The Possum 

Leslie puts together a task force at the mayor's request to catch a possum at the golf course, while Mark forces Ron to get his personal building up to code.

Director:

Tristram Shapeero

Writers:

Greg Daniels (created by), Michael Schur (created by)

Stars:

Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Paul Schneider

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Amy Poehler	...	Leslie Knope
Rashida Jones	...	Ann Perkins
Paul Schneider	...	Mark Brendanawicz
Aziz Ansari	...	Tom Haverford
Nick Offerman	...	Ron Swanson
Aubrey Plaza	...	April Ludgate
Chris Pratt	...	Andy Dwyer
Judith Moreland	...	Evelyn Roushland
Jim O'Heir	...	Jerry Gergich
Retta	...	Donna Meagle
Alison Becker	...	Shauna Malwae-Tweep
Paul Raci	...	Eugene
Harris Wittels	...	Harris
Colton Dunn	...	Brett
Lyle Kanouse	...	Joe Campopiano

Storyline

When a possum bites the mayor's dog on a golf course, Leslie is asked to form a task force to catch the pesky animal. Meanwhile, Ron is upset when Mark refuses to bend the rules for him.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

After Andy captures the possum, Leslie crosses "Fairway Frank" off the list of Pawnee's Most Wanted Animals, where his offense was listed as "Bites dogs. Bites people. Bites everything." The other "Most Wanted" animals in Pawnee are: "Poopy" the raccoon for defecating in the high school cafeteria, "Vlad" the bat for defecating on the city hall bell tower, "Zorro" the raccoon for garbage rummaging and petty theft, "One Paw Papa" the raccoon for contamination of reservoirs with fecal matter, "Spyke" the porcupine for leaving used needles in public parks, "Wirey Riley" the raccoon for tripping the elderly, "Jangle Bo Jingles" the feral cat for streetwalking and infecting domestic cats, "Leanor" the crow for excessive noise violations, and "Nutz" the raccoon for chucking acorns at young children and the elderly. The text on the bottom of the poster is, "Please report any sighting of the above felons to Pawnee Animal Control."

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Quotes

Leslie Knope: Eugene! Boy, we have a very important job for you.
Eugene: We'll get to it first thing Monday.
Leslie Knope: Today's Wednesday.

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Connections

Features Meerkat Manor (2005)

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Soundtracks

Parks and Recreation Main Theme
Composed by Gaby Moreno and Vincent Jones

User Reviews

Another solid Season 2 episode

"The Possum" continues a lot of things that have made the show great up to this point. For one, we get a great main storyline about catching a dangerous possum named "Fairway Frank" who likes to roam the Pawnee Municipal Golf Course and cause havoc. A storyline that expands the town of Pawnee even more. Leslie has been tasked with capturing this possum after it bit the mayor's dog, Rufus. Some people like to think of this storyline as an allegory for capital punishment. I for one never saw it in that kind of way, but after watching the episode again, I can see how it may be interpreted in that way. If that is what the writers were going for than props to them. They have been known to handle controversial topics in past episodes like "Pawnee Zoo" for example.

In this episode we also see the April and Andy storyline continue. Andy is still oblivious to the fact that April likes him, and even flirts with the idea of winning Ann back which infuriates April. Chris Pratt is at his comedic best in this episode and we see a lot of great physical humor including a great scene of him capturing a possum at the golf course.

In a B-story, we see a pairing of Ron and Mark, as Mark does an inspection on Ron's woodshop (Nick Offerman's real woodshop by the way). Unfortunately not even the great Ron Swanson can save this as it is a pretty dull storyline with a few funny lines here and there, but definitely slows down the episode a little and interferes with the better main plot. It's pretty clear at this point that Mark just isn't the right fit for what the show has evolved into, and he struggles to have any good chemistry with most of the characters in the series.

Quick side note: This episode introduces us to the Pawnee Animal Control, who are easily two of the best minor characters in the series. Seriously though, how did these two get hired to run animal control?? It's no wonder there is always possums and raccoons running around everywhere!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 March 2010 (USA)

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Deedle-Dee Productions, 3 Arts Entertainment, Fremulon

Technical Specs

Runtime:

21 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1