Parks And Recreation was, as Leslie Knope would describe it, a "beautiful, talented, brilliant, powerful musk ox" of a show. But it also has an extremely dark subplot that was barely ever acknowledged ... one that also shows how far the world has come in just the last few years. And it has to do with mustachioed outdoorsman and gruff libertarian Ron Swanson.

It Starts With A Typical "Cruel Ex-Wife" Sitcom Subplot

For those of you who haven't seen every episode of this show six times, Ron has two ex-wives, both named Tammy, who are repeatedly referenced, and never in a good way. In fact, their mention is usually accompanied by Ron's solemn wish that they experience a form of vengeful misery. He can even detect when they're around him, like he has some kind of alimony spider-sense.

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We see Tammy 2 (his second ex) on numerous occasions, but we only see Tammy 1 in two episodes. She's briefly in "I'm Leslie Knope," and then features heavily in "Ron And Tammys." In the latter episode, Tammy 1, who works for the IRS, tells Ron he's being audited, and announces that she's going to move in with him and help him organize his finances. It's a power play, as Ron often finds himself helpless when he's in the clutches of either Tammy -- that's the running joke.

Then, as Ron casually states it to the Parks gang, we find out Tammy 1 used to be a nurse's assistant, and actually helped doctors deliver Ron when he was born. She was also his babysitter, his Sunday school teacher, his middle school math teacher, his driver's ed teacher ... and started having sex with him when he was 15 years old.

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There's a lot to untangle here.

First, another running bit around Ron is that he's such a manly man's man that he was never really a child. He claims that he got his first job at a sheet metal factory at age nine (and was running the place within weeks). So the Tammy 1 relationship is part of that same bit -- this guy is such a man that he was bedding an adult woman before he was old enough to drive.