Episode 5 - Media Blitz
6 March 2012
This was another great example of what I think doesn't work about Parks, which otherwise is a fine show.
Ben breaking down on radio and being unable to form a sentence was pretty good stuff. The trauma of his public humiliation, aged 18, has stuck with him and he wasn't prepared for those feelings to come rushing back. But then his next media appearance on TV sees him talk about his sexuality, see imaginary birds, shows off his scars and generally behave in a way which doesn't fit with who he is. Yes there is comedy in an extreme reaction to something but I believe that reaction has to be based in some kind of believable reality. This felt too much like a joke and not at all like something I can buy Ben doing. Perhaps if he had been through ten different interviews and had finally snapped or something along those lines but this just looked silly to me.
Otherwise this was more good stuff. Andy's sweetness and April's very convincing emotional deadpan still works and it will be fun seeing them as a couple. Similarly Chris and Ann agree to have a mature discussion about their future which was good to see. The town of Pawnee provides a lot of comic potential for the show and again the Harvest Festival drives the plot nicely. I did enjoy the Alta Vista running gag as a sign of the town's backwardness and Leslie's description of Ben as a "colleague with benefits" (as she searched for an appropriate description) was pretty funny.
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