'Parks and Recreation': 'Ron and Diane' Review

Parks and Recreation finished out 2012 with an episode that was split right down the middle in terms of quality as one story really delivered and another fell completely flat.

Shall we start with the positive? The titular figures of "Ron and Diane" were the best part of the episode. When Ron is supposed to be honored for making an extremely well made, uh, chair, he brings Diane and Leslie along. Seeing Ron Swanson in a relationship he wants to be a part of is excellent. So of course Tammy 2 shows up. But it turns out Diane is more worried about Leslie than Ron’s ex wife. So then Ron explains their relationship to her while Leslie deal with Tammy 2. Ron finished the story with the incredibly sweet gesture of showing Diane is his jazz alter-ego Duke Silver. This was a necessary development in their relationship and a great movie forward for Ron and Diane.

As for the other story in this episode, Jerry’s Christmas party, well, it did not fare as well. I’m a big fan of Jerry jokes, but they are only good when you do not expect them. The first couple scenes of Tom, April, Andy and Donna were full of tired Jerry jokes. But then they find out they were not invited to his holiday festivities. Now they want Jerry’s friendship. I will admit the joke that Jerry’s wife is really hot made me laugh, but other than that this story felt really recycled.

But it was not enough to ruin the bigger story of the night. "Ron and Diane" had some great advancements in a blooming romance. A nice way to leave off the show until the new year.