Title Ann and Chris

Two-Sentence Summary As Ann and Chris prepare to leave Pawnee, their friends try to find the perfect way say goodbye. For Ben, that means getting Chris a gift that’s as thoughtful as his goodbye gifts to all his friends, and for Leslie, that means trying to finally break ground on Pawnee Commons and make good on a pinky promise she made Ann at the very beginning of their friendship.

Favorite Line “Oh Ann Perkins, you perfect sunflower. You totally changed me, you know?” (Leslie)

My Thoughts This season of Parks and Recreation has been about big changes: Leslie got recalled, Ben became city manager, Ron got married, Tom took on a new role as business liaison, Andy spent time working in Europe, and even Pawnee itself underwent a huge change by merging with Eagleton. And then there were Chris and Ann—starting a family, getting engaged (and un-engaged), and deciding to move to Michigan.

Many of those big changes didn’t amount to much in terms of emotional impact for the audience, which is strange considering Parks and Rec’s ability to shoot for the heart unlike any other show on television. But I should have known better than to doubt this show—even after a weak episode like “Farmers Market.” When Parks and Rec swings for the fences in terms of emotional impact, the result is never a strikeout. In fact, it’s usually a homerun. And in some cases, like “Ann and Chris,” it’s a walk-off grand slam.

(Sorry about all the baseball references. Sometimes I just really like extended sports metaphors.)

“Ann and Chris” was—like the best episodes of Parks and Rec—an episode about love. But what made it so unique was that it focused on the kind of love that the media ignores way too often: the life-altering, soul-bonding love between friends. There is a special kind of joy in finding a best friend, and there is a special kind of grief in losing one (even if you do plan to call each other whenever you have thoughts on Jennifer Aniston’s future). For as much focus as the media places on romantic relationships, it shouldn’t be forgotten that our first soul mates in life are often our best friends. Before we find “the one,” our best friends are the people who help us to change for the better, to see the best in ourselves and to harness it, to balance our desires for personal happiness with our desire to make someone else happy, and to never settle for less than what we deserve.

Parks and Rec has never forgotten that. Even though Leslie and Ann (and even Ben and Chris) didn’t share a lot of screen time this season, it all culminated in this beautiful little love letter to power of friendship. When it really mattered, Parks and Rec delivered, and, as a fan, that’s all I can ask for.

The episode’s plot was really just a way to get all of the important characters (both regular and recurring) to say goodbye to Ann and Chris. Like “Leslie and Ben” did so successfully last season, “Ann and Chris” let the characters drive the plot rather than vice versa. The result was an episode that featured emotional highpoint after emotional highpoint, until I was left sobbing on my couch long after the final credits rolled.

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Sorry for the delay, fellow Parks and Recreation fans. I hope all of you had an excellent weekend that didn’t involve chard shots! 

Title Farmers Market

Two-Sentence Summary Leslie oversteps her bounds as she tries to use Ben’s position as city manager to remove a chard vendor with questionable advertising techniques from the Pawnee farmers market. Meanwhile, Ann needs an outlet for her frustrations about what pregnancy is doing to her body, and Andy finds a potential new career as a children’s party performer.

Favorite Line “Tom put all my records into this rectangle…The songs just play one right after the other! This is an excellent rectangle!” (Ron)

My Thoughts I spent a lot of time this weekend watching old episodes of Parks and Recreation as I rested a bum shoulder on my couch. I laughed and cried as I made my way through my favorites—“Flu Season,” “The Debate,” “Win, Lose, or Draw,” and “Leslie and Ben”—and I spent a lot of time thinking, too. Something has been missing in recent Parks and Recreation episodes, including this week’s “Farmers Market,” and I finally figured out what it is: a likeable protagonist. Don’t get me wrong; Leslie’s overzealous personality and steamroller tendencies aren’t out-of-character traits. But after too many episodes this season of Leslie being the antagonist in a storyline, I’ve missed those lovely days of Parks and Rec past when I could root for Leslie Knope on a weekly basis.

I know that too many episodes spent celebrating Leslie would make the show feel too sappy, but I feel like this season has spent a lot of time highlighting Leslie’s worst traits without enough time spent on her best traits to create a strong balance. And while people may argue that another episode of Leslie and her friends rallying around each other would feel repetitive, I would say that these storylines, with Leslie overreacting towards one of her friends (or in this case her husband) because she can’t get her way, are even more repetitive.

For example, we’ve already seen Leslie and Ben at odds like they are in “Farmers Market” in this season’s “The Pawnee-Eagleton Tip Off Classic.” So while this storyline had some funny moments (Ben running away from Leslie to avoid conflict, Ben’s fear of dying in the fountain, and especially anything involving the actual farmers market—from the Chard Bodies to the cabbage saleswoman unbuttoning her blouse), it ultimately felt like a rehash of something we’ve already seen: Leslie overreacts, Ben gets her to see reason (because he’s literally the perfect husband for her), and they come to a conclusion that works for all involved. Yes, the laughs in this part of the episode felt original, but the emotional component—the thing that separates Parks and Rec from all other comedies—felt stale.

I’m tired of watching the warmest character on television be outlandishly petulant. Yes, Leslie can be overly forceful and ambitious in every aspect of her life, but she used to somehow manage to be those things without ever coming across as selfish. In fact, Leslie used to be defined by her selflessness, her desire to do everything she could to make the people around her happy. In “Farmers Market,” though, Leslie came across as selfish—plain and simple. And this wasn’t a kind of selfishness that could be attributed to a broken heart like in “Smallest Park” or even a sense of feeling left out like her story with Tom in “New Beginnings.” Instead, it was just another episode of Leslie being forceful without any of the warmth and kindness that used to be able to balance out her character. I may be guilty of an overreaction of Knope proportions here, but I think Leslie’s character has regressed this season; she’s lost some of the subtlety that the writers used to let Amy Poehler so brilliantly weave into her characterization.

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Title New Beginnings

Two-Sentence Summary Leslie returns to the Parks Department and Ben begins his new job as city manager, and they both experience some difficulties adjusting to their roles. Meanwhile, Ann and Chris contemplate how well marriage would fit into their very nontraditional relationship.

Favorite Line “I cannot sit idly by and watch this terrible thing happen. I mean, I can barely sit idly by and watch good things happen!” (Leslie)

My Thoughts Well that was…okay, I guess? Don’t get me wrong; I laughed out loud more than a few times during “New Beginnings” (mainly thanks to Ron and Ben), and I even had my heart sufficiently warmed in the surprising way only Parks and Recreation can (once again, thanks to Ron). However, there was just something off about this episode. “New Beginnings” really felt like the beginning of the end for Parks and Rec, and I was not emotionally prepared to deal with these feelings after a mid-January episode.

When I say “the beginning of the end for Parks and Rec,” I don’t mean in terms of the quality of the show. Did I adore this episode with my usual fervor? Not really. But it was still more entertaining than most of what I see on television, especially comedic television. What I mean is that these last two episodes—this one in particular—seem to be setting the stage for the kinds of huge changes in Leslie’s life that would only work at the end of this show’s run. I know nothing has been announced in terms of the show’s future, but from the time it was stated that Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe were leaving, I couldn’t stop wondering if this would be Parks and Rec’s last season. This new emphasis on Leslie needing to move on to bigger and better things has only intensified that wondering.

“New Beginnings” was an episode all about feeling uncomfortable and the things we do to try to ease that feeling. For Ben, that feeling of discomfort in his new role as city manager made him want to try to fit in with April, Andy, and Donna. For Leslie, feeling uncomfortable and unnecessary back in her old job made her resort to her steamroller, control-freak tendencies. For Chris and Ann, feeling uncomfortable with the idea of marriage (but also with the idea of being unmarried parents) led them to numerous purchases and returns of the same ring. And Jerry tried to ease discomfort caused by choking on a cracker by simply eating another cracker.

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Title Second Chunce

Two-Sentence Summary Leslie’s desire to run for city council again is met with opposition from Ben and her friends, and Ben’s gift for her last day as a city councilwoman helps her see that maybe there are bigger, more fulfilling dreams waiting for her. Tom is also chasing new business dreams with the help of April, Ron, and a very jet-lagged Andy; and Ann and Chris learn the sex of their baby.

Favorite Line “In times of stress or moments of transition, sometimes it can feel like the whole world is closing in on you. When that happens, you should close your eyes, take a deep breath, listen to the people who love you when they give you advice, and remember what really matters.” (Leslie)

My Thoughts Parks and Recreation has aged very gracefully. In 100 episodes, it’s grown from a show about a woman and her job to a show about a woman and the things that are so much more important than her job. It’s grown from a show that felt like the weird kid sister of The Office into a show with its own clear mission statement: Dream big; love bigger. And the way its 100th episode reflected that mission statement as it honored the show’s past and opened up new futures for the characters we love was nothing short of beautiful.

I’ll admit: I haven’t loved this season of Parks and Rec the way I’ve loved other seasons. After the brilliant season premiere, I found most of the other episodes so far to be lacking the warmth and optimism that have come to define this show for me. And I was worried that “Second Chunce” was going to follow that same path until Ben’s gift for Leslie showed up.

My problem with this season so far has been that we’ve had to watch Leslie suffer. We’ve had to watch this character deal with incompetence, ungratefulness, and a whole host of Pawnee citizens who don’t love her the way we all know she deserves to be loved. My favorite season of Parks and Rec—Season Four—was so successful because we were right alongside Leslie in the campaign trenches, rooting for her to win her city council seat not just because we liked her but because we believed she deserved it. But then this season and its recall plot came along, taking away Leslie’s dream job, the dream job we all invested in, too.

However, “Second Chunce” put this whole season into perspective for me in a way I had never considered before: I was supposed to see this recall not as a failure of Leslie’s but as a failure of a group of people who don’t know a good thing when they have it. I was supposed to be mad at the people of Pawnee. I was supposed to believe that Leslie is too good for them. I was supposed to see this eating away at Leslie’s optimism and understand that she deserves more than what she was getting as a city council member. I was supposed to be on Ben’s side when he advised Leslie not to run again because I, as a member of the audience, love Leslie as much as Ben does.

“Second Chunce” was an episode about love, which should surprise no one. It was fitting that the 100th episode of a show that features three unique, solid marriages and one couple blissfully heading into parenthood together would be centered around love—love for your dreams, love for your friends, love for your spouse/partner, and even love for yourself. It took a while to get there, but once this episode hit its stride, it filled my heart with the kind of a joy only Parks and Rec can create.

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