I first heard NBC’s Parks and Recreation described as “The Office set in a parks department.” I wasn’t done watching The Office when Parks began airing and I didn’t feel like watching two similar shows at the same time so I put Parks on the back burner. Because the show has almost been cancelled multiple times, I decided to wait until the series finally ended to begin marching through it. With the final episode airing just last month (February, 2015) I decided to sit down and binge watch all seven seasons (125 episodes) of the show.
In the pilot episode of Parks and Recreation we are introduced to Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), deputy director of the Department of Parks and Recreation in fictional Pawnee, Indiana, and many of her co-workers, including Tom, Donna, Jerry, Mark, April, and office manager Ron Swanson. In that episode, Leslie meets Ann Perkins and her boyfriend Andy Dwyer, who accidentally (while drunk) fell into a large pit left over from an abandoned construction project. Leslie and Ann make a pinky promise to turn the pit into a park, the primary story arc of the first season. Other than Mark (who was written out in the second season), all of these characters made it through the series and appear in the show finale. In the second season we stopped to pick up Chris (Rob Lowe) and Ben, auditors who arrive to slash the department’s budget but ultimately end up staying along for the ride.
I liked the bureaucracy and roadblocks the office constantly ran into when trying to get things accomplished within the government (let’s just say I could relate to it) and in fact, even though those roadblocks were often played for comedic effect, I often felt like they didn’t go far enough. Where the show lost me a bit was during the multiple romances. Within just a few seasons we had Ann dating Andy (and breaking up), Leslie dating Mark, Ann dating Mark, Ann dating Chris, Ann dating Tom, Tom divorcing Wendy, Ron dating Wendy, Leslie dating Dave, Leslie dating Ben, and Andy dating April — not to mention all the relationships the main characters had with non-starring characters (Ron’s ex-wives, the Tammys, and later his marriage, for example).
Like most shows there were large story arcs (the absorption of Pawnee’s rival city Eagleton, the Harvest Festival and Li’l Sebastian, Leslie Knope running for (and later removal from) City Council, with lots of small single-episode plots along the way. Season six concluded with an hour long, cameo filled episode focusing on the Unity Concert (designed to unite Pawnee and Eagleton) and felt like a show’s finale. In the last two minutes of the episode we leap forward 3 years (from 2014 to 2017), where we spend the show’s final season (7). In 2017, Knope is now the Regional Director of National Park Service. Although only some of the show regulars still work for the Park service, even those who have left (like Ron who started the Very Good Building Company and Tom who is busy running his new Bistro) still find themselves featured in each episode.
In the series finale (spoilers), we jump even further into the future (sometimes years, sometimes decades) and see the final fates of all our favorite characters. Due to the nature of sitcoms, none of them developed cancer or fell on hard times; instead, they all end up happy and successful and in many cases rich and famous. There must be something in Pawnee’s water supply. (Oh yeah: T-DAZZLE and H2Flow).
Fortunately the series stepped out from shadow of The Office and was ultimately able to stand on its own. I enjoyed following most of the characters throughout their collective journeys.
And now, to get back to the real world of government work. Please and thank you.
