Season 4, Episode 16, 2/23/2012 (“Sweet Sixteen”)
Ron Swanson: “Never half-ass two things. Whole ass one thing.”
Apparently, Gary “Jerry” Gergich is a Leap Year baby and it’s his sweet sixteenth birthday. Happy Birthday Gary/Jerry! Except that Leslie forgot! Leslie never forgets! She has OPCD and can do ‘anything always all the time’ (TM). Apparently working on both her job and her campaign has left her frazzled to the point that she is now wearing sweaters with old candy stuck to them, or as she called it ‘lollipopping’ (“All the kids are doing it!”). The kids are doing it and don’t google it. You don’t want to know the myriad of ways that people use that term. I’M NOT KIDDING, DON’T DO IT.
Anyhow, Leslie refuses to take Ron’s suggestion that she go on sabbatical from the Parks and Rec department and spends the episode trying to prove him wrong. By fixing all the mistakes she’s been making, including printing signs with long web links instead of pictures, not filing weekly parks paperwork, forgetting Jerry’s birthday and then forgetting to invite Jerry to his make-up surprise party. Yeah, Leslie, you sure showed Ron, didn’t you?! Obviously, by the end of the episode Leslie realized she needed to concentrate on “whole assing” her campaign and agreed to cut back to 10hrs a week at the office. Which translates to 20hrs actual work time for her, but whaddya gonna do? It’s Leslie!
The rest of the episode was pretty funny, especially Donna’s Most Important Lake House Rules, although I still see no reason for Tom and Ann to be dating except to show how very not compatible they are. There hasn’t been one real moment of connection for me and I’m beginning to get annoyed at this plot gimmick. Hahahaha, she doesn’t like 90s R&B and sleeps on tshirt sheets! They make no sense! Hahahaha! I mean, it is funny. But I’m still just not getting this as anything other than a way to have more Rashida Jones and Azis Ansari. I can’t believe I’m complaining about that, but here I am, complaining.
Overall, a pretty good episode. I didn’t get the warm fuzzies that make this show the best, but I did giggle throughout. And, I’m certainly not going to complain about that.
