“There’s no order to the universe,” grouses Roman as the Party Down gang mopes away from the kickball trouncing they've just received at the hands of Valhalla catering. But the thing is, there is order to the universe; the employees of Party Down just happen to occupy the lower rungs of the pecking order.
“Stagnant” is kind of the name of the game for the PD gang, and while the show occasionally toys with mixing up the perpetual non-motion of these characters’ lives—Ron’s Soup ’R Crackers rise and fall, Casey’s cruise ship/Apatow gigs, Henry’s relationship with Uda and ascent up the corporate catering ladder—they all eventually settle back into their rut, because that’s where they belong. We’re never given the impression that any of these people are destined for the greater things they believe they have coming, and the dark humor of the show stems in part from watching them overreach. (The exception is Henry, whose problem isn’t overreaching, but rather figuring out something to reach for.)
This was addressed most directly—and hilariously—in tonight’s episode via Casey’s quest for the company picnic all-around trophy and the catering contest/kickball game between Party Down and their on-aggregate-better-looking rivals at Valhalla, who were catering the PD company picnic. Despite Casey’s shit-talking and victory over all-around champ Garlan Greenbush (“What are you, an unemployed wizard or something?”), and the PD kickball team’s brief moment of glory after bringing Greenbush in as a ringer (“one, two, three, FUCK 'EM IN THE ASS!”), everyone went home a ketchup-stained, trophy-less loser.
Ron’s attempts at glory at the company picnic were relatively higher-stakes, but all the funnier for it. Granted, I could watch a show that’s nothing but Ken Marino get beaned with random objects, but his horseshoe- and kickball-induced injuries were almost poignant, a sort of letter from the universe saying, “Know your role.” Gussied up in his best (read: only) suit, Ron attempts to slide into the role left vacant by Alan Duk, who’s off teaching Spanish on Community, I mean in jail for welfare fraud. Even the glimmer of a silver lining—his flirtation with the boss’ daughter, who helps him sabotage Uda with “marijuana joints” so Ron can take the management gig that’s been offered to her—is snuffed out in the end when she reveals she’s engaged. Ron’s eventual “happy ending,” when Henry offers to give the position of team leader to him, is characteristically pathetic, plopping him right back where he was a year ago, but minus the pay raise and benefits. Oh well, at least he has the title and responsibilities.