
I don’t think I’m alone in wondering where Adam Scott’s Ben Wyatt fits into Parks and Recreation. Scott’s a fine straight man (Party Down) and a good sleaze-ball (Piranha 3-D), but as Wyatt he didn’t seem to have much to work with other than being a possible romantic foible for Leslie. And even then there didn’t appear to be much potential for their relationship, since, as Anne Perkins constantly brings up regarding her relationship with Chris, he’s heading back to Indianapolis soon. (Though given Scott and Lowe’s inclusion in the main cast, that may not be too soon.)
So it was nice to see the show focus on Ben and explore some of the clean-cut accountant’s weaknesses. In particular Ben’s reluctance to address his disastrous tenure as the former teenage governor of a small Minnesota town, which he bankrupted after sinking all its money into the failed skating rink “Ice Town.”
The show’s brought up Ben’s shadowy past before but never made much use of it until now, when, during the Parks’ media blitz for the upcoming harvest festival, it’s dredged up by Pawnee’s horrendously obnoxious (and completely spot-on) morning show “Crazy Ira and The Douche.” (And I’d really like to know who discovered that you can get away with “douche” on network television, because every show in existence has reveled in it.







