Like I said back on
Day 29 of my
Parks and Rec challenge, I was incredibly annoyed by Tom at first. It was mainly the first season, though, which I think can be somewhat excused because the writers were just figuring out who Tom was, and as the character was fleshed out from merely a bored government employee who thought he was the next Jay-Z or whatever into a motivated (albeit usually outside of work) and creative entrepreneur, it became so much easier to root for him. He wasn't perfect, obviously; his attempts to attract a woman* were cringeworthy, he is
obsessed with Having Things, and he was ruthlessly cruel to Garry, all of which are
huge issues for me. He also has this incessant need to perform for others and to receive praise for it (I mean, who
doesn't need a pat on the back once in a while, but I'd much rather see appreciation in the form of more cash per hour), but I guess that's why he's perfectly suited for (spoiler alert) a future career as a self-help guru.
