Meanwhile, Ben’s settling into his new role as City Manager, after Chris minted him into the role last episode. After Ben and Leslie’s jaunt to Paris, he’s back and coming up with arbitrary new rules to “enhance productivity.” To get their own back on him for these rules, Donna, April, Andy, and Jerry decide to get together and prank him about it just to loosen things up a little bit. Seeing that he brought some illegal cheese back from France – unpasteurized cheese being more dangerous than sub-machine guns – and is offering it to all and sundry around the office, they persuade some local cops to arrest him and take him down the station to rough him up a little bit. His initial response is to issue a new set of rules forbidding pranks on Ben, but after some persuasion from Andy, he decides to prank them right back.
This is where the genius of Andy and Ben combined comes in. He’s an egregious loveable goon, as everybody knows, and when you mix that up with Ben’s usually low key neurotic straight man act, it makes for some great chemistry. When Andy runs in and tells the gang that Ben has got a prank planned, and that it’s gone way too far as Ben arrives, sweating and distracted, it’s really funny. It was nice to not have any bigger message about family or politics or the role of government. Instead, we just got some silliness, which seems to have dissipated somewhat from recent episodes, most of Andy’s scenes aside, and it was nice to see some gang shenanigans again. April being really impressed that Ben covered her in fake blood felt just right as well, because of course she’d enjoy that.
One final thing to touch on is that Ann and Chris seem to be just treading water until their time is up, I think. The whole thing about Chris proposing to Ann was nice in and of itself but it didn’t really add anything besides Jerry choking in the courtyard, and to end the episode with literally nothing gained was a bit galling really. I mean, last week they discovered the sex of their baby – this week they realized that they don’t have to get married? I’m guessing literally nobody was wondering when they’d get married, because their relationship doesn’t seem to need it, as they realized this episode. It had no point, but it was a nice enough way to kill an episode before they leave, I guess.
Random Robservations:
- Congratulations on your win Amy! Richly deserved, and very well done.
- Go Tom!
- Ron’s reaction to winning Government Employee of the Month award was great.
Until next time, Parks and Recreation fans!