This week’s episode of “Parks and Recreation” involved a ton of character development and was significantly important to moving along the fifth season. As Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt are quickly approaching their wedding, the couple has their bachelor and bachelorette parties.
Leslie’s party, planned by Anne Perkins began as a cozy evening with the girls and things got a little crazy when an Abraham Lincoln stripper appears. Leslie can’t let go of the fact that a “Paunchburger” is breaking ground on her park site, so she certainly can’t enjoy her own bachelorette party or a stripper dressed like one of her favorite politicians. An inebriated Leslie makes a run for the park site and spreads Wamapo Indian artifacts in the dirt. Fun fact: Indiana state laws immediately halt construction if artifacts are found at the site. Not so fun fact: Leslie wakes up hungover and full of regret.
Meanwhile, Ben’s bachelor party was planned by the ultimate people-pleaser, Chris Traeger. The party opens with Ben’s favorite game, “Settlers of Canter,” and naturally Ben wins. After a quick snore the boys all realize that they never got a real bachelor party. For assorted reasons (Tom’s green card wedding, Jerry’s medical snafu, Andys elopement or Ron’s exes being to insane), all of the partygoers had missed out on a good old fashioned raunchy and debauchery-filled bachelor party. Each man decides to pick a part of the night to redeem themselves. They end up visiting a ton of fun places: Jerry’s favorite ice cream parlor, Tom’s dream nightclub, a steakhouse for Ron and Lucas Oil Stadium for Andy. The stadium scene looked like the most fun, since it featured cameos of the Colts’ coach and some NFL athletes. When the night concluded, all men were satisfied but they noticed Chris Traeger has been unhappily single for a long time now.
Meanwhile, the next day Leslie comes clean to the Wamapoke Tribal Leader Ken Hotante, and miraculously he takes pity on her. During the negotiation meeting, he does not expose Leslie’s misdeed. Although the artifacts were not proven to be original, Ken gets clever and threatens the Ponchburger franchises within his casinos. Leslie feels bad about the situation, but happy that Ken respected her dedication to the site.
The rotating bachelor party crew reconvenes in Chris’s office. They hand him a “best man” trophy and give him a very encouraging pep-talk. They tell him any lady is lucky to have him, and it brightens Chris’s spirits.
This episode gets viewers more and more excited for the wedding of Ben and Leslie. It was definitely not a filler episode and is a great memory of all of the characters.
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