Leslie makes a surprising and powerful nemesis in the Parks and Rec season 7 premiere. Check out our recap and share your thoughts on “2017” and “Ron and Jammy.”
Each week NBC will be airing two episodes of Parks and Rec season 7. Let’s tackle each on their own instead of treating them as one entity.
‘2017’ Recap
Parks and Rec creator Michael Schur has been open about Battlestar Galactica‘s time jump being an inspiration for his show’s own final season three year advancement. Now that we’ve seen our first glimpse of 2017, it’s clear that time manipulation isn’t the only thing Michael Schur has borrowed from famous TV sci-fi dramas.
Much like the sci-fi mysteries Lost and Battlestar Galactica, Parks and Rec season 7 seems dedicated to setting up easter eggs and clues to build up its own “mythology.” 2017 frequently alludes to tantalizing mysteries like Morningstar* and has funny little asides about the state of the world in 2017 like Shia LaBeouf being a successful wedding dress designer.
*”Morningstar” is actually another term used for Lucifer, whose name in Latin translates to “the light bringer” or “the morning star.” So maybe season 7 is going to be an allegory to the Divine Comedy with Ron or Leslie descending into hell and losing paradise. MorningStar is also a successful vegetarian food company, so maybe season 7 is just about veggie burgers. Hard to tell.
It’s exciting to see where the writers have let their minds wander to but it also makes the episode a little frustrating at times as it’s not clear what every character’s personal motivations are or what actually transpired during those three missing years.
One thing we do know is that Leslie and Ron are no longer friends. =[
The episode opens where season 6 left off, Leslie and Ben rushing off to a very important city hall vote. Jessica Newport is announcing with lawyer Trevor Lawson (whose law firm’s name is a wonderful little treat for baseball fans) that they are selling some Newport land whose value has significantly been raised by all of Pawnee’s various improvements. Leslie is of the opinion that the land should be granted to the government for a park, while Ron and his company, “Very Good Building and Development Company” is on the side of tech-giant (and Cones of Dunshire enthusiasts), Gryzzl.
From there we check in on what everyone else has been up to for the past three years.
Tom is – surprise, surprise – successful. Tom’s Bistro is doing well and he’s opening up new ventures all over town. Donna is getting married! To Keegan-Michael Key!
Andy and April are happy and successful, with April working for the federal Parks service and Andy starring in his own Johnny Karate TV show. Unfortunately, things are too happy for April and the prospect of using a crockpot sends her into an existential funk that only Andy going streaking can solve. My personal favorite line of the episode comes from this: “Everyone’s gonna see my weiner. I mean, you’ve seen it. You know how dumb it looks.” Chris Pratt, man, Chris Pratt.
And Ben is about to be awarded with Pawnee Man of the Year honors for his efforts as City Manager. He selects Tom to introduce him, though Tom can’t help but proselytize his own qualifications before introducing Ben. Tom later makes up for this by reading the speech he was going to read to Ben but couldn’t because it made him too emotional with glittering lines like “No man balls harder than the man I’m about to bring up.” But prior to that, Ben’s speech is cut short by the arrival of the cake. And then, any cake eating is cut short by a Leslie-Ron skirmish with a tragically destroyed cake.
April and Andy solve their spontaneity problems by buying a house that once functioned as an asylum for people who went insane working on the assembly line at the Pawnee nipple factory. Plus, the landlord is the wonderfully German Werner Herzog. This show is awesome.
Leslie bids $0 on the Newports land, saying that their legacy is more important than any money. Jessica fundamentally disagrees but later announces the final two in the bidding for the land are Gryzzl and their $90 million bid and the Federal Parks department. Leslie visits Ron to deliver war cookies and the battle lines are drawn. The forces of the Federal Parks department: Leslie, April, Ben, Andy and Jerry vs. Gryzzl: Ron, Tom and Donna. It’s the most Lost-ian moment on television since Lost.
‘Ron and Jammy’ Recap
“Ron and Jammy” immediately takes our biggest fears about season 7, Leslie and Ron not getting enough screen time together, and immediately alleviates it. Sometimes two enemies need to join together for a common cause.
Leslie visits Councilman Jeremy Jamm/human equivalent of gas station sushi for his vote in allowing the federal parks department taking over the Newport land. Jamm is looking positively Swansonian when he reveals he has a new girlfriend: Tammy II. Leslie is not amused.
Leslie visits Ron’s office and convinces him that they must put aside their differences to help this poor Tammy-whipped man. Jammy has it bad. He wears a diaper because of all the meat and whisky makes him consume, he’s losing his hair and is completely under the evil woman’s spell.
Ron reluctantly agrees, which brings Jamm a powerful ally in the ongoing war against Tammy. Who else would have a Tammy detox kit that includes a handmade chastity belt (it may be a little small for Jammm but he can pad it). Leslie helps with an unbelievably accurate Megan Mullally impression.
Ron and Leslie’s hilarious attempts at classical conditioning pay off with Jamm being able to resist Tammy’s increasingly sexual overtures. By the time she’s bare naked in the Pawnee library, it’s clear that finally in season 7, the best hath been slain. And more impressively, Leslie and Ron respect each other a little more for putting aside their selfish desires to help their fellow man. Now back to war!
Meanwhile, witnessing Pawnee’s craziest yet seemingly happiest citizen, Joan Callamazzeo, get inducted into the town’s Hall of Fame makes April realize she’s not happy with her job. Or maybe that was just Joan saying “thank you Commissioner Gordon, people of Gotham.” Ben decides to help April decide what she’d rather be doing with her life and asks her what she wanted to do when she was 10 years old. Big mistake. April takes him to a mortuary. She’s as enthused as Ben is terrified (“Hi, I’m Ben, this is April and I’m afraid of death.”) until she realizes that becoming a mortician will take three more years of education.
Back at the office, Donna tells April that she’s going through “Saturn’s return.” Saturn makes a 29 year trip around the sun and when it’s in the same spot when you were born, you start to feel restless. Ben tells April he’ll continue to help her find her bliss and April voluntarily gives him a hug. D’aw.
Tom is going through a rather belated “Saturn’s return” of his own. He has all the success that he ever wanted but still feels lonely. Potential salvation comes in a Gryzzl-text from his one-time fling Lucy, who is living in Chicago and would like to see him. Lots of alcohol and an ill-advised $830 cab ride later, Andy and Tom are in Chicago. Lucy sees Tom immediately and Andy – rather uncharacteristically – quickly concocts a story about him moving to Chicago to cover for Tom’s creepiness. Naturally, Andy forgets that this is just a story moments later and thinks he’s really moving to Chicago.
Tom tries to ask Lucy out but bails at the last minute and offers her a job instead. Smooth move, Haverford. But maybe it’s for the best as Lucy says she’ll have to consult her boyfriend first. Ouch.
“Ron and Jammy” is full of the same 2017-is-weird jokes as the first episode (The Cubs won the World Series!) but it feels like more of a throwback Parks and Rec episode. The key component is that every character for the most part is involved in helping one of their friends: Ron helps Leslie, Andy helps Tom, Ben helps April, Donna even fetches Jerry/Terry some napkins when he spills his coffee! The first offer of Parks and Rec has set up at its core a grand confrontation to close the series out but it has plenty of the sweet, optimistic moments that has made it one of TV’s best sitcoms for seven years.