Treat Yo Self With the 30 Best Episodes of Parks and Recreation

The secret to the enduring success of “Parks and Recreation”? The show excelled at putting characters comically at odds with one another, while building unlikely bonds. It also understood how to play emotional moments with genuine sincerity, using comedy bits to underscore, but not dilute the sentiment. And it celebrated well-intentioned, if not always successful, civic efforts and the power of positivity without overt cynicism.

But perhaps most importantly, it knew how to populate Pawnee with fresh, funny and comforting elements that resembled the silliest parts of the communities we know: Treat Yo’ Self Day, Galentine’s Day, Li’l Sebastian, Mouse Rat, Duke Silver, Gryzzl, Johnny Karate, the Cones of Dunshire, “Money Please!” and so much more. All of these elements are on exemplary display in this collection of the 30 most essential episodes of the sitcom that made government feel good before we knew we needed it.

Soulmates
Season 3, Episode 10
When Leslie’s online dating experiment suggests Tom as a match, he’s explored as a possible romantic interest (after all, he’s uniquely obnoxious, but not unlikeable), underscoring Leslie’s growing connection to Ben. Meanwhile, the burger cook-off between meat-venerating Ron and health nut Chris is sitcom gold.
End of the World
Season 4, Episode 6
A model of balancing a Pawnee civic problem with character evolution, the episode plays out Lesley’s efforts to placate a local doomsday cult’s call for an all-night vigil against her attempt to steer Ben away from potential romantic interest Shauna. Meanwhile April and Andy’s bond deepens, hilariously, as they check off items from his very particular bucket list.
Doppelgangers
Season 6, Episode 4
In an inspired sustained gag, the personalities of the Eagleton and Pawnee parks teams clash when the departments merge — most hilariously Ron and the similar-at-first-blush Eagleton Ron, brilliantly played by Sam Elliott. Capping things off is the deftly bittersweet reveal of Ann and Chris’ impending move to Michigan.
Leslie vs. April
Season 5, Episode 7
A rift in Leslie and April’s mentor/apprentice relationship fuels the episode, with off-ramps into pure hilarity. We witness the first instance of Ben’s always-brief stints at a Pawnee accounting firm, headed by one of most reliably delightful recurring characters, Barney Varmn, and Leslie’s first meeting with political (and sex) idol Joe Biden.
The Debate
Season 4, Episode 20
As Leslie’s put to the public test against city council rival Bobby Newport, the show makes the case for her growing political acumen. Guest star Paul Rudd is the embodiment of a popular, but empty politico, and there’s especially giddy turns from debate moderators Perd Hapley and Joan Callamezzo.
Ann and Chris
Season 6, Episode 13
A fine example of the show serving its gooey emotional cake alongside some silliness, Leslie looks for the perfect symbolic goodbye gift for Ann, while the Parks men scramble to send Chris off with something as sentimental as his parting presents to them.
Eagleton
Season 3. Episode 12
Adding real, comic definition to Pawnee’s long-feuding neighboring community, the episode finds a genuinely well-matched rival for Leslie in ex-bestie Lindsay Carlisle Shay (an ideally cast Parker Posey), showcases Leslie’s ability to pivot from score-settling to problem-solving, and delivers a crucial evolution in her deepening friendship with intimacy-(and birthday-)averse Ron.
The Comeback Kid
Season 4, Episode 11
Leslie’s campaign relaunch contains arguably the series’ finest sight gag, as she and her staff gingerly baby-step on skates across an ice rink to kick off the occasion, while Gloria Estefan’s pump-up anthem “Get on Your Feet” plays on repeat. Plus the debut of Champion, April and Andy’s three-legged rescue dog!
Two Funerals
Season 7, Episode 11
The series’ penultimate episode sets up some crucial impending departures while tying up looser ends, when Pawnee’s longtime mayor (played to throwaway perfection by Bill Murray) dies, while Ron mourns the passing of his barber. Both losses spark hilariously anxious bids for replacements, with surprising results.
Ron and Diane
Season 5, Episode 9
Amid an amusing A-story featuring the always-welcome return of Ron’s cruel ex Tammy (Megan Mullally) as his relationship with Diane hits a peak, there lies a genuinely uproarious subplot in which Jerry’s secret, unbelievably perfect homelife — including his wife Gail (Christie Brinkley) — is revealed to his co-workers’ shock and awe.
2017
Season 7, Episode 1
The deftly executed time-hop three years into the future reshuffles the deck and sets the stage, and plot threads, for the incredibly strong final season, including the startling revelation that Leslie — now a parks director for the Midwest region — and Ron — who’s left government to open his own construction firm — are bitter enemies. Meanwhile, April struggles with her newfound sense of normalcy.
94 Meetings
Season 2, Episode 21
The series hit its stride with this one: April mistakenly schedules dozens of meetings she’d been deflecting for Ron on a single day. Their efforts to power through them reveal the anti-social bond they share. Also, the April-Andy romance faces a crucial moment.
Media Blitz
Season 3, Episode 5
Faced with a maddening media gauntlet during her city council campaign that includes shock-jocks Crazy Ira and The Douche in their debut appearances, Leslie’s loyalties are put to the test when Ben’s traumatic teen tenure as mayor is questioned. Andy and Ron take drastic measures to keep April from following Chris to Indianapolis as his assistant.
The Fight
Season 3, Episode 13
The supportive beauty of the Leslie-Ann friendship is tested by Leslie’s overbearing attempts to push Ann into a city hall job. Tom’s potent Snake Juice brings them to a drunken boiling point.
Ron and Tammy: Part II
Season 3, Episode 4
A sequel episode just about equal to the original finds Tom caught in the middle of disastrous duo Ron and Tammy’s latest tumultuous encounter, made all the more hysterical by real-life couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally’s boundaryless comedic chemistry. Additional pleasures: Ben’s growing romantic interest in Leslie, and the clash of Chris and April’s workplace styles.
London
Season 6, Episodes 1 & 2
The supersized episode offers one of the show’s best change-of-venue outings, filled with memorable bits, including the uber-satisfying Ron and Diane pregnancy-reveal-turned-whirlwind-wedding, the unlikely friendship of Andy and Lord Edgar Covington (Peter Serafinowicz), Europe-loathing Ron’s excursion to a Scottish distillery and Tom’s misfortunes at the hands of the dysfunctional Saperstein family.
Halloween Surprise
Season 5, Episode 5
Jerry’s impossible-not-to-laugh-at “fart attack” alone elevates this episode to classic status, but it’s also filled with landmark emotional moments, including a trick-or-treat trip with Diane’s kids that leaves Ron pondering if he has room in his life for family. Then there’s Ben’s moving proposal to Leslie – and her inimitable reaction to it.
Win, Lose, or Draw
Season 4, Episode 22
Along with the expected laughs, two compelling ticking-clock dilemmas are built into this episode — whether Leslie will emerge victorious in her city council campaign, and whether Ben will accept another job that keeps him in D.C. for months. Of course, the results are potentially at odds with each other.
Ms. Knope Goes to Washington
Season 5, Episode 1
The gravitational pull toward D.C. grows stronger, but Leslie’s failure to set a meeting drives her to distraction — so much so that the glory of meeting her political heroes Barbara Boxer, Olympia Snowe and John McCain (playing themselves) is lost on her. In Pawnee, an employee barbeque gone awry provides for an epic Ron meltdown.
Moving Up
Season 6, Episode 21/22
The ambitious sixth season finale sets the stage for the final season, as Leslie and Tom face major professional crossroads. Memorable guest spots abound. Most notably, Michelle Obama discombobulates Leslie in their comedic, but inspiring encounter; musical artists real and fictional join the unexpected combo of Mouse Rat and Duke Silver at the Unity Concert; and Jon Hamm makes the show’s briefest, but most comedically effective cameo.
Ron and Tammy
Season 2, Episode 8
The unbridled vitriol/carnal obsession that fuels Ron and Tammy’s hellish relationship pushes the series into a higher comic plane. Mullally transforms from seemingly stable librarian to full-on succubus with wicked glee, Offerman adroitly reveals Ron’s unexpected vulnerabilities, and Amy Poehler’s palpable horror as caught-in-the-middle Leslie seals the deal.
Andy and April’s Fancy Party
Season 3, Episode 9
Probably the silliest yet swooniest of the show’s romantic episodes, with April and Andy emerging, despite (or perhaps because of) their respective eccentricities, as the show’s most uncomplicated and clearly-meant-to-be pair. It also offers an equally starry-eyed advancement of the Leslie-Ben coupling.
Pawnee Rangers
Season 4, Episode 4
A delightfully funny exploration of gender norms plays out as Leslie launches a girls-only scouting group, the Pawnee Goddesses, as a counterpoint to Ron’s exclusionary boys’ troop, tempting away the boys alienated by Ron’s severe self-reliance lessons. And Ben is schooled in treat yo’ self indulgences by Tom and Donna.
Leslie and Ben
Season 5, Episode 14
Another romantic highlight that also gives the characters a challenge that requires all their skills and teamwork to complete – the very heart and soul of the show. That the task at hand is getting Leslie and Ben to the altar at top speed makes it even more appealing.
Li’l Sebastian
Season 3, Episode 16
Everything the series does well it does to perfection here: an outrageous set piece, in Tom’s Entertainment 720 office; amusing/appalling Tammy hijinks, enhancing the Ron-Leslie friendship; romantic complications between couples; loopy sight gags, involving lighter fluid and Ron’s facial hair; a juicy cliffhanger, introducing Tammy 1; and expanding local mythology, culminating with Mouse Rat’s unforgettable tribute song honoring Pawnee’s beloved celebrity mini-horse.
Leslie & Ron
Season 7, Episode 4
Less savvy series would’ve tried to play out the co-workers’ feuds throughout the final season, but it reaches a perfectly timed climax here, and concludes both uproariously and touchingly, thanks to modulated performances by Poehler and Offerman.
One Last Ride
Season 7, Episodes 12 and 13
Series finales are notoriously tricky beasts, but this one ranks as one of the most satisfying goodbyes. Delivering on comedy and sentiment, it’s also a stylishly structured bit of storytelling. Everyone gets an inventive and fitting future-glimpse send-off — and there’s one last gem of a gag with the parks department’s eternal rival.
Flu Season
Season 3, Episode 2
The self-effacing comedy potential of uber-healthy Chris Traeger — and actor Rob Lowe — is fully realized, just one of the comic highs achieved as a flu epidemic strikes Pawnee. Leslie’s relentless strength of will to soldier through her own sickness — and subsequent submission — is another.
Hunting Trip
Season 2, Episode 10
The first great “Parks” episode to fully utilize the entire cast together offers hysterical explorations of gender politics when Leslie insists that the female staffers (and Tom) join Ron’s annual male-bonding hunting expedition, which takes a disastrous turn. And the early seeds of the Andy-April romance sprout back at the office.
Harvest Festival
Season 3, Episode 7
The series’ ne plus ultra, capping off the simmering festival plotline, offers perfect “Parks” ingredients — a crucial relationship test, a seemingly uphill civic battle, big personal stakes — but what cements its status as an all-time classic is the introduction of Li’l Sebastian and the reverence he inspires among the Pawnee community.

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Treat Yo Self With the 30 Best Episodes of Parks and Recreation

Soulmates

End of the World

Doppelgangers

Leslie vs. April

The Debate

Ann and Chris

Eagleton

The Comeback Kid

Two Funerals

Ron and Diane

2017

94 Meetings

Media Blitz

The Fight

Ron and Tammy: Part II

London

Halloween Surprise

Win, Lose, or Draw

Ms. Knope Goes to Washington

Moving Up

Ron and Tammy

Andy and April’s Fancy Party

Pawnee Rangers

Leslie and Ben

Li’l Sebastian

Leslie & Ron

One Last Ride

Flu Season

Hunting Trip

Harvest Festival

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