Why Are Those Even Together?

 The Cleveland Show, S04E10

 Cleveland got his parents tickets to a George Clinton and P-Funk All Stars concert after Freight Train failed to show up to the special anniversary dinner Cookie arranged.  Feeling neglected by her husband,  Cookie suddenly ran off with George Clinton shortly after meeting him on the stage.  Freight Train tried to hide his feelings about that by declaring her dead to him.  Junior also lost the floor model he had used to play "office," so he faked his way into a job at a real office.

I don't know how many times we can see a story about FT and Cookie before it's just been overdone (it's about there for me already).  FT has been screwing around on Cookie for years, and she always takes him back.  Granted, this time it looked like Cookie was living a pretty sweet life with George Clinton, but I think even after a while she would have gotten bored with it and wanted her neglectful husband back.  FT, despite him going to the trouble of making a funk band to win Cookie back, is never going to change.  So he broke up with some (I know he couldn't have possibly called all of his women) of his cheating partners--we all know that next time we see him, he'll be back to his old tricks.  He just wouldn't be FT, otherwise.  So watching the story I was just waiting for it to be over, so FT could go back to treating his wife like crap again.  Waste of a story.

There were a few parts that I liked, though.  One was just that we got to hear George Clinton's music.  It has been so long since I've heard it.  It gave me a nice nostalgic feeling.  I wished they could have used more of it throughout.

I also liked some lines.  The first was when Freight Train was trying to report to the police that Cookie had been kidnapped, and they doubted that someone who wasn't that great like FT hadn't driven her away:

[Freight Train] Come on, Cleveland.  Once again, police are no help to a black man.
[Cop] We are both black, sir.
[Freight Train] All cops are white on the inside!

I liked this line because it's a good example of someone playing the race card when it's not valid at all.  I sort of like when people do that jokingly, as in this story, but not if they are for real.  Then they just sound ignorant.

The last line I liked was when Cleveland was telling FT to go win his woman back and kept talking about the cheeseburger he was going to eat.  He kept changing his mind about how he was going to eat it until he finally decided:

And I'm going to have a cheeseburger.  And you know what, no tomatoes.  Actually, avocado.  That's a good fat.  Like me.

 In Junior's story, there wasn't much that I particularly liked.  It was just weird that he managed to slip into an office, unhired, and got promoted for a job he didn't even know about.  This was evident when he first got to the office, stapled a file and then shredded it for no reason.  Junior's just lucky that his chunky frame makes him look older than he does. 

Oh, and it was really stupid of him to pay for Roberta to be his wife.  Roberta is such a waste of space most of the time, and she proved that by going off on Junior at the picnic.  And really, what was the point of her doing that?  If she had agreed to help Junior and got paid, why did she need to embarrass him and risk jeopardizing his fake job?  I really wished he had used that fist to punch her across the face.  Rallo was okay.  He just needed a swing and he was cool.  Haha.

I didn't really like this episode.  I don't need to see any more stories about FT upsetting Cookie and then managing to win her back for some reason.  In reality, it would be a much better story if they both just agreed to stop acting like the worst couple in the world (or divorced).  Unfortunately, the side story about Junior was also lacking.  It didn't really add anything to the episode beyond stressing the fact that fantasy and reality are one in the same for Junior.  It was a little interesting, but nowhere near funny.

No Drill Can't Stop The Gala

Parks and Recreation, S05E13

Leslie and Ben came up with an idea to throw a fundraising gala to fund the Pawnee Commons, but things looked bad when Leslie had to spend her last hours to finish up what was needed for the event in an emergency preparedness drill instead.  Andy also took the test to be a police officer.

I can't wait until the Pawnee Commons gets made.  I am so over Jamm putting a monkey wrench into Leslie's plans at every chance he gets.  He latest dick move to make the emergency drill extra long so that she couldn't manage the gala before it started was such a spit in her eye.  However, even though Leslie was deperate to get out of there, it had its moments of being funny.

My favorite part of her being trapped in the drill was when she had to talk to animal control.  Brett had me cracking up with the way he didn't understand whether he was to kill the birds for real or not.  Leslie finally just gave up on him and asked him to pretend like they never talked.  It got better when Leslie was angry that Jamm hadn't done his part in the drill to ask the buses to be shut down.  I loved when she muttered that she should have had animal control kill him:

[Brett] Oh, who you want me to kill?

[Leslie] No one.

[Brett] I'll kill 'em.  Soon as I'm done with these birds.

I like how ready Brett is to kill anything, man or beast.  If I was her, I would have let Brett do away with Jamm.  He was being such a jerk.

I also liked that Chris got infected in the drill, thanks to Jamm, and when he got killed, he was so damn positive about it.  He proudly said he was dead with a big grin and a thumbs up.  Freaking loveable Chris, with his crazy ass.

Another great thing about Leslie being occupied with the drill was that she wasn't able to do her interview.  Instead, Ron went on the show and with an unconscious Joan at his side, he took calls for people about all sorts of things, while promoting the gala.  My favorite piece of advice he gave was for some woman who had a terrier.  After giving her a tip on the scratches the dog made to the legs of the table, he added his two cents about small dogs:

Next thing you want to do is ditch the terrier and get yourself a proper dog. Any dog under fifty pounds is a cat, and cats are pointless.

I'm not much of a cat person, so to hear Ron say so matter-of-factly that cats are useless really made me laugh.  He should get his own talk show.  He was brilliant.

The last great thing about that story was after Leslie had gotten free and the gala was going great.  Leslie expressed how she couldn't wait to marry Ben, and Ben told her they should indeed get married right then and there.  That was a nice surprise!  I thought we would have to wait until the season finale or so to see them seal the deal.  I hope that nothing goes wrong with their impromptu wedding, though.

Andy's story went pretty much as I expected.  I felt like he was going to do awesome on his test because he seemed pretty damn prepared.  It was disturbingly cute when April gave him a dead rabbit with its legs removed as a good luck charm.  However, I liked Andy's response to it:

Baby, you are so creepy.  I love it.

Match made in heaven, those two.

It was also expected that Andy didn't do well on his personality part of the test.  He was answering the questions all kinds of wrong ways.  He was being really honest with his answers, the kind of honest that's dangerous.  However, that one officer remarked that Andy's perfect score on the exam and his miserable score on the personality test was a shame.  I think so too.  I thought maybe Andy would be able to slip by.  I'm curious to know what Andy will do next.

I really liked this episode.  Leslie didn't get trapped by Jamm as long as he wanted, and all of her friends came through for her and made the gala a success.  Next week, we are going to finally see Ben and Leslie get married, if they play their cards right.  I'd hate to see someone or something get in the way of that.  It's a shame that Andy didn't pass the qualifications to be a police officer, but I feel like there's hope for him yet.  He has a set of special skills that I think should be useful for some occupation, police force or not, and I really want to see him find his way to something that is perfect for him.

Dave Tries to Get Leslie And Tom Tries To Get Ann

Parks and Recreation, S04E15

Good episode!  We had Leslie stuck in an awkward love triangle with her ex and current boyfriend, we had Andy trying to compose the best campaign song ever, and we had Tom trying to get together with Ann.  Also, Ron was trying to hide his secret persona, Duke Silver.  All interesting stories.

I'll start first with the campaign team at the recording studio with Andy.  I liked how intense Andy was getting, who is known for being laid back about pretty much everything.  He was pretty much acting like a tyrant, not accepting anything less than perfect singing.  The worst singing of all (or at least the only that they let us hear) was Chris' version of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game."  Not only were the words wrong (I think), but he was singing too deliberately.  I expected him to be a little better, but at least it matched his over-the-top personality.  Surprisingly, Andy gave him the thumbs up during a time when he was being the hardest on everyone ever.  April seemed to enjoy his demand for perfection, especially when he told the band to play the song each time perfectly:

God, that was hot nonsense.

Andy got frustrated about the quality of the song, but good ol' Ron came to the rescue!  He sent Andy to clear his head and then added his own sax track to the song.  Andy was blown away and no one (except Jerry who got his eardrums incapacitated by some cymbals) knew of Duke Silver's existence.

While they were all practicing in the studio, Tom was trying to get Ann to be his sweetheart.  Back at the office Tom had several horrible nicknames for her, despite that they had only went on one date.  These included "Cookie Tush," "Annberry Sauce," and "Tommy's Girl."  I felt bad for him, even though he was jumping the gun; his cutesy voice saying, "I  feel like you're embarrassed of me," made me want to just hug him.  Aziz Ansari is a pro at playing a character like Tom where the guy is repulsive, yet adorable at the same time.  He's like a hamster trying to throw lame pickup lines at you.  You have to admire his tenacity from changing his Facebook status to "it's complicated" to waiting out in the rain for Ann and getting the "sniffies."

I thought Tom wouldn't have a shot in hell until he was real with Ann (and stopped acting crazy like texting everyone about them dating) for about five seconds.  But after Tom starts singing this ridiculously cute and dorky song, Ann is finally worn down.

The only thing I'm wondering about now besides how Tom will manage to keep Ann is why Chris needed to "adjust" to the information that Tom is "dating" Ann now.  So his improved positive attitude is related to Ann?  If he's going to fight Tom one day for Ann, that's going to be such a great episode.  They're such different people, so I wouldn't know who she would choose.  They're equally crazy in their own way and attractive guys in their own ways.  I guess since Ann is a beautiful girl it's not a stretch at all that at least 2 men would be after her.

Leslie, too, is had problems with 2 men: Dave and Ben.  Not that Ben is really a problem beyond his irrational fear of police.  He really needs to shut that trap when he's talking to one of them!  Anyway, Dave's return to this show is awkward from the very second he gets on the screen until the end.  I love it.  After he tells them that he'll enjoy a frozen burrito from a gas station, Leslie blurts out a dinner invitation to him.  Ben isn't very threatened beyond the fact that Dave is a cop.  In fact, the two seem to get along pretty well at dinner until Dave blurts out his love for Leslie (a lot of that going on) and ruins the good thing they had going.  Ben was none the wiser of how much Dave wanted to get Leslie back until he handcuffs him to the urinal!  I loved that!  It was especially good when Leslie found out and Dave had to explain himself.  Dave just reminds me of someone who's never had a girlfriend before and is too confused to know how to woo a girl.  He was pretty cute in that scene.

Before Dave traps Ben in the bathroom, I really like the complicated conversation they all have about talking to each other in private.  It was so confusingly funny.

Later at the retirement part for the police chief, Dave and Leslie have a heart-to-heart and he understands that the "shrimpy" Ben is a good guy for her after all.  I wonder if he's going to stay on the show for a little while as the new police chief.  I'd love for him to keep picking on Ben.

The best picking-on-Ben moment was when these 2 police officers offered him a beer.  One was saying it was polite to have one because it was a retirement party, but the other was warning him not to break up the law and drink if he was going to drive.  Ben was so hopeless and begged them to just tell him which answer was correct in that situation.  Poor awkward Ben!

Lastly, I just want to say how I loved Andy's version of honey and tea, which was nothing but a cup of honey.  So gross, but it was funny.

Freaking love this show!