Let's get the set-up out of the way. Leslie, acting on her unshakeable belief that politics is a boys' game (a belief which, by the way, is wrong only because of the ridiculous scope she gives it) starts the episode with the goal of infiltrating Ron's annual hunting excursion with Mark and Jerry. And as a symbolic gesture and plot device, she'll be bringing along Tom and "the rest of the ladies". Compared to the cleverly meaningless signifiers of male status the show has used in the past, like drinking beers in the courtyard and getting the "Mayor" haircut from Salvatore, this is pretty weak stuff. At first I thought maybe we're supposed to be heartened that Leslie is closing in on the real scent, but it isn't long before Ron says, convincingly, that he's opposed to arbitrary change, not women with guns.
This being a sitcom, everyone except Leslie turns out to be pretty bad with a gun- not comically, Monty Python bad, just , you know, not good. But excluding Donna's scenes (to be mentioned later) shockingly little is done with these scenarios[2]. They're trying to maintain a tone of relatable and realistic comedy, you say. "Fine, fine", "Fair is fair"[3], I say. But then it happens.
This group of government officials is hunting quail when one of them- Ron F. Swanson- is shot in the head with a shotgun. Put this event in 2006 and it is staggeringly obvious and trying a little too hard to be topical. Put it in the year 2009 and apparently it's still obvious... and also a little weird. Maybe some of the comedy is supposed to come from how blatantly the set-up is leading to the payoff (?)[4].
Following this the episode passes up a number of funnier potential plots (ie Ron's immediate suspicion/conviction that it was Leslie) and turns into a low-intensity mystery with a little Predator-referencing thrown in for good measure. Oh and Ann and Leslie forcibly induce vomiting for Ron's sake. As it happens Tom is the guilty party, but in order to hide the fact that he has no hunting license, Leslie spends some time covering for him.
In fairness "Hunting Trip" picks up a little bit at this point- Leslie's montage of sexist excuses with the police officer is inspired stuff ("bitches be crazy") and Ron's unimaginitive way of berating her is reliably funny- but I'm going to have to fault one of my perennial favorites for being the final turd in this turd-flavored bowl of punch[5]. Tom's potenial moment of pathos (admitting that he shot Ron in the head) produces neither tears nor laughs and calls into question the extent of Mr. Ansari's acting ability. Parks has already started the "Office"-patented process of deepening its bench by giving Jerry and Donna their own roles and personalities. Unless the minor tragedy of Tom's green card marriage is played up some time in the next few weeks I expect Tom will remain the casualty of Leslie, Ron, and Andy's superior characterization.
As for Ron's acceptance of Leslie as a "stand-up guy" at the end of the episode, I dismiss that out of hand as a cliched case of two people bonding over not having shot each other in the head.
Standout Character: Andy. I purposely separated the April-Andy subplot because it was both outside and above the rest of this episode. Just know that this man's god-awful attempts to earn a spit take from April raised the episode's grade half a letter.
Standout Moment: "Look I think it's a little weird that none of you want to admit that you shot Ron in the head."- Leslie
Episode Grade: C+
1. Not so much latenight talk show host.
2. I mean Aziz Ansari with a 12-gauge shotgun?... Give me a couple minutes and I'm pretty sure I could come up with something classic.
3. "Pish posh and other meaningless expressions."
4. If this is the case I need to totally rethink my opinion of Two and a Half Men.
5. You know, proverbially.
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