Parts of Rec: "Leslie vs. April"

Left to right: Joe Biden and Amy Poehler

Welcome to Parts of Rec, a new column that will attempt to take the weekly brilliance of NBC show Parks and Recreation and cut it into the bare essentials. After all, time is precious and sometimes you cannot read pages and pages of reviews. While it will be impossible to bottle all of the highlights, I will do my best to cover the plot, as well as memorable moments and just what makes it great in general. Make sure to look for Parts of Rec every Friday following the episode.

Season 5, Episode 7
"Leslie vs. April"

Left to right: Aubrey Plaza, Poehler, and Rashida Jones

"Breakfast food can serve many purposes"

-Ron (Nick Offerman)

Left to right: Aziz Ansari and Nick Offerman

The episode begins with Leslie (Amy Poehler) and Ben (Adam Scott) going back to Washington D.C. to pick up some things. As they peruse the White House, they run into Joe Biden, who gives them a chance to talk. However, Leslie is just obsessed with taking Hillary Clinton's job. As the episode progresses, Ben decides to leave the politics behind and become an accountant. This immediately gets side railed when Tom (Aziz Ansari) asks him for help promoting his Rent A Swag program and getting sponsors. Leslie is busy attending a slideshow that April (Aubrey Plaza) put together about dog parks. Leslie claims that she is proud of her because April is finally reaching her potential. Along with Ann (Rashida Jones), the three look for places for a new dog park before settling on Lot 48, which is an abandoned lot that demands you to wear hazmat suits. Meanwhile Andy (Chris Pratt) is enthusiastically preparing for the day he becomes a police officer. When someone steals his computer, he decides to interrogate everyone in the office with large enthusiasm. Ben and Tom's sponsor meetings all end with them turning down Tom's idea, but offering Ben a job on the basis that he helped with Leslie's campaign. This infuriates Tom. Leslie talks to Ron (Nick Offerman) about the possibility that April is trying to sabotage her by buying Lot 48, to which Ron says just to distract her from doing so. Andy is no closer to finding his computer and seeks advice from Chris (Rob Lowe), who offers him a job as a security guard, which he turns down. Ben and Tom's plan fails to catch on. Andy contemplates giving up on being a cop because he's no good at it. That just leaves the town meeting in which April proposes that they buy Lot 48. Who is back but Jamm (Jon Glaser), who is fighting against them by wanting to buy it out for a burger joint. Leslie, Ann, and April join forces to fight back, leaving an interesting cliff hanger on if they can beat Jamm to buying the lot.

Rating: 5 out of 5

MVP: April (Aubrey Plaza)

It is episodes like this that makes the MVP category almost seem pointless. Every single plot was very enjoyable this week. However, April gets a little nudge ahead of the others on the basis that she manages to have a whole episode centered around her stubbornness  This allows her to be extremely deadpan and funny while also providing plenty of awkward moments. Her desire to buy Lot 48 seems to be done more out of uninspired ideas than desire. It also helps that Leslie also just felt threatened by her, even though there's no actual conflict that Leslie can overthrow.

Adam Scott

Best scene: After last week's episode, I am really wanting to see Ben succeed. His choice to give up on politics seems like an interesting choice, and the continuity with Rent A Swag only provides hope that we'll see more Ben and Tom as well as Jean Ralphio (?). The dynamic is great and the running gag of offering Ben a job is made all the better by Tom's annoyance. However, the real punchline comes at the end during the closing credits when Ben slowly realizes that accounting may be a more stable job, but everything that he's been offered throughout the entire episode is far more interesting and creative. His cry of frustration that caps the episode is brilliant, and I wonder if we'll be dealing with Ben's boring accountant job from now on, or if Tom and Ben will continue working together.

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