Parks and Recreation: Season 4 Finale

When writing reviews for TV show season finales, I often know a great deal of what I’m going to discuss before watching the episode. I know what the show has done well all season, where it has faltered, and what my expectations are going into the finale. After that, it simply comes down to execution—did the finale thoroughly close up all the storylines I’ve invested in for the episodes leading up to it? Did it maintain the themes that compelled me to the show to begin with? Or perhaps did it accomplish something greater than I had anticipated in my pre-show notes? Ultimately, it’s the same thought process that many of you likely go through before watching a finale, save for the fact that I plan to write about it.

But this is not a normal review; not because of anything the show did differently, but because of my own circumstances. I graduated from USC yesterday, and thus sat down to watch the season four finale of Parks and Recreation instilled with far more emotions than I have yet to fully understand. I had expected to write about the show’s satirical insight over the last five episodes since I reviewed the mid-season premiere, or perhaps to make some reference to how the showrunners filmed two alternate endings for the season (one in which Leslie wins, and one in which she loses). All that comes to mind, however, is a scene that arrives about seven minutes in at the voting booth. 

Ben (Adam Scott) tells Leslie (Amy Poehler) that Jennifer (Kathryn Hahn, as Bobby’s campaign manager) offered him a job in Washington, D.C., an undoubtedly phenomenal opportunity but one that could present many obstacles and hardships for their relationship. In typical Leslie fashion, she tells him: “Yeah, we’ll just talk about it, we’ll mull it over, we’ll look at it from every side, etcetera, etcetera, and just… I’m gonna go vote, just fulfill a lifelong dream of mine and achieve one of my all-time happiest moments, real quick, and then we will talk about it.”

First off, the Ben and Leslie relationship quickly became one of my favorites on television. It’s the Parks and Rec version of Jim & Pam (i.e., just as lovable but in a goofier and more comedic sort of way), and I’ve loved watching their relationship endure various ups and downs through the last season. But the moment that got me was what immediately followed, when Leslie stands in the voting both with welling tears and we know with all our heart that she truly and deeply meant every word of her nonchalant description of achieving her lifelong dream. She stamps the box next to her name and we know that no matter what the poll results show, she has already won. Then Bobby Newport (Paul Rudd) pokes his head in, a frantic mess because he can’t figure out how to do the vote and needs Leslie’s help, and we laugh and remember why we loved watching every step of this campaign.

Leslie’s campaign has often seemed symbolic of the show’s own battle for a fifth season, and NBC announced the fifth-season renewal less than 24 hours following Leslie’s own victory in the show. They’ve left themselves plenty of opportunities of where to go with the series next year, but even if they hadn’t received the extension, the episode would have sufficed as a series finale in demonstrating how far the series has come, how beautifully the show has crafted a unique identity for itself despite being one of the most underappreciated comedies on television.

Parks and Recreation premiered as a series during my first fall at USC, and the show was not very different from myself—struggling to find an identity and scared as all hell by the looming possibility of failure. As I watched Leslie check that ballot box, I couldn’t help but tear up a bit as well while sharing in her nostalgic reflection, marveling at how far things have come over our four year journey together. We both had our doubts we’d ever make it this far, that four years later we’d have the chance to smile knowing we’d done exactly what we set out to achieve even though the task seemed impossible when we started.

I know this is no time to divulge into my own personal ramblings, but Leslie’s moment in the voting booth is one to which all of us can relate. If you’re reading this as a writer, you’ve experienced the “voting booth” moment every time you finish a screenplay or TV show. We work in a precarious industry where our careers are often plagued with rejection and failures. After finishing a screenplay, there’s no telling whether that screenplay will ever see the light of the silver screen, or even a camera for that matter.  But to have taken the journey is commendable enough in itself, an inherently victorious feat regardless of what the future holds hereafter. While watching Leslie’s tearful victory speech and reading of the show’s renewal for next season, I can’t help but smile and feel misguided sense of symbolic empowerment as I close a four-year chapter of my own life.  And as I’m sure so many of you have felt throughout various stages of your lives, I have not the slightest clue what future awaits me. On days like this, however, it’s not about winning or losing the election: sometimes the opportunity to vote for yourself at all is more than enough reason to feel content.