Best Parks and Rec Episodes

Ten episodes about local government, which is the most unlikely sentence in television.

Entries
10
Category
TV
Updated
  1. A campsite at night with a lone canvas tent and a campfire on one side and a lavish lit pavilion with cupcakes and a hot tub on the other.

    10. Pawnee Rangers

    Parks and Recreation · 2011

    Ron runs a boys-only wilderness club; Leslie answers with the Pawnee Goddesses, who have better snacks, and his scouts defect. Meanwhile Tom and Donna take a newly single Ben out for Treat Yo Self day. The phrase has outlived most of the decade's slang.

  2. A playground swing hanging from one chain, a toolbox and a fresh new chain laid out on the wood chips at golden hour.

    09. One Last Ride

    Parks and Recreation · 2015

    The gang fixes one broken swing while the finale flashes forward through every character's future, all the way to 2048. Poehler and Schur wrote and directed it, and it nearly doubled the season's average audience. Every loose end tied, including ones nobody asked about.

  3. A campaign war room after midnight: a ballot box, confetti on the floor, stacks of lawn signs and a cold cup of coffee.

    08. Win, Lose, or Draw

    Parks and Recreation · 2012

    Election night: Leslie versus Bobby Newport, an automatic recount, and the win. Then Ben takes a campaign job in Washington. Michael Schur wrote and directed it and got an Emmy writing nomination. A full season of campaigning, decided like a real Indiana race: slowly.

  4. A backyard dinner table with mismatched china, a three-tier homemade cake and a pair of plastic wedding rings in a candy dish.

    07. Andy and April's Fancy Party

    Parks and Recreation · 2011

    A dinner party turns out to be a surprise wedding between two people who have dated less than a month and have no fixed address. Leslie objects, then comes around. Critics called it one of the season's best. Television's least-planned marriage, and its sturdiest.

  5. A library return cart overturned in a parking lot beside a steak dinner plate and a broken pair of reading glasses.

    06. Ron and Tammy

    Parks and Recreation · 2009

    Megan Mullally plays Tammy, Ron's ex-wife and the library's director. She is also Nick Offerman's actual wife, which he says is why they went as far as they did. Ron ends up in cornrows. The library is, as Ron always said, the enemy.

  6. A memorial table covered in candles and flowers around a tiny horseshoe, a small eternal flame burning in a bowl.

    05. Li'l Sebastian

    Parks and Recreation · 2011

    Pawnee holds a memorial for its beloved miniature horse, Andy writes 5,000 Candles in the Wind, and the eternal flame singes off Ron's eyebrows. Tom quits for Entertainment 720. A season finale built entirely around grieving a very small horse, and it lands.

  7. A small Ferris wheel lit up at dusk over a county fairground, a tiny horse trailer parked by a dead generator.

    04. Harvest Festival

    Parks and Recreation · 2011

    Seven episodes of setup pay off: Leslie books Li'l Sebastian, a curse is declared, the generator dies and the horse goes missing. Ron settles everyone's problems on a Ferris wheel. Its aerial shot was the show's most expensive. Its ratings were among its lowest.

  8. A neon-lit nightclub table covered in empty shot glasses of murky green liquid and a single bottle labeled only with a snake drawing.

    03. The Fight

    Parks and Recreation · 2011

    Written by Amy Poehler. The department drinks Tom's Snake Juice at the Snakehole Lounge, Leslie and Ann have their first real fight, and April and Andy become Janet Snakehole and FBI agent Burt Macklin. Ron drinks it too and feels nothing. Naturally.

  9. Two office chairs facing each other in a dark empty office lit by a desk lamp, a whiskey bottle and a time card punch clock between them.

    02. Leslie and Ron

    Parks and Recreation · 2015

    Michael Schur wrote it as a two-person play: Leslie and Ron, locked in the old office overnight until they settle their feud. The cause turns out to be a lunch she skipped when he was about to ask her for a job. The Atlantic named it one of 2015's best episodes.

  10. A tissue box, a thermometer and a stack of harvest festival presentation boards slumped against a hospital IV stand.

    01. Flu Season

    Parks and Recreation · 2011

    Leslie, feverish and barely upright, nails a Chamber of Commerce pitch for the harvest festival, while Chris, a man of perfect health, falls apart completely. Alan Sepinwall called it the episode to show new viewers. It's also where Ben starts falling for her.

Honorable mentions

  • A diner booth table set for a group brunch: a tower of waffles with whipped cream, handmade cards and small wrapped gifts.

    Galentine's Day

    Parks and Recreation · 2010

    Leslie's annual February 13 breakfast for her female friends, invented for a 2010 episode, is now a real occasion stocked by Target, Walmart and Etsy, and Michelle Obama has posted about it. Few sitcoms add a date to the retail calendar. This one did it with waffles.

Dishonorable mentions

  • An open construction pit fenced with orange plastic mesh in a suburban backyard, a clipboard lying in the mud.

    Pilot

    Parks and Recreation · 2009

    Andy falls in a pit, Leslie promises a park, and critics saw a Michael Scott clone in a pantsuit. Season one ran six episodes and lost viewers nearly every week. Most sitcoms are lucky to get a second season. This one used it to start over.

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