S07.E01: 2017 / S07.E02: Ron & Jammy

[Brandi Maxxxx]

I wonder if his portrayal of Trotsky was what led to Kevin James getting cast in the Bourne reboot.

[Galileo908]

I believe national parks can only be created by the President/Congress and the area has to be really special not just a small area of pretty trees.  How big is Pawnee?

 

1) Isn't Eagleton still a part of Pawnee? That should add some space. I kind of don't remember how last season ended.

2) Much like Springfield, Pawnee is as big as it's dictated by the plot.

[Brandi Maxxxx]

Before the merger, Pawnee was roughly the same size as Bismarck, North Dakota.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Brandi Maxxxx

[JellyFishQueen]

So does anyone else think they'll have office cameo in the last season? Maybe Dwight, or Micheal?

[marny]

I was laughing really hard at the names of the lawyers at the law firm who's handling the Newport land sale. Some of them appeared to be just random sounds spelled out.

[Brandi Maxxxx]

The names are apparently baseball statistics.

[King of Birds]

marny, the law firm of Fwar, Dips, Winshares, Gritt, Babip, Pecota, Vorp & Eckstein are all references to technical baseball statistics.

 

Parks and Rec creator Michael Schur is, of course, a former proprietor of the wonderful and dearly missed Fire Joe Morgan, so you know he knows his baseball. And he dug DEEP this time, bumping out even more advanced stats for this merger of fictional law firms.

[biakbiak]

Sporting News has a explanation of the names.

[biakbiak]

Also by the end of this season April might be pregnant which I wouldn't have a problem with but I am 100% sure that any show that Amy Poehler is a part of isn't going to have April not having a dream/passion end up with the answer being getting pregnant.

[hincandenza]

That was spectacularly unfunny - approaching Season 1 levels of bad.

Werner Herzog and the return of Lucy were the only redeeming aspects.

 

I didn't even think Season 1 was that bad, but this was pretty sparse on laughs. I didn't hate it though, it was just... there.  Occasional laughs, but mostly distracted and playing on my phone while watching.

 

Is it just me, or did this show go seriously off the rails sometime last season? (From which it has never recovered.)

 

I don't want to harsh anybody's mellow, and I'm happy for everyone who still derives pleasure from it, but...am I alone in thinking this? I don't know how to articulate the difference, other than it seems to me like they fired all the good writers and hired a bunch of well-meaning, not completely unintelligent poseurs.

 

That's the thing that gets me.  Take the Ron/Leslie fight that landed in the cake.  Who didn't see that coming a mile away?  I kind of want to know more about the writer who walked into a room of 20-something, 30-something, even 40-something professional comedy writers- each of whom pretty much was raised from the teat on sitcom plots and comedy specials, and could probably recite chapter and verse of the sitcom-related articles on TVTropes- and pitched the cake fight as a notable and funny scene.  What's next, Leslie's got two dates to the prom?

 

If someone can sell a joke that tired, old, and predictable to a room full of comedy writers as well as gifted and experienced comic actors like Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman... shit, they ought to be VP of Sales and Marketing for a major international corporation, not a hack joke writer on the last season of a show with middling ratings.

 

Others have hinted at how the characters seem more cardboard than before, less meshed together or "friendly".  They've become these cartoon examples of themselves, waaaay past the point of funny and more just tired and forced.  It's like late-era "The Office" in here, which suffered from the same problems.

 

I believe national parks can only be created by the President/Congress and the area has to be really special not just a small area of pretty trees.  How big is Pawnee?

I always assumed it was a one tv station town of  perhaps 25,000.  Now it is big enough to  have  a warehouse district  that April and  Andy have never been in? 

If the city council  has zoning  jurisdiction over the future park land that means the land would have to be in the city limits making it at least physical a very big city. 

Leslie is also guilty of cronyism and probably in violation of federal  civil service regulations in appointing her friends to high level executive positions they have little qualifications for and April continues her tradition of being  doing little to no actual work.

 

The National Parks plot is predictably dumb for these several reasons, along how little $90M would be in establishing a new National Park.  That's a rounding error in Federal dollars, although maybe not in our most recent Congresses, who could have a three week stalemate over who picks up the check at lunch. :)  Besides, as you note it's an Act of Congress- I hardly doubt if Congress was persuaded to make that plot of land a National Park that they'd give two craps about Jeremy Jamm and the Pawnee City Council.  Honestly, Sweetums would be lucky to get a decent level of compensation through Eminent domain.  Shockingly, that Emmy Nominated Writing Team didn't even do the basic Wikipedia research that you and I apparently did in 5 minutes. :)

 

Still... I'll cut them slack on one thing: if Brandi Maxxx is right and fictional Pawnee is supposed to be about the size and population of Bismarck, ND (~32 mi^2., 65,000 people), and the Sweetums land plot is (I believe they said) 25 mi^2 adjacent to that... well, there's precedent.  Once again thanks to Wikipedia, I see that the smallest National Park is "Hot Springs National Park", established in 1921, which is directly adjacent to a small city (Hot Springs, at 33 sq mi and 35K people, sounds roughly Pawnee sized) and is about 22 km^2... which would make it roughly 1/3 the size of the fictional Sweetums property. 

 

So... yes, it's at least remotely plausible that the National Parks service would be interested in a new National Park next to Pawnee, as 64 sq km wouldn't be the smallest National Park around, and Indiana currently has no National Parks apparenty.  But the way they're doing it... yeah.

 

 

As for Leslie, what the hell happened to her?  She went full Michael Scott at some point and hasn't come back.  She used to be (from season 2 on) a smart, capable leader; she was Type A to the max, comically over-prepared and focused... but never incompetent.  Now she's whiny, screechy, and completely tone-deaf as to her own sense of entitlement... not to mention as you sagely note, is pretty much running roughshod over a number of ethics rules and outright laws in her Federal job.  I don't know if it's an outgrowth of the Ron obsession as the wise old Yoda character, but they've made Leslie completely unsympathetic: a screeching harridan who henpecks people to get her way, or worse.  In real life, if you for example used Tammy's sexual favors to skew legislation, that tends to end up eventually as a Frontline documentary and a jail sentence.  Indiana is next door to Illinois, after all, just a ~4 hour and $840 cab ride away... :)

 

It's weird, because Leslie Knope now seems like an anti-Feminist caricature thought up by the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Hannity & Friends... yet Amy Poehler is well known to be a strident and vocal feminist.  Does she even realize how her character has become like a stereotype of every negative trait lumped on liberals/feminists?

[BrittaBot]

Hincandenza, wow, I agree with everything in your post, especially the parts about Leslie. In Season 1, she was really weird and awkward. Then from S2 until she ran for office, she was normal, competent, and likable. Then I don't know what happened and they made her an unlikeable, crazy shrew. Within the first 2 minutes of the first episode, I thought to myself about how I forgot how much I hate Leslie now. I'm basically only finishing watching this show for Andy, Ben, and a little bit of Ron when he's not being railroaded by Leslie.

 

My husband actually stopped watching this show because of the illogicality of jobs-getting, most April. I'm trying to ignore it but it's insane.

[MelsW]

I always assumed it was a one tv station town of  perhaps 25,000.  Now it is big enough to  have  a warehouse district  that April and  Andy have never been in?

 

I read an interview with Mike Schur, who happens to be from a town I live near: West Hartford, Connecticut. He said that he modeled Eagleton after his hometown’s wealthy neighbor, a town called Simsbury. In the interview, he compared Pawnee to West Hartford, saying they both feel they are inferior to the other town. He mentioned that Pawnee and his hometown have a similar population of about 60,000 people. So I am guessing in his mind, Pawnee has always been a small city as opposed to a small town.

Edited January 15, 2015 by MelsW

[Skittl1321]

Has anyone figured out if Sadie is Aziz's actual cousin? We googled after it was shown but nothing came up.  That would be a fun little cameo if she is.

[marny]

 

marny, the law firm of Fwar, Dips, Winshares, Gritt, Babip, Pecota, Vorp & Eckstein are all references to technical baseball statistics.

 

How disappointing.  I was loving the notion of an attorney with the last name Vorp, and thought it was a great made-up name.  Knowing it's a sports nerd thing ruins the funny for me.

[peeayebee]

Has anyone figured out if Sadie is Aziz's actual cousin? We googled after it was shown but nothing came up.  That would be a fun little cameo if she is.

I wondered about that, too. Also, the woman in the support group that Joan was interviewing had the last name of Herzog. 

[King of Birds]

How disappointing.  I was loving the notion of an attorney with the last name Vorp, and thought it was a great made-up name.  Knowing it's a sports nerd thing ruins the funny for me.

You see, if you know baseball, the funny part is the "& Eckstein" part. And now, Gritt has joined the firm as well.

[Traveller519]

The Law Firm name was one of the highlights for me, especially when you can appreciate Mike Schurs roots at Fire Joe Morgan as Ken Tremendous. The initial name for the Law Firm last season was great. Adding all the new names 4 years down the road was a nice little addition to the joke.

[VCRTracking]

 

As for Leslie, what the hell happened to her?  She went full Michael Scott at some point and hasn't come back.  She used to be (from season 2 on) a smart, capable leader; she was Type A to the max, comically over-prepared and focused... but never incompetent.  Now she's whiny, screechy, and completely tone-deaf as to her own sense of entitlement... not to mention as you sagely note, is pretty much running roughshod over a number of ethics rules and outright laws in her Federal job.  I don't know if it's an outgrowth of the Ron obsession as the wise old Yoda character, but they've made Leslie completely unsympathetic: a screeching harridan who henpecks people to get her way, or worse.  In real life, if you for example used Tammy's sexual favors to skew legislation, that tends to end up eventually as a Frontline documentary and a jail sentence.  Indiana is next door to Illinois, after all, just a ~4 hour and $840 cab ride away... :)

 

 I disagree, the fact that she was willing to put aside both her anger at Ron and her wanting to get the council's vote to work together help Jamm(who had been such a huge asshole to her in the past) get out from Tammy's clutches. Also she mentioned she has "tunnel vision" so she is aware of how she can be. We also don't know if Leslie's anger at Ron is justified or not. Because Leslie can go overboard many times and Ron is relatively being more civil, our instinct is to say Leslie is being the irrational one.

 

The difference between Leslie of 2017 and before is that Leslie used to be the underdog. She had to fight everybody(including Ron her boss) with only her will and determination so you rooted for her. Even when she became a councilmember she had to fight her colleagues and a very stupid and indifferent town. Now she is the boss and in a position of power with a whole office of people at her command and her passion and aggressiveness is off putting.

 

 

[HyeChaps]

I thought for sure it would come out that Andy was the triplets' nanny.

[meep.meep]

I read an interview with Mike Schur, who happens to be from a town I live near: West Hartford, Connecticut. He said that he modeled Eagleton after his hometown’s wealthy neighbor, a town called Simsbury. In the interview, he compared Pawnee to West Hartford, saying they both feel they are inferior to the other town. He mentioned that Pawnee and his hometown have a similar population of about 60,000 people. So I am guessing in his mind, Pawnee has always been a small city as opposed to a small town.

 

Well that may explain why he named the town Pawnee and then invented the Wamapoke Indians to live there.  East Coasters.......  

[Brandi Maxxxx]

Well that may explain why he named the town Pawnee and then invented the Wamapoke Indians to live there.  East Coasters.......  

There was a joke in the Pawnee book about the founders being ignorant and not caring about the difference. I don't know if that was always the intention or just the writers justifying their mistake.

[JellyFishQueen]

I wa thinking, did they show the triplet? I feel like they refference them but I was sad that they didn't really do anything or have influence on the plot line and no introduction to the three children.

Edited January 16, 2015 by JellyFishQueen

[Brandi Maxxxx]

In the words of Ray Barone, "It's not really about the kids."

Edited January 16, 2015 by Brandi Maxxxx

[King of Birds]

In the scene with Ben and April talking ("I'll live under a bridge and ask riddles") there is a photo of the triplets in the background, as newborns. I caught that but didn't see photos of them any older.

[Dixie Sugarbaker]

I hope Morning Star isn't some land deal where Leslie and Ron were on opposite sides. For her to be that angry over a land deal that she would end a close friendship with Ron seems out of character. But if Morning Star is something that involved her kids and Ron's kid, then I could see Leslie getting and staying upset. Even the great Ron Swanson is no match for an enraged mother, and Leslie would definitely go and stay Momma Grizzly on anyone or anything that negatively affected her kids.

[RustbeltWriter]

I wonder who is working at Pawnee own Parks Department now that we've seen everybody but maybe Craig has moved on to other things.  (And maybe Craig is full-time for Tom now that he's successful?)

 

I hope Craig is running the Parks and Rec department and that Jean Ralphio is working for him

[gesundheit]

Finally caught up with both episodes. I.... hate April now? Her special snowflake entitlement ennui routine in the 2nd episode was enough to seal that deal for me. Yikes.

 

In general it was disappointing to me that I enjoyed seeing Joan more than any of the regular characters. 

[VCRTracking]

I don't know think it's "special snowflake" as more like a lot of people on the show including the men were trying to find their way like Tom with his businesses or her own husband Andy going through various jobs until he got one that he was good at and made him happy like "Johnny Karate".

 

 

Edited January 16, 2015 by VCRTracking

[amensisterfriend]

I thought April's calling was to become a vet...? I remember thinking it was the only thing I ever liked about her. But it really is weird how everyone bends over backwards to help such an unappreciative, mean little wench who already gets so many "wins" that she never tries for or deserves. 

Edited January 16, 2015 by amensisterfriend

[VCRTracking]

April (along with Andy) occasionally babysits his three toddlers. Probably without pay. Why wouldn't Ben help her out?

 

Edited January 16, 2015 by VCRTracking

[Brandi Maxxxx]

I wonder who is working at Pawnee own Parks Department now that we've seen everybody but maybe Craig has moved on to other things.  (And maybe Craig is full-time for Tom now that he's successful?)

Do we know if the Parks Department still even exists? Maybe that's what Morning Star is about.

[JayInChicago]

I'll stick with this show til the end, but that first episode was kind of brutal. Am I the only one who didn't like Ben and Tom's crying together? I like that it didn't cut away to Tom making another fake out speech, though.

 

I loved Tammy II and Leslie's Tammy II, and Jamm dressed like a little Ron.

So, we'll see I guess. 

[MaryPatShelby]

There's a reference above to "Andy and April try to conceive a child" (which looks like a TV provider's synopsis) and one to Leslie doing coke. I didn't see either of these things, though my telecast cut out for about 3 minutes; did they happen during that 3 minute span, really? Why would/did Leslie do coke?

I really laughed at DirecTv's program synopsis though: "Ben is spotted at a gala where Tom is giving a speech in his honor." Ben was at his own gala? How very odd!!
 

[Brandi Maxxxx]

There's a reference above to "Andy and April try to conceive a child" (which looks like a TV provider's synopsis) and one to Leslie doing coke. I didn't see either of these things, though my telecast cut out for about 3 minutes; did they happen during that 3 minute span, really? Why would/did Leslie do coke?

Neither of those things happened.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Deleted scene:

[peeayebee]

I'm glad they deleted that scene.

[NoWillToResist]

I continue to marvel at how great Adam Scott's reaction shots are.  Some of my biggest laughs are still just moments when Ben looks at the camera with befuddlement.

 

Oh man. Adam Scott nails those looks. Whether it's bafflement or one of his "can you believe this shit?" looks, he always delivers.

 

Kudos to the hair and wardrobe people because as soon as Jamm appeared on screen, I immediately asked out loud "why does Jam look like Ron?".

 

I was amazed at Amy's impression of Tammy 2. That was scarily spot on. Also, I laughed WAY too hard at Leslie's awkward pelvic thrusts on/towards Ron.

 

I also appreciated Amy's entire reaction to the library patron shushing Leslie for raising her voice, while utterly ignoring the NAKED LADY who was the cause of the uproar. The degree of disbelief, shock, annoyance and outrage at the patron was spot on.

 

Andy is adorable. I want nice things for him. April's red dress was gorgeous but I was utterly unimpressed with her ridiculous attempts to not be "boring".

 

I actually did like Ben crying over Tom's actual speech; sometimes I forget that these two have been friends and have helped each other out. It was nice to see genuine emotion between them.

 

I...didn't really like Leslie though. She was very shrill and yell-y and annoying. I was reminded of S1 Leslie, which is not good. I miss the gang together; that's what made this show so great to me, so having the gang all spread out, and a major divide between Ron and Leslie? Not a fan. I hope they bring 'em all together soon because I am not interested in watching an entire season of them all split up. I miss the warmth of their friendships. I got a tiny glimpse of it when Andy saw Tom in Ron's office and he earnestly was so happy to see him and wanted to catch up. I was pissed when Leslie shut that down in order to deliver her war memo and stomp out like a fucking child.

[Mockingbird]

I...didn't really like Leslie though. She was very shrill and yell-y and annoying. I was reminded of S1 Leslie, which is not good. I miss the gang together; that's what made this show so great to me, so having the gang all spread out, and a major divide between Ron and Leslie? Not a fan. I hope they bring 'em all together soon because I am not interested in watching an entire season of them all split up. I miss the warmth of their friendships. I got a tiny glimpse of it when Andy saw Tom in Ron's office and he earnestly was so happy to see him and wanted to catch up. I was pissed when Leslie shut that down in order to deliver her war memo and stomp out like a fucking child.

I completely agree. I've been marathoning seasons, so it was so jarring to go from scenes like Leslie's birthday surprise for Ron and all of their interactions on her wedding day to this. I suppose that's the point; Morning Star must have been really awful to destroy the deep respect they've had for each other. But that's not the show I want to watch, especially when there's so little of it left. I can sort of understand the time jump from a story-telling perspective, but I miss everyone being in their parks and rec office. Maybe my aversion to change is my most Swanson-like quality.

[Lizzing]

This might be displaced disappointment in Amy's bio (I really thought it would be up to Tina's and Mindy's but it was not), so why did the National Parks pass by the centennial without a Knope signature?  Oh, Ed...stop bringing me the wrong file!  

[vibeology]

I believe national parks can only be created by the President/Congress and the area has to be really special not just a small area of pretty trees.  How big is Pawnee?

I always assumed it was a one tv station town of  perhaps 25,000.  Now it is big enough to  have  a warehouse district  that April and  Andy have never been in? 

If the city council  has zoning  jurisdiction over the future park land that means the land would have to be in the city limits making it at least physical a very big city. 

 

I assume that Pawnee is a very large city in terms of area ever since the merge with Eagleton. Pawnee was never a tiny town (7th largest in Indiana according to Leslie early on in the show)  and Eagleton, while smaller and more elite in population, probably had sizeable land. I think the city being big following a merge is very believable. 

[Kel Varnsen]

I didn't even think Season 1 was that bad, but this was pretty sparse on laughs. I didn't hate it though, it was just... there.  Occasional laughs, but mostly distracted and playing on my phone while watching.

 

 

That's the thing that gets me.  Take the Ron/Leslie fight that landed in the cake.  Who didn't see that coming a mile away?  I kind of want to know more about the writer who walked into a room of 20-something, 30-something, even 40-something professional comedy writers- each of whom pretty much was raised from the teat on sitcom plots and comedy specials, and could probably recite chapter and verse of the sitcom-related articles on TVTropes- and pitched the cake fight as a notable and funny scene.  What's next, Leslie's got two dates to the prom?

 

If someone can sell a joke that tired, old, and predictable to a room full of comedy writers as well as gifted and experienced comic actors like Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman... shit, they ought to be VP of Sales and Marketing for a major international corporation, not a hack joke writer on the last season of a show with middling ratings.

 

Others have hinted at how the characters seem more cardboard than before, less meshed together or "friendly".  They've become these cartoon examples of themselves, waaaay past the point of funny and more just tired and forced.  It's like late-era "The Office" in here, which suffered from the same problems.

 

 

The National Parks plot is predictably dumb for these several reasons, along how little $90M would be in establishing a new National Park.  That's a rounding error in Federal dollars, although maybe not in our most recent Congresses, who could have a three week stalemate over who picks up the check at lunch. :)  Besides, as you note it's an Act of Congress- I hardly doubt if Congress was persuaded to make that plot of land a National Park that they'd give two craps about Jeremy Jamm and the Pawnee City Council.  Honestly, Sweetums would be lucky to get a decent level of compensation through Eminent domain.  Shockingly, that Emmy Nominated Writing Team didn't even do the basic Wikipedia research that you and I apparently did in 5 minutes. :) 

Honestly, as long as they keep being funny I don't care if the way they set up a national park doesn't match up with actual regulations. I mean in 2017 if people don't have those kind of tablets will people look back and like this season less because of that? But if it is not funny then basic stuff like this will start to bug (see Bad Judge).

 

That said I enjoyed these two episodes. The thing with Jamm was pretty funny, and I was impressed by how fast the dude grew his beard back.