Pawnee Commons (S5E8)
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Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Parks and Recollection. We are so happy to be here. I'm one of your hosts, Jim O'Hare, Gary, Larry, Jerry, Terry, sometimes Barry, along with... It's Greg, and I'm here with Jim talking about another great episode of Parks and Recreation here on Parks and Recollection. That's it. Today's episode.

It is called Pawnee Commons. It was written by Alexandra Rushfield. It was directed by Morgan Sackett. Originally aired on November 29th, 2012. Jim, read our blurb, please. I will. With a lackluster showing of park design submissions for Lot 48, Leslie begrudgingly accepts the help of an architect from Pawnee's rivalrous neighboring city, Eagleton. Uh-huh.

Meanwhile, Andy starts a new job as a part-time security guard for City Hall, and Ann convinces Tom to put more of his signature swagger into his business rent-a-swag. Second episode that Morgan directed. I didn't realize that. Morgan began as our line producer, and now he's a big-time exec producer on all sorts of things. But I loved how Morgan directed because he knew us all so well. And so it made it

more fun. I loved when Dean directed all of them because he knew us so well. Would you all behave a little differently when Morgan was down there on set directing? Morgan is a tremendous producer. He was our line producer. Which means the money guy. He's figuring out all the money stuff. And he's like, you know, a puppeteer, so to speak. There's so many different things you have to go on and someone has to make sure it's all working out and staying in balance. And he was

tremendous at it and became executive producer on the show and has gone on to, like you said, executive produce many things, many things with Mike Shore still. But what was it like? Because Morgan is a quiet, stoic, laconic person. To me, he's like a dad. He can make things happen with a look. Like, because...

before he was even directing, if we were on set and the day was starting to go long and when Morgan showed up, it was like, oh, because he's the money guy. God forbid we're heading toward golden time, which is the 12 hour mark for the crew. Right. Cause then in his behalf, he's going to be the one who's got to pay those bills. Right, right, right. And so, yeah, when Morgan showed up, sometimes there were less fun runs because you just knew we

We got to get this done. Yeah. Well, today's episode has some great cameos that I want to talk about. We have actor, filmmaker, and SNL alum Brad Hall as Eagleton architect Reston St. James. Dan Castellaneta, the voice of many Simpsons characters, including Homer Simpson, Krusty the Clown, and Barney Gumbel as the NPR-style Pawnee radio host. Dan Castellaneta is Homer Simpson.

I am sure Dan could sit at his mansions all over the world and never have to do anything other than Homer Simpson. Right. But he is out there. I see him all over the place. And I love that because I feel, you know, actor actors who just love what they do. It's not just about getting that one gig that takes them.

You still want to do it. You want to have new opportunities and try new things. And so I'm just always impressed by that. You probably get to say yes to fun things too. Yes. You're not just saying yes because I need to. Exactly. I know. I think he has just not just a great voice for this, but the look.

Yeah.

Just in the cold open, just the cold open. I have a full page of, he's amazing. It's a joke machine of a setup. It's a joke machine. Yeah. Tell us about it, Greg. About the cold open? Tell us about that cold open. Well, let's get into the synopsis. The synopsis, yes. Okay.

With the Lot 48 hearing just around the corner, Leslie makes a plea for design submissions on the radio, yielding less than impressive results. That is, except for one amazing submission from an Eagleton architect named Reston St. James. Meanwhile, a more mature Tom enlists the help of the Parks Department to get his new business, Rent-A-Swag, up and going. Brilliant idea, Rent-A-Swag. It is a great idea. Yes.

So, okay, The Cold Open, right? It's at WVYS, Wama Poke County Public Radio. Yeah, I mean, first of all, Dan Castellaneta nails it as host. Derry Merbles. Nails it. Another great name. Tell us some of your favorite moments. Well, I mean. If you have a whole page of them. I have a page of them. He's explaining why he's there. Sitting in for Nina Joplin, who is touring the country performing a spoken word opera about pear-shaped women. Yes.

And actually, before he even does it, the announcer, the new film Shadows of the Head, the dramatic tale of an Israeli soldier who falls in love with conjoined Palestinian sextuplets. That's how the thing began. Well, out soon from Focus Feature. For Focus Feature. Yeah. It was gold. It was gold. Well, my favorite moment in that scene is the...

They're talking about a bat signal, right? Yes. And he says, a bat signal for listeners who might not know refers to the children's character, the Batman, a strong gentleman who fights crime nocturnally. As if nobody knows this. His delivery is so funny. And it's NPR. Maybe some didn't know it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. Okay, so we're back in the Parks Department, Jim, and we are getting the submissions for Pawnee Commons. Do you remember Worm Park? Yes.

The gummy worms on a piece of sod. A twig is a tree. I love the accompanying letter, which reads, here's a model of what I thought the park could look like. Also, I'm innocent. Please find me a lawyer. Yes. Well, it came from a prisoner. It came from a prisoner. Right. I don't know how he got it out of there. I don't know how it all happened, but that's what we got. So tell me, Jim. So we get the submission from Reston St. James, our Eagleton architect. You're watching it. Yes. How are you feeling?

Well, you know, do you trust it at this point? How are you feeling? Jim O'Hare as a watcher of the show, let's don't say Jerry is very concerned. I am with Leslie. I do not trust them. Okay. Now Ben's coming from the fact of Ben is a much nicer person. Like he just wants to believe everybody. He also hasn't been around for the history of the Eagleton Pawnee battles over the years. So he's quickly on board.

No, I was not on board. What about you? No, I'm the same. I think that you, we, it feels like we're setting up another story in which, um, the people of Eagleton are trying to shit on and, uh, you know, take down, uh,

the people of Pawnee, especially Leslie again. And we've seen it before and we've been to Eagleton before with Lindsay Carlisle Shea. And so you do feel like, uh, rest in St. James, a name feeling very Lindsay Carlisle Shea like, um, is going to screw us over. Yeah. I've never in my life heard the name Reston, W R E S T O N.

St. James. Well, I've heard St. James. I've never heard of Reston. Yeah. No, but I was nervous from the get-go. I was with Leslie. But, you know, you set up that it looks awesome. I mean, Leslie says, wow, beautiful fountain, perfectly manicured shrubbery. This is like Parks Department porn. It's like Park Hub. And I love how Ben sees it and he's like, yes, it's amazing. Can't you overcome that?

your problem, Leslie. And it's a great setup for both of them where both of their stories are going to go in this

in this episode. Yeah. So let's jump over to Rent-A-Swag then. All right. So we got a location, right? We got kind of. And it's pretty shitty. It's shitty. Yeah. You were there. I was there. How did it feel to the house set deck? I mean, it must have like. Well, you know, the sets were always amazing. We shot it in a little mini mall near the studio. Oh, really? It was in Studio City. And it's,

Yeah. Filthy, gross, typical, you know, what you would expect Tom would get. Yeah. And Jerry was, you know, probably kind of happy just to be involved. And how was your scene partner? I mean, your scene partner was a raccoon. Was a raccoon. And I love that. I love whenever we brought in animals because we had a couple of raccoons over the years.

But I remember this one in particular, they wouldn't let me go near. Did they remember what they said? Just keep a distance because the trainer has to have all control, which makes sense. And so if the animal is being distracted by an actor who's, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, look how cute, cute, cute, cute. It can probably screw things up. So I'm guessing maybe that was the situation. Got it. Let me ask you a question. Yeah. Totally unrelated to our show, completely related to animal actors. Okay.

Have you seen at Universal Studios here in Los Angeles the animal actors show? I don't think I have. I saw it once as a kid. Oh, this is cool. Recently went about a year ago. One of the greatest things I saw all year. These animals are amazing what they can do. And there's such funny timing and jokes. I love that kind of stuff. It's so it's there are cats that do tricks and birds and. Oh.

I can't... It's like I'm describing a fever dream when I try to describe the fact that animals were doing some of the best comedy I saw that year. But you, Jim O'Hare, for sure need to go see this. Well, then that brings me back to 100 years ago, I was doing an industrial, they called them, for some company. And we're talking 35 years ago, whatever. And...

The premise was everything is so good there, it multiplies. So the beginning, I have two rabbits on my desk. And then the bit, as you know, with rabbits, they multiply because rabbits, whatever. So they bring in the two rabbits, we shoot the whatever scene. And then the premise of the scene is they cut back and there's just rabbits, rabbits, rabbits. What they didn't plan for is that rabbits really do what rabbits are known for doing. And I have never... Look cute and hold chocolate eggs? No, not when they're in a room together.

And it didn't matter if it was male rabbit with male rabbit. It didn't matter what. It was a room of effing rabbits. And I mean, literally. Yes. Rabbits having sex. Yeah. And they're like, pull them apart. Pull them apart. You're asking me to. I don't even know what's going on here. They're in love. Oh, my God. And I've never seen the action so fast. So fast. They break the sound barrier. They break the sound barrier. Yes. Anyway.

Since we were talking animals, I thought that had to be said. My wholesome little story about animal actors at Universal. Cats do comedy. Jim's like, well, let me just tell you about rabbits. Yeah, the rabbits having sex like their plane is going down. Oh, my God, it was crazy. Okay. It really was. Okay. Okay. Yes, we should move on from that. I kind of feel like I've never felt more right that it's time to move on to the synopsis. I'm going to go with you.

It's hard to follow that. Yeah. Still unsure of Reston's. I mean, even saying a sentence like still unsure of Reston's motives while you're picturing it's like 50 rabbits. Just doing heat. Heat. Yes. Okay. And again, male, male, female. They don't care. Good for them. Just have to go for them. Yeah. Feel it. Feel it. Hey, God bless.

Still unsure of Reston's motives, Leslie agrees to join him and Ben on a Segway tour of Eagleton's Five Mile Park. Meanwhile, back in Pawnee, April shows up at City Hall to help break up the monotony of Andy's new weekend security job. Mm-mm-mm.

That was a delicious synopsis. That really was. No, but we get to go to Eagleton. Yeah. Holy cow. First of all, we're in Eagleton and it is so bright. It's bright. I'm sorry. That is the Southern California sun, right? Yeah. You know that's not the sun in Indiana. In Indiana, yeah. And it's so obvious that we're not

that we have a scene later to explain why we see palm trees. Yeah. Yeah. Um, that was a bright sun. That seemed like that. I think this was a early episode, right? Right. Yeah. This was a hot day. Oh, there are. Yeah. Hot day. But here's what I'll say. It works because Eagleton has everything. So for all I know, there's some sort of lighting set up to make everyone feel like it's always bright and sunny. Got it. They have it all.

It really looks delightful. Yeah, I mean, I love how Reston says that the park is named Five Mile Grounds, but we like to call it Wide Smiles Abound. It's so nauseating. Reston's and the way Brad played it, there's this mixture of confidence meets aw shucks. Brad Hall is amazing. I, to be honest, my thoughts of Brad Hall are I think of him more as SNL, and for some reason I labeled him as a writer. He is a really good actor.

Yes. Really good. And I've looked up some stuff. He's done a ton of stuff over the years. SNL, I assume that's where he and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who's his wife, that's where they met. Not true. I looked it up. They met at school at Northwestern. So I don't know. I had this different impression of him. Yeah. But he's really good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really, really good. Yes, very funny. Well, this park has equestrian riders, has personal garbage picker uppers, balloon twisters. There's the...

The German national anthem is playing in the background. Is that true? I mean, it's, it feels like until the German national anthem playing in the background, it kind of feels like just like a pretty awesome party. It looks amazing. I'd want to be there. Yeah. Yeah. I really love the site gag joke of the Pawnee Eagleton border, right? It is so obviously a hard joke, right? Yeah. It's, you know, it's not real.

Even watching it as the average viewer, you know it's not real. Someone who isn't a writer or whatever

But it's so funny, this discrepancy between the beautiful Eagleton and the Pawnee is a dump. You hear like sirens for Pawnee that you don't hear on the 180 of looking into Eagleton. Literally the 180, it's right there. It's right there. And it says, now leaving Pawnee, come back soon. Now entering Pawnee, good luck with that. Yeah.

And Amy does it as a talking head. And of course her reactions. Oh, yeah. Because, oh, she hates Eagleton. Yes. My God. Which, as we are reminded again in this episode, she was born in Eagleton. That's right. Which has got to be one of the greatest experiences

disappointments in her life. But I love how Reston is talking about, because they're looking at the mural, right? The history of Pawnee and Eagleton. And she looks at these Eagletonians and he's like, Reston, recognize any of your parents or whatever, your lineage in here? And he's like, you know, like most people here, I have ancestors on both sides. And it just kills her that she definitely

She may not have ancestors there, but she was truly born in Eagleton. She is the Eagletonian. She's an Eagletonian. That's the worst thing that could happen to Leslie. It really was. Yeah. That that would ever happen. Yeah. Yeah. I also really love this comedy game that's being developed here where Ben has a bit of this man crush on Reston. Big time man crush. Right. Leslie says, you're like a Southern belle when Rhett Butler comes around.

Right. And he says, yes, Brett Butler. That's what he reminds me of. Or Bono. Yeah, he got the vapors when Rustin was around. He got the vapors. He did. He did. He did get them. Before we move on, let's talk about Andy Dwyer, interim security guard. So he's getting time to experience what it feels like, right, to be some type of enforcer, some police officer of some sort. Right. Which in his fantasy.

is just the greatest thing in the whole world i mean he's been burt macklin for a long time and now he gets an outfit that looks like official yeah think about what you just said he's been burt macklin for a long time it's make believe right and in his mind though i know it that's what i love about it that's our sweet dumb andy but he's bored here yes right he's so bored uh he's like he's

He's like a fourth grader in this. He's like, I am so excited to do this thing. I'm pretty over it pretty quickly. At one point, he literally says, he was talking to the camera and he goes, I thought 10 minutes had gone by since I started talking. It's only been 15 seconds. Yeah, I know. He's just, I did an overnight shift years, years, years ago for the National Auto Theft Bureau. And they had someone answer phones overnight in case the police called with whatever.

Those hours just dragged because when there's nothing to do, and this is the situation Andy is in, there is nothing to do here. No, and it's great in our research. Why doesn't he just bring a book to read? Ha ha ha!

Which is just a funny thing to think about. Image of him reading, like what book would he be reading? He'd be reading like the manual for how to be a security guard. Right. Yeah. He had already gone through Where's Waldo. So I love that. He's just saying that he's so bored that he started thinking about it. Just like dumb, boring stuff. Like, do I matter to any of us? Is there a master plan in the works? A grand design. So funny. So funny.

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Jim, let's move on in our synopsis, sir. Go for it. Intent on not repeating the errors of his entertainment 720 days, Tom takes the Rent-A-Swag renovations very seriously, showing real leadership skills. Meanwhile, Leslie doubles down on her mistrust of Eagleton, causing Reston to have second thoughts about their collaboration. And...

Back at City Hall, Andy and April have gone into a full-blown Burt Macklin role-playing game with April pretending to be Hitler's spoiled daughter. Let's jump right into Rent-A-Swag. Please. Tom is definitely feeling this is his last shot at something. He has had a lot of failures recently.

Again, all that money just went away quickly because they mismanaged. It was unbelievable. So he knows this is it. But what I love about this episode, as we'll see as we go along here, again, a character growth. There is so much growth in this episode and yet still a little. Yes, but the comedy is he maybe grows too far to one extreme, right? Which is before he was spending money like it was raising. It was like a magic magic.

paper that just constantly... He was handing out iPads. Yeah, yeah. And now he's so thrifty, so cheap that he's, you know, turning the lights off and having a pizza party that only has one pizza. One small pizza. And we'll get to that in a second because the way you played that reaction is so funny, Jim. Thank you. Well, no, he says, what does Holmes say? He says, if this goes down in flames, I will have nothing except my looks. I could always...

pit myself out to hot older ladies, I need to remember that. You know what? It's good to have a fallback plan. Yes. He has got a plan if this doesn't work out. His break glass in case of emergency is that he's so hot that he's going to pit himself out. Genius. All right, Jim. I never thought I'd say this name, but Judy Hitler. April Ludgate is Judy Hitler. Andy Dwyer is Burt Macklin in this kind of

short film within the episode thing that's like you know classic noir little drama we got going on yeah and it's sweet and funny you know there's a sweetness to seeing them it's just the two of them it's

It's just husband. What do you think? I know there are characters on the show, but let's buy into the lore of this. These are, this is a husband and wife who are just hanging out together one day and killing time and playing a game, playing a game. It's so sweet. And also Aubrey and Chris's relationship outside of characters was lovely and wonderful and very loving. So I would imagine they had so much fun with days like this because they were buddies, you know, but let me ask you this from the writer standpoint,

You know, because the word Hitler can be a little scary. Is that is there talk about, well, maybe we shouldn't use that word or that name? Or it's like, no, it's just funny. Yeah, I'm sure there's a little bit of talk about that. But I think ultimately, you know, you know, you can make it funny. And I think the fact that she's playing this game off Andy, like it's different if she were pretending to be someone named Judy Hitler.

right? A relative of he who cannot be named. With Leslie, it feels weird, right? It feels like, I don't like you being that. But with Auntie, is Burt Macklin this stupid, lovable,

FBI agent, Burt Macklin. It's really funny. And it produces one of my favorite moments in the entire episode is when he's doing the interrogation of her and they, you know, they get close and they kiss or whatever. And he's like, don't you do it, Hitler. Don't you fall in love with me or whatever he says. He says, don't you do it, Hitler. Don't you dare fall in love with me. It's worth it. In my opinion, it's all worth it for that. I agree. Yeah, I'm with you.

So funny. Okay, Jim, great scene is Leslie Knope trying to apologize. Yep. I love it. She's so good. Amy's so good at this. It's like, you know, she's holding back vomit. Literal vomit. Literal vomit. You love it, don't you? Love it. It's not just an apology. Those can be tough for all of us sometimes. It can be tough to say, I'm sorry, I goofed up.

So that's tough to begin with, but she's apologizing to an Eagle Tonian. Right. It might, he might as well work for the library. You know what I mean? Like this is awful. This is the worst thing. And Amy, she's a brilliant actress. She's, I have the feeling she played around with that probably a bunch of different ways, but it's perfect. Yes. It's perfect. She tries everything she can to get the words out. And Ben is just like,

come on because to him it'd be super easy oh i'm so sorry right right right no no she has deep history this is tough for her this is tough and right and it reminds me of uh that scene in baby mama tina fey is trying to get amy to swallow that prenatal vitamin she keeps spitting it out it's this it's hard to explain but there's this great physical comedy in amy's performance of

this spoken comedy. Mm-hmm. Right? You see her whole body is controlling her mouth. She's trying so hard, but it just can't happen. Yes, yes. At one point, she says, my mouth is dry, and then she drinks Canada dry. She goes, drink Canada dry if your mouth is dry. No, that's nothing. She's trying to come up with anything, something to make this easier. Yes, yes. And nothing is working. Yes. Let's move on with our synopsis, sir. Absolutely.

After some convincing from Ben, Leslie apologizes to Reston and it looks like the park project will move forward until two of Reston's associates show up with a park design disparaging Pawnee. Meanwhile, Rent-A-Swag is ready to open its doors, but the final look leaves much to be desired. And back at City Hall, a run-in with a lost little boy makes Andy realize it might be time for Burt Macklin to hang up his shades. Well,

which kind of makes me sad. I don't want Burt Macklin shades hung up. Yeah. I love Burt Macklin. Yeah. But I get it. It's, it's growth.

Not a fan. Right. Not a fan. But going back to the beginning with Renesweg, it's just terrible. Yes. But here's my one question I would want to say to Jerry and to Ann and to Donna and to everybody. Why didn't you tell them when that paint started going up and you realized it looked like phlegm? Yeah. Why didn't you say something then? Because now we've painted the damn place. And Jerry, like Jim, is lazy. I don't want to repaint. Yeah, but paint changes.

changes color a little bit as he tries. That was a lot of paint. That was a lot of paint. I'm sorry, but I get it. For the storyline, we had to see this terrible place. And it wasn't terrible. It was just drab. Yeah. There'd be nothing that would be like, oh, wow. Because, you know, you go into a store and you get a feel. You still have the harsh lighting, the overhead halogen lighting. Yeah. And Donna, what'd she say? She says, for real, Tom, this place is sad.

I think one of the mannequins tried to commit suicide. Okay. But we are about to have the Rent a Swag pizza party. Ooh. And Jim, your reaction to this is so funny. It's like, what do you say? Just one pizza. For all of us. And no toppings. And remember, Jerry is such a sweet man. He's so heated. He's so heated. He goes along with everything.

Now you're fucking with this food. Right. And things are going to get different. Earlier on, Jerry would be a little crabby, cranky here and there. But as the seasons went on, he's just a kind person. He goes along with the flow. He knows he's got this wonderful life at home, so it is what it is at work. He truly loves all these people. But for that,

Uh-uh. Yeah. I didn't spend a day here. Yeah. Almost got attacked by a raccoon. Right. And I'm getting maybe half a slice of pizza? Right. I just said physical labor. Labor. Yes. I was away from my gale and my girls. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, Jerry ain't putting up with that. Meanwhile, Ron, who sees the scene and the lights then have gone out, and he says, if there were more food and fewer people, this would be a perfect party. So a different opinion. Different opinion. Yes, yes.

So what's funny is that we have a episode in the second season, right, where Tom's moving, right? Yes. And so you have that great line from Mark because he asked Mark to borrow his truck. He's like, this is why you don't have a pickup truck because everyone asks you to help them move something. But Andy is so excited to help move stuff. He's like, I love doing this kind of thing. And here he is off on his own little story instead of helping Tom. Yeah.

move and build and do things that rent a swag. And so what happens with Andy is he gets this chance back at the city hall to actually help someone as a security guard. And it was so cute when he realized that he maybe pushed the Burt Macklin, Judy Hitler, make him up a

up a little bit too hard he's like oh no buddy it's okay i'm he's scared i'm a sweet security guard i thought it was really sweet you get to kind of see oh what kind of a dad would andy dwyer be and it's a really good one yeah i think a really good one yeah okay jim

We have the crown jewel of Pawnee. Exactly what our characters say. They say we present the crown jewel of Pawnee. It's the architects from Reston's office coming in, and they say it contains the sights, the sounds, and most importantly, the smells that define your city. And it's just... I hate them. It's just mean. I hate them. There are several drool buckets for your more slack-jawed citizens. Oh.

We also have food troughs full of cheeseburgers and public showers with instructions for those who've never showered before. I mean, really. And so you let's go back to my first question. When we introduced the storyline, like, how are you feeling? Do you trust Reston? So here's my question for you now. They come in. They have this presentation.

You know how they feel about Pawnee. Do you still trust Reston or do you think he was all a setup for this? At this time, I think he's all in. I think he has set this whole thing up because he's so sweet and kind and, you know, let's combine our, you know, it's all good. We can work together.

I thought, oh, my God. Right. I totally thought he did it. How about you? Yeah. And I was pissed. Yeah. I think at this point, I feel like there's a twist coming where he's going to be redeemed. Oh, I didn't see that. But, you know, you could have done the... We're about to talk about the rest of the episode, so let's talk about what could have happened. But also, let's just say, that presentation was amazing. It was so terrible. Yeah, it was terrible. I mean, just the visual of it was...

Perfect as far as for TV comedy. Yeah, I mean, the main doll in the model is actually a John Travolta action figure from his 2007 role of Edna Turnblad in Harris Gray. The doll is drinking from a Ponch Burger Lil' Swallow. It's very Pawnee specific. And the fact that they say, and the smells, what a rotten... Though, Pawnee does have some smells. They're not wrong about that, but...

I'm watching this. I'm watching this and I'm thinking, OK, I think I think we're going to redeem Reston. But an entirely different third act could happen where Reston is revealed to be this evil Eagletonian and was just screwing him over. And, you know, it was just a total catfish kind of thing. We're going to get into it. I think we have to move on with our synopsis to see how this episode actually ends.

After explaining he had nothing to do with the fake park design from his associates, Reston presents Leslie with the real and amazing model for Pawnee Commons. Meanwhile, Anne has a heart-to-heart with Tom, encouraging him to not give up too much of his Tommy T. swagger in the process of becoming a successful businessman. And back at City Hall, Andy decides to say goodbye to Burt Macklin for good. So, Reston...

Frank's good. Reston's good. I still wasn't believing it, though. Still. Still. They're sitting outside at the park, and you still don't believe it. I'm waiting for the tag to show that he's garbage. I really was. I didn't believe it. I really... Which is great that it was all good, but I'm just saying...

I have been burned by Eagleton. Yes. And I am like Leslie, and I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Right. And I really, up until the tag, was waiting for that shoe to drop. Oh, great. Yeah. Well, that's good writing. Yes. Good storytelling. Always great writing. Well, in Eagleton, Ben sits down with Reston, and we learn that Eagleton sits on a hot spring, which creates a microclimate. It's why they are blessed to have palm trees. In fact, what does that waiter say? We are truly blessed. Yes. There are...

so many seafood towers in this restaurant. Oh my God. Shrimp and lobster and crab. It's, it's, they're doing fine. They're doing fine. Right. They're doing good. Well, um, you know, Reston says that, uh, these guys were not working with him and he, you know, anyway, he sets the story straight, but Leslie, who's,

fucking pissed right now right comes in for revenge and runs in and empties two cans of shaving cream all over reston's head and i just love the reaction the way brad hall played it he kind of just takes it and he doesn't let it be a reason to get mad he kind of just sits there and it's like all right fine yeah as an actor i my brain immediately goes to how many takes because it's a mess yeah he's covered in cream and i guarantee it wasn't one and done no that never happens but

can we just say how funny it was when Leslie comes in and she does it on Reston's head and then she's like I love you Ben and also when she realizes that a mistake has been made yeah but again I'm still not believing it okay because Ben is so man crushing that he wants all this to be good it turns out he's right it is good it is all good but I was still I was still hesitant yeah

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Okay, well, let's go to the diner where Tom and Anne are sitting down for their heart-to-heart. First of all, Tom basically just orders his groceries at the diner, right? He says, I'll have the pancake breakfast, and let me also get 12 eggs, uncooked, and some toast. 20 slices, untoasted, in a row, in a bag, right? And he's cheap here. He's basically saying, I need groceries. He's saying, I am too thrifty, and he's demonstrating exactly what

And why Anne needs to be the sage here. And the reason he's doing it is Anne has said she will pay for breakfast. So that's the only reason he even knows that he can try to get away with this. Right. But he's doing it because he is being very, very thrifty to try to make rent a swag work to not repeat the sins of the past.

But how sweet of her to bring him in because she knows what has to happen. And she's the right person for this. She is the right person. She says what? That his swagger and his showmanship, his confidence is a part of him. And in small doses, it can help. And a great point that you can't have rent a swag without the swag. Yeah. And then she hands that wad of cash from all of his friends to help float the company until he can get it on its feet. Which how sweet is that? All of the coworkers, all those people there that had spent the days working

piecing this place together yeah they knew what was going on yeah i can't think of a side business that any of my co-workers would ever have in which i would be like and here's some of my money to help you with it yeah but this is a family yeah they are a chosen family yep i love that moment um okay so we gotta say goodbye not to our episode to burt macklin no he turns in his badge

There's that iPhone 21 gun salute. I love how I played that bag. It's so funny. It's so sweet. I love April in this. She has the police captain's hat on. She accepts Bert's resignation and hands him a makeshift certificate that cracked me up that says you were in the FBI. Yeah.

Just brilliant. So funny. And there's a talking head with Macklin. He goes, 40 years undercover. I never even met my family. This is all I have to show for it. Totally worth it. Yeah. It would be for Andy. Totally worth it. And just the way Pratt plays it when he's walking off. The guns are shot and it's really special. It's a nice way to say goodbye. It is. Not forever, I think. Of course, thankfully. To Burt Macklin. Yes.

Um, and let's wrap up the episode then with the tag, right? Because we have Tom's pizza party with 30% more swag. There's more pizza, a second pizza. I love how Ann's like, oh, great. Two pizzas with toppings. All right. So he did, he did more than double his pay. You know what he's

expense on it, but Rent Swag looks really good. Yes. I think when you watch this, you think, I think this could work. Yeah. As opposed to when we saw the office walkthrough of Entertainment 720, you know it's doomed to fail. Doomed to fail. It's too much. It's too big. But this feels like it could work. Yes. Yeah. It's a little store.

with a good idea. Yeah. Truly a good idea. And we have a nice little tie in at the end where, you know, earlier we didn't mention, but Ron is helping Chris out. Oh yeah. Great. And so he's building, he's like, gives him something to build. And Ron says, it's a staircase to nowhere. Yeah. And then it winds up being used to put all the shoes on. And Chris is like, so happy about that.

And Ron said, yes, that's exactly what I intended. He had no idea. But I'll also say this. Chris did a damn good job. Looks good. That was a pretty piece of furniture. Yeah, I have to believe that Ron Swanson came in to finish it. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. He Swanson'd it. He Swanson'd it. It was Swansonized. Tim, we've come to the end of our episode.

episode of Parks, but it's not the end of our podcast episode, as you know, because we'd love to hear some of your crap. Well, this was such a loaded, fun, fun episode. A couple of great moments. One of my favorite is when

Leslie and Ben are talking to Reston and, uh, he's talking about Eagleton and she goes, um, say what you want about Pawnee, but we never give up. She hits it hard. And Ben, we have a mural called the many surrenders of Pawnee. Literally. Yeah. They have a mural saying they have given up many times. Does that make you think of like the whole, uh,

mythology we had around the Zorpies, the reasonableness, right? All the times that they believed that Pawnee was about, and they just like gave up. Gave up. Okay. Well, oh, we had the date wrong. We'll do it next year. Another great moment with Leslie when she says, I told you the Eagletonians are terrible people. They call their boogers Pawnee caviar. It's so funny. Yes. Yeah. Oh my God. Cause you know,

a little gross goes a long way with me. Uh, and also when they're, uh, another moment is when they're looking at rent to swag, you know, Chris is always so optimistic and everything. It's okay. It's okay. And everyone's like, Tom, this isn't good. This isn't good. And he's Chris. I think what's important is we all had a goal and we achieved it. And,

And so you like the place, Chris? Oh no, it's quite terrible. That is such a Chris moment. Oh no, no, no, no. It's quite terrible. Uh, that's some amazing crap. Some, some delightful crap. Delightful crap. Uh, let's talk about our gifts, parties and jobs to pizza parties. Although both are pretty sad as we know. And Andy starts his part-time city hall security job. And I'll just say he gives up one of his great jobs being Burt Macklin FBI. Um,

Final thoughts on the episode. Yeah, a couple of final thoughts. It's one of the rare times, and not that they were totally at odds, but Ben and Leslie, you know, he's pushing her. We don't see a lot of that. I also have to question, sometimes we forget about Mark Brandanowicz just because...

You know, he was gone after season two. End of two, yeah. And he did give her plans for that part. Right. Maybe a bit of an oops moment in the episode where she says we don't have plans, but he did technically give her plans. Yep. Yes. And what I love about this episode, Jim, is that we get to see the pendulum swing back a little bit for Tom. Yeah. With this guy who I think his ideas have been jokes.

It's very exciting to be rooting for him, truly rooting for him with one of his ideas. I'm excited. And the Rent a Swag business, some of the characters that we're going to meet through it, we're going to meet John Ralphio's sister because of it. Mona Lisa. And John Ralphio's and Mona Lisa's father because of it. It was quite fruitful. It was a really fun experience.

Storyline. Yeah. And again, my favorite part about the storyline was and sitting him down and going, it's okay. Your swagger is good. There's some great, great stuff about you, Tom.

But now there's, we got to do this. And I just thought it was a great moment. Uh, so let's lead into our episode MVP. Who do you got for me, my man? Wow. MVP. The way I interacted with that raccoon, I thought was genius. I'll probably get a call from the Academy about that. I would give the raccoon for having to put up with you. Exactly. Yes. MVP is the raccoon. Wow. Um,

Mm, boy, there was some great stuff. I'm going to lean again. It's so tough because Leslie is, you know, Amy is so brilliant in all these episodes and she's the lead. So of course she's going to have more time than everybody else.

Um, and she did have to apologize. And I guess I have to go Leslie because the apology scene alone is, uh, genius. It's great. I'm going to have to go. Leslie. I do think that it is a highlight of the episode. Yeah, I do too. That, um, that scene and the Judy Hitler, Burt Macklin, uh,

interrogation are my two favorite moments of the episode. But I think you're falling in love with me. I won't Jim, but you're trying buddy. You try not to you try, but I I'm going to give it to Tom. I will because I yeah. Yeah, because I can easily say Leslie here just like you but I'm going to give it to Tom because I think that it is fun to see him

really trying. Yeah. And it's not something we see often. It's fun to see him really try and it's fun to, like I said, root for him because of it. Yep. And as we will see in the future, mistakes are still made, but he's human and that's what's happening. Well, listeners, please let us know who your MVP is by tweeting at Team Cocoa Podcasts or by using the hashtag, hashtag Parks and Rec Collection.

That's us. Well, Jim, let's have a town hall today. Let's do it. Let's get the people together and hear what the people have to say. The people. The people of Pawnee. Let's set this town hall in the park of Eagleton. I like it. Yeah. Today's town hall comes from Victoria.

who says, Hi, Jim and Greg. I recently came across a license plate that literally said, Ah, geez. And I laughed out loud thinking that that would be the perfect license plate for Jerry, Gary, Larry, Terry, Barry. It also got me thinking if you were to distill each of the other main cast members into a funny license plate, what would their license plate say?

Once again, thank you so much. Loving the show. Thank you, Victoria. And I hope your pillows stay cool on both sides. Oh, me too. Oh, that's nice. I love that. Yes. Best wishes, Victoria. Thank you, Victoria. That is a nice wish. That is a nice wish. It is a nice wish because I do love.

Oh, yeah. Nice, cool pillow. Yeah. In fact, my family makes fun of me that I once bought off an infomercial the Sobacow pillow made of buckwheat because apparently was always had a there was no hot side. There was both cool sides. It was not great. But at first I would say, wow, you're going to they're going to send you a free one. Now, not so much. No, no, no, no.

Jim, what do you think? What are some ideas that popped into mind for our vanity license plates? Well, I have a couple. Another one for Jerry could be DMTJRY. Damn it, Jerry. Oh, that's funny. That would work. That's very funny. For Ron, I just thought

It's a car. C-A-R. Oh, that's funny. I had a very similar idea when I was reading this down hall, which was it says Ron's car. Right. Yeah, Ron's car. Although now I think cars are better. He wouldn't want people to know what it is. He wouldn't even want that. No. Car. It's a car. It's a car. It's a car. Leslie, I mean, there's so many options. L-V-W-A-F-L-S. Love waffles. Oh, that's great. I thought that was good. Chris.

It's so obvious. Literally. However you want to do it. L-T-R-L-Y. Yeah, literally. However. It's literally obvious. Yeah. For April, I thought H-8-U. Hate you. Hate you. Aw. See, I went the sweeter side. I was thinking some form of champion would be on it. Well, of course. No, that would work too. But this is April. Like, you know, she hates everybody. Yeah, yeah. And she wants you to know if you're following her and you see her license plate, I hate you. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. And then for Andy, I did a Burt Macklin thing. B-M-F-B-I. Burt Macklin. Oh, B-M. Okay. Not the other B-M. No, not the other B-M. Get your head out of the gutter, Greg. I'm sorry. You know me. I'm always Pollyanna sweet, nice stuff. I don't talk about anything bad. Greg, irritable bowel syndrome, Levine. Yes, we have to hear about that. IBS every day. Every day, IBS. And then for Ann, just N-R-S-E, nerds.

Oh, I was thinking one where Leslie makes it for her and it's like an acronym for like a Ann Perkins, you sweet, sexy starfish or something like that. And it's just like the starting letters of that word. Yeah, that works. And then for Ben, I came up with kind of going with the Leslie one. I L V C L Z N.

Oh, I love Calzone. I love Calzone. You could just do Calzone. You could just do Calzone. Right. Yeah. Right. Or Ice Town. Oh, Ice Town, sure. I don't know if he would be proud of that. Does he want to be reminded of that every day? Yeah. Yeah. Where Calzone's, I think he does want to be reminded. And I will say my favorite that I was thinking of for Tom is Treat Yo. Treat Yo. Perfect. Just Treat Yo. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then for Donna's license plate, BNZ. That's nice. I was thinking that somehow she would have an unmarked car.

Or she would be driving illegally without a license plate. I don't know. She wants the world to know. Donna is very much, look what I got. She treats herself too. You convinced me. Yeah. I think of X and Y would be M-Y-B-N-Z. My Benz. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

That's where I go with. So, Victoria, thank you. Thank you, Victoria. It was fun to get to actually sit down and put some thought into that. Yeah, absolutely. That was really fun. So you guys can send us all sorts of questions. Yes, we love our town halls. We love it. And we love you all for listening. Thank you so much for listening. Text this episode to your group chat. Give us five-star reviews wherever you are listening. And from all of us here at Parks and Recollection, goodbye from Punny. Goodbye! Bye!

Parks and Recollection is produced by me, Lisa Berm, and engineered by Joanna Samuel. The podcast is executive produced by Jeff Ross, Adam Sachs, Colin Anderson, and Nick Liao. Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Kahn are our talent bookers, along with assistance from Maddie Ogden. Our theme song is by Mouse Rats.

a.k.a. Mark Rivers, with additional tracks composed by John Danik. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on Parks and Recollection. This has been a Team Coco production.

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