[7.5/10] This one’s hard for me to judge, because like the last episode, I like a lot of the general themes of the episode, but go back and forth on how the show does them.
For instance, I love the idea that Leslie is facing blowback for all that she’s done in the last year. Governing can be a thankless job, and the reality is that even someone as whole-heartedly committed to making Pawnee a better place is going to make enemies by using the city government as a means to do that. It’s a great choice to have Leslie’s various opponents from this season’s individual episodes all line up to oppose her and talk about how she’s done things they don’t like. (I was especially pleased by the brief but very amusing return of the animal control guys.) And having Leslie’s sole supporters being porn-peddlers (replete with Andy bursting in and asking if she’s pregnant) is a funny beat.
I like stories where people have to deal with the unintended consequences of their actions, where even doing the right and good thing comes with a cost. There’s realism there, and it’s a nice thing to explore in, once again a Tyrion Lannister on trial sort of way where you can see how from a different perspective, people would see Leslie’s well-intentioned moves as restricting their freedoms.
But something comes off a little too neat about it. It’s hard to put my finger on. Maybe it’s just knowing where the storyline goes, or the broadness of the anti-Leslie coalition. It’s good, but just doesn’t seem to have the force it should. That said, I do like that Leslie is proud of what she’s accomplished and is willing to face the challenge head on, albeit with numerous references to dance movies.
By the same token, I’m of two minds on Andy going full Burt Macklin to investigate the positive pregnancy test he found in the garbage at Ron’s cabin. On one hand, it’s such a cheesy sitcom move to have a mysterious pregnancy. On the other, there’s such great comedy to be wrung from Andy’s overenthusiastic, undertalented detective work, and Ann as a sidekick actually works pretty well! On a third hand, it’s a little scattershot as storylines go. On the Mortal Kombat-esque forth hand, it has a nice swerve where the obvious answer seems to be that April’s pregnant but the reveal is Diane, and it upsets Ron’s stable world. Again, there’s a lot to like, but the whole thing is a lumpy, albeit fairly funny, plot.
The weakest is probably Tom’s story, where he has an offer from a mysterious benefactor to buy rent-a-swag, turns it down, and then finds out that if he won’t be bought out, the buyer will compete with him. There’s some mild growth for Tom, doubling down on his business rather than just cashing out, but it’s fairly slight. The lawyer is amusing (“it’s not Diddy”) but for the most part it doesn’t do too much.
Maybe my reservations about this episode stem from my knowing what comes after it, and feeling like the episode is a little too heavy-handed about doing season finale things – trying to sum up the last year, setting things up for the next season, and delivering mysteries and big issues to be addressed. The seams show, and while there’s good thematic and comedic material, that brings it down from being great.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-04-19T02:01:47Z
[7.5/10] This one’s hard for me to judge, because like the last episode, I like a lot of the general themes of the episode, but go back and forth on how the show does them.
For instance, I love the idea that Leslie is facing blowback for all that she’s done in the last year. Governing can be a thankless job, and the reality is that even someone as whole-heartedly committed to making Pawnee a better place is going to make enemies by using the city government as a means to do that. It’s a great choice to have Leslie’s various opponents from this season’s individual episodes all line up to oppose her and talk about how she’s done things they don’t like. (I was especially pleased by the brief but very amusing return of the animal control guys.) And having Leslie’s sole supporters being porn-peddlers (replete with Andy bursting in and asking if she’s pregnant) is a funny beat.
I like stories where people have to deal with the unintended consequences of their actions, where even doing the right and good thing comes with a cost. There’s realism there, and it’s a nice thing to explore in, once again a Tyrion Lannister on trial sort of way where you can see how from a different perspective, people would see Leslie’s well-intentioned moves as restricting their freedoms.
But something comes off a little too neat about it. It’s hard to put my finger on. Maybe it’s just knowing where the storyline goes, or the broadness of the anti-Leslie coalition. It’s good, but just doesn’t seem to have the force it should. That said, I do like that Leslie is proud of what she’s accomplished and is willing to face the challenge head on, albeit with numerous references to dance movies.
By the same token, I’m of two minds on Andy going full Burt Macklin to investigate the positive pregnancy test he found in the garbage at Ron’s cabin. On one hand, it’s such a cheesy sitcom move to have a mysterious pregnancy. On the other, there’s such great comedy to be wrung from Andy’s overenthusiastic, undertalented detective work, and Ann as a sidekick actually works pretty well! On a third hand, it’s a little scattershot as storylines go. On the Mortal Kombat-esque forth hand, it has a nice swerve where the obvious answer seems to be that April’s pregnant but the reveal is Diane, and it upsets Ron’s stable world. Again, there’s a lot to like, but the whole thing is a lumpy, albeit fairly funny, plot.
The weakest is probably Tom’s story, where he has an offer from a mysterious benefactor to buy rent-a-swag, turns it down, and then finds out that if he won’t be bought out, the buyer will compete with him. There’s some mild growth for Tom, doubling down on his business rather than just cashing out, but it’s fairly slight. The lawyer is amusing (“it’s not Diddy”) but for the most part it doesn’t do too much.
Maybe my reservations about this episode stem from my knowing what comes after it, and feeling like the episode is a little too heavy-handed about doing season finale things – trying to sum up the last year, setting things up for the next season, and delivering mysteries and big issues to be addressed. The seams show, and while there’s good thematic and comedic material, that brings it down from being great.