[7.7/10] Plenty of great stuff in this one. Anytime Leslie has a moral dilemma, particularly one as low stakes as whether to fib about whether the possum she caught is the possum, it makes for a good episode. Leslie’s struggle with whether to take the credit for nabbing “Fairway Frank” and pick up a chit from the mayor’s office in the process, or to be honest that she’s not sure if it’s really him and save a potentially innocent possum is a good one. It has great talking head segments (like the one about Leslie asking herself questions) and other fun stuff like her frantic insistence that April help.
April’s help is a nice deal too. She worries about the fact that Andy caught the possum, because Shawna Malway-Tweep suggests it might win him Anne back. Andy’s boasting and preening in front of “the press” and April’s quiet frustration makes for a nice contrast. And her and Leslie freaking out and hiding and chasing when the possum gets loose in Anne’s house makes for some great comic setpieces. (The same goes for Tom fleeing in a panic as soon as he sees the possum.)
The B-story is a good one too. Mark helping Ron get his woodshop up to code, despite Ron’s insistence that the city code shouldn’t apply to him and his libertarian leanings is another great instance of Ron bending his own principles a little bit because someone is being kind to him. His smile after running the book with the city code in it through a saw and the perturbed noise he makes when he has to then go back and try to read it are both great. It’s a nice Mark-Ron story, which we don’t get much of. (Sidenote: I didn’t expect to have this reaction on rewatch, but I’ve actually really enjoyed Mark as the straight man this season. Still love what happens next, but I wish we’d gotten to maintain at least a little of that.)
Overall, it’s a very funny episode that has great character moments for Leslie, Ron, and April, which makes it a-okay in my book.
Mark is continually the worst. Even though he's in the right in this particular episode, he's an ass about it. I don't find his brand of straight man to be funny.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-07-22T02:31:00Z
[7.7/10] Plenty of great stuff in this one. Anytime Leslie has a moral dilemma, particularly one as low stakes as whether to fib about whether the possum she caught is the possum, it makes for a good episode. Leslie’s struggle with whether to take the credit for nabbing “Fairway Frank” and pick up a chit from the mayor’s office in the process, or to be honest that she’s not sure if it’s really him and save a potentially innocent possum is a good one. It has great talking head segments (like the one about Leslie asking herself questions) and other fun stuff like her frantic insistence that April help.
April’s help is a nice deal too. She worries about the fact that Andy caught the possum, because Shawna Malway-Tweep suggests it might win him Anne back. Andy’s boasting and preening in front of “the press” and April’s quiet frustration makes for a nice contrast. And her and Leslie freaking out and hiding and chasing when the possum gets loose in Anne’s house makes for some great comic setpieces. (The same goes for Tom fleeing in a panic as soon as he sees the possum.)
The B-story is a good one too. Mark helping Ron get his woodshop up to code, despite Ron’s insistence that the city code shouldn’t apply to him and his libertarian leanings is another great instance of Ron bending his own principles a little bit because someone is being kind to him. His smile after running the book with the city code in it through a saw and the perturbed noise he makes when he has to then go back and try to read it are both great. It’s a nice Mark-Ron story, which we don’t get much of. (Sidenote: I didn’t expect to have this reaction on rewatch, but I’ve actually really enjoyed Mark as the straight man this season. Still love what happens next, but I wish we’d gotten to maintain at least a little of that.)
Overall, it’s a very funny episode that has great character moments for Leslie, Ron, and April, which makes it a-okay in my book.