Parks & Recreation: “Sweet Sixteen” recap – or – Genuinely Jerry

Oh sweet, lovable, sad-sack, failure Jerry. I wondered if he could get more pathetic, and it turns out he could. His birthday is February 29th. Not that there’s a problem with that – but pile it on top of everything else that’s wrong with Jerry and it paints a very vivid picture. This time, it’s not a painting of Leslie as a Goddess either.

“[easyazon-link asin=”B007CUQC7Q”]Sweet Sixteen[/easyazon-link]” was a slightly different Parks & Recreation in that it didn’t have a clear main storyline. All three (and a half) plotlines ran concurrently. Let’s discuss!

The cold-open showed Leslie trying to balance a full-time workload with the P&R department while making campaign plans at the same time. Ron is not cool with that, and tells her she should take a leave of absence. If you watch the show, you’ll know that this goes against EVERYTHING that Leslie stands for. She’s a wonder woman, take charge, no-nonsense overachiever. She takes Ron’s suggestion as a challenge.

Leslie’s quest for the perfect balance between work and running for office morphs into her planning a birthday celebration for Jerry. She delegates some of the work, and plans out her jobs meticulously – until it comes to actually inviting Jerry. Oh yeah, and she forgot the cake. After falling asleep on Jerry’s shoulder during his party, she realizes she can’t do it all, and Leslie and Ron have a lakeside chat. She agrees to work 10 hours a week at the Parks & Rec department while she runs for office.

Meanwhile, Ann and Tom have a few growing pains in their budding relationship. He’s getting increasingly frustrated with their lack of commonalities – but still thinks she’s his perfect match. Since April set them up, they’re each turning to her for advice – which she hates. April turns to her true friend – a bottle of booze – to help her through the endless whining. Once she’s completely drunk, and completely fed up, she breaks them up. They put her to bed, and when they wake her the next morning, they’ve made up and are back together. I’m not sure how I feel about the whole Tom and Ann thing. She falls for some interesting men – and Tom fits that bill. We get another shot of Chris looking forlorn by the way – I still think there’s some foreshadowing going on.

Lastly, Andy lets Chris babysit their dog, ‘Champion’, and Chris takes pet-sitting to a new level. He learns about dog training by taking a German course, so all of the commands Champion knows are in German. Also, he purchased bags full of toys and treats, and took the dog running. Andy is used to sitting around and eating cheese puffs while Champion watches TV with him, and that dismays Chris.

Chris tries his best to encourage Andy to care for Champion in a more healthy and structured manner, and Andy – in a rare bout of insightfulness – notices that Chris is lonely, and tries to give ownership to Chris. When his offer is turned down, he compromises and works out a deal for Chris to see the dog whenever he wants. It ends with a tender moment where April sees how kind Andy is, and they watch Chris in the courtyard lovin’ on Champion.

The tiny side-story shows up when Leslie drives past one of her lawn signs, and sees that the printing company printed the link to her graphic, and not the actual graphic. I’ve worked in print shops extensively, and trust me, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. There’s a funny interchange between the print shop employee and Leslie – which ends with Leslie getting her signs and trying to put them up while driving to Donna’s cabin with Jerry. Thus the reason for arriving after dark only to pass out on Jerry’s shoulder.

As announced last week, Parks & Recreation will be taking a brief hiatus, but not before it airs “Campaign Shake-Up” next Thursday, March 1st. Join me next week for another recap!

Favorite Quotes:

Andy: “Boss I need your ‘Herbie Hancock’ on this.”

Leslie: “I’m also volunteering at ‘Wheels for Meals on Wheels’. We repair vans for ‘Meals on Wheels’.”

Ann: “So I’m ‘Tommy’s Girl’ and you’re just ‘Tom’? Why not ‘Ann’s Man’?”
Tom: “Nobody owns me, cupcake – not even you.”
Ann: “You can either burn these hats in a fire, or you can use a blowtorch.”

Leslie: “I have a prediction Ron. By the end of the night, you are going to take a bite of Jerry’s cake – which incidentally, we need to pick up on the way home – and you are gonna say ‘Sabbatical Schmabbatical’. Leslie can do it all. She’s the best, and I’m stupid.”
Ron: “That does sound like me.”

Ann: “You told April you were breaking up with me?”
Tom: “Ann, we consistently disagree on who wore it best, you still use an iPad I, you read books – all the time.”
Ann: “Okay, how ’bout my ‘oh no-nos’ for you? You make me see terrible movies and then you talk through them, you put twenty inch rims on your Volkswagon Golf, and you insist on being introduced as ‘the brown Gosling’.”
Tom: “Everything you just said makes me, like me, more.”