Pawnee isn’t a great place to live. It’s polluted, constantly at war with its neighbors, has an incredibly racist past (and slightly racist present), and half its residents are either morbidly obese or, if they’re lucky, normal obese. And yet, I want to move there immediately, because apparently, Pawnee’s high school students have decided Blur, R.E.M., and Hüsker Dü are the greatest bands ever, an opinion I can get behind.
Whether ANY high school student who actually looks forward to prom would choose “Pop Song 89” over 2 Chainz is up for debate, but “Prom” being very good is not. Like I mentioned in yesterday’s What’s On Tonight, many of my favorite Parks and Rec episodes have the entire gang congregating in a location outside of work, like in “The Fight” and “Andy and April’s Fancy Party,” and here, everyone meets up at Pawnee High. Some more willingly than others: prom is an excuse for Andy to dress up, get drunk, dance, and act like a kid, which is basically his dream; meanwhile, all that joy is April’s literal hell. Their story hit many of the same beats the show has before, but I enjoyed the resolution, with April worrying that had they known each other in high school, they wouldn’t have started dating, and Andy saying high schoolers are idiots, so who cares? Then they rig an election and get booted out of the school. A perfect night.
Meanwhile, Leslie and Ron fight over Blonde Anna Kendrick. Ron wants her to work at a sawmill for money over the summer, while Leslie thinks she’d be a perfect fit for an internship in their department, where she can become the next April, then the next Leslie, then she’d be in Congress, then they’d run against each other for president. Leslie’s future for a girl she barely knows registered an 8 on Ron Swanson’s 10-Point Crazy Scale, so he has to talk her down, lest the police intervene. Scenes with Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman are always welcome…though not as welcome as the return of PIKITIS. He’s Pawnee’s Joffrey.
Probably doesn’t even like Zen Arcade, that monster…
3. He burned the Mumford laptop.
5. April probably loves Helena Bonham Carter.
6. It’s impossible for Ron to say something stupid.
7. All hail the Mouse Rat King.
10. Not a GIF, but what the…?