NBC's Parks and Recreation - Episode 6.18 Prom
Leslie helps organize the high school's Senior Prom, and battles with Ron over the future employment of a bright high school senior. Andy takes an unwilling April as his date, and Tom is tasked with DJ'ing and agrees to let Ben help.
There's just something off about "Prom" that keeps it from being a good episode of Parks and Recreation that I just can't quite put my finger on. It felt busy but not overcrowded somehow. And yet, the subplots didn't feel well-served at all. They got summed up in just a handful of scenes. Ben's music plays better to the high school kids as "classic" rock than Tom's beats. Andy and April attending prom makes her remember how much of an outcast she was during that stage of her life. Those plots had some good gags - I especially liked seeing Orin and Champion as April's mom and dad. But it also didn't feel like anything we haven't seen from these characters. That is a problem when a show runs into its sixth season even when the characters are still as enjoyable as the ones here.The main story of the episode was Leslie vs. Ron over the summer plans of an ambitious high school student. This show could be entirely built around the Leslie and Ron dynamic because they are such polar opposites in their ideologies. With Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, that could be a great show too. But this show smartly only occasionally brings up stories like this where they directly oppose one another. They have to build up their friendship in order for these stories to pop. Sure, this dynamic has been done better before. But it's still an interesting concept to explore. Plus, that scene where Ron explains his Leslie crazy rankings was pretty great and sweet.
Some more thoughts:
- "Prom" was written by Matt Murray & Harris Wittels and directed by Ken Whittingham.
- Every insight we get into Donna's romantic life - both past and present - is great.
- Andy's analogy of Expendables 2 basically boils down to "It's just not good" didn't have a real point to April but it still was pretty funny.
- Next week is "Flu Season 2" and I'm so excited.
