Considering Parks & Rec is a show that spent most of its life perpetually on the bubble, it's sort of a miracle that it has lived long enough to feel like it's overstayed it's welcome. But that's how it felt for large parts of its sixth season, a season that felt a little bit like glorified fan fiction in parts. Parks has naturally wrapped up its story so many times at this point - from the Harvest Festival, to Leslie winning the City Council election, to Leslie and Ben's wedding - that it's increasingly feeling like the writers of Parks & Rec are spinning in circles trying to figure out what more they can say about these characters. This became incredibly obvious throughout this season as the show relied on several weary old sitcom chestnuts for its plot developments. The show had three pregnancy plots this year, plus countless plots that felt like a rehash of the "Leslie gets passionate about something, people turn her down, she steamrolls over them but wins them over with her charm" plot structure that the show has done countless times since its conception. There were some highlights over the course of the year - such as the genuinely great season opener in London, and the really sweet farewell to Ann and Chris - but for the most part, Parks Season 6 felt like a show that was around only because it had to be, not because it had anything left to say.
Then, in the last few minutes of the season, everything changed. And now, for the first time, I have no idea where we're going to go next.
I've seen a lot of people take issue with the show jumping ahead three years in the finale. I get it. Time jumps are something I'm always a little uneasy with, for the very reasons that people have pointed out. Yes, it's strange that, after tracking these people so closely over the past 5 years, we're now skipping right over 3 entire years of their lives - lives that include milestone events like new jobs and pregnancies and children. And yes, the show went through some strange hula hoops to get to its desired endpoint. (Having Leslie demand that the National Parks Department set headquarters right up in Pawnee simply because she doesn't feel like moving is just too much, and it feels unnecessary considering they went ahead and rebooted the shows' entire premise anyway). But I kind of love that the show is brave enough to just go ahead and restart its entire premise, and it follows an interesting trend this year of middle-aged sitcoms realizing they need to shake things up and taking bigger-than-usual experiments with their status quo to do so. Parks Season 7 could be a disaster, quite frankly. It has a lot to juggle, and it could just outright fail to do so, in the way that something like Scrubs' final season did. But it could also take the lead of Community and Archer and be a serious breath of fresh air after a season of diminishing returns. And even if it's not, I'd rather see a season that tried and failed than another year that recycled old plots and sitcom tropes over and over again, like the show would likely do if it kept its status quo for another year. Sure, it means we miss out on a few aspects of the characters' lives, but it's a small sacrifice to make for what I think will be ultimately a much more interesting show. (Also, if your idea of a good season is one that includes a Leslie Knope pregnancy plotline, we may have very different views of what a good season of television is). This finale gave was a very nice way to end Parks & Rec as we know it, a show that was once one of the best things on television. But this season has proved that the story of that Parks & Rec is over, and while I'll always treasure the memories I had with that show, I'm excited to see what's next.
Final Grade: B
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