He's in love with you and he has a gun!
So many weird feelings right now. I've been excited about Tom/Ann, but also really nervous about how the show would handle it and potentially ruin them for me. Shipping aside, it makes sense to me that Ann at least decided to try it-that’s been her thing since season 3, that she tries dating lots of different people, to see what fits and figure out what she wants, so why not Tom? But so far she doesn’t appear to like him at all. I don't want Ann to be with someone she doesn't like. I also don't want Tom to be with someone who doesn't like him. I get that they're playing this relationship more for comedy than for its romantic potential, and friction can be fun, but they at least have to base it in something--Ann can't be consistently annoyed at him and never attracted to anything about him and still keep this going believably. Maybe if Tom's behavior had been tweaked to fall less on the creepy side and more on the overeager-to-impress-because-he-really-really-likes-her side, and instead of being worn down by it and just wanting him to shut up, Ann had slowly realized there was something genuine and endearing there ... Or if Tom had actually let down his guard and just been himself there at the end--I maybe could have bought her going out with him again. Tom does have more than one speed, he does have the ability to cut the crap and be a genuine person, and we’re not getting that. As it is, I am worried.
I am kind of lukewarm about the Dave plot. I can actually buy that he still loves her-he said he loved her back then, and they dated for a few months-sometimes it happens that fast. Yes, it’s been two years, but he went away thinking the only reason they ended was that he moved away, so it probably lacked closure for him. And he’s probably been comparing every woman he dates since then to Leslie. Now he has a chance to move back, so he’s hoping for the best. Okay. But his behavior at dinner … we didn’t have a whole lot of time to get to know Dave as a character, but I expected a little more respect coming from him. It’s not that he necessarily should have seen that she had a boyfriend and just walked away before knowing the whole situation (is it serious, does she love him, etc) … but he seemed to be making assumptions and trying to make the decision for her, without finding out or caring how she felt. And that’s not cool, Dave. Neither is handcuffing her boyfriend to a urinal. I was actually expecting a different sort of story there-something with mistaken identities where maybe Dave didn’t realize Ben was the boyfriend. That could have potentially brought the comedy without making Dave into an ass. But at least Leslie called Dave out on his behavior, and there was never any notion of a threat to Leslie and Ben’s relationship, so that was a relief.
The Ben/cops stuff was funny and I enjoyed him and his hair as usual was excellent, but … it seems like they keep taking throwaway lines from season 3 and turning them into a major character traits for him. The little bits of awkwardness we got from him in Ron and Tammy 2 were great, but this was taking that to the extreme. Now, it’s not just that cops make him a little nervous; it’s that he has a deep unfounded fear of cops. It’s not just that he doesn’t hate calzones when everyone else does; now he loves them and wants to marry them and have lots of little calzone babies. If this means we get Cindy Eckhart backstory finally, I am in support of it! If not … well. It was nice to see Leslie being there for him, though. She offered to go home because his feelings are more important to her than the endorsement, and he didn’t take her up on that because supporting her dream is more important to him than some temporary discomfort. Amidst all the craziness, at least they seemed in a very lovely, healthy place as a couple.
I think I might have liked the Mouse Rat storyline better if it appeared in a different episode. Some good stuff there (Duke Silver returns!), but to hear terrible singing in between scenes of terrible awkwardness was a little too much cringiness.
So … this obviously wasn’t my favorite Parks episode (although I did enjoy parts of it). It’s been a while (season 2?) since we’ve had one that just didn’t work for me as much, so I guess we were due for a clunker. Onward!
ETA: A few small bullet points that I forgot when I first wrote this:
- Loved that Ben already knew who Dave was, not just because the chief mentioned his buddy Dave who moved to San Diego back in season 3, but because Ben and Leslie have talked about exes. Because they're in a relationship, so of course that has come up.
- Loved even more that Ben suggested Leslie go to dinner with Dave without him. They're adults in a relationship, and they trust each other, and nobody's jealous or weird. Well, they're weird. But for completely different reasons.
- Why does Dave think Leslie needs protecting? His suggestion that he'd punch someone for her rankled in a way that Ben's actual punch did not.
- How many times does Ben have to pee in one night? Three, that we saw. I guess it was a long evening.