Parks & Rec: 2-1 Pawnee Zoo

Plot: Leslie accidentally marries two male penguins. Mark hits on Ann. Andy is living in the pit and stalking Ann. 

Deep Thoughts: I love how dated this episode feels. It’s only from 2009, but I think it would play differently today, when gay marriage is legal and apparently “established legislation.” I mean, I’m sure some family values group would totally get worked up about a city employee performing a gay penguin marriage ceremony, but it would have a lot less weight now, and that’s delightful.

Your Related Link For The Day: Meet Zoo Atlanta’s Gay Flamingos and Their Chick.  You’re welcome.

Ann is Mean: Given how much I love this show, it’s amazing how I feel about Ann. In that I don’t like her. I range between disliking her and just not caring, because she’s such a bland character. She’s sort of a Mary Sue, although not so much for the audience as for every other character on the show. Everybody wants to Ann or be her best friend,despite the fact that Ann has no personality — no friends, no hobbies, and no backstory other than “I dated Andy.”

Also, Ann’s got bad dating habits. She seems to end up dating men she doesn’t like or respect, and then she’s mean about them. She starts that right here with Andy, making fun of his attempts to learn new words (which, of course, he’s doing because he wants to appear smarter and more deserving of Ann herself).

Anyway, enough about Ann. I want this Parks and Rec runthrough to be about my love affair with Leslie. I am Leslie, and yet I am not Leslie and wish I were more like her in very important ways. We will examine this further over the next six seasons!

I am Leslie: “The Bulge is a gay bar? Ugh, the nights I’ve wasted there.” Y’all, it took me like six months of driving past our local dive The Cockpit before I figured that out. I seriously was envisioning something aviation-themed. And that is all I will say about that.

I want to be more like Leslie: 3 drinks named after her in one evening! Okay, that’s cool, but let’s be honest: the part I really envy is where she gets to buckle penguins into car seats.

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