Leslie learns that city politics is nothing like the Parks department as she tackles issues such as saving a local mini-golf park and fixing Pawnee’s quaint, but ridiculously outdated, laws. And life outside the office is just as wild, as she and Ben try to plan their wedding amidst the usual chaos of their friends’ lives...

While Season Five of Parks and Recreation is still an immensely funny and enjoyable series, I couldn't help feeling that the quality of the writing had dipped ever so slightly. Don't get me wrong, this is still leaps and bounds ahead of the competition it's just that there seemed to be a little less Ron (you can never have too much Ron) and Andy (by far the funniest character in the show) for my liking.

This season sees Amy and Ben trying to organise their working and private lives as both of their jobs seem to get in the way of them being together; Ann decides she wants a baby; Andy's dream of becoming a police officer looks like a reality (if he can pass the entrance exam); Ron gets a new girlfriend and winds up becoming a surrogate father to two young girls; Tom's new business venture is actually (surprise, surprise) quite profitable; and April has plans for her future, but doesn't want anyone to know. In addition Councilor Jamm makes a semi regular appearance. He's annoying and obnoxious, but some of his scenes with Leslie are amongst the best of this season.

Highlights in this season include:

Sex Education: After being involved in a car accident, because he was using his mobile phone to Tweet while driving, Tom is ordered by the court to avoid computer/mobile phone screens for a week. This is torture for Tom as he spends his entire time on social media sites. Meanwhile, Leslie's sex education for the OAPs of Pawnee hits a problem when a local no sex campaign group try to cause problems.

Halloween Surprise: Ron and Andy are invited to take Ron's new girlfriend, Diane, and her daughters trick or treating. Ann persuades Leslie to help her scare Tom, but they accidentally scare Jerry instead and he has a massive fart attack (a heart attack combined with excessive flatulence).

Ron and Diane: Ron is up for a woodworking award and takes DIane to the ceremony but Tammy 2, Ron's ex-wife, has also managed to get herself an invite. Meanwhile Tom, and some of the other co-workers are going out on their annual Jerry dinner. Each time Jerry does something stupid they all but money in a jar and then blow it all on a party (without inviting Jerry). This year they discover that Jerry and his family are throwing a huge party and have not invited them. In fact Jerry did invite them, but they all put blocks on their phones so that Jerry's text messages always go into their spam folders. The rest of Jerry's co-workers always attend his parties every year as they are great events. The mystery of what Jerry's beautiful wife sees in him also becomes an obsession of the office.

Woman in Garbage: Discovering that the Gender Equality Commission only has old men on its board, Leslie decides to shake things up a bit. There aren't enough women employed in government departments and to prove that women can do any job as well as men, Leslie and April temporarily join the Sanitation Department as refuse collectors.

Article Two: Each year the residents of Pawnee throw a member of the public into the local river as part of the annual celebrations. It's a similar celebration to the Boston Tea Party, only when the original "law" was created the word "tea" looked more like "ted", so now every year Ted has to be thrown in to the river. The local Teds are getting a little fed up of this celebration and one Ted in particular decides to bring to the council's attention how outdated and stupid a lot of the old laws, that are still active, are.

Jerry's Retirement: It's Jerry's last day in the office and, as he leaves, the team must find a new "Jerry" for the office. They need someone already working there who can be the butt of everyone's jokes. When Tom accidentally mixes up his words everyone decides he will be the new Jerry. We also get a glimpse of Jerry's perfect home life - where he is far from clumsy.

Are You Better Off: While on an office retreat at Ron's cabin, Andy finds that someone has discarded a positive pregnancy test. He must use all his detective skills to unearth which of his female co-workers is pregnant.

Extras on disc one include Halloween Surprise - Producer's Extended Cut (a 26 min, 17 sec cut of the episode which when screened was 21 min, 33 sec) it explains why Andy is dressed oddly for Halloween and why Ann wanted to scare Tom in the toilets; Deleted Scenes (33 min, 52 sec - the highlight here is a guided tour around Orin's 'Human Farm' art installation and Ben's try out for a TV show); Andy D.C. webisodes (5 min, 02 sec short videos with Andy in Washington D.C.); Washington D.C. Promos (46 sec); Ron Bacon PSA (1 min, 16 sec where Ron talks about bacon); Mouse Rat "Menaceball" Video (2 min, 32 sec).

On disc two we have Emergency Response Producer's Extended Cut (27 min, 33 sec compared to the broadcast 21 min, 32 sec); Deleted Scenes (31 min, 21 sec which includes a humourous goal kick from Jerry); and Parks and Recreation Promos (4 min, 46 sec).

Disc three holds Deleted Scenes (33 min, 19 sec); Gag Reel (21 min, 28 sec) and Palton Sci-Fi Filibuster (the raw uncut filibuster on the new Star Wars movie plot as imagined by one Pawnee resident).

8

Darren Rea