“Parks and Recreation” (8:30 p.m. Central Thursdays, NBC) started off its fifth season this week with an episode that was ambitious in terms of setting (Washington, D.C.) and casting (a few Senatorial cameos), but also stayed in its comfort zone.
The highlight of “Ms. Knope Goes to Washington,” for me, is simply Ron being Ron. Although not a laugh-out-loud episode, it’s certainly worth a smile when Ron brings a live pig to the employee appreciation barbecue, thus horrifying everyone. Lots of humor should result this season from Ron — a government employee who despises all forms of government — running the Pawnee parks department.
I like that this episode doesn’t shy away from showing the true nature of bureaucracy to Leslie. After being asked to place her proposal for federal funding to clean up the Pawnee River in a giant stack, she realizes it’s better if she takes matters into her own hands. She declares that her new office will be the riverbed, which she will be personally cleaning up. Leslie might finally be learning that things are accomplished more efficiently outside of the government. (The Pawnee River set decoration is a bit lazy — they basically just throw a rusting bike and a handgun in the middle of a beautiful stream.)
Although Andy and April are still their predictably uncouth selves — making out all over our nation’s capital — we get a nice wrinkle in the Tom-and-Ann saga when they pretend to be dating so as not to be proven wrong by their co-workers. It might’ve been funny to see why they couldn’t live together, rather than merely being told. At any rate, both characters seem to be freed up for new funny storylines this season, and that’s a strength of “Parks and Recreation”: It knows when to stick with a joke, and it also knows when a joke has run its course and it’s time to start a new thread.
Although it’ll be tough to top the timeliness of last season (Leslie’s campaign), “Parks and Recreation” — the show, not the Pawnee department, naturally — seems to be running smoothly as the new season begins.
What did you think of the Season 5 premiere? Share your comments below.