What I’m Watching: Parks & Recreation

Parks & Recreation: Season 4, Episode 8 “Smallest Park” (B+)

It’s episodes like these that make it seem like very little gets done in the Parks & Recreation department, as several members are out creating the world’s smallest park, others take an entire day to come up with a new font for the logo, and others are completely out of the office shopping for college courses. The smallest park, amusing as it was, also presented the opportunity for Leslie to make a last desperate attempt to draw out her professional relationship with Ben by making the project go on forever. Calling her a steamroller then led to Ann’s agreeing with that statement, and Leslie’s attempt to rectify the situation. I’m so glad that Ben and Leslie are throwing caution to the wind and deciding that being happy together is worth it, and I can’t wait to see where it takes them. Tom’s extraordinary efforts to choose a new font were rather ridiculous, but his 1970s formatting turned out to be quite a good idea. I did enjoy Tom’s vented frustration with the possibility of turning into Jerry, whose life actually sounded quite pleasant. Andy searching out college courses is almost as fun as Andy picking up random items in the supermarket, and I liked how April and Ron were almost perched on his shoulders giving him contradictory advice. His devastation at the lack of actual lasers in that class and his complete misunderstanding of women’s studies were among the high points of his educational endeavors, and it’s sweet that Ron was kind enough to sponsor his higher learning.