Parks and Recreation has been very high-quality this season, and this week’s episode did not disappoint. Although not as funny as the previous episode, “Pawnee Rangers,” it still delivered a lot of laughs and several heartfelt moments. After all, it wouldn’t be Parks and Recreation without those heartwarming scenes, right?
Leslie reaches out to the local businesses in this episode, as “Meet ‘n’ Greet” marks the official beginning of her campaign in running for mayor. And, of course, who best to help her in her economic enterprise besides Tom Haverford, half of the genius behind Entertainment 720? Leslie is all for Tom helping her out, but he gets a bit too eager and manages to turn her meet ‘n’ greet into a “Tom Haverford face appreciation” meet ‘n’ greet. His face is everywhere in the conference room: from Andy Warhol-esque posters, to the rug, to the cake, it’s a Tom Haverford face fest.
Meanwhile, Andy and April decide to host a Halloween party at their house and forget to mention this to Ben, their housemate. It’s obvious that he isn’t exactly thrilled about this, but as he said it himself, he comes from a non-confrontational family. So his way of coping with his displeasure is by bottling up his feelings and only giving subtle hints that he’s annoyed. Not exactly the most effective coping mechanism.
Back at the meet ‘n’ greet, Tom has completely taken over and annoyed Leslie, who—unlike Ben—isn’t afraid to voiceheranger. After the almost-drowning of Tom in the hot tub (which, by the way, is on a limousine), Tom tells Leslie the only reason he was promoting Entertainment 720 so much was because the company has lost all of its money and her meet ‘n’ greet was the last chance for them to score a client.
Andy begins picking up on Ben’s “subtle hints” and starts asking him what’s wrong. Ben, however, keeps saying that he’s fine (which he obviously isn’t). Andy then decides that the only way to get Ben to let out what he’s really feeling is to physically annoy him. This includes sitting on him, wrestling him and holding Ben in a permanent headlock.
During all this, Ron — being Ron — finds out that the sink in the bathroom is leaking. He also finds out that Andy and April don’t own any proper tools, and goes to Lowe’s (still wearing his pirate costume) to buy a toolbox. He then proceeds to fix everything that’s wrong with the house with the help of Ann, who later gets to keep the toolbox that Ron bought, since she’s amazing and their friendship is just so great (as are most, if not all, of the relationships on this show).
At the party, Ben finally gets tired of being in a headlock, and in an attempt to break free, accidentally elbows Andy in the face, and subsequently breaks his nose. It’s all worth it to Andy, though, as Ben finally lets out his feelings. Like I said, the friendships on this show are pretty awesome.
And, of course, Leslie and Tom can’t be left out of the fuzzy friendship mentions. After making up over some food (the best way to do anything, really), Tom shows Leslie the promotional video he made for her, which actually causes Leslie to tear up. The video itself was kind of funny, but it really made me smile to see how much they both mean to each other.
Honestly, this episode really shows why Parks and Recreation is so great. It’s about awesome friendships, and how the most different and unlikeliest of people can have amazing relationships with each other. It’s impossible not to fall in love with this show. Literally.