Pie-Mary Plot Summary:
Ben and Leslie spark a debate on gender roles when Leslie opts out of a pie baking contest. April leads Ron on a scavenger hunt to find the spare key to his house that she hid six years ago.
Poncho! (You’ll get it when you see it). Ben’s campaign manager Jen (Kathryn Hahn) stops by for some “shop” talk, which is one of Leslie’s five favorite talks. The others include Pillow, Girl, Real and Ted in case you’re ever wondering. The main point of the conversation is that Leslie has to essentially dumb down her stance on important government issues, as it scares the voters. Ben and Leslie think this is ridiculous until Leslie opts out of the annual pie baking contest for candidates wives aka, the “Piemary”. Never able to satisfy everyone, the media is upset when Leslie chooses to not bake a pie, but when she decides to enter so that the campaign focuses back on Ben and the important issues; she then receives criticism from the Indiana Organization of Women (IOW). Attempting to assuage the masses, Ben decides to bake his own pie. This should have solved the issue since he loves to cook anyways and by having him participate they won’t be offending the other candidates who chose to take part in the tradition. What’s that about best laid plans? Ben baking a pie in place of his wife sends the media in a frenzy and upsets Pawnee’s new organization of protesters for men’s rights.
To fix the damage done to Ben’s campaign, Jen suggests that Leslie apologize to the media. For what exactly? Jen suggests it just be a blanket apology to make everyone happy. Luckily in the moment when Leslie is about to make an apology speech Ben steps in. Of course he says something that means well, but comes out sounding super misogynistic. But their speech makes important points about how people are just trying to do what’s best for them and that their efforts may not look the same as everyone else’s, but that’s okay because everyone is different. Leslie then provides final answers to questions she’s sure she’s going to hear throughout the entire campaign ranging from her hairstyle, to whether she feels guilty working while her children are home and if she misses her kids. Ben then points out that no one ever asks him if he misses his kids while he’s working, shedding light on the double standard society has regarding working parents.
The great thing about comedy is it allows for a commentary on public issues in a satirical way. I love how the writers handled this issue. With gender roles and gender equality constantly being a major issue in many political debates, I think Leslie and Ben’s speech addressed it perfectly. The IOW agrees, since they award Ben with the Woman of the Year award: an award that Leslie has dreamed of winning for many years now. Unfortunately this is the second time that Leslie has lost this award to a man, the first of which was to Ron Swanson in the second season.
Speaking of, the audience was able to see the fun side of Ron this episode when April leads him on an unplanned scavenger hunt to track down the spare key to his house that he had given April when she first started working with the department. The clues consisted of 4 wisdom teeth, a twilight ticket, and a goth-ish love note to Andy. Eventually April remembers she buried the key under a tree that reminded her of Ron: Solid, dependable, a place to come when you need to be alone. These last few episodes are really expanding on the friendships that have developed among the characters in the parks department.
Even Donna and Gary spend some quality time together when Gary drops his wedding ring down a grate in the patio dining area and then proceeds to lose his keys, belt and spare wedding ring in the process of trying to get his original wedding ring back. Again, the writers do a great job of expressing moments of bonding friendships while still making us laugh.
It is because of these well developed characters and the connections between them that I am going to miss Parks and Rec so much when it ends. There aren’t many other half hour shows out there that can convey such important and interesting messages all while making us laugh in the process.
Rating: 9 out 10
Parks & Rec airs Tuesday nights on NBC.
http://youtu.be/r6bcs8ln_9Q
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