Ben's Parents

By John Richards

Let’s celebrate the return of Jean-Ralphio in his very own style:

Engagement Party.
Ben’s Parents.
Divorced.
Asian Girlfriend.
Mike from Breaking Bad!
Metaphorical Unity Quilt.
Crying.
Breakdown.
No More Tissues.
Twizzlers Better Than Red Vines. Say Whaaaaat?
Surprise Pregnancy.
Ultimate Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp Showdown.

Forced Wedding Attendance.
Investment Opportunity Presentation.
Taxi Makeout Session.

Imma hit the couch, you know I be.

John is currently pursuing a JD/MBA at Santa Clara University School of Law. He likes sports, technology, and of course television. Follow him on twitter @j_rich or check out his blog www.johnericrichards.com.

Parks n Rec's Heartfelt Halloween. Also, Fart Attack

By John Richards

“Am I interrupting something important?”

“Impossible. I work for the government.”

I’ve always wondered why every sitcom feels like it needs to make holiday episodes for their shows. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentines Day. I guess holiday parties are easy situations for writers to feature characters’ zany antics. However, this past week’s episode of Parks and Recreation, or Parks n Rec for us diehards, managed to weave some major drama in with the usual Halloween lulz.

First, we find out Ron is continuing his relationship with Xena: Warrior Princess, Lucy Lawless, Vice Principal Diane, who has invited him to come trick or treating with her and her little girls. Andy invited himself along as well. April being in Washington DC with Ben has allowed the show to pair Ron and Andy together a lot more this season, resulting in hilarious Andy-ness with Ron looking on with disapproval.

Meanwhile, Councilwoman Knope has been looking for a house for her and Ben to move into together, after Ben comes back from DC. After learning that no house comes equipped with a trampoline room, she decides to lease one anyways, resulting in a celebratory rave feat. Anne.


The Parks Department is hosting a scary movie party in the courtyard of the city offices, providing an opportunity for everyone to dress up in costumes. Donna is addicted to Twitter. Snooze. Moving on.

Ben calls Leslie to say that he might be taking another campaign manager job in Florida. But Leslie just signed a lease for that house, oh no! Leslie is bummed about Ben, so Anne says let’s go scare Tom, but instead they frighten Jerry, who promptly has a fart attack heart attack. Leslie kicks into her “Save insert cause here!” mode and holds a garage sale/live auction to raise money for Jerry’s medical bills. The entire garage sale auction bit was quite unfunny, although Tom did discover a new business idea: Rent-a-Swag. I really hope this means the return of Jean-Ralphio. *fingers crossed*

Back to the other plotline, Diane left her kids with Ron to continue trick or treating while she attended to a poop incident at the school. Of course, Ron has no idea what to do and ruins the rest of the night. At the Save Jerry garage sale auction, Diane confronts Ron about the ordeal. Unable to admit fault, Ron further angers Diane who storms off in rage (personally I wouldn’t piss off Xena, but this IS Ron Swanson that we’re talking about). April, oh yeah she is back from DC now, makes fun of Ron being sad about losing Diane. This makes Ron realize that he does want to continue with Diane, so he does something completely un-Swanson-esque -- apologize.

Back to Leslie, Ben calls and says the Florida guy really wants him to run his campaign. Leslie is even more sad, but while visiting him in the hospital, Jerry drops a wisdom bomb on her about life happiness. Leslie decides that her future with Ben can wait while he chases his career goals. While Leslie is trying to get out of the lease that she just signed, SURPRISE, Ben shows up and gets down on a knee and proposes to Leslie. Awwwww.

Now the gang’s all back together and the show can return to normalcy. It was great to see the show use the annual Halloween episode to further develop characters and plug in some treat, rather than a half an hour of stale tricks. Can’t wait for next week solely because of the title: Ben’s Parents.

John is currently pursuing a JD/MBA at Santa Clara University School of Law. He likes sports, technology, and of course television. Follow him on twitter @j_rich or check out his blog www.johnericrichards.com.

Ms Knope Goes to Washington

By Erin Jackson

The episode of Parks and Rec opens with Leslie Knope saying "Romantic reunions, government meetings, self-guided museum tours? I mean, am I living the dream? I don't know. Did I also just walk past a food truck and buy myself a waffle sundae? Yes." And it seemed like she was finally in her perfect Leslie Knope element. As Leslie and Andy sightsee their way through DC, her joy and enthusiasm are at maximum levels.

 Things start to go south when Ben can't join Leslie on any museum tours, not even to see George Washington's farewell address candle stand. Then the Department of the Interior dude wouldn't meet with Leslie and she had to add her perfect proposal presentation (complete with ambient sound effects and video of frolicking river otters) into a large, dismal and overflowing pile. And as Ben introduced her to all the Hot Rebeccas and Barbara Boxers, she starts to see that DC views her as just another sad folder in a sad pile to be ignored and forgotten.

 Sad Leslie makes sad Erin. Leslie Knope is my number one TV hero on the air right now. If there were just one Leslie Knope at every level of government, this world would be an amazing place. So when Leslie is discouraged, when others make her feel like some backwoods rube for staying in her hometown and taking pride in her work, my heart aches. Oh, when they said "local government is SO important" I wanted to throw water in the faces of all those C-SPAN and Neiman Marcus love children.

 Meanwhile, back in Pawnee, Ron takes over a BBQ and Ron Swanson's it up with a live pig, no vegetables (not even corn), no plates, not activities and pretty soon neither he nor the Parks Department can take it anymore. He rides off with the BBQ grill in tow, leaving the others dusty, hungry and cranky.

 These were dark times for the Pawnee Parks Department. But in this group of beautiful, sweet people, you can only wallow in self-pity so long before someone is there to lift you out of it. Ron is put in his place by Chris, and Ron makes up for his Ron-ing up by giving a little indoor BBQ and corn feast. For Leslie, the lifter-upper Andy. Sweet, stupid Andy. He tells her that she's better than Hot Rebecca- she's kick-ass Leslie, and she never gives up because she's an amalgam (you'll get it right someday, Andy). That's just the thing Leslie needs to hear and by the end of the episode, she's out of that disgusting swamp of DC and knee-deep in the disgusting Pawnee River, only this time she's taking things into her own hands, making river-clean up her office hours so she can hear people's concerns while improving the river. Then I'm kind of bummed because I can't vote for Leslie Knope for everything.

But at least she is happy, for now. However, if Ben Wyatt doesn't get his butt out of DC and back into Leslie's arms, not only will Leslie punch his face, but I don't really know if they can make things work. I sure hope that I'm wrong, because Ben and Leslie make me happy and this show exists to make me happy. Perhaps the show will yet again show us that with the right people you can have very different folks making each other happy, no matter what.

Erin Floyd Jackson has been BFFs with TV since she was a wee one when she would play TV Network Executive. She went to school to learn about how and why TV is the way it is and hopes to someday tear someone's creative vision down and re-edit it to her liking. In the meantime, she and her husband live in Huntsville, Alabama and they occasionally "blog" here (http://inappropriateapplause.tumblr.com/) when they are not geeking out over all the SCIENCE! in the Rocket City.