Parks and Recreation: Jerry's Retirement (5x20)

I had a lot of fun watching this episode. Due to time constraints I'm not going to delve too deep into it, but just overall I thought it was good. It's one of those episodes that probably won't be remembered particularly, but it had some great jokes and comedic situations.

So. Jerry is retiring, and Leslie realizes that she didn't plan anything to commemorate his career. She decides she has to make his dreams come true, and blows off a day off with Ben to give Jerry a proper send off. It doesn't go exactly as planned, however. Meanwhile, Tom is upset because he seems to be replacing Jerry as the person everyone makes fun of in the office. He tries to hire an intern to shift the attention off of him, but the intern ends up being super cool. In the end, Ron helps him by hiring Jerry for a few days here and there until they can find a replacement, thus sparing Tom the humiliation of being the new Jerry. In a parallel thread, Ann and Chris continue to plan their lives together and get ready to have a baby.

Let's break it down by plot thread.

Leslie, Ben, and Jerry. I really like Jerry's character, and this episode pinpointed why. Although he totally is a sad sap at work, his home life is what's important to him. His job doesn't matter - it lets him be home early to be with his family every day, and that's what's important to him. It was really funny to see Leslie try so hard to give Jerry a good last day, but she couldn't manage to get any of it right. Here were my favorite moments from this thread: when Jerry makes his goodbye speech, everyone just stares at him until Leslie says "what the f*ck is happening right now?" Later, she says "as much as we all want this to happen,  we can't just let Jerry disappear!" There was also Andy's comment: "see you tomorrow, Jerry!" Just after he had made his retirement speech. That really made me laugh.

I also loved that Ben was cool with following Leslie around all day, but he really did want his day off with his wife. Leslie realizes this by the end of the episode and promises that they will take a real day off and talk about starting their family. Yay! Can you imagine what a baby of theirs would look like? Hella adorable!

Then we've got Tom, trying to avoid being the new office punching bag. The funniest part of this episode was Ron helping him out. That grumpy old guy pretends he doesn't care, but look how much he does for his friends! Ron has a great line: "He's a grown man. Well... half grown. He does have a business where he rents his clothes to twelve-year-olds." I also liked how Andy was immune to becoming the new Jerry, because, as Donna puts it, "nothing embarrasses him. He's like a giant puppy with no shame."

And then Ann and Chris. A few weeks back I said I was a bit hesitant about their storyline. While I am feeling a bit better, that feeling of hesitation has not completely gone away. I think it's great that they sort of got back together - I always did like them as a couple. The problem now is that they're basically jumping ahead of a normal relationship and skipping straight to the baby part. This isn't sperm donation at all. This is parenting. And I'm fine with that, I just hope the show properly deals with the ramifications of such a decision. My favorite line was Chris' "Goodbye Ann Perkins, my excellent employee. Hello Ann Perkins, my fallopian princess!" And Ann just gives him this look, like, what the hell, man? It was priceless.

In all, I really enjoyed watching this week's episode. Like I said before, it's not a stand-out, but it was very good!

8/10