NBC's Parks and Recreation - Episode 6.05 Gin It Up
Leslie tries to calm a minor scandal that gets blown out of proportion; Tom tries to impress a new love interest (Tatiana Maslany); and Ben convinces Ron to prepare his last will and testament.
"Gin It Up" is a nice return to form for Parks and Recreation. The two prior episodes weren't bad, per se. They just functioned on auto-pilot and chose to embrace the more annoying qualities of its leading lady. The balance of who Leslie Knope is is a very tricky line to balance. It's a line the show has mostly perfected but every now and again it still can fall over to the wrong side. She is hard-working and inspirational but how she tries to get stuff done can come across as annoying or unlikable. "Gin It Up" actually addressed this issue really quite well while simultaneously making her seem redeemable and likable. For the most part at least. When she gave the basket of cosmetics to Donna, it crossed the line again.I also appreciate it when Donna is at the center of a bigger story. And Twitter Watergate was quite the story. She mistakenly tweeted something from Parks and Recreation twitter account instead of her own. And that quickly got blown way out of proportion by Jamm - who is eager to help the Committee to Recall Knope. It was true to how the town would overreact to the scandal and how trivial Leslie, Chris and Donna thought it all was. #BossBitch
Elsewhere the two subplots were both equally pleasant. I have yet to watch Tatiana Maslany on Orphan Black but I loved her here as a normal person perplexed by all the weirdness she sees in Pawnee. And Ron and Ben is always a reliable pairing. Heading to Trevor the attorney's office to make a will for Ron was very funny as well as heartfelt at the end. And hey, Ron can make a joke deliberately - he just doesn't care for it.
Some more thoughts:
- Donna: "Why don't you just put the 'Don't' in front of 'Recall Knope'?"
- Ron: "That folder in my hands is more deadly than this weapon in yours."
- Ron: "The three most useless jobs in the world are, in order, lawyer, congressman and doctor."
- Jamm: "This will be blown way out of proportion, you have my word on it."
- April: "So, you've gone insane. That's fun."
- Tom: "I am in love with Nadia, whatever her last name is."
- Leslie: "We're not witches. That's sexist and offensive."
- How much money would you ballpark Ron has?
