S06E04 - Dopplegangers

Live from Pawnee: A Parks and Recreation Fan Rewatch Podcast

This week Mark and Allen break down the Episode where we are first introduced to former Eagletonian Craig Middlebrooks! When we last left our heroes, at the end of "The Pawnee-Eagleton Tip Off Classic", Eagleton was absorbed back into Pawnee, with the 2 cities returning to how it was in 1817. Leslie is charged with sorting the Eagleton government into their new departments, and as a result, the Parks Department takes on 4 new employees from Eagleton. Donna is paired with Craig, who is crazy and intense but loves his job and is very good at it. April is paired with Tynnyfer, who is vapid and useless. Ron is paired with Ron Dunn, who initially seems very much like Ron, thus causing Ron to like him ... at least at first. Finally, Tom is paired with ERIC, which he soon realizes is not a person, but a computer program, which stands for "Eagleton Reservation Information Center". Worst of all, this overload of employees leads to Leslie having to make some hard decisions, as she is forced to cut down the number of people on staff. While Pawnee re-absorbing Eagleton may be a brilliant move in many ways, the unfortunate reality is still that Eagleton's government lost millions of taxpayer dollars, and need someone to swoop in and clean up the obscene mess they made. Enter Chris and Ben ... auditing bros! The pair is excited to be back working as auditors, and once again have an opportunity to demonstrate their amazing teamwork via their now-infamous good cop/bad cop routine: Chris gets everyone in a good mood ... and then Ben hacks their budgets to ribbons. They really get into the task, realizing once again how well they work together, and how much fun they have. Finally, continuing the plot line brought up in the last episode, Ann and Chris are now seriously considering moving away from Pawnee to raise their child. Knowing Leslie will NOT take this well, Ann tries to strategize the perfect way to break the news to her. First, she introduces Leslie to her Eagleton equivalent, Evelyn. Once that breaks the ice, Evelyn leaves the two of them to talk ... and Ann gently tells Leslie about what she and Chris are thinking about. Before Leslie can fully react, though, Ann has several Leslie-specific distractions on hand, including, but not limited to, a giant plate full of waffles and whipped cream, and a framed picture of a shirtless Joe Biden riding a horse. As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... How does each member of the gang react to their Eagleton counterparts? Are the Auditing Bros ultimately successful at slashing the Eagleton budgets? Will Ann's well thought out diversions prevent Leslie from melting down? Will Ron find a rare friend, or is this a false alarm? What can the Auditing Bros do to keep the excitement and momentum going? Are there any side effects of Leslie trying to absorb Ann's news? Seeing as there are now too many employees ... who will Leslie get rid of? Has Chris told Ben about he and Ann potentially leaving Pawnee? Can Leslie get to a point where she truly accepts that Ann is leaving? Loyal podcast viewers, what better way to improve upon our beloved Pawnee gang than to introduce their DOPPELGANGERS?!? Tune in to see how effective this was! Many thanks to our incredible sponsor, "Mitchell's Mean Machines".