What I’m Watching: Parks and Recreation

Parks and Recreation: Season 2, Episode 12 “Christmas Scandal” (B+)

The fact that everything is extremely outrageous in this episode isn’t a problem, and it only gets funnier as the camera continues to zero in directly on Leslie’s appalled face. Her delight with putting on a proper parody at the start of the episode shows that she really can be funny in the right circumstances, and Pawnee is the one thing that she really knows well. Seeing her get called in prepared to defend her performance and then watching her face transformed to display disgust was pretty hilarious. The politician’s story was far-fetched, sure, but the casual way he rattled off his increasingly ridiculous actions was even more preposterous. The Pawnee Sun’s coverage of the scandal and then the TV show’s highlighting of it was great, and it was too funny to see Ann get wrapped up in everything and just look plain dumbfounded about how this whole situation morphed and evolved into her suddenly being accused of having a threesome with Leslie and the politician. Ron’s unenthusiasm about giving the presentation was great, and it’s really nice to see that, at the end of the day, Leslie is the one who actually gets everything done, and she loves doing it. Not only that, but everyone around her understands that and appreciates it, even if Ron is the only one who even somewhat acknowledges it. Looking at the less productive people in the department, it’s fun to see the friendship continuing to flourish between April and Andy, and I especially enjoyed Andy’s gift suggestion about getting her gay boyfriend a copy of “Brokeback Mountain.”