On this week’s episode of Parks and Recreation, the Parks department went to prom, Ron and Leslie fought over a potential intern, Ben and Tom talked about aging and April and Andy went to prom together.
The episode begins with a bang. Literally. Leslie fills Ben’s drawer with confetti. Turns out, the Parks Department is going to prom! They were in charge of the Pawnee-Eagleton high school’s prom and they have a budget that is slim to none.
Leslie and Ron are both after one of the students, Allison. She comes in with a binder, Leslie Knope style. Leslie wants Allison to join the Pawnee Parks Department and be an intern and Ron wants Allison to get a paying job at a saw mill. The thing is, Leslie’s internship is unpaid and Ron doesn’t want Allison to waste away in poverty.
Leslie and Allison get to do fun things like sucking helium out of balloons and doing funny voices. Ron and Leslie discuss Allison’s future. However, the principal calls Ron and Leslie into his office and talks to them. He tells them to stop harassing a teenager and let her enjoy her prom.
Leslie talks to Ron about how she is leaving and wants to make sure that the parks department has good people in it. Ron says that it is useless to plan for a future that she can’t predict. Leslie wishes that he wasn’t so wise so she could ignore his advice. But
Ben and Tom are in charge of being the prom DJ. Of course Tom assumes that Ben will ruin it so he takes control. However, the kids aren’t into Tom’s music. (Tom doesn’t even like the Lumineers!) Because they don’t like his music, Tom comes to the realization that he isn’t young anymore. He’s old.
The kids, however, like Ben’s music. One of them says that he only listens to music on CDs because that is how it is meant to be listened to. Ben becomes cool where Tom becomes lame. Tom, in his new, old mentality, pouts. Ben tells him that no matter how old Tom gets, Ben will always be older. Somehow, that cheers him up.
April and Andy’s story was the most interesting of the episode. April and Andy go to prom together. Andy picks her up in a limo. He meets April’s mom (Orin in horrifying drag) and April’s dad (Champion in human clothes and a wig).
At the prom, they realize how different they were in high school. Unsurprisingly, April was a loner in high school and Andy was the cool kid. Knowing that, it made April question whether or not she and Andy would be together. What makes her more upset is when Andy gets prom king.
Andy says that it doesn’t matter because kids in high school are idiots. He said that they met at the perfect time to be perfect for each other. And, in true Andy fashion, ends the conversation by offering too pull a prank.
The best part of the episode was hearing how the department spent their prom. Ron left his prom early to go to his shift at the quarry. He was only 12 years old. Tom went to prom for 15 minutes because he spent all of his time getting ready. Ben’s parents threw him a prom in his living room. Donna didn’t go because she was dating an older man.
Side Notes:
-Allison was the French Ambassador in the model UN episode
-Our favorite (or least favorite) prankster Greg Pikitis is dating Allison.
- Ben is afraid of surprises and gets overly scared with Leslie’s confetti explosion.
What did you think of the episode?