‘Party Down’ Recap: ‘First Annual PI2A Symposium’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 303 of ‘Party Down’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Ask anyone if they would be willing to compromise their morals for a paycheck, and you’ll get back the exact same answer, hell no. Because everyone truly believes that their wallet/bank account should in fact, speak when it has the opportunity to do something right, and believe it or not, a fair majority of people will indeed back up that answer, and say no if a compromising situation surrounds them. But while that is a wondrous answer and oft a noble action to go with it, not everyone is indeed telling the truth there. Because some, will say that and quietly go and take cash from a dubious company because they just don’t want anyone to know their secret… and sometimes... we are put in difficult positions with money.
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Because rock bottom and tough times are things that happen, and that can make folks desperate for a paycheck and willing to compromise to get paid. Does that make them bad people or failures? No, just a victim of the system and people in need and really… what matters more if someone finds themselves in this situation, is how they handle making that paycheck worth their while from a moral standpoint. Like say… screwing with the unsavory person that is writing the check. Which is precisely what the Party Down team did in the next episode of Party Down on STARZ. Because sadly, the team quickly came to learn in ‘First Annual PI2A Symposium’ that Ron signed them up to work a Nazi event. Yes you, read that right, freakin’ Nazis needed caterers to fuel them while they spread their hate.

Which at first, prompted the team to struggle morally and understandably so. Because well, it’s Nazis we are talking about here. The absolute scum of the Earth, plain and simple. But they trudged along to do their jobs and did their best to deal with these dudes, because it was of course… dudes. And to make matters worse, these butt wipes did their best to endear themselves to the team. Even going so far as to offer delightful compliments on the food, the service, and their lives. But eventually, it became too much to bear for Kyle, who opted to join a protest group outside and fire up some anti-Nazi rhetoric and Lucy, and Roman, and Sackson decided to poison them with Sackson’s new and gross marketing deal product. Which did indeed help with the downfall of this madness, since that, and a stupid plan to go viral on the Nazi’s part, ended the event and brought this whole episode and theme into focus.

Because the whole reason the team was there, was because Ron was behind in payments and needed this gig to desperately to keep his van and keep the business afloat, and Henry was there to simply make his alimony payments and figure out how to pay for his ailing car. Making it clear that when we are in financial strife, sometimes we might be forced to take jobs that suck and compromise our morals and really, the same strife applied to the team. Because they all needed the money to survive. But they truly did make the Nazis pay the piper and pay literally. For when they didn’t want to pony up the dough for Party Down’s work, Henry put on an acting clinic to get the check that everyone needed and well… it was indeed quite delightful to see a group of dumbass Nazis fail miserably before our eyes and still be forced to pay the freight on services rendered, because seriously… $%@# Nazis.

But that aside this was, another amazing episode of this show. One that leaned hard into the laughs as well. Courtesy of Nick Offerman’s surprise appearance as an uppity ‘cultured’ Nazi, and just through the shenanigans that took place here. Since they allowed for everyone to show off their comedic chops through and through, and kudos to the show for adding a little depth to Henry’s journey as well. Since his scenes with Evie were a realistic delight, as was seeing his students drop by and learn what acting looks like and well, in the end… you simply cannot wrong with a story that makes Nazis look the fool and now that this wild adventure has come to a close, it will be interesting to see what new and wild event awaits the Party Down crew, come next week. Until then.  

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