I’ve been singing the praises of Parks and Rec all season so far, and I know that I already declared “Ron and Tammy” was the best episode yet, but that was because we had yet to see “Hunting Trip,” an episode that has set Parks and Rec into a league of it’s own. No longer is it the little sister to “The Office.” This season, Parks and Rec has figured out how to use it’s terrific cast within their characters, and its starting to pay off, big time.
“Hunting Trip” involved the annual hunting trip taken by Ron, Mark, and Jerry, which they get in exchange for Ron allowing the rangers to use his cabin. Leslie continues to just want to be one of the guys, and she maneuvers herself, Ann, Tom, and Donna onto the trip. Once there, we see that Jerry is accepted by his peers in the woods, that Ann actually likes shooting things, and that Leslie proves to be a better guy than Ron would have expected. So good in fact, that she usurps his place as the leader of the hunt and gets her first bird before he does. When they split up to compete, things go horribly awry when Ron gets shot in the head, bringing in the park rangers and reminding us that Ann is a nurse.
Though Ann knows that Leslie is not the real culprit, Leslie covers for the real shooter by admitting to the shooting. After surviving, being tackled by Donna, whose car was hit in the incident, Leslie gets questioned by a park ranger who’s determined to conclude she shot Ron because she is a woman in one of the episode’s finest moments. Amy Pohler’s riff on the various reasons why she, as a woman, would have shot someone in the head was priceless, showing off the talents of a superb comedian.
When Ron comes around after taking too many pills and drinking too much, he harshly berates Leslie for shooting him. This is too much for Ann, who grabs Tom and tells him she knows he was the actual shooter. I loved that despite the possibility that he could be in a lot of trouble, Tom still found a way to be a sexist jerk. When he admits to Ron his mistake, and that Leslie covered for him because without a hunting license, he could have gone to jail, Ron realizes that Leslie is in fact, “a good guy.”
While all of this is going on, April and Andy are stuck back in the office while April waits to get off hold to report a number for Leslie. They turn the time into a bonding session, filled with Marco Polo, spit takes, and tossing the football around. April offers to give Andy a hickey to make Ann jealous, which he agreed to (“I’m going to go sterilize my neck”). Could it be that we have a budding relationship between April and Andy? Maybe, but either way, it’d be great to have these two together more, somehow their conflicting demeanors go together very well and could work well as the show goes on.
I may sound like a broken record here, but if you’re not watching this show, you’re missing out big time. Not only are the jokes funny and the episodes well written, but the cast is fantastic. Amy Pohler has emerged from the shadow of SNL and Michael Scott to create a uniquely odd, funny, and sweet character that’s easy to root for. The Office comparisons may stick around for a while as the two shows are linked by creator Gregg Daniels, but Parks and Rec so far this season has been the star of the NBC comedy lineup. While it might not be able to give 30 Rock a run for it’s money come Emmy time (the voters just love it too much), Parks and Rec has helped to make Thursday night on NBC Must See TV yet again.
Other Notes:
- Ann pantsing Tom at the end: classic.
- Donna is a pretty funny character. I couldn’t believe she was hardly used in Season 1.
- The only show last night to not do Green Week, and they did an episode on hunting. Love it!
Michael’s Score: 90
Tangled Up In Wires Grade: A
Michael
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