Parks and Recreation: The Wall (6x15)

Great episode. I am very pleased with the direction things are going. I still miss Ann and Chris a little bit, but the show is chugging on just fine without them. Let's take a quick look.

Leslie tries to get things under way with the Pawnee/Eagleton Unity Concert, but everyone is still so antagonistic to the idea of the merger. Leslie decides to try and host an announcement of the concert in the field that used to separate the two towns. She plans on ceremoniously tearing down the wall between them. When the Eagletonians take the first swing, a swarm of bees rushes out from the cracked wall. Everyone from Pawnee thinks that Leslie planned an elaborate bee prank, no matter how much she says otherwise. During an important meeting, Leslie is offered a job running a National Parks office in Chicago. After getting some advice from Ron, Leslie says she can't accept the offer right away. As much as Pawnee drives her crazy, she loves helping it.

Meanwhile, Ben and Tom work on finding sponsors for the Unity Concert, and Tom catches the eye of an important investor. Ben tries to encourage Tom to pitch the investor a boring but lucrative idea, but at the last second, Tom decides to go with what he's passionate about, and he pitches the idea for a new restaurant. The investor agrees to help him. Ben tells Tom that everyone has their own passions, and he's more than okay with Tom following his.

Ron and Diane's baby son, John, is born. Leslie freaks out because Ron didn't tell anyone, and everybody's constant fawning over John annoys Ron so much that he tries to find a place to be at peace. He goes up to a deserted floor and starts fixing broken radiators and enjoying his manual labor. A construction crew shows up, but Ron offers to do all of the work for them, thus offering them paid vacation. He happily works away, proud to share his love of hard work with his new son.

Okay - what do I think?

Leslie being offered important jobs! Yes! I was worried that they would just sort of stop developing Leslie's career opportunities, and I'm happy to see that this is not the case. Whatever Leslie decides to do, I'm glad we're continuing to see Leslie's value and worth in government. The bee thing was hilarious. I just love how the entire town will support Leslie, but only when she does something horrible. Leslie's continued desire to help the town, despite their crazy antics, is one of my favorite recurring themes on the show.

Tom's character development is also going along smoothly. He's a real business man, and the show is expanding upon this theme, and letting him grow. I love the fact that his passion for cool ideas is actually benefiting him in the business world. And I love that Ben respected and understood Tom's decisions. Tom and Ben's relationship makes me happy.

Ron's plot was the funniest, though. He's so cute with his son! I feel like everyone would have expected Ron to be a bad father. He seems so callous and inattentive. But instead, he is enormously proud of his son and wants to share his passions with him. This was the cutest thing. Also, it was very precious when Ron gave Leslie a pep talk. Despite being two very different people, they really do care about each other.

So there you are! I kept it short. This was a very successful episode. I have no real complaints.

9/10