Sister City (Parks and Recreation)

When Raul tells Leslie they live like kings in Venezuela and answer to nobody, she explodes in anger, insulting their uniforms and Hugo Chavez.

A furious Leslie tears up the $35,000 check and shouts "Viva America", prompting Raul to declare Pawnee is no longer their sister city and storm out.

The episode ends with Leslie and Tom later receiving an online video from April, who tells them she and Donna are vacationing with Jhonny at his Venezuelan palace, which is watched over by armed guards.

The episode featured comedian Fred Armisen in a guest appearance as Raul, the vice director of a Venezuelan parks department.

Armisen was a cast member of NBC's sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he previously worked with performer Poehler and writer Schur.

But he said it was not a difficult performance because "most of the joke is the uniform", which included a tan military-style jacket with medals, a red beret and a sash with the colors of the Venezuela flag.

[2] Schur said of the episode's plot, "They're very confused because in Venezuela the government is so powerful; their parks department travels with military escorts and motorcades and stuff.

[4] Within a week of the episode's original broadcast, three deleted scenes from "Sister City" were made available on the official Parks and Recreation website.

In the second minute-long clip, Raul discusses the medals he received for his parks-related accomplishments, including "doing away with people making speeches in the parks", "organizing the garbage so it's not all over the place" and "looking at the leaves".

[10] There's something really special about watching a show — particularly one you’ve been rooting for — begin to come together, learn from its mistakes, and grow into a formidable and wholly satisfying half hour of television.

Entertainment Weekly writer Henning Fog said "Sister City" continued a trend of excellence in the second season that has established Parks and Recreation as NBC's best comedy.

She said the episode "benefits from the show's writers' increasing habit of giving everything from political scandals to lame local events the Onion treatment".

[6] Fowler of IGN said the anti-American sentiment demonstrated by the Venezuelan delegation "was a funny twist that didn't completely wear itself out, although it came close".

[12] "Sister City", along with the other 23 second season episodes of Parks and Recreation, was released on a four-disc DVD set in the United States on November 30, 2010.

[13][14] It also included a commentary track for "Sister City" featuring Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, Alan Yang and Michael Schur.