Planning for the Pawnee Unity Concert on “Parks and Recreation” may go on as long as Barney’s wedding weekend on “How I Met Your Mother.” But if it continues to be as entertaining as Thursday’s show, directed by Nick Offerman, it could go on much longer.
The super packed episode had a little of everything – concert planning progress, yes, but also a flu epidemic, a big sommelier test, some notable special guests, a Mouserat song or two, a crisis for Ben about his family, a spiritual awakening and a big announcement.
It was a big episode for Chris Pratt, who began the show by coughing profusely as they tried to nail down a headliner for the concert. There are a number of funny band names on the bulletin board, from American Jeans and The Lateral Moves to Zeep Zap Zorp and Barren Waste. On the “Awesome Wish List” of Pratt’s Andy Dwyer are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, “Bob Dylan’s friends” and Land Ho.
But they might be fine with the one they acquired as headliner, a teenage county artist named Chipp McCapp,whose big hit is “Beautiful Like My Mom (Support the Troops).” He’s played by Bo Burnham, the young comic who once starred in MTV’s “Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous.”
Tom is still nailing down details for the restaurant he is planning, Tom’s Bistro, so is planning on going to a big sommelier competition in order to snare a wine expert. Five from the office ending up going with him — and April and Craig (the outspoken character played by Billy Eichner, who sees his part growing weekly) want to take the test as well. “I wanted to make fun of stupid people while I get drunk,” says April. “My two true passions.”
Seems odd that Ron would want to go as well, but he says it’s because “alcohol will be there.” Ben decides he’ll come as well, though Tom notes it was only April and Donna (“cool people”) who were actually invited.
Poor Larry (formerly Jerry) is in his own quarantine tent, but unzips it enough to announce that Chipp has dropped out, turning Leslie to panic mode.
At the wine thing, Tom is pursuing a suave young man he describes as “basically the Bruno Mars of Indiana amateur wine tasting.”
Ben gets a call about his parents selling the family lake cabin without telling him first, which upsets him and drives him to drink the potent blueberry wine. Ron doesn’t want to hear about his personal problems but buys four bottles of the blue wine.
At the pharmacy to pick up flu drugs, Leslie is persuaded that her sickness might be something else entirely. She picks up a 99 cent pregnancy test (brand name, if you missed it: “Womb, There It Is”).
Florid wine descriptions are always a ripe target for comedy, so Craig and April both have some pretty good ones for the judges. “Undertones of lavender,” he says, “But mostly pumpkin. There’s so much pumpkin it’s like a Charlie Brown Halloween special!”
“I’m getting notes of dried robin’s blood, old dirty cashews and just a hint of a robot’s bathwater,” she says.
Leslie learns the results of her pregnancy test and calls Ben, but he’s all drunk and blue-toothed and drops his phone into an orchard puddle. He and Ron decide to walk home, but out comes the other Ron ( Sam Elliott), in all his strange mysticism. They have a campfire/ spirit animal session and they all get a lift in the other Ron’s extremely small Smart Car (“This car runs on vegetable oil and bat guano,” he says. “It actually cleans the air as it drives.” Its license plate: Carma).
Leslie and Andy go to see Chipp, who is singing another perfectly formulated new country song (“I”ll bring the girls, you bring the beer; the troops will bring the freedom”). But he turns out to be a jerk, ordering a certain order to his Snackables and yelling at his manager/dad. “He’s a monster, but we need him,” Leslie says.
He acts even weirder and specifically calls Pawnee a bunch of hicks, so Leslie tells him they don’t want him at their event after all.
At the wine event, April stands when they are about to announce the winner, giving thanks to a succession of Eddie Murphy comedies, “To Norbert, Pluto Nash, all of the Klumps…”
The cool guy wins but is hired immediately by a man with 12 restaurants. Back at the office, Craig proves he can be a serviceable sommelier if he takes his personality down a notch or twelve. “You’re like a crazy volcano,” Tom says.
Andy calms Leslie down with such understanding words, it seems like he has guessed that she’s pregnant. But he actually just thought she was getting a dog.
They go to see Scott Tanner, leader of his dream group Land Ho. It’s perfectly cast with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco (whose credit at the end is Jeffrey Scott Tweedy). He doesn’t want to get the band together, but he and Andy jam on his songs and on songs Andy performs as a children’s performer.
It all helps set up a big faux Wilco performance by the end of the season.
And oh yeah, Leslie finds a moment to tell Ben about their new condition, just as he’s saying he thinks it’s time for them to start their family.
Sweet.