TV Review: Parks & Recreation 4.18, 'Lucky'
In an episode that felt all too familiar, ‘Lucky’ continued the campaign arc with Lesley having yet another obstacle to face, reporter Buddy Wood (guest star Sean Hayes).
rating: 3.5
In an episode that felt all too familiar, Lucky continued the campaign arc with Lesley having yet another obstacle to face, reporter Buddy Wood (guest star Sean Hayes). Meanwhile Ron Swanson eats three steaks, and then gets laid. Funnily enough this episode was written by Nick Offerman himself. Ben believes the Knope We Can campaign is finally building some momentum as they have secured the interview with respected Indiana journalist Buddy Wood, who has a track record of the candidates he profiles winning their campaigns. Ben and Lesley, however, did not count on the fact that Wood hates Pawnee, and also that Lesley would be drunk during the last minute rescheduled interview at Pawnee Airport. After being probed by Wood on the state of Pawnee, Lesley lets loose that shes had a few drinks and just like any reporter would, this becomes the focus of Woods interview. It was pretty obvious from the many shots of the disgruntled airport staff what the outcome would be, especially after Woods metaphor of the airport being decrepit, just like Pawnee. As always Lesley being a friend to pretty much every citizen of Pawnee has saved her again. Its always great to see Amy Poehler playing drunk, even better when shes trying to hide it from someone, she has a way with rolling her words togeher. Sean Hayes was fantastic at being the douchey reporter, savor it though because hes in The Three Stooges next so this will most likely be the last time we see him being funny. Elsewhere Andy completes the final of his womens study class (not womens lasers unfortunately), and continues to have some of the shows best quips, especially when explaining why hes happy to take the test, Usually tests scare me, but this is an oral exam. And if theres one thing I know, is my fantastic, is talk. Ron decides to take the kids, Andy and April, to get a steak to celebrate, along with Andys teacher, Professor Linda. This is where they find the miserably lonely Chris (he hides it well), reading a book about a quadriplegic woman who attempted to swim the English Channel, wonderfully titled Limb-itless. April plays at being Cupid again and persuades Chris to join them, he has an instant rapport with Linda. Chriss charm gets him nowhere though as Linda is unknowingly seduced by the Swansonator devouring steaks silently next to her. She gently lets Chris down with a poor excuse and quickly leaves with Ron. It was a hilarious moment, especially as it came straight after Ron suggested they go out to buy after-dinner omelettes. This episode also aimed to show the transformation of stressed campaign manager Ben to fun Ben, but this felt too forced. Ben had spent the entire episode stressed before suddenly deciding to open a bottle of champagne because Lesley had caught a break when the tape had been lost, as opposed to achieving something himself, or having a heart to heart with Lesley. There also doesnt seem to be an end in sight for Chriss loneliness, lets hope the writers dont bring in a character who is the female version of him. Tom and Anns relationship continues to become more of a novelty, the theme of this episode being how proud Tom is that theyve spent nearly two days without breaking up. Well see them kiss soon enough, and it will be awkward. Luckily that wont be for at least another month as Parks & Rec leaves our screens to make way for the much-anticipated return of Community. Parks and Recreation returns on April 19th with Live Ammo. Best Jerry put down: Its safe to say Jerry put himself down this week by spending a whole night putting the wrong campaign leaflets in envelopes. This enthralled Donna though, she even cancelled her bath with Marcus. Swanson line of the week: To April and Andy after getting laid; You kids need any money? Go buy yourself a Walkman. How much is a Walkman nowadays?