Parts of Rec: "Two Parties"

Left to right: Rashida Jones, Amy Poehler, Rhetta, and Kyle Robinson

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 10
"Two Parties"

Nick Offerman

“I’m sorry, I’m not in the mood for historical nudity.” 

–Leslie (Amy Poehler)

*This week, I am playing catch-up to Parks and Recreation. Expect a daily recap until we reach the current episode. That recap will be made available on Friday. After that, the schedule will return to releasing them on Fridays.

With Ben (Adam Scott) and Leslie (Amy Poehler) officially getting married, their friends decide to throw bachelor parties. The girls, lead by Ann (Rashida Jones) decide to have an indoor party with many penis-shaped things and a Abraham Lincoln stripper (Kyle Robinson). Meanwhile, Ben is fine staying at home and drinking beer while playing board games. However, when Leslie discovers that her rival Jamm (Jon Glaser) has taken initiative over a plot of land that she was also going after, she begins getting bummed out. She brings her party down and they end up going to the construction site to dig. Tom (Aziz Ansari) and Chris (Rob Lowe) decide that Ben's party is too boring, so they begin doing a bachelor party where someone picks an activity and they do it. It includes: mixology drinking, catching a football from Andrew Luck, getting bumped from a table by Newt Gingrich, and driving around while listening to "Shoop." When everyone gets together the next day, it turns out that Ben's story is fascinating to Shauna (Alison Becker), who plans to write a story about it. Meanwhile, Leslie and hopeful park sponsor Ken (Jonathan Joss) talk to Jamm about him breaking the shared promise that they wouldn't use the land until their agreed deadline. Leslie is happy.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Rashida Jones

MVP: Ann (Rashida Jones)

Probably the master of this week's odd level of penis jokes. She is so adamant about making a bachelorette party work that she is eating penis-shaped gummies beforehand. It is crazy, ridiculous, and her choice to hire a Abraham Lincoln stripper because it is a fantasy of Leslie's only shows commitment to trying to make Leslie feel good, even with Jamm officially ruining the mood. True, Rhetta kind of wins with wisecracks such as "We paid for an hour, you dig for an hour" as she tells the stripper to dig, but Ann is practically in charge of making sure everything goes right somehow. She is a real trooper and this is one of those great moments where we see her leadership.

Left to right: Adam Scott, Offerman, and Aziz Ansari

Best scene: The male side of this episode was jam packed with great moments. While some seemed more farfetched than others, including Andy (Chris Pratt) playing football, and Jerry (Jim O'Heir) losing a table to Newt Gingrich seems crazy, it was a great juxtaposition to an otherwise wallflower of a character. Still, nothing seemed more endearing than the contrast between Tom and Ron (Nick Offerman) on the definition of alcohol. When they went to the mixology bar and Ron is just furious about how they serve drinks, it is priceless to see Tom in full bliss while everyone else feels awkward.