From: The Scene Blog
“Parks and Recreation” Recap: Friends, enemies and the future
KRISTIN DOS SANTOS, FLICKR
Note: The following recap contains spoilers for season seven, episodes one and two of “Parks and Recreation,” entitled “2017” and “Ron and Jammy.”
“Parks and Recreation” kicked off its final season with a two-episode premiere, set three years in the future. Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler, “Mean Girls”) is the head of the Midwest branch of the National Parks Service (no surprise). Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman, “Gilmore Girls”) runs a successful private sector company (also, no surprise there)...and is now Leslie’s sworn enemy? There seems to be some bad blood over something called “Morning Star” and it has had Leslie fuming at Ron for the past two years. Obviously, craziness ensues.
Other updates: Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott, “Party Down”) is getting honored as Man of the Year. Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari, “Bob’s Burgers”) is a successful entrepreneur and owner of Tom’s Bistro. Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt, “Guardians of the Galaxy”) has his own TV show. April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza, “Safety Not Guaranteed”) is thinking of becoming a mortician. Donna Meagle’s (Rhetta, “Drunk History”) real estate business has taken off. And Jerry Gergich (Jim O’Heir, “Accepted”) is now Terry.
Tom is as full of himself as ever and operates many successful businesses, including Tommy Chopper: selling chopped salads out of a decommissioned military helicopter. He takes an opportunity to introduce Ben at a fancy gala to instead talk about himself. But Tom later reveals that he was just afraid he’d break down crying in front of all those people with the speech he intended to say. He and Andy go to Chicago on a whim to visit an ex-girlfriend of Tom’s. Tom gets her to come back to Pawnee…with her boyfriend.
Meanwhile, April and Andy are worried they are getting boring, because they’ve become responsible adults and wine makes them sleepy! The horror! Andy now has his own TV show called “The Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show” and April has a solid, reliable job. They’re practically old people. But not to worry, April embarks on a search to find what she wants to do with her life after receiving inspiration from Joan Callamezzo, (Mo Collins, “Men of a Certain Age”) of all people.
Donna is running Reagle Meagle Realty and is engaged. Hopefully, her fiancée Joe wasn’t just sitting in the car for the whole episode.
And Jerry/Larry/Terry/Gary continues to be the butt of everyone’s joke. Poor Jerry...
The first episodes brought back our beloved characters in a wholly different setting but with the same quirks. The “Parks and Rec” crew is sure to go out with a bang in their last season. Stay tuned for more crazy antics and ridiculous scenarios and we proceed into the future (cue “X-Files” music).
Stray thoughts...
*Councilman Jamm (Jon Glaser, “Girls”) is with Tammy Swanson (Megan Mullally, “Will & Grace”) now and she turned him into Ron’s prototype. All the steak and whiskey is really upsetting his Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Tune in to “Parks and Recreation” on Tuesdays at 8 and 8:30 p.m. on NBC.Leslie and Ron work together to free Jamm of the SHE.
*April and Andy almost buy a haunted house. The owner is moving to Orlando. To be closer to Disneyland.
*Is Dennis Feinstein (Jason Mantzoukas, “The Dictator”) still just as successful in the future??
*Ken Hotate’s (Jonathan Joss, “King of the Hill”) son is now making bolo ties and selling them on Etsy. Appearances from Ken never disappoint. But his son does.
*The future holds a lot of crazy stuff… like Shia LeBeouf-designed wedding dresses. Because of course that’s what Donna is going to wear for her wedding.
Tune in to "Parks and Recreation" on Tuesdays at 8 and 8:30 p.m. on NBC.
