Sister City

Would have been a 7 but that scene kills me till this day

This episode is so unique and hilarious. It's a top 5 parks episode of all time for sure. I never get sick of of rewatching this one. Every line is pure gold and I find something new to laugh at every time. Fred Armisen is so good in this episode. Wish his character made a second appearance at some point on this show. Honestly might be some of his best work. Top notch comedy.

The reason why I really liked this episode isn't Just Fred Amisen's obnoxious foreign dignitary, It's that it's the first episode that resembles the "Parks & recreation" we would know & love. Up until now there's been a bit too much focus on Tom. In "Sister city" the rest of Leslie's aren't furniture, they have great lines, and we learn more about them, Including Tom, who's smarminess is really starting to emerge. Plus the Leslie/Dave (who have zero chemistry IMO) & Ann/Mark storylines are kinda pushed to the side.

Come on man, Venezuela is a total cesspool. They might have oil, but El Presidente must take all the dough. Could have picked a better country? I find that in the first couple of seasons that they are trying to make Leslie a copy of Michael Scott, but a very pale poor copy. Just doesn't quite cut it.

Up to this point in Season 2, all the episodes I have rated have been a 9 or higher. It's a pretty impressive streak, but unfortunately "Sister City" ends the 9+ streak with only a 7 rating. That's not necessarily "terrible" but, to me, it just isn't nearly as good the previous episodes. The episode does feature some good stuff, and I would be remiss not to mention any of it, but I have to bring up some of the flaws as well.

"Sister City" is centered around one main storyline that takes up the entire episode. The town of Pawnee gets a visit from their twin city, Boraqua (a city in Venezuela). This meeting is meant to help promote commercial and cultural ties between the towns. However, things don't quite go as expected. The expectations that Leslie and the gang have for this small, Venezuelan town are completely flipped upside down. They are actually flowing with cash and to make matters worse are extremely cocky and vile. (I don't know a lot about Venezuela, but I do know they have A LOT of oil). It's a good premise, and we get a great guest appearance from Fred Armisen. I frankly couldn't see anyone else who could do this role as well as him. I wouldn't be surprised if they wrote it especially for him.

As I mentioned before, this storyline takes up the entire episode. Now, normally with Parks episodes, there is a main storyline and some side-plots as well. Frankly, I think this episode suffers a little without some other storylines to help keep it flowing. This main story just isn't strong enough to keep the momentum going for the entire 20 minute runtime. There are some great moments like the Venezuelans treating Tom like their servant, and the men flirting with Donna, but it does drag on quite a bit and doesn't flow as well as some of the better episodes in Season 2. I'm also not Venezuelan, so I have no say in the matter, but I wouldn't be surprised if some Venezuelan people were to be offended by this episode. They are portrayed as terrible people in this. But I guess it wouldn't have been as funny if they were just "super nice people."

All flaws aside, "Sister City" still is a pretty solid episode that focuses on cultural irony that many small countries seem to be richer than the "grand" country that is America. We get a Pawnee town hall meeting which is always great, and also some great April deadpan humor. However, overall this episode falls a bit flat and just doesn't stick the landing as well as many other Parks episodes do.