While it was all about female empowerment, strangely with a male leader, at the office on "Up All Night" (Thu., 9:30 p.m. EST on NBC), it was about rediscovering manliness at home. Particularly for Chris and Reed (returning guest star Will Forte), who decide to take it upon themselves to rebuild the motorcyle Reed's Uncle Wolf left him. Not that either of them were ever manly enough for a motorcyle in the first place.
They proved this right off by buying ridiculous riding outfits instead of the tools they'd set out to buy in order to actually fix up the machine. In fact, it may have never been fixed up were it not for the timely arrival of another neighbor, Gene, who surprised them both with his motorcycle knowledge.
But fixing up the bike proved the limits of his willingness to participate in their fantasy. In fact, actually riding the bike was daunting enough that the men fought over it, until Reed decided to do it to honor his uncle. He made it about five feet before crashing at the end of the driveway. Had Reagan not called Chris crying from work, he may have never mustered up the nerve to ride.
As it was, he charged in to the rescue where he really wasn't needed. That said, having their idol Yvonne Encanto on hand to help usher in Ava's 5th anniversary on the air turned out to be anything but. After a quick pep talk that worked far better than it should have, they were left in the hands of her right-hand man Luke (Steven Pasquale, "Rescue Me").
Only those proved the wrong hands for dealing with Reagan and Ava during a very stressful and emotional time for them. Ava in particular was distressed -- as were fans of Jason Lee -- by the abrupt departure of Kevin from her life and the series. Their relationship was developing so nicely, it was quite a shock to hear offhandedly that he'd suddenly moved to Idaho.
It's not exactly clear if Luke is here to stay, but after a seemingly pointless power struggle with Reagan, he seemed to decide he respected her and basically let her run the show her own way, making his continuing presence rather unnecessary and pointless. The friction and tension he brought to the office seemed resolved by the end.
Catch new episodes of "Parks & Recreation" every Thursday at 9:30 p.m. EST on NBC.
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