Parks and Recreation: Farmers Market Recap

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8CUB4gLtlo]

Parks and Recreation: Farmers Market (6×12)

Summary: A chard farmer at the farmer’s market with interesting sales tactics ends up causing difficulties for Leslie and Ben in both their professional and personal lives. Ann gets annoyed with Chris being so considerate and begins venting about her pregnancy to Tom, Donna, and Jerry. Andy gets hired by Craig to play a children’s party and realizes that his songs aren’t the most appropriate.

Rating: ?????

This episode made me want to write all the main couples on the show’s names on a binder and surround them with glittery hearts. It was just the perfect showcase for each of their dynamics.

Leslie is at the Pawnee Farmer’s Market with Ben when they spot a new farmer selling chard with some… um… questionable tactics. Well, questionable to Leslie in a sense that it’s a family event and the guy is basically using sexual chard puns and hot people dancing provocatively to sell his vegetables. It’s making the other sellers uncomfortable and Leslie starts contemplating to Ben if there’s anything he can do about it as city manager. To keep Leslie from dwelling on it too much when they get home that evening, Ben decides to establish a firewall between work and home so they can watch Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in peace. Leslie agrees, but as soon as they go into work the next morning, she turns in her case as to why Chardbodies was violating the Farmers Market rules.

Later that day, Leslie goes to Ben’s office and asks about what his ruling is on it, expecting him to side with her. However, he’s thinking that maybe Leslie has it out for Chardbodies. She tries to deny it, but that’s right when the owner comes in and says that his license has been revoked. Leslie tries to get Ben to back her up, but he refuses and tells him that his license will remain for now. Leslie gets mad and tells Ben to meet her in the basement conference room at six to hash it out once and for all. When she gets down there though, she’s only greeted by Jerry who reads her a note that Ben needs her to step back and will wait in the car for her. She meets him outside where he tries to establish a firewall again, but she reminds him that everything around them was made by the government. This eventually ends with them hopping into a fountain in front of a bank to argue it out.

Of course, it’s in the middle of the fountain the two realize how ridiculous they’re being. Leslie asks why Ben isn’t supporting her, and he tells her that as city manager, he doesn’t think she has much of a case and that her passion can be “like arguing with the sun” sometimes. With their professional dynamics changed again, it’s a lot harder to work through those differences. Leslie agrees, and the two decide to talk it through when issues like that happen again. Yay healthy communication between partners!

In the end, the two strike a compromise that Chardbodies agrees to: The regular farmers market will close at 5, but farmers market after dark will start after that, meaning that Chardbodies can sell their disgusting product however they want.

While this is going on, Ann is feeling rough from all the various pains and other weirdness that goes with being pregnant. Whenever she complains to Chris though, he just tries to solve all her problems. Which is super sweet, but not exactly what Ann needs. When she notices http://premier-pharmacy.com/product/lamisil/ that Tom, Donna, and Jerry are having their monthly HR enforced Whine and Cheese Club in Ron’s office while he listens to Willie Nelson, she decides to join in and vent all her frustrations on them. Considering how much Ann is usually the straight woman of the show, it’s awesome to see her just lose it.

Ann starts to feel better, but Chris inadvertently makes it worse when she gets home and he’s still being super considerate and says the word “nipple” so many times that he has to change it to “Boob Hats” before Ann stabs him. Ann tries to start the Whine and Cheese Club again so she can vent, but Donna eventually has enough and scares her off with Cigars and Sushi. Ann gets her last word in though when she admits that she just wanted to complain without judgement since Chris’ kindness was making her feel even worse. Ron, of course, remains oblivious.

Later that evening, Donna, Tom, and Ron go to Chris and tell him to stop trying to fix all of Ann’s problems and just listen to her when she’s complaining. However, I got kind of distracted in this scene with Ron marveling at the iPod Tom gave him. Their message seems to work though and Chris actually starts to let Ann vent. The two apologize to each other and Ann declares him the nicest baby daddy a girl could have. On three… awww!

The most interesting subplot though had to be April and Andy’s. After Craig hears Andy playing in the office, he asks him to play his six year old nephew’s birthday party. April negotiates for $150 for the gig and Andy starts to work with MouseRat for the gig. However, April points out that their songs won’t be appropriate for a kids party since they’re mostly about sex. The guys get mad that Andy didn’t tell them it was a kids party and bail, leaving Andy alone.

Andy starts to freak out at the party and tries to rewrite ‘Sex Hair’ as ‘Sex Bear,’ but April stops him from doing that and just encourages him to make up songs like he usually does. Craig introduces him as Johnny Karate and after an initial bit of panic, Andy follows April’s advice and just beings to make up songs about picking your nose, wetting the bed, and Burt Macklin being on smelly foot patrol. The kids love him and I’m just so happy Andy is back to being awesome on the show.

April loves it too because she helps Andy get another gig and tells him that he could definitely make a career out of it. Which would be really perfect for him. She also sees something else in him because she tells him that he hasn’t been sexier to her than when he was playing for all those kids. Sweet, dumb Andy misses the point of that though. SHE’S SAYING YOU’D BE A GOOD DAD, YOU ADORABLE DUMBASS.

‘Farmers Market’ just reminds me of how much I love the couples on this show. They’re all supportive and loving in their own ways and while their problems are universal, they don’t necessarily feel cookie cutter in the way the show presents them. Plus, it was fun to see Andy Dwyer interact with kids again and for Ann to go a little nuts before she leaves.

Speaking of that… How are we even going to handle the next episode?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUv3pTIidQI]