Parks and Rec - "Born and Raised"

Season 4, Episode 3

Is this an episode, or a twenty minute commercial for a book?

As you might have guessed, Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America, the book the served the centerpiece of tonight’s episode, is an actual book here in the real world and you can totally buy it. And that raises a very important question of the reality smashing link between the book in the show and the book in the real world. Now, I don’t mean to degrade the show for putting out a book; I am a fan of the television-show-related-book genre (there’s got to be a better name for that), and I own both of The Daily Show books, America and Earth. But those books, which come from a real-life group of people, don’t feel as manufactured as say Stephen Colbert’s I Am America (And So Can You!), which is another great read, but which fails to work as well as The Daily Show books because it’s filled with thoughts filtered through the Colbert persona.

And why does this give me qualms? Because Leslie Knope is earnest in every single endeavor that she undertakes, and when that becomes coupled with the episode’s fairly blatant but technically subtle (i.e., un-earnest) attempts to shill/drum up interest for the books, it makes for some strong cognitive dissonance. Now, I’m sure, based on both the public personas the show’s producers emit, and the advance press that I’ve read on the book, that it is nothing short of an further artistic expression that the writers love, and the producers/authors made it solely so that there would be more Parks and Rec goodness in the world. And I’ll admit, I’m excited about the book, and it’s going up on my Christmas list (because birthdays and major holidays are the only time that grad students can get new stuff). But the fact that a show that’s usually so honest makes an episode with an ulterior motive just feels weird.

And that feeling is only strengthened by an episode that uses Leslie’s earnestness and the show’s honesty to fullest extent possible. Two weeks ago, I took the show to task for doing political satire, saying that it wasn’t in the right place to deliver satire in an expedient enough manner to keep it feeling fresh, due to its production schedule. I still adhere to that principle – and I think it’s one that all comedies should adopt – but what I failed to realize was that part of the reason that the Weinergate inspired jokes didn’t work was because they were utterly without context. It was mostly something that just happened that allowed Ann and Chris to be spun off into a side plot that week, and with nothing really riding on the line all we had to focus on was the old joke.

With that in mind, the Birther jokes and the “Gotcha” catchphrases really shouldn’t have worked. The Birther movement pre-dated Weinergate, and even though the “gothcha question” debacle is only a few months old, making fun of Sarah Palin is a years-old comedic tradition. But unlike the dick pics of the premiere, the Birther jokes and Palin riffs were grounded in something far more substantial: Knope herself. The book that she writes is first presented as a joke – she originally wrote it for herself, and in order to be adapted for a larger audience, a lot of highly personal thoughts had to be taken out of it – but it quickly becomes clear that this book, like everything she does, was made with a high degree of hard work and precision, and because it is about and for Pawnee, it means a lot to her.

And though that alone would be enough to power the episode – we all know how seriously Leslie takes the town, as well as her perfectionist streak – the episode didn’t rest there, as it brought two more pieces of the show’s mythology into play: Eagleton and her run for office. Leslie’s pride in Pawnee and hatred of Eagleton comes from a very personal place, and we can understand how much she might be shattered by the revelation that she wasn’t born in the town that she loves, and how great a victory it was for her to overcome that stigmatism. (Much like Men of a Certain Age, Parks and Rec excels in making the smallest victories feel like the greatest accomplishments.) But there is also an understood threat to Leslie’s campaign – what self-respecting Pawneeian would elect someone born in Eagleton? – something that could ruin her run for city council, and that adds an extra layer to the proceedings.

(Plus, any story that somehow manages to integrate formerly-thought-to-be-deceased FBI agents Burt Macklin has got to be good.)

Like the prior two episodes, the side plots here weren’t as emotionally or narratively relevant, but they were still quite entertaining, even if they came with a few quibbles. The Joan subplot, for example, while riotously funny – that’s the power of Mo Collins for you – felt like another excuse to get Ben and Tom in the same story. They make for a great comedic team, especially with Ben as the straight man, but, especially considering they were just paired together last week, I fear the show might be over-relying on that combination of characters. Likewise, tonight marked the third episode in a row where Ann was stuck in a side plot, away from all the important action. Now, this is Amy Poehler’s show in many ways, and most of the cast is going to get sidelined from the main action more often than not, but it seems weird that Ann, both as Leslie’s best friend and as someone who had an ongoing plotline last year, wouldn’t have a lot to do right of the bat. Again, these are small quibbles, but I would hate for the show to get caught up in the election storyline and leave every other character behind.

Quotes, Etc:

Yes, that was Dan Castellaneta as the public radio show host and, considering everything that’s going on with The Simpsons right now, it’s probably a good thing that he can still get small parts like this, just in case his day job goes under.

“Sweetums Cares, a nonprofit group that puts umbrella hats on homeless people when it rains.”

“So we had people contribute, and we added pictures, and we removed a lot of my poems and emotional ramblings and my pictures of unicorns, and here it is.”

“Please enjoy a song from the lesbian Afro-Norwegian funk duo, Nefertiti’s Fjord.”

“Oh wow, they are terrible.” “Oh yes, they’re quite awful, but they’re lesbians, so…”

“I started thinking about you as a woman and a person, and I just got carried away.”

“The rest of you, call me when you find the mistake that does not exist.”

“Behind every successful man is me, smiling and taking partial credit.”

“Ben, I’m cute with everyone.”

“Oh god, not the gotcha dancers.”

“That was despeicable. I am horrified at her tactics. That being said, the show was pretty lively. ‘Joan’s gotcha/don’t it hurt cha?’”

“Thought I was dead? So did the president…’s enemies.”

“I will get my one minute of small talk, dammit. It will be CASUAL , and it will be AMICABLE.”

“You were the one who told me that ‘businesses’ needed ‘clients’ to make ‘money’.” “I was the first one to tell you that?”

“You should go back where you came from!” “I am back from where I came from.” That sentence was confusing!”

“Is she gonna powder her vagina?”

“Take it down a notch, Alexis.”

“Leslie, quick, spell your last name for me.”

“Hey Ben, you like Star Trek. Talk about that for a while.”

“I also got this dude’s briefcase, it just lying there. Kind of a panic move.”

“Pawnee Hospital was overrun with raccoons at the time.”

“Did the bone show?” “Good question, April. Answer her.”

“So when I finally cleaned up the vomit, I found the toe.” “I forgot about the toe!” “So did I.”

“I wonder who else was born in Eagleton. Voldemort, probably.”

“You don’t need to tell them a damn thing. The only thing voters need to know about you is your name. And even that I go back and forth on.”

“You know, Nipple Hill. It gets very slippery there, especially when it’s wet.”

“Everyone called you ‘The Gerbil’ because you smelled like soiled wood chips.”