Parks and Recreation: "Greg Pikitis"

Premiered October 29, 2009.
"Every Halloween, someone defaces the statue of Mayor Percy in Ramsett Park.  And I know it's Greg Pikitis, but I've never been able to prove it.  He's like an invisible, adolescent, James Bond, super-criminal mastermind.  Or maybe someone else is doing it.  But I really feel it's this kid!"
-Leslie Knope

It's Halloween in Pawnee, Indiana and Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), Pawnee's Deputy Director of the Parks and Recreation Department, is preparing to deal with Halloween pranksters.  

Every year, Pawnee High student Greg Pikitis (Cody Klop) defaces the town's statue of Mayor William Percy with toilet paper.  Knope considers Pikitis to be her arch nemesis but has been unable to catch him in the act and is determined to catch Pikitis on Halloween night.

She enlists her boyfriend, policeman Dave Sanderson (Louis C.K.) to tail Pikitis and rides along in Dave's police cruiser.  Leslie also puts local slacker Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) on her payroll and tells him to monitor the statue.

Elsewhere, Leslie's friend Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) is hosting a Halloween party.  She's invited several Parks and Rec staffers, but has specifically not invited administrator Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari).  Ann's not happy when she learns someone else has invited Tom.

After watching Pikitis for hours, Leslie and Dave decide to stop by her office and find it's been TP'd and covered with graffiti!  Knope believes it must be the work of Greg Pikitis and sends Dave to bring him in. 

PIKITIS!!!!

She persuades Dave to interrogate Pikitis and even brings in some extra muscle in the form of Andy, pretending to be an FBI agent.

Meanwhile, the party at Ann's house isn't going well.  Nobody is interacting and people are mostly just standing around looking bored. 

Tom shows up dressed as T-Pain, declares the party a disaster and says he can fix it.

Can Ann's party be saved?   Will Andy or Dave break Pikitis's nefarious Halloween prank schemes?  Will Leslie get justice?

RigbyMel says: 

I was a bit late to the party with Parks and Recreation as when it first aired, I was of the opinion that there were a few too many TV comedies copping a page from The Office with a faux documentary format and people talking directly to the camera.   But when I finally gave an episode or two a try on Netflix last summer, I found myself hooked, and watched all seven seasons in pretty rapid succession.    The show is generally rather brilliantly funny and well-written.

"Greg Pikitis" is from season 2 of the series and is the first of several holiday episodes.  I really like the Halloween teen prankster story line as well as the more typical sitcom Halloween party subplot.  Leslie's over-the-top determination to "get her man" (even if he is a teenage boy) is relatable, hilarious and a little bit scary.

Cop boyfriend Dave's deadpan reactions to her inappropriate suggestions for how to deal with the problem add to the fun as does Andy's willingness to go completely over the top to help Leslie, breaking out his Burt Macklin FBI agent alter-ego.

"Burt Macklin" meets Greg Pikitis's "mom"

Teen miscreant Greg Pikitis and his interaction with the adults is also very amusing -- he makes Andy cry(!!) --  and the mystery as to how he pulls off his crimes and outfoxes the adults adds another layer of Halloween fun to the mix.

Greg Pikitis demonstrates his "Angry Leslie" face 

Ann's party is also relatable -- we all know the awkward feeling of mixing people from two different circles of friends (in this case, Ann's colleagues from her job as a nurse and the folks from the Parks Department where she's been volunteering).

Halloween is also a time of culturally permitted inversion -- adults can dress up and act silly or even (maybe) engage in some teenage-style pranks of their own, or unctuous administrators like Tom can rescue Ann's party from a gruesome fate.    The way this episode cleverly mines several Halloween tropes makes it stand up well to repeated viewing and I've watched and enjoyed it two Octobers in a row now. 

RigbyMel's rating:

4 jack o'lanterns.

J.A. Morris says: 

I enjoyed this slightly less than my co-blogger, but it's an enjoyable holiday episode.  I've been a big fan of Poehler since her days on the Upright Citizens Brigade TV show and she's great here.  Poehler makes us feel her hatred of Pikitis is real and I found myself sympathizing with Leslie (to a point, of course). 

Jerry (Jim O'Heir) gets tangled in some fake spider webs!

Cody Klop is also great as Greg.  He plays Pikitis as a likeable rogue rather than just a bad kid. 

I'm a fan of Aubrey Plaza's trademark sarcasm.  She's funny in this episode when she expresses her disappointment in attending Ann's party while missing a "Gay Halloween party." 

While I don't condone vandalism, I think Halloween pranks can add a little fun to the occasion.  For people like myself who are too old to be pranksters, watching this episode of Parks and Recreation is the next best thing to TP-ing a statue! 

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 and a half jack o'lanterns.