Amy Poehler stars as Leslie Knope, an ambitious and hopeful small-town government worker, whose dreams are way bigger than her political talents. In season two Indiana’s most enthusiastic public servant marries gay penguins, welcomes a military regime from Venezuela, hosts a 36 hour telethon and takes on Ron Swanson for 'Woman of the Year'...

Season two of Parks and Recreation picks up where season one left off. Pawnee government worker Leslie Knope is still trying to get the pit filled in outside Ann Perkins's house. But there is lots of other bureaucratic nonsense that keeps getting in the way - like her many other responsibilities as deputy of the Parks and Recreation department.

This season sees the inclusion of two new guest stars in the form of Knope's co-workers Jerry (Jim O'Heir) and Donna (Retta). Both appeared in the background in season one, but play a more prominent role in this season. Jerry is the guy who everyone pokes fun at, mainly because he's a bit of a clutz, while Donna is a mysterious, no-nonsense worker who cares more about her appearance and really loves her car. There are some truly sad Jerry moments in this season, including his mural design which is stunning, but no one takes seriously because in his opening speech he calls it his "m-urinal" by mistake.

The season kicks off with Pawnee Zoo, in which Leslie gets into hot water after marrying two penguins at the zoo in a publicity stunt. The idea goes south when it's discovered that the penguins are both male. Seen as a hero by the local gay community, Leslie also comes under pressure to resign when a selection of the townsfolk find her stance objectionable.

Other highlights include:

Sister City: Which sees representatives from Pawnee's twinned city in Venezuela visiting for a tour. However things don't go quite as planned and Leslie has to decide whether to stand up for her principles or let the visitors walk all over her and her great town.

Kaboom: In which Leslie is so pumped by a local "Kaboom" event (in which a team arrives in a town and, with the help of local volunteers, sets out to build a kids playground in a day) that she decides to fill in the hole in Ann's backyard without council approval.

Hunting Trip: Ron, Jerry and Mark's annual hunting trip is under threat when Leslie wants to tag along with Ann, Donna and Tom. Meanwhile, left manning the office, April and Andy start to form a closer friendship.

Women of the Year: Leslie is a little miffed when an award she's long wished for is to be presented to Ron. It's a woman's award, which makes it all the more annoying to Leslie. Ron has no intention of accepting the award, but can't resist winding Leslie up.

94 Meetings: So far April has pleased Ron as his new secretary as she's kept everyone from his door - he's not had one single meeting since she started her job... but there's a good reason for that. Thinking that it didn't exist as a date, she had been booking everyone in to see Ron on 31 March. Today is the day and there are 93 meetings scheduled.

Telethon: Everyone gets roped into manning the phones on Pawnee's annual telethon event. And to fill out the televised event all of the staff end up performing their skills in front of the camera.

Extras are pretty impressive and include six audio commentaries; Deleted Scenes (One collection on each disc which contains some great additional scenes for the episodes on that disc - 53 min, 40 sec; 43 min, 03 sec; 45 min, 14 sec; and 19 min); Producer's Extended Cut of three separate episodes; Season 3 Promo (3 min, 05 sec that sets up season three and includes a homage to Back to the Future); Blooper Reel (15 min, 21 sec); Pratt on Parks (8 min, 45 sec which looks to be a collection of behind the scenes video diaries with Chris Pratt for the NBC website); Mouse Rat Rocks the Wrap Party (9 min, 11 sec Mouse Rat performance with a special guest star); ?uestlove on: Parks (3 min, 09 sec spoof featurette that reveals how the Wu-Tang Clan were almost cast in some of the main character roles in the show); and Parks and Recreation Theme Song Performed by Gabby Moreno (49 sec).

So, another enjoyable season which is well worth picking up.

9

Darren Rea