Parks and Recreation - "The Trial of Leslie Knope"/"Citizen Knope"

Season 4, Episode 9 & 10

Even though I enjoyed the crap out of last week’s Parks and Recreation, I decided not to write about it because I couldn’t come up with enough to say to justify a review. It, like most of the episodes that the show produces these days, stuck with a specific formula of comedy paired with some last minute pathos, and, while repeated formulas tend to mark the death kneel of a show, this is a formula that is still strong and viable at least for the time being. And instead of repeat myself talking about that formula yet again, I decided to keep my mouth shut.

However, while this week's episode also served that same formula, and in theory should also keep me from writing a review, these two episodes, as well as the one before that, are showing the small variations that the show is doing to this formula to make things even more powerful.

What’s remarkable about these two episodes – and what’s super helpful for reviewing two episodes at once – is that they managed to hit similar characters beats in a way that managed to seem like a build from “The Smallest Park”. For that episode, I commented on how Parks and Recreation has embraced increased serialization, and how I felt that that was good for the show. But what I really meant was that, “hey, they picked up the Ben & Leslie storyline again, that’s good.” It was instead “Citizen Knope” that showed us a more across the board serialization, and to dissect this further, I’m going to breakdown the stories of the two most recent episodes character by character.

Leslie: The one thing that’s really been missing from Leslie’s run for city council has been the acknowledgment of the possibility that Leslie might be possibly, very slightly corrupt. Though this is a hard thing to swallow, given that we see that Leslie rarely has anything other than the best, most selfless intentions in her actions (except when it comes to Ben, Eagleton, or waffles), her overly friendly nature with those that work below her means that she sometimes crosses the line in regards to inter-departmental relationships – and that was before Ben showed up.

And as much as we want to give her relationship with Ben a pass because its true love or whatever, that doesn’t change the fact that what she did was wrong. Sleeping with the boss usually is, but the show’s rarely defined their working hierarchy in explicit terms, probably the better for us to accept the “rightness” of their relationship. The show even lulled us into a false sense of security last week as to the severity of their transgression. Though Ben did have to give up his job for her – no small feat – Leslie is still out entry point into the series, and we identify with her more, and thus the measly two-weeks suspension she got tends to lessen out interpretation of how “bad” she really acted. (It also helps that Ben’s self-sacrifice was done out of the name of love. He gets to be with the one he loves, so the cost to him seems equally lessened.)

But the show uses that false sense to deliver a real gut-punch this week, as we see the real cost of her actions: The public no longer trusts her, and with her poll ratings dropping from 26% to 1%, she loses her campaign managers as well. Again, as the audience for this show we are to believe that Leslie has done nothing wrong – Ben and her are meant to be, dammit! – so this action hits even harder. We don’t see Leslie in need of the comeuppance or the humility that this development brings to her; we see her as the wronged party. But the show has also raised the stakes by bringing this storyline back to reality, and that will make for better drama later this season.

                                                               

Ben: As much as I have enjoyed the Ben and Leslie relationship, the one problem on their end has been the fact that it often feels as if Leslie has the controlling interest in their relationship. A lot of this is due to the fact of who Leslie is, and while I have nothing against strong women and I understand that sometimes that is the power dynamic that exists in relationships, that doesn’t necessarily make for the most interesting iteration of Ben. Sure, he’s very good at calming Leslie down and preventing her from going overboard with her ideas, but he doesn’t have as active as a role that makes for interesting TV viewing.

That changed last week , as we saw Ben take the fall for Leslie, after spending so much time being there for her during the trial, and it really elevated his stake in the relationship. But “Citizen” was an even more important episode for the character, because he now how as arc outside of his relationship with Leslie; he’s now on a journey of self-discovery. I have no illusions about what this will bring – he will probably still be boring, shy ol’ Ben, in need of an Andy or a Jean-Ralphio to come along every once in a while and give him the swift kick in the ass that he needs to get going – but Ben’s entire adult life has been defined by accounting, and seeing him break out of the zone is going to be really interesting to watch.

Chris: Perhaps the greatest thing about “Trial” – which was a really strong episode overall – was that that it marked the show finally finding a way to play a note with Chris that wasn’t just about his extremely genial nature or his obsession with health and fitness, even if there was plenty of that too. No, what last week’s episode did was that it allowed Chris to become almost villainous in his actions, as we began to see his dark side take over. Now of course Chris being who he is, he couldn’t have become too villainous, so his actions were really just based on him trying to uphold the law, even if that meant selling his friend down the river. But even if Chris was technically in the right, that doesn’t stop his actions – specifically the tenaciousness with which he went after a co-worker for a relatively minor offense – from belaying the fact that he’s got a destructive tendency to overdo it when it comes to morality.

And it was this fact that put his actions in “Citizen” into a new light. While there was nothing inherently wrong with Chris making Leslie abide by her suspension as there was with his character assassination of her at the trial – he was after all just enforcing another rule, and not even with the same amount of dangerous gusto as before – I couldn’t help but see the strain on his face at the repeated need to keep Leslie away. Chris may be all smiles and warmth on the outside, but on the inside there exists a much darker impulse to destroy all of those that cross him. And while he was barely able to keep it down with the help of supplements, there will come a day when he can’t, and then all hell is going to break loose.

The Parks Department: Here, I think, is the strongest development of these two episodes, even if Chris’s was the more important/interesting. Perhaps I should explain. The individual members of the Parks Department have been sketched out for quite some time now, even Jerry and Donna, who didn’t join the main cast until the third season, and the show has made good use of the ensemble cast by spinning them off into as many permutations as possible. But rarely has the show presented them as a unified front. They’ve all been in the same storyline together, sure, but only as a group of co-workers, never as a team.

Of course Leslie Knope would be the one to change all that. We have seen time and time again how her tenacious yet caring nature has won the loyalty and admiration of those she works with, and it no surprise that they would help her out when she was down. But seeing them running errands for her to help her out with her case was perhaps the sweetest outpouring of their support up to that point. And that was built upon even more tonight, when the episode closed out with the entire department (minus Jerry/Gary, who wasn’t aware he needed to establish a position for himself of her campaign team) offered up their services for her election run. It was a moving show of support, one that ended aptly: “Ron Swanson. Any other damn thing you might need.”

And that exactly as it should be. I expect this campaign won’t be so smooth going forward – this is a crazy bunch of folks helping her out, and I’m sure the Hatch Act will come into play at some point – but for now these two episodes served to remind us of the warm and accepting world that Leslie resides in, and that’s just the way the show should close out the season.

Quotes and Other Thoughts:

“I am of course shocked – and not just because Ben usually prefers tall brunettes.”

“What’s happening? Are you hugging me, or are we fighting? Hugging or fighting?”

“That you so much for making my life so wonderful.” “You’re welcome.” “I was talking to him.” “Of course.”

“For me, a slap on the wrist is like a kick to the nuts.”

“His nickname was Old Stoneface, because of his steely demeanor. Also, because he got in an accident down at the rock quarry, and dynamite blew up in his face.”

“And now my mouth feels like a spaceship.”

“And she nobly accepted her punishment: to be set adrift on Lake Michigan like a human popsicle.”

“Ann, I need you text me every 30 seconds that everything’s going to be okay.”

“He said to look at the monster, whatever that means.”

“Ann! Ben and I hooked up last night. AHHHHH! And I learned how to use iMovie! Call me later! Bye!”

“The only thing that was ravaged were these federal grant proposals.”

“Leslie have fun with this trial, yay!”

“’Any woman caught laughing is a witch.’ That’s true.”

“Uh, let it out, I guess?”

*********

“I’m much faster than you! I have bumbleflex!”

“You might want to stop saying ‘resigned in disgrace.’ Especially during job interviews.”

“These are the Black Eyed Peas. And I finally killed them. It’s a Christmas miracle.”

“Menorah, maybe?....No? Then I got you a tree ornament.”

“Strawberry margaritas!...Another use for salgar!”

“Mmmm, tastes like Fruit Loops.”

“Yes, because like the drug PCP, we are so fast-moving that we should be illegal.”

“Pretty damn amazing, Diane. So, shush.”

“Go throw up.”

“The fact that Yahtzee is not in the Rec center is a tragedy on par with human trafficking. Okay, a slight exaggeration.”

“Don’t touch my pickles, Ann!”

“Then she ripped the hair from my b-hole.”

“And I love you guys – and Ann specifically – and all of you!”

“And a javelin, if I need be.”