HALLOWEEN SURPRISE

Parks & Recreation

Season 5 (2012)

There are A LOT of story elements packed into this one half hour episode of Parks & Rec.  Only the first third (or less) is concerned with Halloween but overall this is a great episode, showcasing the show’s sharp writing and lovable characters.  It’s Halloween in Pawnee, Indiana .  Ron takes his new girlfriend (Xena!) and her two young daughters trick-or-treating but things fall apart when he enacts some misguided discipline.  Meanwhile the rest of the Parks & Rec crew are watching a Halloween night screening of Death Canoe IV, a delightful send-up of the many 80s summer camp slasher films.   

Awwwww...

Seeking to perk up Leslie’s spirits Ann (dressed as a gymnast) and Leslie (dressed as Rosie the Riveter—perfect!) attempt to scare Tom as he exits the bathroom and end up giving Jerry a heart attack instead.  A heart attack that involves severe flatulence, leading it to be termed a “fart attack.”  And it pains me to type that, both because I have a low tolerance for toilet humor and because it’s a low moment of crude comedy in an otherwise smart and sweet episode. 

There are about a billion other storylines that then play out through the rest of the episode, which picks up after Halloween night.  Leslie organizes a charity rummage sale on Jerry’s behalf; Tom starts his Rent-A-Swag business; Ron struggles to apologize to his girlfriend; Ben considers taking on a new job; Leslie is depressed and attempts to auction off a date with Ann; and ultimately one of the couples gets engaged.  It’s sort of exhausting but somehow all works, though the earlier Halloween elements are totally overwhelmed.

A very pastel Halloween

The episode ends with a very cute scene of Ron taking the two little girls for a trick-or-treat redo on November 8^th, bribing a neighbor into giving them vitamins and cookie dough.  True story: one October a couple of random kids rang our bell and yelled trick-or-treat about a week before Halloween.  Unlike the little girls in this episode of Parks & Rec our ersatz trick-or-treaters weren’t wearing costumes and when my puzzled mom asked why they were so early they just said they got tired of waiting for Halloween.  AND SHE GAVE THEM CANDY ANYWAY.  As a kid the injustice of just deciding to go trick-or-treating a week early sans costume and actually get away with it really burned me.  That way leads to madness and chaos: opening your Christmas presents on December 14^th.  Eating turkey on Easter.  Setting off fireworks on Valentine’s Day. 

Terrible.

Recurring Themes: Jerry’s “fart attack” counts as part of the Scared to Death trope, in which a character suffers death or physical ailment due to a (usually minor) scare.  And even though the trick-or-treating technically takes place after Halloween, I’m including a Ran Out of Candy as well.

Halloween Quotient: 2

See It, Skip It, Own It?

There are better Halloween episodes out there but in this case it’s hard to separate my love for the show from the just okay Halloween elements.  So I’ll say this is worth seeing.