed it to go as long as it had and not feel tired.

I would also like to commend Rashida Jones once again. Last week, she was hilarious. This week, she was asked to juggle three of her relationships with other characters, and she did it with aplomb. Not only did we get see her almost sisterly bond with Leslie (which, by the way, is my favorite relationship on the show) and her feelings for Chris (and her getting pleasure off of seeing Chris broken down and sick was perversely hilarious), but she and Aubry Plaza had to essentially create most of the rules regarding how April and Ann relate to one another, and it came off as realistic and funny.

All of this was topped off with a sweet tag (of course), wherein Ben and Chris, who are apparently done with their auditing duties in Pawnee both express to each other (but not really) their non-job-related wants to stay in town.

What did everybody else think?


Additional Thoughts: 

“Yep. Nurses and janitors are interchangeable.”

“ I already vomited like five time today.”

“I didn't know what to bring you, so I just bought magazines and lipstick. You know, women stuff.”

“I worked with a guy for three years and never learned his name. Best friend I ever had.”

“There's one time I thought he farted...but it was me.”

Tucking the shirt in is a deal breaker for Andy

“I have to get ready for the Chamber of Secrets.” “Commerce.”

“You had me at 'meat tornado.'”

“Oh my god, the microchip has been compromised.”

What is the exchange rate for dollars to Egyptian hieroglyphics?

“Stop. Pooping.”

“I will counter with my own question, which is...why is half your face all swirly?”