Not many people are as creative as Leslie Knope. If somebody was to walk up to me and say “Okay here’s the situation.” I’d probably just pay attention, but oh no, not Leslie. She immediately recognizes the line from Will Smith’s classic single “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” and walks around the office reciting about half the song, before government hater extraordinaire Ron Swanson can finish what he’s saying. Turns out someone’s on fire down at a local park.

At least she spreads that creativity to her work, especially with the new Zoo promotions she has been doing. In between giving a monkey a diploma and celebrating a parrot’s 60th birthday, her next stunt was to marry two penguins, even going as far to get shirts made for the event. Well turns out the joke’s on her, and both penguins are male. Now people think that it was some sort of political statement, even though it was a complete accident. Doesn’t bode well for Leslie because according to her, the citizens of Pawnee don’t really like their government employees being activists.

Well, as Leslie puts it, gay men now think she’s fabulous or something. They even go as far as sending her a cake and inviting her to be a guest of honor at the local gay bar, The Bulge. This of course also brings back April’s gay friend who she sometimes makes out with from the season one finale. It turns out that him and April are dating now, but he also has a boyfriend who he’s “gay for,” and April hates him. It’s not that complicated.

They don’t really mention the Sullivan street pit in this episode, which is strange because that was the main focus of the first season, and the whole reason Rashida Jones’ character Anne was on the show. But after the events of, “Hey you know that guy Mark? He just fell in the pit.” Anne mentioned that something must of gotten knocked loose, and that he was a nice guy now, foreshadowing their possible relationship. Well I guess we know how she’ll stay on now.

Leslie and Tom both go to The Bulge so she can respectfully decline being the guest of honor, but the second someone hands her a shot it all goes the opposite of what she wanted with everyone getting wasted, dancing and singing Lady Gaga, and for some reason Amy Poehler singing Poker Face will never make me not laugh, and I’ve watched that part quite a few times already.

Overall it was a solid premiere, much more so than last season. The writers and actors are really figuring out who the characters are, and developing them accordingly. It was also great to see Leslie and Anne start solidifying their friendship, with them going as far to have salads for lunch together, even though Leslie straight up admits she hates salad. I also have to mention the amazing direction that Paul Feig brought to the table from his work on The Office and Arrested Development. Feig’s the man, and all of his skills are in full effect in the episode whether it’s in character delivery, or camera angles.

Bringing all of these amazing aspects together is the fact that this show is politically based, and you can’t get around it. The gay marriage debate was a perfect topic to deal with, even though it was brought into the story with an accident. Leslie now has some infamy and is one step closer to being the next great female politician, but with Hilary Clinton pictures on your wall, how could one not be so inspired?

Watch this episode of Parks & Recreation