Just like Ron Swanson, I think I might have a man-crush on Adam Scott.
Of course, Ron's dealing Scott's character, Ben, and he's enamored with Ben's scorched earth budgeting practices. Me, I'm just in awe of how good the guy is on TV's two best comedies: the critically acclaimed but little watched Party Down on Starz (which you can see for free each Friday if you have Netflix), and now Parks & Recreation.
This overlap won't last forever. Parks & Recreation's second season ends next week. When it comes back next year, Scott's tenure with Party Down ends with this season, mainly because he's expected to join Parks & Recreation full time next year. (Whether Party Down even gets a third season is still in limbo.)
At any rate, he's a great addition to the cast: someone whose as civic minded as Leslie Knope, but far more realistic about how government works. He should know: we learn towards the end of the episode that Ben had once been the boy mayor of a small town in Minnesota, but quickly got in over his head and ran the community into the ground. Now, he's trying to make up for his disastrous tenure with his no nonsense auditing. (Which is so tough that Ron wants to watch him do it "while eating pork.")
Scott's done broader comedy before -- he was Will Ferrell's obnoxious younger brother in Step Brothers -- but he's great as a straight man, both on Party Down and here. He was able to make me laugh just by the tired, pained expression on his face when his colleague (Rob Lowe, who's also good here) does his ultra-sincere act when meeting Ron and Leslie. It's the kind of look that says "how many times do I need to see this song and dance?" It's a good cop/bad cop act. Lowe's character charms the community; Ben tells them to cut half their budget.
And here's how amazing Parks & Recreation is: I've just spent all this space talking about this great new character, and he's not even the best thing about this episode.
That would be the extended sequence in which our established characters -- reeling from the state audit and other personal crises -- gather at Pawnee's "sexiest, most dangerous nightclub" (or maybe just most dangerous) to celebrate April's 21st birthday. We get the return of the hilariously sleazy Jean Ralphio, Tom's lame attempts to hit on 43 different women, and more of Andy and April's sweet almost-romance.
The aftermath of the party had some nice stuff too: Tom's flirtation with the bartender, in which he displayed a self-deprecating sense of humor and behaved like a human being for once; Ron sort-of comforting April; Anne trying to remember her post-break-up drunken night out, and the great line from Leslie, setting up next week's finale as she learns the auditors have shut down the city government.
"I just started hearing really loud circus music in my head."
Such a joy.
Tom Coombe
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