Of course this is how Leslie would ask someone to prom; she doesn’t do anything halfway. Leslie enlists the help of a Pawnee high schooler named Allison, who she instantly bonds with over discontinued office supplies. Knowing that she might be leaving Pawnee for a job in Chicago, and noticing a huge amount of potential in Allison, Leslie offers her an internship in the Parks Department. When Ron finds out about it, he reacts exactly as we would expect. He knows Allison’s father, and refuses to let his daughter get caught up in government when she could get a paying job at a saw mill for the summer. Poor Allison, so unaware that Leslie and Ron are about to go to battle over her.
Andy is super excited about going the prom, since he had such a great time at his own. When he asks April to go with him she reluctantly agrees, but has pretty much the same attitude about it as I did about prom:
Tom volunteered to DJ for the event, and much to his dismay, Leslie assigns Ben to help him. But they have super different philosophies. Ben wants to create a playlist that flows, while Tom’s requirement is that all the songs are “bangers.” Which is no problem, because due to his rigorous screening process, all of the songs on his iPod are bangers.
Leslie and Ron keep trying to win Allison over. Leslie uses fun helium voices while Ron offers her money in exchange for helping him build something. I love Leslie’s passion for government, but as someone who has had to pay for college, Ron’s argument was looking a little better to me.
April and Andy arrive at prom, and April isn’t impressed. She wants to leave almost immediately, but Andy wants her to give it a chance, just like he did with the movie “Expendables 2!”
And Tom finds out that high schoolers are into all kinds of different stuff now, and he has no idea what’s cool anymore.
I thought it was really fun to see Tom flip out over this since he’s always prided himself on being the most current and culturally literate person in the group.
It turns out that Allison can’t handle the pressure of Ron and Leslie badgering her to decide what she’s going to do for the summer, and the school principal has to step in to prevent them from harassing her any further. (Leslie insists that it’s more “persistently tormenting” than “harassing.”) Ron promises to stop, and even though Leslie says she’ll stop too, of course she immediately turns around and does the opposite. Ron literally has to drag her off stage when she tries to make an announcement about Allison taking the internship. Then he gives Leslie one of his famous “words of wisdom and amazing life advice” talks, which I always love. When Leslie tells him that the reason she flipped out is because she’s afraid Pawnee won’t be okay if she leaves, Ron tells her:
April finally comes up with a way to enjoy herself, too. First, she talks to Andy about why she was having such a miserable time. Andy was really popular and had a good time in high school, whereas April made fun of everyone and played pranks on the janitor. She confides in him that if they had known each other in high school they would have never gotten together, something she hates thinking about. Which is sweet, but seems like a really weird thing to be upset over. For once it’s Andy who gets to be the voice of reason when he tells April that what might have happened in the hypothetical past doesn’t matter, and that the important thing is that they’re together now. Awww, Andy! Even though Andy offers to leave the prom, April decides to stay, and she actually ensures that Andy becomes Prom King by rigging the voting system.
Even though he’s inarguably the best Prom King ever, the principal finds out how old Andy actually is, and he and April get kicked out. Ben reassures Tom that the fact that he doesn’t know what high school kids are into just means that he’s an adult now, not that he’s uncool. Ron and Leslie find Allison and apologize for pressuring her, and tell her that she’ll be amazing no matter what she chooses because she shows so much promise. And that would have been a nice, sweet ending to the episode. But then something amazing happens. Allison introduces Ron and Leslie to her boyfriend, and it’s GREG PIKITIS. And he’s eating a peach. Those things might not mean anything to someone who hasn’t seen every episode of “Parks and Rec,” but the episode in Season 2 where Greg pranks the Parks Department on Halloween is one of my favorites, so I was flipping out. I love when they throw in something you would never see coming. Greg even manages to prank Leslie again!
Damn, that kid is good. A perfect ending to an episode that I thought was overall pretty good. My one criticism for the week: Leslie asks Ben to go to prom with her, and then they don’t even interact with each other once they get there. A small issue, but in a show as strong as this one, the little things are all there is to complain about. This was actually an interesting episode to try and recap, since everyone’s story took place at the prom. We only have a few weeks left of this season (the finale airs April 24th) so things are going to start to be set up for next season. So much fun ahead for “Parks” fans, and I can’t wait!
