What’s up team! Sorry for missing ya last week — Substack threw a big party in DC as part of the White House Correspondents Weekend and it was busy, insane, weird, amazing, and overall … quite the whirlwind! Here are some pics from the evening:
Ben Wyatt loves to keep me on my toes. Which is not something I expected to write when I first saw Ben Wyatt on my TV.
Ben initially presents as so many things — a nerd, an accountant, a newcomer, a rule follower, a former teen mayor, a calzone-lover, a guy who loves public service just as much as Leslie. Generally vanilla. He’s the kinda guy I expect might be nervous to take charge around a confident, driven person like Leslie.
But I have to give credit where credit is due: Ben Wyatt consistently surprises me over the course of Parks. Especially in season 3, episode 14 “Road Trip,” which is also known as the episode where Ben and Leslie finally, FINALLY kiss.
I guess I don’t need to say so many finallys. This is, by no means, the slowest burn I’ve ever seen. Anyone who’s watched Brooklyn Nine-Nine knows how infuriating it is to wait 3+ seasons for Jake and Amy to get together. Same with Abbott. And don’t even get me started on Friends and New Girl.
Still - Leslie and Ben have been so obviously pining for each other throughout all of season 3 that I let out an actual whoop when Ben grabs her at the end and kisses her. And I love the fact that it’s Ben who makes not one, but TWO first moves.
For those who haven’t seen recently, the tension between Ben and Leslie finally reaches a boiling point in this episode. They’ve been flirting for weeks, Ben’s admitted to Andy that he likes Leslie, Leslie’s admitted to Ann that she likes Ben, Ann’s kind of told Ben that Leslie likes him. Their chemistry is off the charts. They can’t look at each other without flirting. We all want them to be together.
Except for Chris Traeger, who has very strict rules in place that forbid coworkers from dating. Ben and Leslie (remember: two big time rule followers) are trying hard to obey the rule and it’s … kind of working? Until Chris decides to send them on a road trip to Indianapolis for a presentation. Leslie tries everything in her power to keep the vibes platonic, including having Ann make her a mix CD (lol), which includes “Jimmy Carter’s ‘Crisis of Confidence’ speech, ‘Learning to speak Mandarin’, 16 minutes of old-timey car horn, and something called Banjo Boogie Bonanza.”
But they crush the presentation, Ben asks Leslie out to dinner to celebrate, and over two glasses of red wine, he can’t help but confess that he likes her. I mean, my heart damn near SUNG when he goes:
Ben: “I mean, it’s not just me, right?”
Leslie: “No, it’s not just you.”
Just when she hypes herself up to go kiss his face, she comes back to the table and … Chris has arrived to cockblock their date. They end up crashing the night at his Indianapolis condo, where the vibes are still sizzling but they can’t do anything to act on their feelings. Finally, when they’re back in Pawnee the next day, Ben grabs Leslie mid speech and plants one on her. The rest is (bout to be) history.
Here’s what I have to say – shoutout to you, Mr. Ben Wyatt! Honestly, knowing what we know about Ben so far, the last thing I would have ever expected him to do would be to make the first move. And not once, but twice.
I actually think it’s crucial that the Parks writers decided to have Ben make the first move, in exactly the same way it’s crucial for them to have made Leslie a desirable woman, not just an ambitious one. It establishes him as a worthwhile match for Leslie, someone who loves public service just as much as she does, but also wants to sweep her off her feet. Leslie wants to be swept off her feet! She’s a hopeless little romantic. She wants a true partner by her side while she climbs the ladder.
Leslie makes too many decisions all day long. She needs someone to just make a decision for her. She’s someone who will spiral into a pit of indecision unless someone yanks her out of it. And yank Ben does.
Historically in Leslie’s relationships, we’ve seen her be the one to decide whether to take things forward or not. She pined after Mark for 6 years after, but after he kisses her and then falls into the pit, she realizes that she doesn’t have feelings for him anymore. With rental cop Dave, she’s the one to break things off after he decides to move to San Diego.
But with Ben — he steps into the driver’s seat, even though everything we know about him up to this point doesn’t lead us to believe that this will be his role. It gives a whole new backbone to Ben, and gives me a whole new level of respect for him. Up until now, I hadn’t thought of him as spineless but I just … didn’t think all that much about him. Sure, I like the guy and Leslie likes the guy but I didn’t have any super strong opinions outside of that.
But now I’m like …. hell yeah Ben! Go get it! He knows Leslie well enough to understand that she’ll just keep spiraling into a pit of indecision and nothing will ever happen between them. So he makes the first move, twice. Twice!
As a result, I’m comfortable saying that this is the episode where I go from a general indifference but leaning thumbs up to Ben to a firm “love that guy.” And he’ll stay in “love that guy” territory for the rest of the show.
Love your dress!!!
Yes! Adam Scott knows how to play a guy with GAME. He actually did a very similar kiss move on this season of Severance and I swooned because it reminded me of this!