(And we saw that Nick Offerman can do slapstick with that awesome slide on the grass.) But he still got to be Ron Effing Swanson, as we saw with the giant, bacon-wrapped turkey leg known, of course, as “The Swanson.” We knew from last week that putting Ron the libertarian in the middle of a story about government cuts would be comedy gold, but here we also got to see the noble side of Ron in his attempt to sacrifice his own job to save Leslie’s. They’ve moved Chris right up to the edge of cartoon and Lowe is embracing that with his goofy running style and his shameless pandering whenever Chris has to pass the baton to bad cop Ben. I knew going into his stint on the show that Rob Lowe can be funny, but this may be the most I’ve ever enjoyed him. I like the battle of wills between realist Ben and optimist Leslie, both for comedy and the nice chemistry between Poehler and Scott, but also for the show’s unswerving belief in the idea of government, which Mark makes plain at the end by saying if there were more Leslie Knopes working in public service, he might not be quitting. Instead, NBC decided to bump “Parks and Rec” to mid-season, and the only thing that will make me less irked about it is if it returns at 9:30 after “The Office.” But the weird production schedule, and the timing of Rob Lowe and Adam Scott’s availability, no doubt contributed to the sense of overlap between the seasons.īut “Freddy Spaghetti” did a fine, funny job of straddling the two seasons and making almost all of the stories work. (*) As many of you know, the show has stayed in production, despite Amy Poehler’s (very visible) pregnancy, so there could be new episodes on in the fall even after the leading lady goes on maternity leave.

But with the introduction of Chris and Ben and the budget crisis storyline (and even the start of the Tom/Lucy coupling), these last two episodes have felt very much like the start of season three(*).

It closed out this triumphant second season of “Parks and Rec” and brought either closure or major new developments to the stories of the season: Mark becomes Brendana-quits, Andy and April take one step forward and two steps back, Tom basks in a new relationship and then gets sucker punched by seeing Ron wearing his post-coital Tiger Woods outfit with Tom’s ex-wife. “Freddy Spaghetti,” like last week’s “The Master Plan,” had to serve two masters at once. A review of the “Parks and Recreation” season two finale coming up just as soon as I advance medical science 30 years…

Freddy spaghetti