(S5Ep22) Are You Better Off?

We feel better off, and that is IMPORTANT OKAY!? And while I would like to burn the Recall Knope float to the ground, we are going to review this episode anyway 😂😂  And in the words of Ben, the more you accomplish, the more heat you get. 

Leslie faces counterpoints even though she has made the town healthier, Tom faces an obstacle with Rent-A-Swag and someone is pregnant?!?!?! What a way to end a season!!!! We love that all the guest stars are returning, and how cool to have a mystery/dramatic moment with Parks!!! We are so grateful to everyone who has made this season so perfect and knowledgable. This has been incredible and we are so honored. ❤️❤️❤️❤️ 

Don't forget to check out Kiff Vandenheuvel's voice memo on the "Women In Garbage" : https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/s5ep11-women-in-garbage/id1551856074?i=1000680099530

Mara Marini aka Brandi Maxxxx! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/our-conversation-with-mara-marini-aka-brandi-maxxxx/id1551856074?i=1000592867105

Mary Faber aka Kathryn Pinewood! https://podcasts.apple.com/ug/podcast/our-conversation-with-mary-faber-aka-kathryn-pinewood/id1551856074?i=1000670768470

Todd Sherry voice memo in "Sex Education"! https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/s5ep4-sex-education/id1551856074?i=1000665407542

Transcript

Holly Constant (00:10.763)
Well, we are at season five, episode 22. It's the finale. my god.

Madi (00:16.044)
I can't believe we rounded it out. This season feels like it's been so long. Not in a bad way, but just there's so much that's happened.

Holly Constant (00:23.091)
Yeah, so much that's happened. And also, like, there's tiny things that, you know, in previous seasons would have taken, like, a million years to, you know, happen. Like, the putt-putt thing, I feel, would have been, like, a full-on two or three episodes or something, you know what I mean? And it just, happened really fast. So it's crazy. But, yeah, crazy. It's the end of season five. Okay. Well, this was written by Mike Schur, directed by Dean Holland, which is a dream team.

Madi (00:36.109)
Mm-hmm, yeah.

Madi (00:50.03)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (00:51.559)
of the show, Mike Schurr and our hero of editing, Dean Holland, which is incredible. So I love that they came back and I also love that they bring back so many guest stars for this episode to just like round out everyone that we've met and seen throughout the show. It's really incredible.

Madi (01:07.246)
Yeah, they do such a great job. And it ties into the storyline so well why they're there, right? shows don't necessarily do the best job of like, wait, why are we bringing all these people back? So.

Holly Constant (01:12.744)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:17.963)
Yeah, totally, totally. Well, I'm ready for a summary whenever you are.

Madi (01:22.286)
All right, let's do it.

Okay, we're going out with a bang. A group of upset Pawnee citizens work together to recall Leslie from office. Tom considers an offer to sell Rent-A-Swag. And Ann and Andy work together to discover who in the group is pregnant.

Holly Constant (01:40.407)
my gosh, crazy plot twist moment. This pregnancy I can get on board with. my God. and the recall, it makes me so angry. I hate it.

Madi (01:47.286)
Yeah, absolutely. Same z's. It makes sense.

Madi (01:55.982)
I agree because not to get too political, it's like.

Madi (02:05.81)
kind of living in a similar like, okay, you guys aren't voting for the right things. I don't think you have the right insight into why you need to vote for people because she has made it better. She has made Pawnee a better place. You look at the statistics, the numbers, she has made Pawnee a better place, but it's not what they want. it's yeah, it's frustrating for me. And I'm sure for her.

Holly Constant (02:12.341)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (02:18.699)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (02:30.624)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, they want their lives to be terrible because in their head it's like, well, I got to make my own decision. Shut up, I hate you. But I love Ben's line of the more things you succeed in, the more heat you're gonna get, especially in politics. So, which is so true. Yeah.

Madi (02:35.32)
Yeah.

Madi (02:38.976)
Right. Yeah.

Madi (02:46.744)
So true. Yeah, because you're going to make enemies. Absolutely.

Holly Constant (02:52.169)
Yeah, well, we'll talk about it. We start this episode having a meeting about Founders Week and Ron is lending his cabin, which is a true testament to me to how far they've come and how close they've become as work proximity associates. Like know Ron is grumpy and mad about sharing this cabin and everything, but he still did it. Like what a long way that they've come. Like this would not have happened even a year ago. You know what I mean?

Madi (03:06.926)
But he did it.

Madi (03:13.686)
No, yeah, absolutely.

Holly Constant (03:16.221)
So crazy. And Leslie is explaining that Founders Week is a yearly celebration of all things Pawnee. And it's basically this huge festival that ends in a parade, which looks awesome. That parade looks so cool. I can't imagine all the props and like people and extras that had to go into that. It looks so cool.

Madi (03:32.896)
I love that they had like footage from a couple of years back too. Like it's really cool. And this is such a small town thing. This is something that Pawnee, or Pawnee Prescott does in Arizona. They have like a, I don't think it's called Founders Day, but it's, I don't know. It's like pioneer days or something like that, but they're, you know, they have a big parade and it's about when Pawnee, my gosh, Prescott was founded. So yes, both be named. So it's, this feels very like proud small town.

Holly Constant (03:36.203)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (03:50.539)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (03:55.627)
Both P names.

Madi (04:03.106)
vibe to me.

Holly Constant (04:04.305)
Yeah, totally. I love it so much. I think it's super cute. And I watched the gag reel again because, this was the last episode and on the DVD or whatever. And there were some of the crew members had like face paint on them. So I feel like they they might have hired like real vendors, like real people to come out and had this like huge party end of the season shoot thing. So that that's cool.

Madi (04:07.416)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (04:22.152)
wow.

Madi (04:29.186)
That is really cool. That's awesome.

Holly Constant (04:31.275)
Yeah, I feel like I want there to be like a whole mini series on of Founders Week and everything that goes into it and what exact vendors and food trucks and all that kind of stuff is in there. I feel like that would have been so cool to see, but obviously we don't have time.

Madi (04:43.244)
Yeah, no, we barely have time to fit what they wanted to fit in.

Holly Constant (04:48.233)
Yeah. Well, Leslie is asking April and everybody else what the best part of living in Pawnee is. And April obviously spouts off random things and weird things. But then we learned that Donna has a condo in Seattle that she will have paid off in about three years because the cost of living in Pawnee is cheap, which is a great detail for Donna. I love that we're building on her character. That's so cool. And then it comes back later.

Madi (05:08.78)
I love it.

It does. Yeah, it's like they're building. I think they're starting to see the end of the show and like where are these people going to go? And like this is a nice little way ahead of time. Get our minds wrapped around the fact that Donna, you know, goes other places and has other homes and it is really cool.

Holly Constant (05:18.771)
Maybe.

Holly Constant (05:34.661)
Well, it's also interesting to me because so many times, I mean, I don't know if this was true for this particular episode, but so many times when I've heard writers talk, they'll write something not thinking that they're going to use it later. And then they go back when they don't have something or when they're trying to break a story, they go back on their corkboard, you know, clipboards and like look at their notes from previous times. And they're like, we mentioned that she had a condo in Seattle. What if we build on that? Or like that kind of thing.

Madi (05:46.958)
Mm.

Madi (06:01.646)
Yeah, it could be that too. Yeah.

Holly Constant (06:04.103)
So that's really, I really like how a lot of writers will do that in shows. It's, you know, to build on the whole community and the whole story and the whole character.

Madi (06:14.232)
Yeah, me too.

Holly Constant (06:16.555)
Also, I love her acting on, I like the rain and the fish markets. And Donna said that she doesn't like fish markets. yeah, very matter of fact. Donna, AKA Red, I said she doesn't like fish markets actually.

Madi (06:21.644)
Yes, yeah, it's very matter of

Madi (06:30.53)
Really? Me either, Retta. Me either. The smell.

Holly Constant (06:36.553)
Yeah, I was curious after April said her things and I had to look up where the guillotine was actually invented.

Madi (06:45.28)
I was pretty sure I knew and I was correct because school.

Holly Constant (06:50.291)
Yeah.

That's fair. I mean, well, what was interesting, so it was made famous in the French Revolution, like in France, but they said that there was a ton of other objects and instruments like that in England already before France. the, you know, invention, I guess the name guillotine is French or like, you know, the popularity of it was happening in France. But there's something called the Halifax Gibbet.

Madi (07:12.152)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (07:19.783)
is what they call it in England that was used before the guillotine. So I don't know if it was actually invented there. I think they just made it famous. Yeah, I mean, that's what my Google told me. OK, and I didn't want to look this up, but I did about the cities that have the top most murders and homicides.

Madi (07:27.734)
And I hadn't heard of that. that's a deeper fact. Love it. Yeah. Gotta love Google.

Madi (07:44.302)
I think I can tell you who is number one right now. I don't know if per capita, but Chicago's pretty high up there if not number one.

Holly Constant (07:50.719)
Go ahead.

Holly Constant (07:54.571)
Well, so it does depend on the amount of people that you're thinking or that like what statistic you want to read but it says most murders homicides per 100,000 people. The top is St. Louis. So we've got St. Louis and then second is New Orleans, third is Baltimore, Maryland, fourth is Philly and fifth is Memphis.

Madi (08:09.709)
oooo

Madi (08:20.364)
Wow, Chicago didn't even make it. For this, for this, yeah, stat.

Holly Constant (08:22.613)
For well per 100,000 people. I don't know who, Chicago and LA did make it for urban cities. Like don't know how many people are in Chicago. So it's probably more than 100,000 maybe. I would think. So if you've got 100,000, yeah it was those five. But if you have more than that, the top urban cities like city cities, it was Chicago and LA. I was kind of surprised about New York not.

Madi (08:31.502)
Mm.

Holly Constant (08:52.043)
being on there, but LA is also so massive. And so is Chicago, to be honest. It spans a very long way, whereas New York City, I feel, is big, but I don't know if it's as big as LA. You know what I mean?

Madi (08:55.852)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (09:04.45)
Yeah. And it depends on if you count the boroughs too, like all of them, or are you just looking at Manhattan or are they looking at all the borough? Yeah. But I remember that being like huge, maybe it was about five years ago, like the murder rate in Chicago jumped so high that it was like, you shouldn't even be walking in these parts of town because there's, you know, three calls a day due to a shooting. It's, yeah.

Holly Constant (09:07.723)
Right.

Yeah. Right.

Holly Constant (09:30.675)
Right. Yeah.

Madi (09:33.976)
got bad.

Holly Constant (09:34.699)
Yeah, but yeah, so those are the top urban cities and then the hundred thousand per capita were the other five. So yeah, I had to look it up. Crazy. I mean, nowhere safe anymore, but you know what I mean.

Madi (09:50.2)
But we don't live in those cities, so we're gonna call that a win right now.

Holly Constant (09:54.333)
Yeah, I don't think it's a win, but...

Madi (09:56.524)
B

Holly Constant (09:59.147)
know what you mean. I know. I'm just sad. Anyway, okay. Yeah, why? Okay, my next note is why is Mona Lisa here? Like eight minutes exactly is the time to make out. He'll be back in eight minutes. He doesn't have any control in this relationship, so I guess he just told Mona Lisa that he was going, and she was like, okay, I'm going too.

Madi (09:59.318)
It's a personal win.

I know.

Madi (10:18.246)
I, yeah, I don't, this also just doesn't seem like her jam. Like I'm gonna go hang out in the woods with my coworkers and we're gonna work. And she's like, yeah, I'll come. Seems super weird. It reminds me of that John Mulaney bit where he goes, can my girlfriend come? Like, yeah, it is super weird that she's there and that she just gets to drag him away.

Holly Constant (10:27.342)
Mm-hmm. All right.

Holly Constant (10:37.045)
yeah.

Anyone is welcome, right, anyone is welcome to join us in the tree. Yeah. Well, do you have anything before we move on to City Hall? So there's a strange moment when April is taking a call and says, really? Okay, thank you. And it's kind of weird and confusing. And so Donna tries to ask about it, but she says she's fine, but something's definitely up and it's.

Madi (10:46.414)
Oh gosh. yikes. Yikes. No.

Madi (11:04.014)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (11:11.02)
Yeah, and it does set some things up for the potential.

Holly Constant (11:15.806)
Yeah, totally.

Madi (11:17.534)
of things later. I don't know how to say that without giving spoilers.

Holly Constant (11:19.283)
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Well, Andy comes in and gets it in everyone's faces because he says that he was looking for a sweater that he accidentally threw in the trash, by the way, at Ron's house. God, Andy. Yes. And he found a positive pregnancy test at Ron's cabin. And honestly, I loved this when I was watching it, I guess because we've been analyzing it and watching episode back to back, but every episode back to back. But this is such a cool, like,

Madi (11:33.134)
Poor Andy.

Holly Constant (11:48.647)
story mystery moment. We don't get this drama often with Parks. We don't get this like who done it, like what's happening kind of dramatic moment. And so I thought it was such a cool introduction or, you know, different type of story to introduce to the audience of Parks. It was really cool.

Madi (11:52.418)
No.

Madi (12:05.824)
I agree and I love that even though he crosses April out immediately, all five, six women, it's a possibility that any of them could be pregnant. It's not like, they definitely wouldn't be, so let's cross off these two other people. All of them are very in places of their life or live their life in a way where they could be pregnant.

Holly Constant (12:20.873)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (12:32.597)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, 100%. And I mean, on that note, mean, the montages of things that could be signs of them all being pregnant was so good and subtle, I feel like Leslie not taking the beer that she was offered, Mona Lisa throwing up, April looking really shy, like she's coming out of the cabin like with her sweater all tight, like I don't want to talk to anybody. And then Anne and Chris obviously talking about the baby thing. And then Donna on the phone, like potentially talking to someone on the phone, like looking like she's maybe yelling or having like an

Madi (12:39.796)
Mm-hmm. So well done. Mm-hmm.

Madi (12:45.804)
Yep.

Madi (12:51.351)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (12:57.966)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (13:03.341)
intense conversation. Like, I thought that was so cool of them to show that

Madi (13:06.87)
And very, yeah. And they chose things that very easily could be explained by other things.

Holly Constant (13:13.547)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Madi (13:14.656)
So you really are sitting there like, huh.

Holly Constant (13:18.869)
Like, who is it? Yeah, totally. And yeah, I think even though Andy thinks that April would have told him, like, I think me as the audience member was like, would she though? Like, maybe she's freaked out. Maybe she wouldn't tell you.

Madi (13:31.798)
Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think we all have.

Holly Constant (13:36.137)
especially with that earlier call that you said was kind set up, you know?

Madi (13:39.662)
Yeah, think, I don't think anybody knows how they're going to respond until they're in the moment living it. Like you could say I 100 % would do it this way. Your partner could 100 % believe that you're going do it this way, but you don't know the emotions you're going to feel until you're in it and how you're going to handle it. So she could have kept it from him. Who knows?

Holly Constant (13:59.168)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. 100%. I agree. And then we have Burt Macklin coming back. Yay! Macklin, you son of a bitch.

Madi (14:07.838)
Yes, I know. It's, I love it so much because it's Burt Macklin and because he's so good at playing this character. But part of me is like, Andy, trust in yourself that you can figure this out without playing a character at the same time. You know, like you got this.

Holly Constant (14:18.14)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (14:23.819)
yeah, I didn't even think of that. Yeah, he like needs it. It's so fun for him. But it is cute because we thought we might not see him again because he retired, quote unquote, a couple like a while ago, a couple of episodes ago. I know. I think it was it was in this season because it was after Leslie and him got married and which was in like the middle of the season, you know what I mean? Because he took his police academy exam.

Madi (14:29.846)
Yeah, it is. Yeah.

Madi (14:38.284)
Yeah, might have even been last season or was it beginning of this season?

Holly Constant (14:52.895)
Wasn't it like during that?

Madi (14:53.363)
I think it was after, it was when he scared that kid is when he retired. But that was before they got married.

Holly Constant (14:59.227)
Right. Right. Let's see, when did Burt Macklin retire? Parks and Rec. What episode was that? Burt Macklin, season five, episode eight. So is this season. Just a little earlier. So, yeah.

Madi (15:13.026)
Yeah, okay.

Cool. All right, so he didn't even die for a season.

Holly Constant (15:19.619)
Yeah. Right. Okay, so now we're at the town hall. my gosh, asking if people are better off than they were a year ago. And this was a really funny moment. The prettiest pig beauty pageant is now pork rib barbecue competition by accident.

Madi (15:21.272)
Burt Macklin lives strong. Love it.

Madi (15:36.316)
my gosh. Which if you watch Adam's face, he has no reaction. Like he either knew it already or he's just like, yeah, whatever. Like that makes logical sense. Yeah. And Chris is so sad.

Holly Constant (15:42.204)
Pawnee, classic.

Holly Constant (15:51.327)
Yeah, totally. I love that Leslie Knope runs down the aisles trying to high five everyone, because acting like she's famous slash like a rock star, which is so funny to me. I love it so much.

Madi (15:57.26)
Yep.

Madi (16:02.06)
Yeah, very, very victory lappy is the way she puts it, right? So that's kind of the vibe.

Holly Constant (16:07.951)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, totally. And she says it really has been a great year. Obesity and diabetes have gone down. Red Koon attacks have gone down. Test scores are up. She's wearing her power red suit. She's feeling confident. And it's true. I mean, that the city itself is doing, is thriving, I think, or at least is doing better, I feel. So that's really amazing. And it makes me so sad because like,

Madi (16:21.09)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (16:28.526)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (16:36.393)
I-I-because we know what's coming, obviously, and people being upset, but it just really has been such a productive and healthy year for Pawnee! Ugh, so, so crazy.

Madi (16:44.588)
Yeah. And people are safe in parks, grocery stores, and hospitals. Which parks? Parks I can understand. Like that's like a more open and you know, sometimes those aren't safe, but like grocery stores and hospitals. Those threw me off, man. man.

Holly Constant (16:49.595)
Yes, suddenly.

Holly Constant (16:59.551)
Those raccoons, man, they get everywhere. I can imagine raccoons being in the hospital for sure. Because that's what his mom or her mom said. She had to go to Eagleton Hospital because the Pawnee Hospital was overrun with raccoons. Awful. Well, immediately the floor opens because she's asking people if they feel better off. And I mean, a part of this, I do feel like Leslie is like,

Madi (17:05.974)
yeah, we've heard of that.

Mm-hmm. Yep.

gosh.

Madi (17:24.322)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (17:29.425)
opening the floor for negativity. She didn't have to do this. Obviously this is very Leslie, but I'm like, you could have just accepted that this was a wonderful year and not had to talk to anybody. Because I feel like she wanted to hear from other people that they agreed with her, but I'm like, Leslie, you know that they're not going to agree with you. Baby, don't open this. God. I know.

Madi (17:51.126)
And when has a form ever gone in her way?

Poor Leslie. I know, how many other council people do this? Like I doubt any of them throw together forums to see how the city's feeling about things.

Holly Constant (18:01.917)
Yeah! Which is a whole other like parallel to our current state of politics. So many representatives are not doing town halls because they don't want to fucking hear that they're doing a bad job. So annoying. Or not that they're doing a bad job. They just don't want to be questioned. They don't care about their constituents. You know what mean?

Madi (18:09.624)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (18:14.636)
Yeah, they don't care.

Madi (18:20.334)
Absolutely. There's so much that we're seeing that people are trying to just stay in their position and stay high up and they don't care how it's impacting the people.

Holly Constant (18:30.463)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, correct. Ugh, we love Leslie. I know, well AOC is there, we've got her, so that's good. Okay, so immediately the floor opens and Catherine Pinewood, our old Pawnee Restaurant Association gal comes in and says they're stripping them of their most basic human rights, which, my God, talk about exaggeration. Are you fucking kidding me?

Madi (18:35.47)
This is why we need more Leslie nopes.

Madi (18:58.144)
It's so, and the thing is, is all we need, and again, parallel, all you need is one person to get up there and say ridiculous shit, and other people are gonna be like, hell yeah, I felt the same way forever, and now I can say it because she said it.

Holly Constant (19:14.003)
Mm-hmm. Yes, and of course, Catherine Pymelund is referring to the sweetened soda thing, which is why the obesity is down, and we do our little flashback to their meeting taking away the child-sized soda.

Madi (19:20.376)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (19:25.166)
Yeah, which honestly, if you really wanted 500 ounces of soda, you could buy several of the larger drinks they have and put them all in one large cup when you get home. Like there she's not stripping you of your freedoms like my word.

Holly Constant (19:34.581)
That's fair.

Right.

Well, and side note, this gal is played by Mary Faber, the actress, and we interviewed her recently. Well, recently, I don't even know how long ago that was, but it was a wonderful interview, and also I'll post that in the show notes. She's an amazing Broadway actress slash singer, all the things. I don't know, I feel like she was doing something recently, but she originated the American Idiot tour, so amazing, and she was doing Next to Normal in Texas, maybe? I can't remember, but.

Either way, she's a wonderful singer and great actress. and yeah, she had a lot of insight on Catherine Pinwood. So I will definitely post that in the show notes if you're interested in listening to that.

Madi (20:21.89)
Yay.

Holly Constant (20:23.467)
And yeah, I just kind of wrote like no, there are so many citizens who want to complain slash come to the mic like no way Because then every because Leslie says like I don't see any of those people complaining and then they all come up Okay, I see them now

Madi (20:33.164)
I know.

Madi (20:36.968)
Yeah. Mm hmm. Yes, I do see them.

Holly Constant (20:41.757)
Okay, so now we're at Rent-A-Swag and Thomas saying the business is so good, he might be able to quit the Parks Department and do Rent-A-Swag full-time, which we discussed last time, I feel like how is he working at Parks and Rent-A-Swag? So I guess that kind of answers it. Like, sounds like he's only working at Rent-A-Swag part-time, which we talked about maybe, you know, I think you said that maybe he's going like after work and on weekends and stuff. But I mean, that's still a lot to juggle that doesn't answer everything. But I could see that him doing that. I mean, I do that.

Madi (20:53.666)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (21:03.586)
Mm-hmm. yeah.

Madi (21:10.476)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, and there's just some things probably that he has to do, like, you know, like some of the business things that he can do while he's at at City Hall, but like not doesn't have to physically be at the store like the accounting and all that kind of stuff. I love that we see the rapport he's building with his customers like he knows some of them by name and he's like telling them he looked they look good. He's got the

Holly Constant (21:11.273)
You know, with my side things.

Holly Constant (21:28.765)
Right. Yeah.

Madi (21:40.258)
the swagger and the personality to really run this store. And it's cool to see him utilizing it in a positive way.

Holly Constant (21:50.021)
Yeah, totally. And also, you know, I don't think maybe we talked about when we when Rent A Swag first opened, but this was this is like a big thing now renting clothes like for especially if you're doing it. Well, it used to be for like fame famous like gala type of clothing or like dresses, balls, that kind of stuff. Like if you don't want to spend or weddings, like if you don't want to spend money on like a huge purchase, you can rent it and send it back.

Madi (22:00.973)
Hmm.

Madi (22:09.336)
Mm-hmm. Like prom. Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (22:18.539)
But now they have like all kinds of clothes. And then if you like it, you can buy it after, or you can just return it and rent it again like at a later time or whatever. But I remember people in college doing this, you know, for birthdays or like even bachelorettes, you know what I mean? Like if you don't want to spend so much money on a dress for one event, you can return it. I wonder, cause that's the, it's called Rent the Runway, the one that I'm thinking of. When did that start? Because I wonder if like,

Madi (22:36.11)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (22:48.959)
Whatchamacallit, Rent-A-Swag was before after. Rent-The-Runway launched in November 2009. Okay, so that was before Rent-A-Swag. yeah, I mean, yeah, three or four years, because 2009 was like when it started, when Parks and Rec started, like 2008, something like that.

Madi (22:58.882)
Hmm, okay. Yep. By just a year or two, two years. wait, no, three or four years.

Madi (23:12.908)
Yeah. Yeah.

Holly Constant (23:15.573)
But still, so, and I don't think it was as popular until a couple years, like maybe after they launched anyway. So like they were probably around the same time they were like gaining popularity, I feel. But Rent the Runway was not the same as like teenagers. So expanding on that. Which speaking of is so funny, he says like little swagger's for babies and rent a sag for old people. I thought that was so funny.

Madi (23:38.006)
Yeah. I know really good, really good writing there.

Holly Constant (23:44.829)
my god. So funny.

Madi (23:46.328)
I would totally do little swagger's, that's cute. And that's like the best age too because they wear something for sometimes only two weeks and then they're all too big for it. yeah.

Holly Constant (23:48.811)
Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Holly Constant (23:55.667)
Right? Totally. my God. Why is Mona Lisa still working there? Why does Tom even have this as a possibility? What is going on?

Madi (24:07.904)
I just, this is, like he needs to go, he needs to do, he needs to be cutumped because he has no like management over her. It's also a little iffy that you're dating one of your employees. That feels a little weird. And the fact that she just gets to leave, like, cause her tum tum hurts, which like I'm all for like you not having to be at work if you're not feeling well, but.

Holly Constant (24:17.127)
Yes.

Madi (24:36.674)
This just seems like she doesn't want to be here. Yeah, she's she just doesn't want to be here. So I just yeah, I can't. I don't know how. I mean, I understand that she's John Ralphio's sister, but like, get her out, man. Like, I want you to be successful. Get her out.

Holly Constant (24:37.269)
She's not not feeling well, yeah. What a lie.

Holly Constant (24:51.305)
I

I know, I know. But I mean, I think I keep going back to the, you know, thesis of he has no control in this relationship. So she's just gonna do what she wants to do, which I guess she hasn't grown tired of being at the store yet. So I love when they're like sharing their truths or boundaries or whatever. And she says she might still be in love with her cousin because she kissed her cousin.

Madi (25:03.992)
Yeah.

Madi (25:08.482)
Yeah, apparently.

Madi (25:15.926)
my gosh, I can't. I might still be in love with him. You, okay, also Tom, why? Like just that's your red flag, get out, we're done.

Holly Constant (25:26.707)
Yeah, 100%. Okay, well, so a lawyer called Tom apparently. She did take that message, I suppose, so that's something, and says that he has a client. This lawyer says he has a client who wants to buy Rent-A-Swag, and Tom completely misunderstands, thinking like Babyface heard his demo.

Madi (25:44.276)
I know. my gosh. I love that we get an insight that he's made a demo.

Holly Constant (25:49.897)
Yes, and just to clear the air, Diddy is mentioned many a times and we're just gonna scratch that from the record, okay? Did not age well, very bad, very, very, very, very bad. That's fair, that's so true. my God, can you imagine if they like surprised or like said that he did buy it?

Madi (25:55.954)
Yeah, yeah, that did not age well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not ditty, so we can just, yeah.

Madi (26:07.224)
Had Diddy on the, yeah. You all, yeah, you all like dodged a bullet.

Holly Constant (26:16.063)
Dodged a bullet. Yes. This lawyer is played by Mark Evan Jackson. You've definitely seen him in so many things, especially The Good Place. feel like he has become kind of Mike Schur's go-to guy. And yeah, he's so good. And I feel like he's very typecast. He always has this kind of energy, I feel. And then he was also in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but I don't remember that. Did you remember him?

Madi (26:29.954)
He's so good.

Madi (26:40.3)
Yeah, he's the captain's husband.

Holly Constant (26:45.365)
Does he still have that same vibe? Like this same vibe? Okay.

Madi (26:47.788)
yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Very straight face, like does not put up with Andy Samberg shenanigans. Yeah.

Holly Constant (26:54.759)
Okay, I thought so. was just, I wasn't, I didn't remember. And then Mike Scher and Ted Danson's show, which is called A Man on the Inside on Netflix. Have you heard of this yet? my gosh. It's so good. You guys got to watch it. It's so, good. So great. So funny. What's her name from Brooklyn Nine-Nine is also on it. A Man on the Inside. Yeah. And it's on Netflix. There will be a second season coming out.

Madi (27:05.507)
No.

Madi (27:15.246)
What's the name of it?

Okay.

Holly Constant (27:22.827)
Ted Danson is obviously perfect, but it's just like a really interesting concept. So But yeah, so definitely watch that and the reason I'm bringing that up is because this lawyer was also in that show

Okay, well so now Andy is accusing Anne of being pregnant and she's like what? I'm not and I've always loved this about Andy slash Macklin like he just believes you no matter what you say He's like, you aren't dang it

Madi (27:45.622)
Now, this is...

Madi (27:51.436)
And this is why he wouldn't have been a good cop, unfortunately. I think he could have grown into a good cop, but this is why he didn't pass the personality portion. Because he's like, yeah, give the gun to the person, right? And he's just like, yeah, he's just too believing, trusting. Yeah, it just wouldn't have worked out. But it's so funny because he's just like, you're not? OK.

Holly Constant (27:55.563)
I know.

Holly Constant (28:08.139)
Yeah.

Madi (28:21.624)
then whose pregnancy test is this? Yeah, not a lot of critical thinking, is that what you're gonna say? Yeah.

Holly Constant (28:21.703)
Not a lot of critical. I know. Yeah. So he shows her the pregnancy test and she wants to figure out who it is too. And I don't know, man. I feel like the more we discuss this, the more I get bitter about it. But I'm just like, so she's trying to get pregnant now. And I'm like, wait, so did they go to the doctor's office? Like the last time we saw them was when they had sex. And now she's like, I'm trying to get pregnant. But how?

Madi (28:46.766)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (28:50.623)
Have we decided now that Anne and Chris are like doing this naturally? Like, have they gone back to the doctors to get, you know, whatever? I'm just like, so, and I was watching Modern Family and I'm sorry, I know that this is probably like annoying to compare the shows, but like Modern Family has like a lot of, you know, issues and stuff that like would be solved if they talked about it and then they end up talking about it like later on in the episode or the next episode. And I'm like, that's what I need. We need.

Madi (29:16.224)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, resolution.

Holly Constant (29:20.605)
closure or like some sort of, yeah, we did talk about it and this is how we're gonna move forward. Not just like a next episode we skipped steps and are just assuming stuff.

Madi (29:26.827)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (29:33.25)
We talked about it between episodes. You guys will catch up at some point.

Holly Constant (29:37.471)
And so it really made me frustrated because I was like, what is happening? Why? Anyways, it's fine.

Madi (29:44.13)
Yeah. I also, I have a lot of thoughts around this with Anne where she's like, but boo, like somebody's pregnant boo. Because I think that's a, honestly, for me, she hasn't been trying that long, right? They haven't been trying that long. If they are now sleeping together and they're going to have a baby naturally, it's got to have only been like a couple of weeks or something, right? Or a month. So.

Holly Constant (29:55.135)
Hahaha!

Holly Constant (30:10.922)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (30:13.634)
To me, it's like, why are you booing? Like someone else is getting to have a baby, you know? Like if she had been trying for like two years and was having a really hard time and was having to start going through like IVF stuff. And I understand like, okay, like people do have true emotions of it's really hard for me to be happy for my friend because I've been trying or because I've had miscarriages or because like, that's real. and while it might not be the best thing to...

Holly Constant (30:38.206)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (30:42.104)
boo someone to their face because they're pregnant. Like, I get that frustration. But like you've been trying for a month. Can we be happy that one of your friends is pregnant?

Holly Constant (30:51.625)
my god. Well, I think that's the, I don't know, that is the part of the bitterness that is why. It's like if she had talked, even if it was for only a month, but we had like known like, okay, it's official, we are doing it, then I could be like, yeah, that's funny, you know what I mean? But it just feels so loose, like ended, like the string is not tied up. And I'm just like, where are we even? So like you are trying now officially, like.

Madi (30:58.446)
Mm.

Madi (31:04.397)
Yep.

Madi (31:08.151)
Yeah.

Madi (31:18.402)
Yeah. I don't think.

Holly Constant (31:20.041)
I think that was the thing for me. was like, so, okay, so that's showing us that you are doing this for reals.

Madi (31:25.718)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don't think we...

Holly Constant (31:27.531)
Cause we left at the doctor's office being like, when the fuck are we doing this? I don't know. You know what I mean? Anyway.

Madi (31:30.978)
Yeah, yeah, I agree. I don't think we fully get clear guidance on what they decided until season six, episode one.

Holly Constant (31:43.211)
Yeah, oh my God, Maddie, there's a deleted scene too. I almost recorded it, but I was like, I'm not gonna waste my time. But I do wanna tell you, when they're at the cabin, they talk about, I can't remember, and Ann are walking, I don't even know how it happened, but it was something about like, this is so exciting about Founders Weekend or something, and then like, that would be the most exciting thing that ever happened to me. And Ann is like, or we could find out that I'm carrying your baby. And I was like, thank you for cutting that.

Madi (31:48.566)
Hahaha.

Madi (32:11.35)
Yeah. Good editing.

Holly Constant (32:13.491)
What? Wait, what? And again, it's just confused.

Holly Constant (32:21.419)
But yeah, do think Rashida did a good job. Apart from that, it is a funny section of acting. anyways. Okay, so back at the forum, Ben is saying that Pawnee isn't the most obese town now, thanks to Leslie, and a gym stayed open. What? That's incredible. And people checking into the ER went down. A lot of great, wonderful things.

Madi (32:21.55)
I agree with you.

Madi (32:39.171)
Wow.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Madi (32:47.278)
Swallowing candy wrappers? Down 14%.

Holly Constant (32:51.563)
Incredible. I love that.

Madi (32:53.152)
Yeah. Yeah, but I don't know why this doesn't click for people that this is a positive thing. Like it makes me kind of sad.

Holly Constant (33:00.139)
Yeah, I know, me too. I love this line too of like, somehow they convinced the school board that napkins are a vegetable and Mary Faber, yes, they're made from plants. And I'm pretty positive she said in the interview that like that was something that she just, I think she improvised that, but like it was kind of a throwaway and they liked it so they kept it. And I was like, oh my God, that's so amazing. Yeah.

Madi (33:11.96)
They're made out of plants.

Madi (33:28.354)
Yeah, that's great.

Holly Constant (33:30.827)
But yeah, this is so annoying because yeah, like we talked about they're all doing better, living longer, like maybe they don't want to live longer. It's kind of like where Ron talks about like that when he gets the Punchburger thing, he's like, it's his choice to die, essentially, I feel. I mean, I he doesn't say it in those terms, but like, I don't know. I just feel like they're masquerading it as these basic quote unquote freedoms when it's really just about money, because I bet Punchburger has lost so much money now that they don't sell those fucking sodas and crazy things. You know what I mean?

Madi (34:00.812)
Yeah. Yeah. And that they don't have a punchbacker. Yeah. And that they don't have the punch burger next to Anne's house.

Holly Constant (34:02.227)
And a gym opening is crazy. go ahead.

Holly Constant (34:07.997)
Yeah, that too, that too. Yeah, and Dewey from Sanitation is back. We got a great voice memo from him in the Women in Garbage episode. He's amazing. He's played by Kiff Vanden Hevel. Shoot, I Hevel? Hevel, I think. Anyway, go check out that episode again, because he sent in some great nuggets. But yeah, he's just kind of riding on Catherine Pinewood's line by saying they stripped them of their freedoms because he had to make one of their bathrooms into a women's bathroom, like.

Madi (34:17.848)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (34:37.311)
What a travesty, what a terrible thing. I love Leslie's like sarcastic moment, because that's kind of what I was thinking too. was like, yeah, how terrible. You still have a bathroom, bitch. You need two at the same time? Like what?

Madi (34:39.586)
Yeah.

Madi (34:44.524)
Yeah. Yeah, Lord. Like you, I just.

That's insane to me. this whole, yeah, they stripped me of my freedoms. Like this whole like mantra now that she's created is like, my gosh, what do you guys think freedom is? Like.

Holly Constant (35:05.021)
Yeah, 100%. Yeah, we definitely have differing views on what the basic rights are. But I do love in TV shows when people are sarcastic and the other person takes it literally because he was just like, so you agree? my God. And then we get to see another Lerpiss, how exciting Bjorn Lerpiss, who, and I love that he says of the Pawnee Lerpiss family. That's the first time we've kind of acknowledged

Madi (35:10.604)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Madi (35:16.14)
Mm-hmm. Thank you. Yeah.

Madi (35:25.633)
Yes.

Madi (35:29.794)
Lurpus? Yes.

Holly Constant (35:34.101)
that this family is a Pawnee institution.

Madi (35:36.908)
And I've never caught that until we started talking about it here on the podcast and then watched this episode. was like, my gosh, it's been here this whole time.

Holly Constant (35:41.674)
Mm-hmm.

Yep, yep, it's crazy. But yeah, was the first, just as a reminder, he was one of the first Lurpuses I believe that we ever saw, because he was in the bathroom when Andy was trying to beat April at how much money you could get at the bar or whatever. And so he was trying to sell mints to this Lurpus, but he doesn't actually have any mints or anything. So he's like, $1 for nothing.

Madi (35:57.998)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (36:08.087)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (36:10.076)
Anyway, he's mad to your point. already said this. He's mad because he didn't get the Punch Burger built next to Anne's house where the park was going to be built. The triple, what is it? Triple decker pizza breakfast or breakfast pizza something. my lanta. And my gosh, Chris, that was so funny. I love this lurpus guy like Chris is like, will you ever consider not having that for breakfast? I will never consider that.

Madi (36:21.139)
my gosh, yes, breakfast pizza.

That sounds bad.

Madi (36:33.206)
I will never consider that. He's so mad. Also, like, I'm gonna be 20 minutes from where I'm late to work. I work from home. It's like, bro, start your day 20 minutes earlier and that won't be an issue. Yeah, whose fault is this? It's not Leslie's.

Holly Constant (36:44.319)
You

Holly Constant (36:49.695)
Whose issue is that, honey?

my god.

Madi (36:56.268)
But, but this is, I'm sorry, but this is, you know, it's not everybody, but there is a good chunk of people who will find anyone else and anything else to blame other than themselves for stuff not going right.

Holly Constant (37:07.795)
Mm-hmm, 100%. Yeah, absolutely. And then we've got the liberty or die guys there. This is where they had the montages, Harris and the other animal control guys there. They're both dressed like so professionally and I don't really understand why. And they're, yeah.

Madi (37:09.474)
So.

Madi (37:18.112)
Mm-hmm. Harris is dressed noice. Yeah.

I don't either. I don't feel like they have their priorities right.

Holly Constant (37:31.271)
There are deleted scenes like where they're actually talking, the Liberty or Die guy is, Ken Hotate, they had deleted scenes with all the, like what they were actually saying on the mic, but nothing really like super mega specific.

Madi (37:42.946)
Yeah. Did Ken stand up for that, Leslie? No.

Holly Constant (37:48.137)
No. Well, wait, what did there was something negative at the end. I think, I think at the beginning he did, he does, he does. You're right, sorry, he does. But at the end he like, he says that the casino is like selling cigarettes or something like that. And it just kind of makes his credibility go down. But no, he does, he does stand up for her at the beginning and say like, she helped me, you know, do this, that and the other. So yeah.

Madi (38:12.556)
Okay, good.

Madi (38:16.174)
Okay, that's good, because they typically end up on the same side.

Holly Constant (38:19.783)
Yeah, totally. Yeah, they have the same kind of morals, I feel. But yeah, I don't know. I feel like Harrison Colton, the animal control people were like, just trying to be professional looking for this like new meetings thing, but they didn't really say anything else, I feel they haven't already said before.

Madi (38:38.478)
Yeah, fair, probably why I got cut.

Holly Constant (38:41.469)
Yeah. yeah, and then Leslie says this feels personal, maybe because they're all saying how much they hate me personally. so sad. Okay, so now Andy is interviewing Donna, asking how many people he's talking to, one or one and one ninth. And how does she immediately go to, you asking me if I'm pregnant? Like, how did she get that so fast? I would not have gotten that.

Madi (38:49.251)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (39:06.894)
She is the only character that would have gotten it. That's why it's funny. To me, I thought, okay, that's the only person that's gonna hear that and be like, wait, is he asking me if I'm pregnant? Honestly, I'm more surprised that Andy knew the math.

Holly Constant (39:10.072)
Yeah, that's fair.

Holly Constant (39:18.055)
Yeah. my god.

Holly Constant (39:22.963)
Yeah, weird. So now Donna's out. I will say you can be a grown woman with a good head on her shoulders and still get pregnant, but okay. That's fine, Donna. I mean, that's not fine, but you know what I mean? Like, whatever. There is a deleted scene with Donna. I think I recorded it. Let me just make sure.

Madi (39:30.858)
Amen. Yeah.

Yeah.

Holly Constant (39:47.236)
wait. Come on, sweetie.

Holly Constant (40:08.561)
Yeah, anyway, that was it. was just, I thought that was funny that she said that she would let usher near her womb.

Madi (40:15.308)
Yeah, that's interesting. also Hugh Bonneville being the person she would choose from Downton Abbey to let near her womb.

Holly Constant (40:21.819)
Mm-hmm. I know I haven't watched Downton Abbey in a long time, but anyway. And that's another thing that's built on, because when they pick each other's dogs or whatever, she talks about Downton Abbey. Anyhow, yeah, I just thought that was a weird line from Donna to say about the grown woman thing. So if you're a grown woman with a good head on your shoulders and you got pregnant, it's okay. That's all I have to say about that. Yeah. Okay.

Madi (40:25.006)
Yeah, it's a good show.

Madi (40:32.609)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (40:40.311)
Yeah.

Yeah, you still have a good head on your shoulders. Yeah.

Holly Constant (40:48.875)
Marcia and Marshall Langman are back, which we love, love their lines. People can now put their body parts anywhere they want to without, with impunity. my God. Well, we gotta, go ahead.

Madi (40:56.974)
with imputity. my, ugh, it's so bad. I can't. No, just I can't with these people. They're so good at acting.

Holly Constant (41:07.345)
I know they're so so good. Yes, we got a voice memo from Todd Sherry a while ago who plays Marshall Langman. He is so nice. He has a great Instagram. I'll tag him to where he well I have tagged him previously where he posts about his amazing garden. I know that's not having to do with parks but it's worth mentioning because it's so good. And then Darlene Hunt plays Marsha Langman and she is an incredible actress writer famous for the show The Big Sea.

And I believe she was on Parks and Rec Collection briefly as well, talking about her time on Parks. But yeah, they're both so good and obviously they are referring to Lesley's Sex Education Initiative. And STDs are down. That's incredible. Big deal.

Madi (41:48.522)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. But no, for them, yeah, for them, that doesn't matter. Yeah.

Holly Constant (41:54.985)
Yeah, so stupid. They'd rather have that. That's the thing. It's like, when you ask them that question, I feel like they'd be like, you know, they don't know how to answer that question of like, would you rather have STDs down or not? You know what I mean?

Madi (42:06.307)
Yeah.

Yeah, well, because it's just this whole like view on purity, right? Like, yeah, and yeah, it's just like no one should be having sex. Okay, well, logically, you're never gonna, yeah, it's not realistic to expect people to not have sex. So let's make sure they're prepared, you know, like I just don't, but no, and I mean, there's a lot of people out there that, I mean, I think less now, but if you look 20 years ago,

Holly Constant (42:16.22)
abstinence.

Holly Constant (42:24.159)
What's realistic?

Holly Constant (42:29.929)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (42:37.998)
how many people were like, no, like it's so wrong for you to not, like you should abstain like 100%. So,

Holly Constant (42:46.453)
yeah, churches still believe that, so that rhetoric is still being spread, so anyhow. This town is going to hell in a Gucci knockoff handbag, girl. That was so funny.

Madi (42:56.903)
Marshall. Yeah, so well delivered and yeah.

Holly Constant (43:02.473)
Yes. I hate this too, the good compliments. Like, they should have left Ken Hotate in there because the good compliments are from the porn community.

Madi (43:08.488)
I know to balance it. Yeah.

Which I think when I sent in my summary and recording, I did kind of agree that Leslie should not have been part of the video store situation. She definitely overstepped what she needed to do. Or she should have cracked down more, right? When we give you this money, this is what you have to use it for. Because yeah, this is just coming to just backstab her so bad right now.

Holly Constant (43:15.563)
Uhhh...

Holly Constant (43:29.813)
Tough stuff.

Holly Constant (43:37.051)
Right, right, right.

Holly Constant (43:45.501)
It's awful. And then Brandy Max, our queen, Brandy Max comes in. Mara Marini is the actress who plays this. We also had a full interview with her. Wonderful. I'll post that in the show notes. It's so incredible that we've talked to so many of these people. I'm just so grateful. Amazing. But yeah, and then they dress, they dress Brandy Max in like a corporate kind of vibe, similar to Leslie, still doing that mirroring parallel moment.

Madi (43:48.93)
Yes.

Madi (43:54.167)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (43:58.806)
I know that they're so willing to give their time and yeah, they have great stories.

Madi (44:09.378)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (44:13.227)
I love Herman Lerpiss, the pawn shop Lerpiss, loves Videodome and he's like, yeah, it's much better now. So creepy. And then this is also where the Videodome owner comes back, Jason Schwartzman, who you probably are familiar with with all the Wes Anderson films that he's been in. But yeah, and then I just, love that. I love that they've given Mara, well, Brandy Max, all this stuff. Like it's like an AA meeting where she says, hi, I'm Brandy Max.

Madi (44:18.562)
Yep. Yeah.

Holly Constant (44:42.827)
Hi, Brandi. And then she, oh my, I laughed out loud at, she had a small part in the film Argo, and then Argoo as well, the porn version.

Madi (44:42.958)
Hi Brandy.

Madi (44:52.886)
Yes, so bad. But the phrasing of it is so great though, because she lists two porn films and then she goes to Argo and you're like, she had a part in an actual movie and then she goes and Argo and I'm like, all right, there it is.

Holly Constant (44:57.257)
That is gross.

Holly Constant (45:10.475)
And I love that she, I should have asked her about this, but I didn't even think about it. I wonder if they told her or if she just did it anyway. I really loves how she pronounces the different pronunciations. Argo, and then she very clearly says, our space goo after, so that you have no confusion on what you're hearing after. And I think that was a really good job. I laughed out loud.

Madi (45:31.544)
Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Holly Constant (45:40.267)
god. Also, Leslie says like, I know she's panicking a little bit, but she's like, well, that was kind of an accident and we've cleared it all up now and it's good. And I'm like, how did you clear it all up? That's not cleared up. I also love Jason Schwartzman line of, I've seen the first 90 seconds and, they're thrilling.

Madi (45:40.386)
Agreed.

Madi (45:49.986)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Madi (46:01.262)
Yes. So good.

Holly Constant (46:05.765)
so next, dear, she says, it's not like I'm a crazed sex maniac or anything, and Andy and Anne burst in asking if it's her pregnancy test and seeing if she's pregnant, and I do love Ben's look of shock. Like, wait, is it? my god. and it sounds, yes!

Madi (46:19.747)
Mm-hmm.

because they've started to talk about having a family, right? So it's not out of the realm that it could be Leslie. But I am 100 % so upset with Andy and Ann here. Like Ann has to know that she's doing this today. Like they're best friends. And the fact that she was okay with Andy running in there, like...

Holly Constant (46:30.311)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (46:39.627)
I know.

Madi (46:49.993)
she didn't like walk in and realize everybody was there and stop him. Like to me, I would have been so upset with her and I would have stopped him because like this is really important to her. Like, you know, and obviously Anne couldn't have predicted how poorly it was going. Right. But it's like this is a professional place and you're just going to let him run in and yell. Is she pregnant?

Holly Constant (47:06.827)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (47:14.571)
I do feel like, I don't know, I built this in my head, this is not what happened, but I built this in my head that Anne was like chasing after Andy to try to get him to stop and then she couldn't control him because he was just like, fuck this, you know, and he's a child so it's like whatever. And then by the time he starts speaking Anne was just like, well, it's happening.

Madi (47:23.214)
Mmm.

Madi (47:28.366)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (47:36.299)
But it did seem a little out of character, luckily it would have been worse if it actually was hers in front of everybody, but luckily it was not hers. But I do love Adam Scott's face there of like.

Madi (47:36.706)
Can't stop it now.

Madi (47:44.537)
Right. Yeah.

Madi (47:49.889)
Yeah, no.

Holly Constant (47:51.743)
What? But yeah, it was perfect timing too, because they had just talked about having a family. So I really love how they built that up. That's cool.

Madi (47:54.797)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (47:59.709)
Okay, so Tom is telling the investors about the lawyer meeting and that he might say yes to the sellout of Rent-A-Swag doubling their investment. And Donna immediately says yes because imagine the treat yourself day you could have with the profits, pedicures on pedicures on pedicures. Let's love that. And Ron is like, no, grow and accumulate power by his business. And I do, I think the first part I do.

Madi (48:14.862)
of Headicators.

Holly Constant (48:25.663)
kind of understand what Ron's saying as far as like, you have the upper hand here right now. So, you know, keep going. And it means you have competition. Like people are scared of you, essentially. So I do get that part, but I don't know. I guess it depends on how much money it would be.

Madi (48:27.31)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (48:36.29)
Yeah.

Madi (48:42.134)
Yeah, yeah, because I don't I honestly I mean, with the information we have, I don't think there's a bad choice here. Like you have you either get to keep your business and you know that you're doing something right because somebody wants to buy you or you sell and you have money to start your next venture, you know.

Holly Constant (48:54.304)
Right.

I know. And it really is sad. mean, I know that we haven't gotten there yet, but it is kind of sad what happens because this was such a good idea. And I hate that the dumbass client who shall not be named comes in and steals it. Anyway.

Madi (49:06.926)
I

Madi (49:10.656)
Yeah, I agree. This is super bummer, especially because we've been waiting five seasons to see Tom do something great and see him succeed and stop being sleazy Tom. And, you know, he's doing it and then something's going to come and be a roadblock for him. So it's kind of sad.

Holly Constant (49:22.664)
Yeah, totally.

Holly Constant (49:29.109)
Yeah. And poor Jerry tries to make a suggestion and gets shut down. my God.

Madi (49:34.126)
I miss you guys.

Holly Constant (49:37.643)
He loves these people. So now we're at the celebration, the Founders Day celebration, and it looks so cute. I can't imagine all the hard work that went into this, like I was talking about. I also love corn on a stick. I love that Chris is holding that. It's so precious. I love it so much. And it reminded me of Brooklyn, my sister. She just loves that too. If she sees corn on a menu or a street vendor, if we're traveling or something that has corn, she will get it. It's really funny. Yes.

Madi (49:51.342)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (50:02.382)
Brooklyn, my kindred spirit. Yeah, that's what I eat all day, every day at the restaurant, because we have the Mexican street corn.

Holly Constant (50:09.885)
Mm-hm. Yeah, so good. And Chris is trying to be really positive, but Leslie's in a bad mood, so Chris's positivity is really overwhelming, and she's like, could you just, like, stop, please? And I think that's how I felt at the first or whatever first season that he was in, kind of. I was like, stop it. But I do, I think it's nice that Chris is trying to help and, like, cheer her up. So, yeah.

Madi (50:20.002)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (50:27.757)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (50:35.821)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (50:39.776)
hard.

Madi (50:39.81)
Yeah, she's just not at that point yet. You know, it's like we've talked about, Is that like, if we're going to rant to each other or whatever, we like to start with the, you need advice? Are you here to like just get it off your chest? Cause sometimes you're not ready to hear the advice. And I think she's just not ready to be cheered up right now. She's in her wallow, things are going poorly mode and that's okay. You need to give yourself time to process that. Yeah.

Holly Constant (51:02.089)
Yeah, you need those times, totally. And then Chris says that he found out he has a surprise role in the parade, which is very cute and very exciting. And then this is where Ben makes his comment, you know, that in politics, the more you accomplish, the more heat you draw, which is true.

Madi (51:10.926)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (51:17.91)
Yeah, it's in a lot of things I would say. When you're doing well, you get more heat. People are intimidated by you or don't like the waves you're making, but it means you're making an impact somewhere.

Holly Constant (51:20.938)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (51:25.151)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (51:30.923)
Yeah, right. I really love this next line. I don't know if I really remember this happening where Andy says, my assistant has something to show you and she says, partner. like, as in I'm your partner, but he just adds it on the word like, oh, sorry, my assistant has something to show you partner. That was so funny.

Madi (51:43.63)
Right.

Madi (51:47.874)
partner.

It was. It's very funny. And now that you're saying that you didn't remember it, I didn't remember it from the entire time I've been watching the show. The last couple times, yes, but I wonder if that's one of those lines that they brought back in.

Holly Constant (52:01.866)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (52:05.523)
I don't know man, it's so funny.

Madi (52:07.446)
Yeah, I love it. Very Andy too.

Holly Constant (52:10.503)
Mm-hmm, yeah. So Ann shows Tom the pregnancy test asking about, you know, if Mona Lisa might be pregnant. But they always use protection, but he thinks she might be poking holes in them, which makes sense for her.

Madi (52:23.64)
Dude, like you think that and you're still with her? Tom.

Holly Constant (52:33.393)
The pregnancy test is called womb, there it is. I love that.

Madi (52:37.544)
Yes. And I forgot that we heard about it this early. I thought the first time we saw it was when Leslie's buying a pregnancy test in the next season. And so I totally forgot that that was even a thing. Like I didn't realize that they showed us this early, but I love that. So smart.

Holly Constant (52:43.467)
yeah.

Holly Constant (52:54.197)
Me too. And I also love that, like, he just so matter-of-factly says, yep, that's her brand.

Madi (53:02.606)
Which, why do you know that? Have you guys had scares?

Holly Constant (53:05.899)
my God, I don't know, man. Tom as a dad scares me though, I will say. But he steps up later, which we'll see, which is lovely, but just like, that reaction, I'm like, oh no, this is bad. Okay, so we learned that Chris is the nipple king because the Kernston Nipple Company elects nipple king and queen each year to ride on the float and.

Madi (53:12.779)
yeah. I would agree with that. He does.

Madi (53:21.036)
Yeah,

Holly Constant (53:32.585)
Both Chris and Leslie are so excited and I love how Leslie is so supportive of this. Like, my god, congratulations Chris, that's amazing!

Madi (53:36.961)
Yeah.

Yeah, even in the midst of her sadness, she's like stoked for him. And Ben's looked camera. Just, yeah, what? And Chris has just completely jumped into it, right? He's like, hell yeah, I get to do this thing. This makes complete sense. And Ben's like, I don't know what this is.

Holly Constant (53:43.133)
Yeah.

Classic not understanding Pawnee traditions like what is happening?

Holly Constant (53:58.939)
Totally. Yes. Well, Chris got off this float because he was trying to warn Leslie about another float that's coming up. And it's this full size like statue thing of Leslie painting her as a villain. And it's so terrible because the statue is like waving and wagging her finger. And so is Leslie in real time. She stops the whole parade and is like,

Madi (54:08.27)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (54:24.683)
extremely fun and it's just terrible, but I do love Ben's like, stop, stop wagging your finger, babe, babe. So awful.

Madi (54:30.796)
Yeah.

it is. I know this breaks my heart. Because she just loves this town so much and if they knew, it hurts.

Holly Constant (54:38.675)
Me too.

I know. Well...

It does hurt. That's kind of my next note where, this is where we learn that Catherine Pinewood and everybody who was complaining at the town forum thing have now created a recalled note committee and they have their shirts on and that's what the whole float is for, which side note bitches, usually it takes like six months to a year to get a float even in a parade. So how did you manipulate everybody to get that in there? Okay. Like you just.

Madi (55:09.271)
Yep.

Madi (55:12.856)
they had to have paid big bucks.

Holly Constant (55:14.769)
Mm-hmm. And I, I was so upset when I was watching this. I was like, I want to burn this fucking float to the ground in honor of Leslie and all of her accomplishments. I was so mad at them.

Madi (55:22.158)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (55:28.438)
It seems rather obviously political to let this float. You're supposed to be celebrating the founders of this city, hence the nipple float. So why did we let this in?

Holly Constant (55:38.015)
Yeah, yeah. Right, right, totally. I will say it is, I know, why? I will say it's funny that the animal control people say legalize weed amongst all of this. Like recall Leslie Knope, they don't even know what they're fucking supporting. I think Leslie would be in support, right, exactly. I think Leslie would support legalizing weed if it was like controlled. I mean, so they don't even know, but.

Madi (55:53.965)
No.

They just needed bodies.

Holly Constant (56:06.461)
I will say, I found this on the internet, you might have found this too, that the Indiana Constitution actually does not allow for recall elections. So this this point is kind of moot. So you actually can't remove Indiana elected officials with a recall election, which is wild. I'm a little mixed feelings on here. But in my head, when I read that, was like, okay, great. So we don't have a problem. Leslie, we'll stay in there. Thank you, bye.

Madi (56:13.804)
I did not see that.

Madi (56:31.308)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Cool. This is.

Holly Constant (56:33.301)
But obviously I think it's a good thing for the story, because this is such a truthful and real thing that could happen, you know what mean?

Madi (56:36.718)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (56:43.01)
Yeah, absolutely.

Holly Constant (56:44.971)
So anyway, okay now Tom is asking Mona Lisa and John Ralphio if Mona Lisa is pregnant and Mona Lisa acts all upset And I love that John Ralphio acts like this is his problem like my god. I gotta I gotta get out of this This is too much. I can't be an uncle And he says something too. He says like I heard the word naked and but I don't know what the sentence was So part of me was like is he like trying to get that out of his head of them being naked together

Madi (57:00.268)
Yeah.

Madi (57:17.443)
my gosh. yeah.

Holly Constant (57:19.807)
think it's so funny to see the harmonizing between the two siblings too. Hilarious. So funny. Total siblings.

Madi (57:23.512)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah, they have good chemistry. And I haven't heard of them, like working together before or after this. So it's just, I think they just clicked when they met and it works. and I'm sure you introduced Jenny Slate last episode, but I've loved her. Like I started watching SNL and she was on the cast. And so it was so cool when I saw her come on Parks and Rec, I was like, aw.

Holly Constant (57:35.426)
yeah, I don't know.

Holly Constant (57:39.699)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (57:48.96)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (57:54.264)
She's getting work outside of SNL. That always makes me happy when I see SNL people outside.

Holly Constant (57:54.291)
I know.

Holly Constant (57:58.155)
I think she was only on SNL for one season. I didn't even know that she was on there. I don't even remember when I was first introduced to her. I know that she did, she's a standup comedian as well, but she's done a ton of like voiceover work. Marcel the shell is incredible. Oscar winning by the way. And just a lot of other amazing things. And I think I also saw when her and Captain America were dating at some point, Chris Pine.

Madi (58:01.408)
Yeah. Yeah.

Madi (58:07.854)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (58:12.844)
Yeah.

Madi (58:24.918)
Mm-hmm. They did it for a long time. Chris Evans.

Holly Constant (58:28.241)
Evans, yeah. And I was like, honestly, Jenny Slate is better than Chris Evans, but whatever. I still love Chris Evans. I think he's still lovely and so funny. But yeah, I honestly don't know where I first first saw her. But but yeah, and she was in this one movie with like the new Jim or whatever from the office. What's his name? Pete. He was in this and she was in this independent film with him about actually that's funny actually about getting pregnant. And she they didn't mean to.

Madi (58:33.518)
But whatever. Yeah.

Madi (58:49.559)
I'll peep.

Madi (58:56.298)
Holly Constant (58:57.387)
I can't remember what it's called, but it's really good and really funny and I just love her.

Madi (59:01.826)
I think she just played Blake Lively's best friend in Ends with Us 2. So I haven't seen it, but I saw the trailer.

Holly Constant (59:06.901)
yeah, ugh. What a mess that all is. Well it sucks too because Paul Feig directed that or wrote it, I can't remember who is a big part of the office and you know everything and everybody's comments on Paul Feig's stuff is like, I'm not fucking watching that if she's in it blah blah blah and I'm like no, Paul Feig.

Madi (59:17.986)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (59:24.064)
Yeah, Pau Fig, no. he did a simple favor, different. The one with anachendrix.

Holly Constant (59:31.647)
What's that?

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Madi (59:36.45)
But still, yes, I'm sure he's getting, yeah. There's a lot, there's, yeah. Lots of drama going on. I try to keep up and then I'm like, okay, I don't have the energy for this.

Holly Constant (59:39.827)
Yeah, lots of drama with that.

Holly Constant (59:47.243)
to just keep releasing more and more and more. They haven't really released anything new about it, so I don't know what's going on. Anyhow, so now April's the only other woman left that could be pregnant, and I do love Andy's face to camera of like, well, it could only be her. my God.

Madi (59:52.354)
Yeah.

Madi (59:58.083)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:00:07.118)
Which I think we don't really see Andy's love for kids until he starts playing at the birthday parties and stuff next season. But he would be, I think you're like, he's a kid. He's not going to know how to take care of a kid, but he's going to be such a good dad just because he has that lovable play energy that kids are going to need. So he's kept himself alive. With the help of April, yeah.

Holly Constant (01:00:07.271)
Ugh.

Holly Constant (01:00:14.239)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (01:00:26.955)
Mm hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, that's true. With the help of April, too. So now we're at JJ's trying to calm down from the day and Leslie suggested they live in the Bahamas and she should just quit. And also, I love that she mentions Elizabeth Warren, that she got up to watch Meet the Press or whatever. And I think Ben is a great sounding board here, like asking Leslie, like, do you think we're better off? Do you think you're better off? Do you believe in everything that you did? And she says, yeah. And he's like, well, then screw them.

Madi (01:00:44.694)
Yeah.

Madi (01:00:53.71)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:01:00.588)
Yeah, this is amazing advice and this is him being a husband right now and kind of like a co-worker, right? Because he was the campaign manager. Like, that's so true. Like, if you wouldn't have done anything differently, then there's no reason to dwell on it because you did what you thought was right and that's what you should be doing.

Holly Constant (01:01:18.249)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I agree. Leslie is grateful, but then she's also like, what do we even do from here? Like, how do, how would I even fight this? also, my gosh, there is a beautiful deleted scene here that I cannot believe they cut. get it for timing, but I was like so obsessed. where Ben uses the same box that he had the Leslie no pin in slash like the engagement thing. And, it's a ring box and he gives her a gift. I'm just going to play the scene for you.

Madi (01:01:41.07)
mm-hmm.

Madi (01:01:49.005)
Okay.

Madi (01:02:40.893)
my gosh.

Madi (01:02:46.48)
my gosh.

Holly Constant (01:02:47.967)
love the, okay, that's fine. my God, but I took a picture. They showed the locket.

Madi (01:02:49.494)
Yeah, it started off so cute.

Madi (01:02:55.278)
Aww, very cute.

Holly Constant (01:02:56.625)
And then, look on the inside!

Madi (01:03:03.566)
that's so sweet. Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:03:04.613)
them together. I'm gonna post this on the stories but it's like you open the locket and Ben's on one side and Leslie's on the other side and they're like wedding day and it is just so precious and beautiful and and then another deleted scene comes up that follows up with this one. I will say it's a little out of character that Leslie doesn't have anything for him because she has gifts galore like back at the office I'm sure but other than that it was a perfect scene and I loved it.

Madi (01:03:15.48)
Wow.

Madi (01:03:24.844)
It is.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that's so sweet and just very, very Ben of him. So, I love it.

Holly Constant (01:03:36.416)
Yeah.

So now we're at the press conference and she starts naming dance movie titles. Bring it on, step up, because essentially she's step up to the streets. But basically she's saying like, if you wanna recall me, like go ahead, try it, okay? Like bring it on essentially, because I think you're better off if you don't, then fine, like do what you need to do kind of vibes. And.

Madi (01:03:43.242)
haha

Step up too.

Holly Constant (01:04:04.287)
Then, yeah, then Shana Mollwey Tweet is there and she said two months is when they're trying to get the recall vote to happen, which is like kind of fast, but also not that fast, I guess. It's like a decent time, but yeah, I just, I'm, it just goes back to again, the whole like how we have differing views on what basic freedoms are. And I know that they're being dramatic because that's the way that they're gonna be heard if they're louder and like more vicious, you know?

Madi (01:04:25.645)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (01:04:34.059)
But I'm just like, this is not a freedom. like, you know what I mean? Like, it's just so bizarre to me and makes me question everything. So, anyhow. Tweet gets really emotional and deep. This is the beginning of the end for Tweet, I feel. I mean, it started when she said, can't even get the shoeshine guy, back when Andy was the shoeshine guy, or shoeshinist, if you will.

Madi (01:04:39.649)
Yeah.

Madi (01:04:45.644)
Yeah, I agree.

Madi (01:04:51.083)
I agree.

Madi (01:04:55.042)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:04:58.497)
Yeah.

Madi (01:05:02.296)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (01:05:03.887)
And I feel like this is starting to show when Shana might need therapy. She's like, I'm really learning about me. But it's great that she's like, self reflecting, you know?

Madi (01:05:07.693)
Yeah.

Thanks.

Madi (01:05:14.102)
Yeah, and I love that Leslie doesn't dismiss her. She's just like, I wasn't really asking specifically about you, but that's great.

Holly Constant (01:05:22.057)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Ben helps her out because she can't end it correctly. Recall, shmecal. No, it can't end. My big press conference on that. And I love that Ben, again, is her partner in crime here, ending the press conference. And it's really wonderful to see them together as a partner slash team again, which we haven't seen in a hot second. So I love that.

Madi (01:05:31.66)
Yep.

Madi (01:05:40.227)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:05:44.492)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:05:45.803)
And then let's see. yeah, then we've got the volunteer weekend force mobilized the Pawnee River cleanup Which I love that they're bringing that back because you know, we have that a couple Ages ago. I that was at the beginning of the very sea of the season because that was what she went to DC for And so that's kind of incredible that that is still going on and then they're keeping up with that But here is where the other deleted scene Happens that follows up on the zero with present

Madi (01:05:52.044)
Yep. Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:05:57.686)
yeah, it was the beginning. Yeah.

Madi (01:06:05.645)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:06:25.522)
my gosh.

Madi (01:06:37.014)
my gosh.

Holly Constant (01:06:38.421)
These are the Capris by the way. They're like a purpley weird khaki thing happening. Again, I'll post this in the stories, but it's so funny. my God. I know turn around and walk around in front of me.

Madi (01:06:40.992)
Yikes.

Madi (01:06:48.236)
Wow.

Madi (01:06:55.522)
The calves are such an interesting body part to choose.

Holly Constant (01:06:58.559)
I know, it's so funny, my god.

Madi (01:07:00.534)
especially when I'm pretty sure he does not work out.

Holly Constant (01:07:03.177)
No, she likes him the way he is. All right, so now Chris and Anne are dating, I guess, because Leslie asks how it's going. And again, it's just such whiplash where she's like, the sex is great. And I'm like, OK, so are you dating or just having sex or what's the deal? I don't know. I don't know why my brain can't wrap my head around like that they're just like do. I guess it's because it feels so.

Madi (01:07:05.417)
Yeah, I love it.

Madi (01:07:20.918)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:07:28.091)
life-changing, like literally life-changing to have a baby, whereas if they were just dating again and like fucking around, I'd be like, that's fun for them, cool. They've both grown and it's nice.

Madi (01:07:38.52)
But they even mentioned it two episodes ago where they said, you know, are we actually together? Because like, are we gonna bring a baby into this world? Like we need to have an answer for the baby, right? so why don't we have an answer? Right.

Holly Constant (01:07:53.621)
They talked about talking about it. That's the thing that I hated. They talked about talking about it, but they didn't actually talk about it. Anyways, okay. Just getting through this.

Madi (01:08:01.656)
So, and it's a little, yeah.

It's a little chaotic trying to say like, it's not a problem right now. When she gets pregnant, they're going to have to talk about it. And there's already so many other things going on that it's easy to put off.

Holly Constant (01:08:18.047)
Yeah.

Madi (01:08:19.054)
Yeah, I also just not clinging on. I mean, I'm also getting a little bit of this from the next episode because obviously I watched the next episode. But like the chemistry just for me is not there. Like, so when she says sex is great, I'm like, is it though?

Holly Constant (01:08:33.864)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:08:38.531)
I mean, I liked the chemistry when they were looking at each other all like sly or whatever when they were on the couch and they kind of or whatever were like talking about how they were good at the activities. Like that was like fine for me. I was like, that's cute. But it kind of stopped. You don't really see them flirting as much. Do know I'm saying? Like you don't see them being a couple like they say they're going to be a couple. So it's a little bit, I guess, confusing on that front.

Madi (01:08:44.864)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:08:51.118)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:08:56.482)
Yeah.

Madi (01:09:00.204)
Yeah.

Madi (01:09:04.151)
Right.

Madi (01:09:08.387)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:09:09.351)
because even in the first one, or in the first time they dated, I just feel like it was like not that long. So you don't always see them flirting and like going on dates and all these things. So I think I wanted that like chemistry and that intimacy connection like we see with Ben and Leslie. Obviously, it's not going to be to Ben and Leslie's level because they're Ben and Leslie. But I do feel like we're missing a little bit of the

Madi (01:09:28.824)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:09:33.624)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:09:38.219)
that connection of like romance.

Madi (01:09:41.334)
Yeah, I agree.

Holly Constant (01:09:43.285)
So, and I'm sorry.

Madi (01:09:44.79)
And we'll continue this conversation as we go into season six, because it's just going to keep going.

Holly Constant (01:09:48.491)
It's just gonna keep going on. I'm sorry, but it is how I feel so sorry Okay

Madi (01:09:52.246)
Yeah, no, that's what we're here for. We're here to talk through our genuine feelings around this and people could fight us or they can agree with us.

Holly Constant (01:10:00.137)
Yeah. Well, now Andy picks April up and spins her around and shouts, my wife is pregnant. And April is like, no, I'm not. And even if I was, you shouldn't be picking me up, but okay. But April does need to tell him something and it's that she got into vet school, which is so exciting. Again, another thing that we kind of followed up on that we didn't really close the book on when Anne was being the reference for her. So I think that's really great and so great of a trajectory for April.

Madi (01:10:10.424)
Yep.

Madi (01:10:14.862)
That's awesome.

Madi (01:10:20.942)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:10:25.485)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:10:30.001)
my.

Madi (01:10:30.196)
Absolutely. And he's so supportive. He's like, we'll figure it out. you know, you got to do it. But, know, as I've known for the last 20 seconds, this is a dream of yours.

Holly Constant (01:10:33.159)
I love it.

Holly Constant (01:10:40.31)
my god, I wrote that in my notes. was like, how are they still married? They don't know anything about each other.

Madi (01:10:43.916)
Yeah. Yeah. it's so funny. Well, I think

Holly Constant (01:10:48.875)
but they're just so supportive of each other and they love each other.

Madi (01:10:52.354)
Yeah. I think part of it is April was still so young and Andy was mentally so young when they got married that he didn't know he wanted to try to be a police officer until they were already together. And she might not have known that she wanted to go to vet school until recently. we do know she had a fear of failing, of not getting in. And I feel that way. I always kind of force myself to tell Ivan, but there's some things that are what I'm like,

I don't want to come to him with the news that I failed. It's like a self-conscious, I want to be this person in this person's eyes kind of thing. So I could see that, but at the same time, it's like, you should have told him you applied.

Holly Constant (01:11:25.163)
Mm.

Holly Constant (01:11:32.746)
Mmm.

Holly Constant (01:11:38.779)
Yeah, I mean, no, I can, understand the maybe not telling him kind of thing, but it is interesting that like.

He never knew that she was interested in animals and vet school and stuff like that. But I mean, even if you are, even if you're older, like you grow as a couple together and you grow and learn things that you never knew when you first started dating. like, I get that part. It's just funny because I don't know that this relationship would work outside of Parks and Rec. Like outside of the show, like that's just a lot of disconnect, I feel.

Madi (01:11:47.851)
interested in it,

Madi (01:11:55.532)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:12:04.076)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:12:10.047)
But it's really lovely to see how supportive he is. It really reminds me of kind of a Jim and Pam art school vibe where they're like, you know, we can do this. It's not a big deal. Like our relationship is solid where we can figure it out. And I love how excited he is. And it's really nice, like you said, kind of like a nice reciprocation that April was so supportive of him doing the police academy and was like, we'll figure it out. We'll study together, whatever. So it's nice to see Andy kind of give that back to her.

Madi (01:12:16.034)
Mm, yeah.

Madi (01:12:35.628)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, they definitely are very supportive of each other. It's great.

Holly Constant (01:12:42.761)
Yes. But yeah, so April's not pregnant, so now we've crossed out everybody, so now we have a still looming question moment, which we'll get to. Tom says he will not be selling Rent-A-Swag, and the lawyer says, okay, well fine, my client is going to move on to Plan B, which is opening his own store across from yours doing the exact same thing, except for he's gonna do the little swagger thing and the old people stuff. And.

Madi (01:12:51.084)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:13:08.472)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (01:13:11.635)
Yeah, it's capitalism. That's just what it is. I think about this episode very frequently and then maybe the next episode because they talked about hydroxy or whatever it was, was the first Oreos. Like Oreos did not invent sandwich cookies and what they look like that, you know what I mean? They capitalized on somebody else's invention essentially and made it famous and did their branding and stuff. And also quite frankly came up with a better name, sorry.

Madi (01:13:13.662)
Yeah. Yeah.

Madi (01:13:25.229)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:13:28.812)
Right.

Madi (01:13:37.646)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:13:41.24)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:13:41.983)
But yeah, I mean, it still sucks, but that's like the world, that's what America does, But it's very sad for Tom.

Madi (01:13:45.452)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. It is. Yeah, it is. I know and it sucks that they use his name. They call it Tommy's closet. That's like, that's like the nail in the coffin for me of how rude it is.

Holly Constant (01:13:54.209)
my god, yeah. That is the worst. my god. And apparently the writer said that they thought about naming Rent-A-Swag Tommy's Closet like back in the day. And so that just came back. I thought that was cool.

Madi (01:14:04.014)
Ugh.

Yeah, yeah, that is cool. Cool way to use it.

Holly Constant (01:14:10.205)
So now Andy is talking to Ron and asking advice like, will things be okay if April goes to vet school? Will we be good? And Ron's like, I mean, nothing's certain, but you guys seem pretty solid, like we just talked about. And Ron starts saying, know, Leslie's going around asking if everybody's better off, but all I care about is if things are the exact freaking same. And if they're the same, I'm good. And then Andy drops this bomb, because Ron didn't know that this

Madi (01:14:30.222)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:14:39.229)
search was happening and Andy's like, wait, who the hell is pregnant? And Diane comes in. my God. What a way to end a season. Great like mystery moment. I think this writing was so cool.

Madi (01:14:49.12)
I know, wow.

can't believe we had to wait months between this and the next season.

Holly Constant (01:14:57.577)
Between what?

yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah. That's how it goes. For network shows.

Madi (01:15:05.206)
Yeah, I mean, I just yeah, but I just I feel like now I don't know if it's the way I watch TV now or whatever. I don't really feel like I wait very much between seasons. And Bridgerton is probably the only one but they do a pretty good job where it's like you wrap up the story.

Holly Constant (01:15:15.211)
Mmm.

Holly Constant (01:15:19.477)
severance.

Sorry, I cut you off. ahead, Bridgerton.

Madi (01:15:24.832)
No, you're okay. You're okay. I feel like they wrap up Bridgerton because it's like, the love story is completed. We're going on to the next sibling. So you don't feel like this heaviness of what's going to happen next, you know, because they rounded out the story. So I'm just like, I lived this where I actually waited two months between this and the next season. And how did I survive knowing how this is going to go?

Holly Constant (01:15:33.329)
Hmm.

Holly Constant (01:15:37.208)
Mm. I see.

Holly Constant (01:15:50.303)
It was probably longer than that, because usually they end it in like the spring and then don't start back up until fall. So.

Madi (01:15:52.142)
True. May. That's true. It's probably four or five months maybe.

Holly Constant (01:15:59.307)
crazy. my God. But yeah, that was the thing with severance because like COVID and the strike and all this shit happened. And that season finale of season one was my God, like I want to flip the table. I was like, what the fuck happened? And I haven't watched the finale for season two. People told me that it's really wild and that like one person, one of my friends watched it at night and she was like, I couldn't go to sleep because I just kept thinking about it. Not in a scary way, but like I just couldn't stop thinking about how that is.

Madi (01:16:23.746)
No, yeah.

Holly Constant (01:16:27.733)
happening and I my god I'm so nervous so I mean nervous in a good way like my god I gotta really be prepared to watch it but but yeah I feel like certain shows like will release all the episodes at once and now like Severance did it every week even though it was on a streaming like Max says that too sometimes Hulu original shows will like release it every week like it's a network show and so you can't binge it unless you just wait for the season to be over but yeah crazy

Madi (01:16:28.61)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:16:40.782)
Mm.

Madi (01:16:45.07)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:16:53.325)
Yeah.

Madi (01:16:56.878)
Aww. Yes.

Holly Constant (01:16:57.075)
And what an arc for Ron to have a child or to be deciding if he's going to have a child. Like, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. And then the Andy face, like the GIF that everybody uses, I feel, even if they don't watch Parks and Rec and have no idea, that face is used in so many like text messages. like, it's just really funny to see.

Madi (01:17:08.075)
Yeah, I love it.

Madi (01:17:13.43)
Yes.

Madi (01:17:20.312)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:17:24.65)
Absolutely. It's great.

Holly Constant (01:17:25.903)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, so Leslie might be recalled from her dream job. Ron has an insane arc. Could never imagine him right now being a father, even though, like, he is the father inside of his work, Proximity Associates, but he's been a loner as far as family goes. Like, he hasn't had a relationship where he'd even want that, I feel, like, because it's so chaotic and weird. So it's really lovely.

Madi (01:17:37.762)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:17:47.19)
Well, he, you know, he even in the beginning was a little weird with Diane's kids. Like it took him a while to warm up to them.

Holly Constant (01:17:55.147)
Mm-hmm, totally. Mm-hmm. See, this arc, and I have this note, this arc of having a family makes sense.

Madi (01:18:04.106)
Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.

Holly Constant (01:18:07.371)
I do want to make it so clear. It's not that I need the thing to be linear. I don't need you to be fall in love and then have a kid like and having a kid on her own without a husband or boyfriend is like I'm so in support of women doing that. But it just didn't make sense for her character and her arc. Like what she wanted to do with her life. And so I'm just trying to accept that because Ron you know he like he didn't want to have a family. But like you said he warmed up.

to it, he started falling in love with both the girls and Diane. So it's like, and then this came out of nowhere and you're like, I could see Ron being so in love with Diane and the girls now that like he would really consider this. Whereas, you know, even a year ago, he'd be like, my God, I gotta get out. You know what I mean?

Madi (01:18:39.224)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:18:43.105)
as

Madi (01:18:47.714)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:18:51.958)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's had a huge, huge shift. And Diane is a huge part of that. But yeah, I I still don't think as a viewer that you ever saw in the cards Ron having a kid. Like, I think you can see him marrying Diane and being a father to the girls. But I don't think any of us were like, yeah, they'll obviously have a kid.

Holly Constant (01:18:57.694)
Absolutely.

Holly Constant (01:19:03.701)
Totally.

Holly Constant (01:19:08.991)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (01:19:12.893)
Yeah, not in the realm of possibility. also like, they're not so much older, but they're older than Anne. And you know what I mean? Like you might not, and Diane has already had two kids. So you're like, maybe that's just gonna be their family. So you don't think about building a new one with this new dynamic. I think this is, I was really proud of them and I think this is a really cool way to end a season. So for sure. Yes.

Madi (01:19:15.094)
Yeah.

Madi (01:19:21.069)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:19:25.047)
Yeah.

Madi (01:19:30.135)
Right.

Madi (01:19:38.432)
Agreed. Great writing. And there's so much to dive into in season six, episode one, because of this.

Holly Constant (01:19:44.169)
my God, crazy. Season six is where I feel things get shaken up, things happen. Yeah, it's nuts.

Madi (01:19:50.644)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I think we got comfortable with Leslie being in office. And I think we were like, okay, cool, this is her trajectory. And so in season six, when you're like, wait, I was comfortable here, it's really cool to see where are we gonna take her.

Holly Constant (01:19:57.981)
Mm-hmm.

Holly Constant (01:20:08.781)
my God. And can I just say like when Jen Barkley comes in to explain, I think now watching this and analyzing this show, I think me personally as a viewer and watching this like, my God, what is Leslie going to do? Not being on city council. Like how we work so hard to get here and we've made so many strides. What are we going to do? And so I think, you know, both Leslie and the audience is like in this tunnel vision moment where we're just like

Madi (01:20:23.649)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:20:28.79)
Yeah.

Holly Constant (01:20:38.325)
So I love that it gives you permission when Jen comes back to be like, my god, this is not the only solution to your career. Think bigger. Go above them. And I was like, my god, it's so beautiful.

Madi (01:20:47.083)
Mmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

It is. Yeah, that scene lives in my head because I feel like it's so applicable to our real life too. It's like you have to...

Holly Constant (01:20:58.827)
Yes, in every career move moment, yeah.

Madi (01:21:05.986)
Yeah, you have to have that thought process of you can't be pigeonholed in thinking, you know, this is the only option it's not.

Holly Constant (01:21:14.847)
Yeah, totally. Well, my gosh, that was the end of season five.

Madi (01:21:19.405)
Yay, we did it!

Holly Constant (01:21:21.425)
I feel better off, okay?

Madi (01:21:23.47)
I do too. Agreed. Agreed.

Holly Constant (01:21:27.383)
So thank you all. hope you guys feel better off after our hour and a half of ranting. Please rate and review, subscribe, all the things. We'll see you for season six. Can't wait for all the new things that are about to happen. So insane. And then Brian Stack, my interview with him will be coming out after this. So that's going to be so amazing. He was wonderful. So grateful. And yeah, that's it. So we hope that you guys are surviving 2025.

Madi (01:21:41.292)
Yes.

Madi (01:21:48.064)
Yay.

Holly Constant (01:21:55.147)
and we're all wishing you the best and call your senators. Okay. Or you know post about whatever you need to post about it. You know it's hard being a human.

Madi (01:21:57.846)
Yes.

Madi (01:22:07.502)
That it is. That it is. Bye!

Holly Constant (01:22:09.353)
Okay, thank you again. We'll talk to you soon. Bye.