“Parks and Recreation,” also known as “Parks and Rec,” is an NBC sitcom about bureaucrats who work in the Parks and Recreation department in the small town of Pawnee, Indiana. The show stars Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, the perky and hardworking Deputy Director of the Parks department. It is clear in the show that if Leslie Knope were not around, Pawnee would fall apart.
Leslie Knope works with many other people in the department, including (but not limited to) April Ludgate, a cynical former intern who is later hired into the department; Tom Haverford, Leslie’s subordinate who is constantly trying to start up new businesses and failing; Jerry/Terry/Larry/Garry Gergich, an incompetent employee who means well; Donna Meagle, the wealthy office manager with a very mysterious personal life of which we get glimpses of; and Ron Swanson, the Director of the department who hates the government and thinks the Parks department should not even exist.
Season seven of “Parks and Recreation” takes place in the year 2017. Since the previous season, Pawnee has developed from an extremely poor town to a richer and nicer one. None of the main cast technically work in the Parks department anymore—Leslie now works for the federal government as the Midwest Regional Parks Director.
The show’s last season is well written and the actors do a phenomenal job portraying their roles. The characters of “Parks and Rec” are what make the show. After seeing the last season, it is weird to go back and watch the first season due to the tremendous amount of character development. Each character has grown and they seem like real people with real hopes, dreams, and conflicts.
The seventh season is hilarious and the jokes never disappoint. Even though there are only thirteen episodes compared to the usual twenty-ish, the plot doesn’t feel rushed. It moves along quickly, but not in a bad way.
One thing I enjoyed about the last season was how it ended. The last episode, “One Last Ride,” is a beautiful conclusion to a wonderful show. Unlike a lot of television programs, “One Last Ride” answers the majority of our questions of what will happen to the characters in the future. During the episode, there are a series of flash forwards while the characters fix one last Parks department problem in 2017.
I will admit, “Parks and Recreation” is the only show I’ve ever truly binge-watched, and the last season is no exception. I do believe I finished it in less than three days (for me,-binge watching is about three episodes at a time. I can’t watch any more than that). Season seven was satisfying and delightful, especially compared to the first season of the show.
If you’ve never watched “Parks and Recreation,” stop whatever you are doing, get yourself to a computer, and sign onto Netflix.