It kind of looks like Ben is trying to get Leslie to smell his wrist. That’s the best I’ve got.
After my first time sitting through “Pawnee Commons,” I thought it very well might be the worst episode Parks and Recreation has produced since its rocky first season. After rewatching it a couple of times, I don’t quite agree with that assessment – it’s easily the weakest half-hour the show has produced this year, but it’s more hit-and-miss than outright awful, with a few moments of inspiration shining out amidst a sea of half-assed writing.
Most of the episode feels stale and predictable. It’s easy to see where the two primary plotlines – Leslie’s attempts to reconcile with an affable Eagleton architect who offers to design a park pro bono and Tom’s renovation of retail space for Rent-A-Swag – are going from the moment they’re introduced, and they hit each beat exactly as expected, relying on jokes that mostly feel recycled.
Take, for example, the early moment when Leslie, after looking at Reston St. James’ (the aforementioned Eagletonian, played by Saturday Night Live alum Brad Hall) resume, declares, “This guy is great! I don’t care if he’s some junkie war criminal pimp, I’m not gonna change my mind.” I rolled my eyes harder than Liz Lemon at that line – it’s the kind of obvious setup to a bland punchline you would expect from a Chuck Lorre sitcom, not one of the sharpest comedies on TV.
It’s hardly the only truly bad joke, either. The “character struggling and failing to apologize to someone they loathe” bit is one I feel like I’ve seen a dozen times before, and Parks doesn’t offer any variation on it. It’s just a joke you’ve seen before, told exactly as you expect it to be told. Same goes for the moment when Leslie sprays Reston with shaving cream moments after it’s revealed Reston really is a good guy – the setup is so obvious you see the punchline coming from a mile away.
What’s more, the entirety of Tom’s subplot suffers from this predictability. The moment it’s revealed Tommy Timberlake is no more and that Tom is trying to be fiscally responsible, you know he’ll overdo it, end up with an underwhelming store layout, and have a last-minute change of heart courtesy of a heart-to-heart with another character. Lo and behold, that is exactly what happens. There are some funny moments along the way – Jerry’s confrontation with the raccoon is a personal favorite – but the overall arc feels forced.
The only plot that really pops is Andy and April’s. Burt Macklin remains a hugely entertaining faux-character, and this was as perfect a send-off as one could have hoped for, even it was unfortunately brief and buried in an otherwise-lackluster episode. It nailed the balance between advancing Andy towards the maturity necessary to pursue his law-enforcement dreams and providing all the cockeyed humor one could hope for. Judy Hitler, anyone?
Parks and Rec has never been a hugely innovative show. It has a unique voice, but at its core it’s still a fairly traditional workplace sitcom. To use a jazz metaphor (because our research suggests our audience loves jazz), it’s less avant-garde late-period John Coltrane free jazz – Louie would be the sitcom equivalent of that – and more of an old standard performed in a fresh way. You know the melody, but the notes are played in a way you haven’t heard before. It’s familiar enough to be comforting but new enough to be exciting. “Pawnee Commons,” on the other hand, is like the umpteenth lifeless cover of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” a song so thoroughly overplayed that even the great Louis Armstrong version feels tepid. The material in the episode isn’t bad, it’s just sickeningly familiar.
Dan Harmon, the brilliant former showrunner for Community, often talks about how certain episodes are “pizza.” You want all of the episodes of a series to be filet mignon, but it’s just not possible to fill an entire 24-episode season with A+ episodes week after week. There are inevitably going to be off days. Those are your pizza episodes: They’re good enough and they get the job done, but they’re not going to make any greatest-episode-ever lists.
“Pawnee Commons” is pizza. It’s not even very good pizza. There are a few good slices, mostly those with healthy toppings of Dwyer and Ludgate, but most are cold and undercooked and covered with anchovies.
Tidbits:
–The first and last scenes are both excellent, I should note. Wamapoke County Public Radio is always superb, and April’s 21-gun iPhone salute to Burt Macklin was adorable.
–Ben and Leslie are in a big hurry to get the park design approved, but it’s never explained why. It’s also never mentioned if this is Lot 48 or some other would-be park. Even the exposition is poorly handled this week.
–Thomas M. Haverford gets his business advice from Lee Iacocca.
–NOW ENTERING PAWNEE: Good Luck With That
–“A bat signal, for listeners who might not know, refers to the children’s character The Bat Man, a strong gentleman who fights crime nocturnally.”
–“Don’t you do it, Hitler. Don’t you dare fall in love with me…Aw, Hitler, you sexy bastard.”
–“For real, Tom, this place is sad. I think one of the mannequins tried to commit suicide.”
–“40 years undercover. I never even met my family.”
–“If you need me, you know where to find me: In bed, next to you, probably having sex with you.”
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