Parks and Recreation Season 7 Review: Pawnee’s Encore Performance

When Parks and Recreation ended its sixth season last year, they tied up every loose end beautifully. They brought about a happily ever after for the entire cast, skipped ahead into the future, and showed Amy Poehler’s Leslie and Adam Scott’s Ben living their dream. Things could not get any better, and in all honesty, at the time I had wanted it to be the series finale. I thought it was perfect. Could season seven end the series any more perfectly than the season six finale? It turns out it could end much, much more perfectly.

The season opened in 2017, a time of drones in the skies and corporations data mining. A rift between Leslie and Nick Offerman’s Ron caused tension between the main characters. In the first few episodes everything was awful, not in a TV sense, but in that it was sad and frustrating to watch as their relationships had fallen apart over the past three years. It was very well done, but still uncomfortable and strange given the joyous end of season six.

And then everything got better. They used the uncomfortable sadness of the first few episodes to make the payoff that much better and brighter. First, the rift between the characters was smoothed over, then the newly introduced storylines were resolved, and then just about every character (main and supporting) got their own distinct happily ever after. This continued into the season finale, where we got to see into the future for each main character on the series. We saw immense and wonderful happy endings for every character. They gave us what every show’s series finale should: closure. And what more could you ask from an encore performance?

Parks and Recreation has been a tremendous series. The town of Pawnee has been part of my life since I was 12. It has been a splendid seven seasons where I’ve grown to feel that the Pawnee Parks Department is part of the family. Leslie and Ben, April and Andy, Ann and Chris, Ron, Tom, Donna, and Garry, have helped to shape my view of government, feminism, friendship, and breakfast. They’ve made me laugh and cry and think and laugh again. It’s been a wonderful ride.

Thank you Parks and Recreation. You made the world a better place.