![]() When an episode opens with a puppy licking Ron Swanson’s moustache, you know you’re in for a treat, and even among the strong run of episodes that ended the second season (and built towards the totally stellar third), “ Telethon” was a real highlight. Plus you get some killer Poehler improv as she throws off the suspicions of a park ranger by playing into his condescending stereotyping of women, and the first flourishings of the show’s best love story, between Aubrey Plaza‘s April and Chris Pratt‘s Andy. But it’s really a Leslie and Ron episode, and the way that his anger turns into grudging respect as he realizes that she’s been covering for someone else is one of the first great demonstrations of the big beating heart of the show. Aside from Paul Schneider‘s Mark Brendanawicz, who never quite fit in and departed at the end of the second season, everyone gets a moment in the spotlight, from Aziz Ansari‘s Tom’s fear that they’re being hunted by the Predator to Retta‘s Donna howl of grief as she realizes her beloved Mercedes has been hit by a stray bullet. Already having his favorite day of the year ruined, things go much worse when Ron is winged by a bullet, which Leslie ends up taking responsibility for. Pivoting around the heart of the show, in the relationship between Amy Poehler‘s Leslie and Nick Offerman‘s Ron Swanson, the hard-drinking, woodworking libertarian who became the show’s most iconic breakout character, it sees the former forcing the latter to let her and the other women in the office accompany him on his annual boys-day-out hunting retreat. The seeds of greatness were laid throughout, and “ Ron & Tammy” might be the first perfect episode of the series (though we’ve left it out in favor of its sequel, which you can find below), but “Hunting Trip,” a few installments later, is probably the first to really take advantage of one of the show’s greatest weapons: its killer ensemble. It began with an uneven, rushed, truncated first season that saw the writers visibly struggling with how to make Leslie Knope work, and finding it tricky to stand apart from “ The Office.” Ironically, “The Office” had virtually the same issues, and as in the case of that show, season two saw things massively improve almost from the start, with opener “ Pawnee Zoo” becoming an almost markedly different show. Movie’ Italian Voice: ‘That’s a Little New Jersey’įamously, “ Parks & Rec” didn’t come flying out of the gate. We will miss them and the warm smushy feeling they’ve given us week in and week out immensely, but when it gets to be too much, good to know we can go back to the well anytime, most probably starting with one of these ten episodes.Ĭhris Pratt Went Too ‘Tony Soprano’ with ‘Super Mario Bros. Anyway, in being one of the nicest shows on TV, it also has the nicest fans - we should know, we’re just a few of the people who’ve been made better, if rather more sentimental, by continued exposure to the lovely folk at the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana. ‘Parks’ went from a slow, hiccuppy first season to a consistently excellent run from its second season on (season 3, with 4 entries below is probably our favorite, while season 6 felt like the most disappointing overall), so there are many episodes it hurt us to exclude and many many more, no doubt, that other fans will be aghast we didn’t mention.įor once, however, we do not fear death threats amid a fan backlash in the comments, because the special alchemy of ‘Parks’ was it managed to be funny without cynicism, to find actual humor in stories of kindness and sweetness and people being good to one another and good at their jobs. The final episode of its final seventh season airs tonight, and in tribute, its biggest fans on The Playlist staff/in the world have tried to wrestle our infinite love for the show into just ten episodes. If you don’t already know this, I hate to break it to you: “ Parks and Recreation” is coming to an end. ![]()
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