[6.5/10] Eagleton has never been my favorite part of Parks & Rec. While I love the rival town as an abstraction – something unseen and generally resented – when our heroes actually go there it’s just too cartoonishly posh to fit even the grounded-but-exaggerated tone of the show. It tends to bend the reality of the series too far for me, and take it into broad territory that just doesn’t work.
I like the idea of there being a noble Eagletonian park designer who just wants to help Pawnee build a park because he respects Ben and Leslie’s passion. It just gets bogged down in a bunch of overly-cartoony Eagleton park details and Leslie’s sort of mean hatred for this guy she’s never met. I know that’s supposed to be her arc – coming to terms with the idea that there can be a good person from Eagleton, but it just goes too far before she gets to that point for me.
(That said, I love love love the return of the NPR parody. Who knew the guy that voices Homer Simpson could do such a great public radio voice.)
I’m also not a big fan of Tom’s story, given how exaggerated it gets. There’s the germ of a good idea there – that Tom is so gunshy about his overspending after E720 imploded that he’s super careful with his money when launching Rent-A-Swag – but it goes to such implausible extremes like him painting his store phlem yellow or announcing he won’t chip in for gas when being invited to lunch. It’s a nice little arc to play with the character, but the execution is too lacking and broad.
The one part of this episode I did really like was Andy and April. For one thing, their playacting is always a treat, and one of those places where the show’s cartoonier qualities pay off. But it also works as a step in Andy figuring out how to be a policeman and what he’s good at, and it comes from him setting aside the Burt Macklin persona, just being Andy Dwyer, and helping a lost kid. It’s a fun final(?) outing for Macklin, and a nice character beat as well.
Overall, definitely a lesser episode, but the Andy story helps it out.
The radio show bits are always great.
Shout by Lidija RadovicBlockedParentSpoilers2020-05-14T12:15:25Z
Did they forget that Mark made plans for the park before leaving...