It’s Halloween in Pawnee, and that means April (Aubrey Plaza) and Andy (Chris Pratt) are throwing a party. Complete with murder and blood orphans… according to April, anyway. Andy says there will just be a lot of candy and tequila, so let’s hope he’s right.
Tom (Aziz Ansari) has organized for Leslie (Amy Poehler) to speak with Pawnee’s local businesses, in the hopes that they’ll support her upcoming election. Most importantly, Mark Kernston, head of Kernston’s Rubber Nipples, also known as The Nipple King, will be there. Things get a little weird when Tom gets a call from a weeping Jean-Ralphio (Ben Schwartz), but we’ll get to that later.
Upon arriving, Leslie notices the meeting is decked out with Entertainment 720 stuff – meaning there are a ton of pictures of Tom’s face everywhere. Leslie is obviously not pleased.
Over at Andy and April’s, Ben (Adam Scott) is pretty upset that his roommates decided to have a party without telling him. But it’s Wyatt family tradition not to talk about your feelings, so he decides to spend a passive-agressive night in his room. April and Andy pick up on this pretty quickly, and decide to weasel it out of him the best ways they know how. For April, that’d be fear and intimidation, but Andy decides to just keep him in a headlock until he cracks. Good thinking.
Ron (Nick Offerman) notices that basically everything at Andy and April’s house is broken. Being Ron, he takes it upon himself to fix it all, but discovers they only have a hammer, a pretzel, half a pair of scissors and a flashlight full of jellybeans in their toolbox. Enlisting Ann (Rashida Jones) for her small hands, Ron goes off to the hardware store and with his superhuman handyman skills, commences the project.
Chris (Rob Lowe) is dressed as the world’s most annoying Sherlock Holmes. Jerry (Jim O’Heir) gives him the go-ahead to invite his daughter Millie (Sarah Wright) whom Chris has been seeing. Chris then proceeds to be entirely inappropriate, and is all up on Millie the entire evening. Jerry is understandably uncomfortable.
Tom continues to overshadow Leslie at the meet-and-greet, and concludes his horrifying ad campaign with the Entertainment 720 dancers and a ride in his mobile hot tub. Leslie is so angry she almost drowns the little idiot, but then Tom reveals that Entertainment 720 is bankrupt. Who didn’t see that one coming? Leslie takes Tom to JJ’s for some comfort waffles and he reveals that he actually made a tribute video for her. It is so adorable that Leslie decides she will have it projected onto her tombstone.
Back at the party, Andy keeps Ben in a headlock until he is forced to fight back, breaking Andy’s nose. Andy doesn’t mind though, and even refers to Ben as his brother in the hospital. Ben promises to be more open about his feelings as long as Andy and April stop using his comforter for pillow forts. And stop having sex on it.
Tom ends up going back to Mr. Kernston, and gets him to reconsider his feelings about Leslie. See, he really is a good person beneath that cocky exterior.
NBC’s comedies have always had fantastic halloween episodes, and this episode of Parks and Recreation was one of their best yet. The only thing that got on my nerves was Aziz Ansari’s portrayal of Tom, who I usually love. He came off like a total dick, Leslie even calls him one. I’m getting pretty tired of the E720 storyline, especially when Jean-Ralphio isn’t around.
Aubrey Plaza was definitely the star of this week’s episode. First of all, she’s gorgeous, even as a deflated sumo-wrestler, and she can convey so much comedy with just a glance I have no idea how I’d never heard of this girl before this show. She and Chris Pratt need their own show about their characters’ relationship. Ron and Ann’s growing friendship was also pretty cute, and I hope to see more of it.
Overall, I’m enjoying where they’re taking the season and I’m excited to see next week’s episode.
Make sure to let us know what you thought of this week’s episode in the comments below.