Parks and Recreation
Tonight we say goodbye to the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Over seven seasons, Parks and Recreation has displayed a knack for merging sincere sentiment with good-natured comedy that avoided mean-spiritedness (unless it was aimed at Jerry. Dammit, Jerry!)
Parks and Rec started as a messy affair about a broadly drawn protagonist trying to fill a pit, but it will conclude as one of the most enjoyable comedies on TV, starring kick-ass leader Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and her band of kooky, loyal friends. Once Parks and Rec found its modus operandi somewhere during the second season, there was no stopping this infectious juggernaut of amusement. But before Leslie, Ron, Andy, April and the others say bye-bye like Li’l Sebastian, let’s take a look back at 10 times when Parks and Rec warmed our hearts or made us cackle until it hurt (or both).
Garry goes out in style
Garry “Jerry” Gergich is the long-suffering punching bag of the Parks and Recreation department, and while he’s scored a few victories — such as enjoying a marriage to Gayle (Christie Brinkley) — nothing compared to his send-off in Parks and Rec’s penultimate episode. Ben grants the useless position of interim mayor to a stunned Garry, who is charioted to a celebratory hot air balloon ride, complete with a banner that acknowledges his birth name. For a character who cheerfully endured so much abuse on the show, it was cathartic to see him go out on a relative high.
Leslie and Ron work out their differences with the help of Billy Joel
Perhaps the crux of Parks and Rec has always been the mismatched but perfect pairing of Leslie and Ron. Although their political ideologies often clashed, they always found a way of letting their mutual respect prevail over their squabbles. That is, until the mysterious Morningstar incident that resulted in Leslie and Ron turning against each other during Parks and Rec’s three-year time jump. But after the foes were trapped together to work out their differences, Leslie and Ron made up in the best way possible: getting drunk and rocking out to Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” (after a spectacular ad-libbed rendition from Leslie earlier).
Donna and Tom help Ben treat himself
The novelty of “treat yo self” is worthy of its own mention. But when Donna and Tom decided to bring Ben along for their annual day of pampering, magic happened. Enter Ben in a Batsuit, some stellar mugging at the camera from Donna and Tom, and some waterworks from Ben. “Uh-oh, Batman’s crying.” Yes, and it was glorious.
The gang gets drunk on Snake Juice
Everyone gets dangerously, absurdly drunk in one of the best uses of the sitcom talking heads trope ever. Ron Swanson dancing, anyone?
Ben quits his job for Leslie
Ben and Leslie’s love story unfolded in many great ways throughout Parks and Rec’s run. Their surprise engagement and impromptu wedding certainly stand out as great moments on the show, but nothing beats the moment when Ben made the ultimate sacrifice to prevent Leslie from losing her job over their relationship. But, because it’s Parks and Rec, this sweet gesture was punctuated by hilarity, which came in the form of Ethel Beavers reading Leslie’s statement of love to Ben as snow fell and the couple kissed.
Leslie casts a vote for herself
After years of dedication, roadblocks and public forums full of Pawnee’s most colorful, Leslie was finally getting a chance to achieve a dream. As she punched the hole by her name in the city council election, Leslie’s eyes watered, and it felt too good to be true. So naturally, Bobby Newport, Leslie’s flighty political rival, interrupted her moment because he was having a complete pen meltdown. Again, Parks and Rec really mastered the art of peppering sentimental moments with comic beats.
The jump to the year 2017
The sixth season finale needs to be included for ambition alone. For a season full of many goodbyes and big moments for the characters, it was a welcome surprise when the Parks and Rec powers decided to throw a twist in the mix. The season concluded with a hop to the year 2017, complete with a new name for Jerry, Leslie with bangs and Jon Hamm, for some reason.
This set up many futuristic jokes for the final season, and it probably helped the showrunners get the characters where they needed to be before the final bow. How else would we have witnessed The Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show?
April and Ann jam to Cyndi Lauper
The April-Ann relationship remained fraught throughout the series, but they shared a wonderful little moment of respite during the fifth season. As Ann tried in vain to force friendship upon April, who was only complying to get a letter of recommendation for veterinary school, she failed again and again before finally voicing her feelings about having a baby with Chris. This culminated in April joining in on Ann’s planned duet of “Time After Time” because “everyone knows this song. It’s amazing.” (True!) Cue the former enemies feeling the feels to Lauper’s ’80s classic, complete with Donna hilariously barging in the room to lend her vocals.
Andy and April get hitched
One of the greatest strengths of Parks and Rec was its ability to let relationships grow naturally. There was no better example of this than Andy and April, a perfectly imperfect duo and a romance we were all rooting for. So in the show’s third season when the couple invited their friends over for a fancy party only to surprise everyone with a wedding, it felt so right. Andy recited his vows in an Indianapolis Colts jersey, April sobbed over her sister’s not-so-moving toast and, one Knope-sized freak out later, they were married.
The gang struggles to “get on their feet”
“The Comeback Kid” stands as a top-tier episode of Parks and Rec, mostly due to the catastrophic events on an ice rink during Leslie’s city council campaign. As Leslie prepared to reignite her campaign, her team experienced quite a few mishaps, including the basketball court being converted into an ice rink, a way-too-short red carpet and a botched banner only featuring Leslie’s eyes (because “windows are the eyes to the house,” Andy says). Unsurprisingly, disaster struck, as the friends slipped and slid their way to help Leslie onto the podium while Gloria Estefan’s “Get On Your Feet” played over and over.
Not only was the scene unspeakably hilarious, but the image of Leslie’s friends haplessly and unselfishly working together for her benefit captures everything wonderful about this show.
I’m going to miss it.
