Is the Killer Sugar? Or April?

Parks and Recreation, S05E02

Leslie was on the fence about how to vote on a sugar tax after she found out that she might cause some businesses to lay off some employees if it were passed.  Chris and Tom helped Andy train so that he could meet the running requirements to be a cop.  Ben struggled to get the interns at his office in line with little help from April.

There were quite a few good things about Leslie's story.  The first would be the size of the cups, which were ridiculous.  The small was 64 ounces, while the regular size was 128!  They managed to top that with a child size of 512 ounces, which was sized for what a child might weigh if liquified.  I love it because it does echo the insane size of drinks (and pretty much most things) in American fast food.  I also thought the concept of "zero water," was funny because it had 300 calories and the "zero" only referred to the fact there was absolutely no water in it.  I'm pretty sure something like that wouldn't fly in America, but when you think about what is allowed to be sold maybe it could be a real item.  I mean, we do drink and eat a lot of sugar and are the fattest country in the world.  It's nice to see the writers poke at that with humor, but also remind you that it isn't really a joke if you stop and think about it.

Another part of that story that was great was when Leslie was at the forum.  One guy stood up and had a really funny comment:

I think we should tax all bad things.  Like racism and women's vaginas.

I think I really love when she takes an issue to a public forum.  That's when all of the crazies come out to say whatever thing they damn well please.  It's a complete circus.  But unfortunately for Leslie, it made her doubt that she would be doing the right thing by favoring to let the tax pass.  But fortunately for us, it led her to seek counsel from Ron, which is always a recipe for comedy.

No surprise that Ron had tried on numerous occasions to get Leslie fired.  I really liked that he said that one of the reason was because she was bubbly.  Leslie tried to defend herself against Ron's complaints about her going over his head and such:

[Leslie] I was a dedicated public servant.[Ron] Right.  That was the worst thing you were.

You can always depend on Ron to show his dislike of working hard in a government position.  Despite that he was annoyed by her, he respected her conviction and grew to accept her.  Aww.  But something just as funny was when Leslie was talking about how her decision on the sugar tax might have created enemies that could potentially become friends.  Ron's door was open and he shouted:

Let's keep down out there!

before he used a remote to have his door automatically close.  Ron is so freaking cool!  That's on my list of things I would want if I had my own office.  And I would probably be saying the same thing before I shut my door too.

The Chris and Andy story was more sad than it was funny.  I just felt bad for Chris realizing he didn't have what Andy had at all--someone to love him.  But it was great that Tom suggested therapy for him (although, I think Tom could use some too).  Chris, although upbeat and fit, needs to get that mind in check.  Him falling to pieces over something like a fear of dying alone is a serious problem.  I hope that a therapist will actually help him and not make him even crazier than he already is.

The Ben and April story was painful to watch at most times because Ben kept trying to buddy up to all of his young interns.  From the beginning, I wondered why April would help him a little, but she basically had to humiliate him with caricature drawings before she realized what she needed to do.  I like that she tried to negotiate the percentage of effort she would give when 15 was more than a fair amount to ask.  But the best April part was not until the very end when she finally got on Team Ben and told one of the interns what the deal was:

The light kiss and the slap to the face were my favorite part!  Why did they wait until the very end before we got to see April kick a little ass??  But this is a great start to the saga of April working for Ben.  I'm am looking forward to move scenes like this.  April has well established herself as the one in charge there.  Haha.

In the next episode, I wonder if we will see all those lost jobs from the sugar tax.  I can't imagine it just being just an empty threat.  Things don't work out that easily for Leslie.  I'd like to see the results of Chris' first therapy session, as well as April torturing more interns at her job.  However, I don't want to see Ben trying to act like a college student again and quoting decades-old SNL skits.  That's just way to sad to see.