Parks and Recreation: Moving Up (6x21/22)

I know that Parks and Recreation is renewed for at least one more season, but honestly... this would have been such a great series finale. I sort of wish it was over now, because I loved this episode, and it would have been such a nice way to go out. Let's take a look.

Leslie, Ben, and Andy go to San Fransisco for a National Parks Conference. Leslie gets to meet Michelle Obama! Ben helps convince her to take the job in Chicago. Back in Pawnee, Tom tries to open his restaurant much earlier than planned, to take advantage of the celebrities coming in for the Unity Concert. His first attempt goes very poorly, but April refuses to let him give up on his dream.

The Unity Concert is a big hit. Andy plays as Johnny Karate, but he admits to April that he misses playing in a band. April arranges it so that Mouse Rat can reunite and close out the show with a song about Little Sebastian! Tammi shows up and tries to harass Ron, but he has truly moved on and is happy with his new family. He even gets up on stage and plays the saxophone, finally outing himself as the mysterious Duke Silver.

Leslie tries to convince her employees to follow her to Chicago, since she can hire three people for her new office. However, none of them accept the offer. Tom reopens his restaurant with better results, and is therefore able to survive even without the investors he thought he needed.

A subplot shows Ben trying to get free WiFi for Pawnee. At first he can't seem to get in with the company who's offering the prize, but he then discovers that they're huge fans of Cones of Dunshire, the game he created, and he's able to get Pawnee the free WiFi.

In the end, Leslie convinces her new boss to let her stay in Pawnee and have her job, thus moving the seat of the office to Pawnee. The show flashes forward three years in the future, and we see Leslie and Ben very successfully doing their jobs with the same old people from Pawnee. They have their triplet children, and are very happy.

Do I have problems? Well, honestly, my biggest complaint is that this wrapped up pretty much every conceivable loose end on the show. Every character is squared away and happy. There were tons of references to past events and jokes. We know definitively that Leslie becomes a huge success and has a great family. So... how are they going to keep going from here? It's going to have to be a considerable revamp of the show in order to keep things interesting. And don't get me wrong - I'm beyond happy to see Leslie and everybody else get their dreams, but did they settle things too soon? What's left for next season?

I also have my usual little quibbles. I just don't find Gary/Jerry/Larry funny, no matter what they do with him. I thought the presence of Tammi was unnecessary and didn't make for any real jokes.

There's also the tiniest part of me that wishes Leslie had actually moved away. Her love for Pawnee has been the cornerstone of this show for so long. Wouldn't it have been interesting to actually tear Leslie away from that, and see what possibilities that unleashed? However, I think ultimately it was smart to keep the story in Pawnee, and I get why they did it.

The positives are too many to count. I loved that Little Sebastian got a shout out. I loved that Michelle Obama had a cameo. I loved that Tom's restaurant opening didn't do so well at first but ultimately succeeded. I love that Ron made chairs for the restaurant. I loved that Ben took Leslie through a National Park to help convince her to take the job. I loved that Cones of Dunshire became a popular game. I loved April being supportive of Andy. I loved Andy reuniting with Mouse Rat. I loved the entire Unity Concert. I loved that Jamm was trying to hold a secession rally in protest of the town's merger, but that it doesn't go anywhere.

Ultimately, this episode was just really fun. It hit all the right notes. It was sweet without being overly sentimental, it wrapped up a lot of story lines while still keeping things fresh... I'm just really appreciative of this episode and everything it accomplished.

While I'm slightly worried about what they're going to do for the next season, I'm still excited to see it!

9/10