Just What I Was Looking For

After a snooze-fest episode of The Office, I was pleasantly surprised to watch a much more upbeat and rewarding episode of Parks and Recreation. This was a really great episode for many reasons. First of all, this was Amy Poehler’s debut as both a writer and director of an episode, so she was really a triple threat tonight, because the episode was squarely about her character, too. Next, there were some great guest stars tonight, most notably Paul Rudd.

Am I the only one who kind of hopes Paul Rudd does win the election, so that he ends up as Leslie’s Boss (in some weird nonsensical turn of events) and they have to work together and become best friends? I mean, I know I’m a huge Paul Rudd fan and I’ll pretty much watch anything he’s in, but I really really love him on this show. This show has had a lot of great guest stars, including Megan Mullally, Parker Posey, Louis CK, and more, but I think Mr. Rudd may just take the cake as the best of the bunch. Every time he’s on camera I’m cracking up. And come on, it’s not the worst idea ever, right? That’s how Adam Scott and Rob Lowe became recurring stars! They started out as guest stars and stuck around. Fingers crossed….

Anyway, another great guest star was Mo Collins, who is always hilarious as the local reporter with a vendetta against Leslie. She works in tandem with Perd Hapley to slant the media in any other direction possible and stir up trouble. Her lines were pretty brief and basic tonight, but I still ate up every word.

Other high points included Ron Swanson’s regal climb up the telephone pole, juxtaposed by Andy’s scene-stealing rendition of his favorite action movies. This was on top of his unforgettable scenes with Aubrey, in which they pretended to be the nouveau riche of Pawnee, Indiana, complete with obnoxious laughs, trite figures of speech and wonderful sweaters. I don’t know what it is about Aubrey Plaza, but she’s got the kind of looks and demeanor that she could literally play a park bench and I could watch it for hours. She is definitely one of the quirkiest and stylish actresses out there, and I think of all positive consequences of having Parks and Recreation on the air, introducing us to this vixen is on top!

What do you guys think will happen next week? Will Leslie pull even? Will Bobby pull out of the race? We’ll have to wait and see!