It seems that we here at Tangled Up in Wires aren’t the only ones trying to spread the gospel of Parks and Rec. The show has really been clicking all season long, and while last night’s episode, “The Fourth Floor,” wasn’t as laugh out loud funny as “The Hunting Trip,” it did manage to showcase the improvements the show has made and continued to distance itself greatly from its first season. Starting with a gag reminiscent of Jack’s demotion on 30 Rock, “The Fourth Floor” put on display a show that has stepped out of the shadow of it’s more popular older brother that follows it.
The plot of the episode was fairly simple. Tom and his wife finally got their green card marriage annulled, and Leslie was trying to do everything she could to cheer him up, mainly by having the office take him out to Jerry’s favorite restaurant, Jurrasic Fork. But when Ron, still the only one that knows the truth about the Haverford wedding, asks if it’s okay to ask Wendy out for her “perfect spooning size,” Tom spirals into real depression. Leslie tries even harder to cheer him up, taking him to a strip club, going against everything she stands for. But still this doesn’t cheer him up, and Leslie has to bring him back to Wendy, who’s already on a date, leading her to scold both Wendy and Ron. Tom tells her in the morning, and we got a rare genuine moment from two characters who last season were caricatures of sitcom archetypes and have developed into characters worth rooting for.
The b-story pitted Andy and Mark against each other in pool. Andy was playing to scheme his way into winning Ann back, while Mark was playing at first to embarrass him and later to get him to stop annoying the couple every time they’re together. Andy’s lovable goofiness has been the one thing that has tied over nicely from Season One, but even I was growing tired of his constant antagonizing of Mark. In the end, he manned up and told them he’d love them alone, but not before making sure that Ann wasn’t chasing after him. We’ll see how true to his word he stays, but I think it would be refreshing to see Ann and Mark actually do something with their relationship other than defend it against Andy. That also would mean more Rashida Jones, which I think would help Parks and Rec greatly. She definitely won over a lot of fans on The Office, despite being the wedge between Jim and Pam, so it’d be great to see what happens if her character expands.
I mentioned at the start that I thought “The Fourth Floor” showed off the improvements the show has made while not being the most stellar episode. If you watched Season One, you saw that the characters were far too broad. Leslie was a female Michael Scott, and Amy Pohler didn’t fit into her shoes. But this season, rather than seeing Leslie as being friendless and alone, she’s naive, making the best of what she has while dreaming of, but not counting on, bigger, brighter things. Ron has become more than a scowling foil and has turned into the funniest character on the show. Even Tom, a total jackass, now has a whole new depth to him, making him sympathetic. Jerry and Donna’s emergence from the background has also worked well. Parks and Recreation is a well oiled machine firing at all cylinders all season long. If you’re not watching, you really should be.
Other Notes:
- April in the dinosaur hat: priceless. We need more Aubrey Plaza on this show.
- Jerry goes to Jurrasic Fork three times a week and still giggles at the puns.
- Ann’s bit about splitting the check was like Pam Beasley combined with Larry David.
- Ron at the breakfast buffet may have been the funniest part of this episode.
- Actually, the glitter bomb was pretty hilarious too.
Michael’s Score: 80
Tangled Up In Wires Grade: B+
Michael
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