Two more episodes of Parks and Recreation aired last night, and the second – “Leslie and Ron” – might be one of the best the series has ever produced.
The first episode basically set the stage for the incredible second one. It brought Ron and Leslie’s feud to the point where their friends banded together to put an end to it. It was nice to see the old gang working together, now that everyone is working in different places now.
The second episode was a perfect bottle episode. Leslie and Ron were trapped in a room together trying to work out their differences. I’ll get to the funny stuff in a minute, but the episode was also incredibly emotional. Viewers were able to understand why Leslie was so incredibly upset (Ron didn’t just quit the Parks Department without telling Leslie – his construction company tore down Ann’s old house and put up apartment buildings next to the pit park) and why Ron was too (Ron had planned to ask Leslie for a job at the federal government, which he hates, because he missed his friends – but she stood him up for lunch).
It was the most vulnerable we’ve ever seen Ron Swanson. It reminded us how unlikely this friendship was in the first place, and how much it meant to both of them. And it reminded us just how hilarious they are. Now, here are some of the highlights:
- All the wrong words to We Didn’t Start The Fire.
- Leslie had “Food and Stuff” temporarily shut down because of a health code violation.
- “That new place, Complete Foods.”
- The partially diffused land mine was actually filled with confetti and balloons. The look on Ron’s face when he realized that. “You mean to tell me I have had a toy on my desk for ten years?” “You mean to tell me that you thought you had an actual land mine on your desk?”
- Leslie’s laugh after the land mine says “Congratulations Ron, you have been doing an explosive job!”
- Ron wearing Craig’s yoga clothes.
- Leslie and Ron putting the Parks Department back the way it used to be, to Ron’s song choice Buddy.
- The return of the breakfast food poster!
- We Didn’t Start The Fire with Ron on saxophone.
- Ron and Leslie’s saxophone fart noise.
