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Parks and Recreation Season 2 Episode 5

Sister City

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Aired Thursday 8:00 PM Oct 15, 2009 on NBC

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7.2

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 10/15/09

Leslie welcomes the Parks and Recreation department from Pawnee's sister city, Boraqua, Venezuela, and is stunned by the cultural differences.

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Fan Episode Reviews (8)

Pawnee's Sister City comes to visit

8.5

By Lostindharma, Feb 04, 2012

This episode was enjoyable to watch. I think this was important in the character of Leslie. In previous episodes Leslie has assumed things about different people or cultures (see Tom). After this episode she doesn't do it as much. When she does this in this episode it's because she is mean just doesn't know well enough. The people who work at Pawnee's city come off as arrogant but not in way that makes you turn away. I loved all the way they say they treat their citizens at their town meetings. Speaking of meetings, this was the first extended look at the people of Pawnee. The things they yell and say are just so funny. The only part of this episode was April. When I first saw this she comes off as less likeable, but when you see rest of the episodes you appreciate her more. This was another solid episode.moreless
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Fred Armisen was excellent, and the episode wasn't too bad either.

7.3

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Jan 15, 2011

Sister City wasn't as good as the previous episode, but there were plenty of entertaining moments, including a great guest performance by Fred Armisen. Hopefully, the show can get him to come back for future episodes (if there are even future episodes). I wasn't exactly thrilled about the plot. Pawnee holds a party/welcoming type thing for their sister city (what in the world is a sister city anyways? I still can't figure it out..) and find that they all are greedy power hungry men. They're lead by a guy called Raoul (his full name is ridiculously long) who uses every opportunity to explain to Leslie how Venezuela is superior to America. Also, Tom allows himself to be a slave in order to make bank.

The episode wasn't as strong as last week's, in my opinion, but it was pretty close. Fred Armisen was hilarious and every cast member had a moment to shine, including Jerry.. tell me it's not funny when everybody blames Jerry or uses him as a scapegoat, and he just looks on, confused at what's going on. Also, I'm growing to enjoy April's character more and more each week.

Not as good as last week, but almost. Season 2 is leaving Season 1 in the dust, like a bad memory.moreless
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Visitors...

10

By addict666, Sep 23, 2010

This was the most hilarious half hour of television that I ever seen, every single thing that happened was perfect. The minor characters were really given a chance to shine even behind Leslie's over zealous attempts to impress and offend the visitors from the sister city. When they first arrive and all request Donna, it is great! All of the references to mixing cultures were priceless and the sights of Pawney continues to impress. April and Donna were the true stars of this episode and the end was great. This episode really turned me on to the show and I hope there are more like this to come.moreless
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Leslie thinks everyone in Venezuela is poor but realizes Pawnee's the one not living in luxury.

8.0

By Schrutentag, Sep 23, 2010

While "Sister City" may not be as good as "Practice Date" and "The Steakout," it was still an interesting installment of an interesting show. Parts of this episode didn't really work for me, like the lack of Andy, but Donna and Jerry got some standout moments in this episode and I look forward to those appearances in the future. First, I'll start on the good points of this episode, and believe me, there were many. For example, Leslie thinking that Raoul was not good at speaking English, and that was the reason for his cruel put-downs of Leslie's favorite town was hilarious. This episode also shows us that even though Leslie is put-down, time after time, belittled, told by a unsatisfied group of townspeople, and a staff that doesn't really believe in her, she'll never build the park-but Leslie doesn't care. April telling Leslie how she is so colorful because of her Puerto Rican heritage was also pretty funny.

However, the episode had parts that didn't entirely work. When Donna and April go to Venezuela, well that's not really realistic, even for "Parks and Rec" standards. At times, this episode was boring and not engaging. But I'll take that with a grain of salt.moreless
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The SNL influence gives us the most surreal episode yet.

9.0

By colinmoon, Sep 23, 2010

The show continues to grow more hilarious, and not just because of their guest stars (here we have SNL cast member Fred Armisen as Venezuelan dignitary Raul), but because the show continues to strive away from the preconceived balance of standard sitcoms; we're moving more into groundbreaking territory with each episode. Dignitaries from Venezuela come to visit their 'sister city' of Pawnee and continue to be rude, inconsiderate, and hilarious. They make fun of Pawnee's best park (thinking it's Leslie's pit she needs money for to make into a park), they continue to praise Hugo Chavez in front of staunch democratic citizens, and one of them falls in love with April, who bends him to her terrible 20-year-old apathetic will. Not as much of the full cast on this episode, so we're lacking the great Ann, Tom, and Mark moments, but we're given over-the-top surreal comedy that these post-SNL greats seem to keep giving us. Also, this episode gives us the best mural gag of the series so far, so win.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Amy Poehler	Leslie Knope
Rashida Jones	Ann Perkins
Paul Schneider	Mark Brendanawicz
Aziz Ansari	Tom Haverford
Nick Offerman	Ron Swanson
Aubrey Plaza	April Ludgate

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Fred Armisen	Raul	Guest Star
Federico Dordei	Elvis	Guest Star
Carlos Carrasco	Antonio	Guest Star
Jim O'Heir	Jerry Gergich	Recurring Role
Retta	Donna Meagle	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- When Johnny is asking April to come with him, the subtitles on the screen read "I am only an intern, so my estate is not as big as those of my superiors. I must have you. Please." However, what he actually said in Spanish was "My plane leaves in 6 hours. If you're not there, I will hang myself. Come. Please."
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QUOTES (12)
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- Elvis: We just select the woman we desire? (referring to Donna) I will take the large black one.
  Tom: Interesting choice.
  Leslie: What?
  Elvis: Did you have some kind of a book with photos of the women available to us? If not, I will also take the sexy black one.
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- Weird Woman: My dog went to one of your parks and ate another dog's feces and I'm going to sue you for that!
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- Leslie: Okay, look -- I know these guys didn't turn out to be exactly how we thought they would be.
  Leslie: You said they may not know what toilet paper is.
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- Ron: Politically, no, I don't support Chavez. I despise him and everything he does. On the other hand, this is a pretty sweet-ass gun.
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- Johnny: In Venezuela, government internships are coveted positions. You must be very well connected.
  April: Yes, I am very powerful and feared by many.
  Jerry: Hey, April. Could you help me out a sec....
  April: Go away, Jerry!
  Jerry: Okay...
  April: (back to Johnny) See?
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- Leslie: This is my baby. I put this whole trip together. And let me tell you something - it has not been easy, you know. How do you fit all of Pawnee in a 48 hour visit? I had to drop the Rock 'n' Roll Bowling Alley from our itinerary. That was one of the most difficult phone calls I've ever had to make.
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- Leslie: Our photo-op with the Mayor is tomorrow at 3pm, so I'm gonna need your suggestions about my wardrobe ASAP.
  Tom: I told you - gold sequined sweatpants.
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- April: My mom's Puerto Rican. That's why I'm so lively and colorful.
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- Raul: Look, this is not personal. We just think that you are weak and your city is disgusting.
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- Elvis: What is your profession?
  Mark: I'm a city planner.
  Elvis: This city was planned?
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- Leslie: I mean, that's why people respect Hillary Clinton so much, because nobody takes a punch like her. She's the strongest, smartest punching bag in the world.
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- Leslie: This gun truly symbolizes the blossoming peace between our two nations.
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NOTES (1)
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- Original International Air Dates:
  Canada: October 15, 2009 on CityTV
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Raul: I already know who wins Project Runway.
  Project Runway is a fashion design reality television show on the Bravo network in which contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes based on specified materials and themes. Each week, one contestant is eliminated from the competition until only one designer remains.
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