Rob Lowe and Adam Scott made their debut last night on 'Parks and Recreation' and my god was it amazing. This show has been stellar since day one, so while an injection of star power and hilarity was not needed, it was totally welcome. The two play state auditors sent from the governor's office to help fix Pawnee's budget woes.
The city of Pawnee is "bordering on a full blown crisis." At this point Ron Swasnon makes his first priceless face of the ep. The thought that the budget problems will force the government to cut back has Ron so giddy he can hardly contain himself.
Rob Lowe, the superior in the duo, is upbeat, in your face and an all around freak. When he first meets Ron and Leslie, in lieu of the customary handshake, he slowly repeats the name of the person he is meeting while shoving a finger in their face. During the ep, Leslie comes to meet with Scott and Lowe is in the office with a bunch of bottles of vitamins on his desk, "Would you like a vitamin, B-12, evening primrose oil, willaber, magnesium... I take care of my body above all else: diet, exercise, supplements, positive thinking. Scientists believe that the first human being who will live 150 years has already been born. I believe I am that human being." Leslie, "I'm here to speak with Ben actually." Lowe, "Great I'm going to listen to some ocean sounds and do some chin-ups."
When describing his role to the gang from the Parks Department, "We are here to tinker with your budget. Think of the government as a broken down carousel. We are gonna slap on a new coat of paint. We are gonna fix that broken speaker system. And get those happy kids back up on the horses where they belong." Adam Scott plays the perfect foil to this euphemistic nut job. Being the more practical and hands-on of the duo, he meets with Ron and Leslie to discuss budget cuts, "I'ld like to talk about where you think there is waste within your department." Ron's response is priceless, "What exactly will you be cutting, and how much of it, and can I watch you do it while eating pork cracklins?" The juxtaposition of Leslie and Ron's contrasting views of government comes to a front in this episode. Obviously Leslie is terrified of cutbacks, so Scott gives it to her straight, "Ok, you need to understand that just to keep this city afloat we probably have to cut the budget of every department by forty to fifty percent." Ron's response can only be described as restrained jubilation. And of course, Leslie is irate, "but Chris (Rob Lowe) said that you just had to tinker with things." Scott responds, "Ya, he said that because that sounds a lot better than we are going to gut it with a machete." At this point, while making a stabbing motion, Ron lets out a cackle and produces golden face number two.
The subplot of the episode is the love story between April and Andy. The two have been beating around the bush for most of the season, and when it appeared that they were going to have their first date a few episodes back Andy pulled away when April was not let into a bar for being underage. Andy is 29 and in this episode April is turning 21, so she is excited and believes this is the night for her and Andy. The hitch in her plan is that Ann, Andy's ex, is also at the party and wasted because she just broke up with Mark. Andy offers to get April a drink, but when he reaches the bar Ann is right there and wants to talk about their failed relationship. This takes the classic dumb guy turn, as Andy takes way too much time talking with Ann, April gets jealous, and the two do not hit it off. I'm not sure what my feelings are towards this development, my assumption is that the two would end up together at some point. And even with this snag, I still think they will. But I do not know if I care to see them get together. Regardless this was an averagely funny subplot, and at times was even annoying and awkward. Comedies often strive for that 'funny awkward' but it usually just ends up being annoyingly awkward and I rarely enjoy them. To me this was not the good kind of awkward.
Another subplot involves Tom. He invites a bunch of good looking women to April's birthday party thinking that he could "end the night with 1 to 4 girlfriends." Obviously he cannot close the deal with any of them. But in a wicked turn of fate, while paying for his bar tab the next day he successfully asks out the semi-cute barkeep. Good for Tom, love to see him happy after that green-card marriage ended so poorly.
The episode ends with Ron and Leslie presenting their cuts of 35% to Lowe and Scott. Lowe is impressed, but regrets that the point is moot because their investigation has revealed that the situation in Pawnee is much worse than originally anticipated. So much so that "effective tomorrow morning the entire government will be shut down until further notice." Queue Ron's third beauty face.
This episode was the prelude to the season finale next week. Bringing in Lowe and Scott was incredible. The two are perfect foils for each other and insanely funny. But even more than that, they bring out the best in Ron and Leslie. I can't wait to see what happens next week!
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