Parks and rec freddy spaghetti cast crack#

Parks and rec freddy spaghetti cast crack#

Adam Scott is tremendous at showing both annoyance and respect in the same performance, so I loved his early Talking Head where he seems to be judging Leslie for trying to make 13 meetings but can’t help but crack a smile at the sheer determination of it all. It’s a fantastic moment for the character, and a sign that Nick Offerman can play powerful statements of loyalty just as well as he can eat a turkey leg wrapped in bacon he’s even willing to give up what he loves most (and what gives him a semi just talking about it), sitting on the task force for the spending cuts, so that Leslie can be there first hand to protect what she loves most.Īs for Ben (I only call him Benji when he’s being a douche), the character clearly has respect for what Leslie is trying to do: his job is to be fiscally responsible, to refuse the cash the cheques which Chris tells people he wants to cash so that the auditors can seem like they’re at least paying attention, but you can tell that he admires Leslie’s dedication, and sees in her what he once had. No matter how far they are down the food chain of government departments, Ron Swanson isn’t going to lose his Leslie Knope, as no other department has a Leslie Knope to lose. Ron may revel in the government being cut, but he knows how important Leslie is, and how much her enthusiasm (albeit tempered by his enforcement of the bottom line) makes the department and the government work. Ron Swanson loves the idea of cutting budgets, and will do everything in his power to cut government expenditures, but if Benji thinks that he is going to allow him to try to fire Leslie Knope he has another thing coming. The characters on the show are capable of being two things at once, and are capable of making decisions in one direction while remaining entirely connected with what would seem to be an entirely different personality. This decision isn’t played out as a dramatic shift, nor does it awaken any dormant romantic feelings between Leslie and Mark rather, it simply leaves the two characters to think about their futures, to accept that their dreams may not match up with reality and they’re set to go their separate ways. However, the government isn’t filled with Leslie Knopes – and if it was it probably would have gone bankrupt a lot sooner – so Mark is taking a buyout and moving to a private firm. It’s a sweet little scene, as Mark gives Leslie a parting gift of some designs for the park she dreams of building and tells her that if the entire government was filled with people like her he probably would have stayed.

The scene which sums up “Freddy Spaghetti” is our goodbye to Mark Danbranoquitz, as Leslie and Mark sit on a bench on what was supposed to be a park and which has become an empty lot where children’s concerts can be held. It doesn’t actually bring any of the season’s storylines to a wholly positive conclusion, but it complicates things in such an infectious fashion that it loses none of its momentum, and heads into a (sadly too, too long) hiatus with the best season of comic television we saw this year in its back pocket.Īnd no seven month break is going to change that fact. It ends up leaving everything in a state of flux, with very little optimism about the future, and yet the show’s characters still seem so positive about their present situation that you feel like they can rise above any potential challenges. “Freddy Spaghetti” is the epitome of this type of finale, delivering plenty of evidence which captures the heart and soul of this show while introducing other elements that threaten that stability without necessarily overwhelming the positivity inherent to these characters.

The best comedy finales are those which find elements of conflict within elements of stability, emphasizing the reasons that we love watching the show week-after-week and the reasons why it remains lively and eventful enough to keep from becoming too familiar.

This is normally fine, but it seemed especially tough tonight, as every other show has to live up to the level of quality that Parks and Recreation has right now. When I write about the Thursday comedies, I have to write about them after I finish watching them all, as there’s too many other Thursday programs recording on the common DVR which requires I watch them on a recording device-free television set.