Where the previous episode "Pawnee Zoo" was where the characters were first forming into the lovable personalities they would go onto become down the road, this is the first episode with a real sense of humour in my opinion. It still isn't spectacular but it's where Ron, April and Andy first get some real nice material to work with.
Ron's hernia and the resultant comedy is both true to the show's sense of humour and true to the character. Ron would rather sit in one place than ask anyone for the most basic of help (getting a ride to the hospital) at least until a certain April Ludgate comes to him. April herself finally gets some material and her back and forth with Ron is superb.
Andy living in the pit and being caught by the stakeout team of Leslie and Tom is great and him reluctantly agreeing to get into the van despite apparently waiting for a guy to show up for a rock fight is an absolutely hilarious throwaway line that adds such a necessary punch of humour to it all. It undercuts the creepiness of what he's doing ever so slightly but at the same time, just perfectly.
It's great to see Louis CK make his first appearance here and his role in season 2 certainly elevates the episodes he's seen (see "Greg Pikitas" for example). The Mark/Ann stuff is just OK but the way the narrative works around them (first the stake out and later the arrest) makes it all worthwhile.
Review by SLionsCricketBlockedParent2020-03-23T23:21:00Z
Where the previous episode "Pawnee Zoo" was where the characters were first forming into the lovable personalities they would go onto become down the road, this is the first episode with a real sense of humour in my opinion. It still isn't spectacular but it's where Ron, April and Andy first get some real nice material to work with.
Ron's hernia and the resultant comedy is both true to the show's sense of humour and true to the character. Ron would rather sit in one place than ask anyone for the most basic of help (getting a ride to the hospital) at least until a certain April Ludgate comes to him. April herself finally gets some material and her back and forth with Ron is superb.
Andy living in the pit and being caught by the stakeout team of Leslie and Tom is great and him reluctantly agreeing to get into the van despite apparently waiting for a guy to show up for a rock fight is an absolutely hilarious throwaway line that adds such a necessary punch of humour to it all. It undercuts the creepiness of what he's doing ever so slightly but at the same time, just perfectly.
It's great to see Louis CK make his first appearance here and his role in season 2 certainly elevates the episodes he's seen (see "Greg Pikitas" for example). The Mark/Ann stuff is just OK but the way the narrative works around them (first the stake out and later the arrest) makes it all worthwhile.
Solid episode.