Episode 1:3 -- The Reporter

Written by Daniel J. Goor

Directed by Jeffrey Blitz

COLD OPEN: Jerry leads a group of kids on a pre-teen nature hike, which, Leslie explains, used to be a teen nature hike until one of the kids got pregnant. While Jerry is showing the kids some honeysuckle, Leslie grabs some, admires its scent, and takes a bite of it, not realizing that it is not edible and her tongue swells up. 

MAIN PLOT: Leslie tells Ann that she has arranged for a reporter from the Pawnee Journal (Pawnee's

answer to the Washington Post, according to Leslie) to write an article about the park project. The subcommittee meets and Leslie tells them that it's vital that they all stay on message when talking to the reporter. After the meeting, Leslie asks Mark if she can "pick his brain" over coffee and seeks his advice on how to handle the reporter.  She brings to their meeting 30 discussion topics, and Mark tells her that she's insane which leads to some awkward, cringe-worthy flirting on Leslie's part. 

Back at the office, the reporter, Shauna Malwae-Tweep, arrives. Leslie tells Shauna what a fan she is of her work, particularly her expose on Pawnee's raccoon problem. Leslie gives Shauna a tour of city hall and its ten murals depicting Pawnee's pretty horrific history of abuse against the native tribes that were here first. She then introduces Shauna to the subcommittee and the interview starts. Shauna pulls out a tape recorder which immediately throws Leslie who keeps interrupting the taping to clarify minute details like the fact that it's a subcommittee and not a committee. Shauna manages to take control and starts asking questions of Andy who tells her about the night he fell in the pit. He was on his way home from a performance with his band, Three Skin which used to be Four Skin but they lost their bassist. He was taking a short cut and saw what he thought was a toaster in the bottom of the pit and decided to get it, and that's when he fell. Shauna asks him why he wanted a toaster in a pit, and Andy explains that he was pretty drunk. This information is news to everyone -- including Ann who is upset because Andy was given medication at the hospital that could have reacted negatively with the alcohol, and Andy comes back at her that she's on the pill and still drinks. Leslie is beside herself and calls in Mark, begging him to do damage control before Andy's revelation sinks their project. After a meeting with Mark, Shauna tells Leslie she has to leave and will see her tomorrow at the pit ... and then leaves with Mark. 

The next morning, Shauna shows up at the pit to continue interviewing Leslie ... late ... driven by Mark ... wearing the same dress as the day before. She doesn't even have a pen or paper. Leslie figures out what has happened between Mark and Shauna and it throws her into a tail spin emotionally to the point where she can't answer any of Shauna's questions, some of which are asked through a yawn and an apology that she didn't get much sleep. Leslie ends up at Ann's house and tells her about Mark and Shauna. Andy's immediate response was, "I called it!"  Leslie decides she needs to talk to Mark about this. 

Leslie goes back to city hall and confronts Mark, telling him how unprofessional it is. Mark tells her she is being "a huge dork." When Leslie tells Mark that this behavior is unacceptable for a member of her subcommittee, Mark resigns. 

In an effort to do some damage control, Leslie calls Shauna and blames her strange behavior at the pit on food poisoning from "a bad burrito" and asks Shauna if they can meet over lunch. Leslie explains to Shauna that a positive article about the project would help them. When Shauna asks Leslie what the odds are of the park actually happening, Leslie says she is 100% confident. Shauna then reads Leslie a series of quotes stating that the park will never happen -- all of which came from Mark. 

Ann goes to talk to Mark and tells him they need to work together to "fix" this reporter thing. She tells him Shauna plans to print what he told her. He denies saying anything to Shauna, and when Ann repeats the quotes back to him, Mark claims they were all off the record ... or so he thought. Ann and Mark meet with Shauna, and Mark tells her that he only said what he said to get her to come back to bed. Shauna agrees not to print the quotes since she and Mark are "romantically involved." Mark balks at that characterization of their relationship, which opens up potentially even more issues with this article. 

Mark goes to Leslie and apologizes for what happened with Shauna. He promises her he will not do something like that again. He explains to Leslie that he thought his quotes were off the record and that his attempts to fix things "got a bit dicey." Leslie asks him if he really believes what he said, and he assures her the park will happen. She invites him back onto the subcommittee and he accepts. 

In the end, Leslie tells us that the final article was a mixed bag that ended up saying "we'll see" about the park's existence -- a line Leslie takes as a hopeful note. 

SIDE PLOT: This is the first episode that has a significant plot outside of whatever Leslie is doing. Okay, significant is maybe overstating things. In the "B Plot", Tom and Ron play online Scrabble. It is clear that Tom is purposely losing to Ron in an attempt to suck up to his boss. He takes all of Ron's trash talk, feeling he is scoring points with Ron by being terrible. All of this is potentially shot, though, when April hops on Tom's computer and begins playing for real -- beating Ron in the process. Tom goes to Ron and explains what happens, that April was the one behind his win, and all is well. In the end, Ron reveals to us that he knows Tom is throwing the games and he appreciates the effort. He likes Tom's work ethic -- he doesn't do a lot work, shows zero initiative, is not a team player, never goes the extra mile. To Ron, that's the perfect government employee. 

STRAY OBSERVATIONS

* This is the first episode where Jerry speaks ... and where we are told his name is Jerry. 

* Headlines for the front page of the Pawnee Journal include: "Spring arrives! Most residents welcome the new season" and "Wanna iguana? Abandoned lizard found not unalive to Pawnee area"

* First appearance of Shauna Malwae-Tweep.

* First appearance of JJ's Diner, where Leslie says the political elite strike all their deals.

* This is the first time we see Leslie's go-to order at JJ's -- Belgian waffles loaded with whipped cream. While we don't hear her place the order, it is what is sitting in front of her for both of her visits to JJ's in this episode.

* This is the first time Pawnee's raccoon problem is mentioned. 

* We learn that April is 19.

* We get yet another name for Andy's name -- Three Skin -- and the fact that they were formerly known as Four Skin before their bassist left. This is a different name from what we were told in the previous episode. 

* This is the first mention of Ron's ex-wife.  As Ron tells us, "Her name is Tammy Swanson and she's a complete bitch!" 

* Among the quotes Mark gives Shauna about the park: "The Sullivan Street pit is always going to be a pit," "Hey! You should write an article on unicorns because they are more likely to exist than this park," "You should write an article on the Pope getting married because that's more likely to happen than this park," You should write an article on talking monkeys ...", "You should write an article about leprechauns ...", "You should write an article about the sun falling out of the sky...", "No," and "This park is never ever ever going to happen."

* The headline of the article about the park project is called "New Park Proposed." Not only is Leslie referred to as "Leslie Knopes" in the photo caption accompanying the article, but she is referred to as "Knopes" throughout the article.  In the glimpse we see of the article, Leslie says that the park will cost $25,000 to be built that it will cost $3000 a year for maintenance. Major expenses include clearing trees and installing fencing. The major upkeep cost is liability insurance which will cost $1000 a year. "The committee also plans to supply waste-disposal bags."

* More from the article: Leslie is quoted as saying, "I think they (parks) are not only a great place for dogs to get exercise, but for dog owners to meet other people with common interests."

* And also from the article: "Knopes then excused herself and threw up into the reporter's purse. Afterwards, she insisted that she was optimistic about the prospects for the new park. We'll see."

ANALYSIS

Let's get this out of the way -- this is not a particularly good episode of Parks and Recreation, and I'm not 100% sure why that is. There are some key things that are introduced here. Shauna Malwae-Tweep is the only recurring character who appears in every season at some point and while she is not a major character, her appearances are always welcome if only for the tailspin she can send Leslie into as she bends over backward to get good press. We get our first glimpse of the legendary JJ's Diner. We get our first mention of A Tammy Swanson. (Ron doesn't specify which Tammy he's talking about.) So there are some big moments that go down here, so why does this episode leave me so cold?

I think it comes down to the fact that hardly anyone in this episode comes across as particularly likable. You have Mark who sleeps with Shauna to "save the article", trashes the park project in order to keep her in bed, and then balks at her labeling them as "romatically involved." Not that Shauna is innocent -- she sleeps with the subject of an interview and shows up grossly ill-prepared for her job. Meanwhile, Leslie comes across as a total judgmental prig throughout the episode. She's horrified that Andy was drunk when he fell in the pit even though that had to be the least surprising revelation ever. She slut shames Ann for being on the pill. She treats Shauna horribly for sleeping with Mark. She gets disproportionately mad at Mark for sleeping with Shauna. Her reactions to their night together, of course, are all rooted in her own crush on Mark, but the light shone on her here is just not particularly sympathetic. Ann and Andy largely come out of this episode in a good light -- Ann because she steps in to try to fix the damage Mark has done with Shauna and Andy because he provides what little comic relief can be found in the episode. (His reaction to finding out Mark slept with Shauna is pretty funny when laughs are few and far between.) 

The B story with Ron and Tom is just as bad. First of all, it's barely a story. I would guess it takes maybe 5 minutes of total screen time. Secondly, it's kind of a tired "been there done that" kind of story where someone "throws" a game to impress someone with power. The story paints neither Ron nor Tom in a positive light. Tom comes across as an unctuous toady who will do anything to climb the ladder of local government, a gig he seems to only want as a means to line his own pockets through kickbacks as seen in the first episode. Ron, knowing that Tom is purposely losing, still mocks him relentlessly about how stupid and inept he is at Scrabble. You could argue that April sails through this story but her hopping in to play Tom's game still seems a bit shady to me. This story in no way demonstrates the chemistry this ensemble will show in later seasons and feels like a waste of all three characters. 

What makes this episode even more disappointing is the fact that it was written by the great Dan Goor who would go on to co-create Brooklyn 9-9, one of the funniest workplace comedies of this decade. He has overseen the creation of terrific office place hijinks and gives us this -- a randy city planner, a slut-shaming deputy director, and a bland game of Scrabble.  Thank goodness we know better times are ahead for the citizens of Pawnee because this episode is just not good.