Recap / Parks And Recreation S 07 E 1213

Leslie: I'm ready.

Everyone is gathered at the Parks and Recreation office, throwing a farewell party before they all part ways. As everyone says goodbye, a resident comes in to complain about a broken swing and asks if it can be fixed. Leslie decides that they can do one last job together to help Pawnee, and goes about doing that. They first obtain a form from Donna, who is shown in the future to still be happily married to Joe, as well as successful at maintaining her real estate business in Seattle. However, Joe's school is facing budget cuts and is about to get rid of the mathematics programs. Rather than go on another travel adventure together, Donna decides to enlist April's help in using her wealth to set up a non-profit for Joe to run called Teach Yo Self.

During an encounter with Craig, Leslie tells him how proud she is of the work he's done and that she's glad to be leaving the Pawnee Parks and Rec Department to his leadership. Craig's future shows that he's become a lounge singer for Tom's Bistro. One night, after a performance, Tom tells Craig that a stranger has sent him a drink. The stranger turns out to be Typhoon and Craig decides to finally give things a shot. They begin a relationship and eventually get married, with Ron serving as Typhoon's best man. Decades later, they are happily partaking on an underwater cruise. Craig asks if Typhoon has any regrets, who replies that he has none. When Typhoon asks Craig the same question, Craig replies he has lots and begins ranting about ordering the trout, to which Typhoon smiles.

Leslie goes up to the fourth floor with Andy and April to get the form approved by Ethel Beavers. Leslie says she'll miss having April and Andy around, but promises that they'll still keep in touch when she and Ben come by Washington DC. In the future, April and Andy are roleplaying as Janet Snakehole and Burt Macklin on Halloween. After sending some trick-or-treaters off, Andy tells April that he wants to start a family, but April does not want to bring a child into the world, even though she doesn't mind the things her body would have to go through during pregnancy. The two then visit Ben and Leslie, and Andy is visibly disappointed when he discovers the triplets aren't home. Ben then talks to Andy separately, reassuring him that April will come around soon. Alone, April tells Leslie that she doesn't want kids because she's afraid of the big changes it will bring and feels that her and Andy's life currently is perfect as is, but Leslie points out that people have kids not to make their lives perfect, but because she and Andy are a team and they could have new team members. A year later, April is seen going into delivery in the hospital with her Halloween make-up on. The two become proud parents to a son and decide to name him Jack. Leslie and Ben become Jack's godparents.

After getting the forms approved, Leslie and Tom go to another department. As they say goodbye to each other, Tom's future is revealed. On the same night Craig meets Typhoon, Tom discusses with Ben, Ron, and Donna a new proposal to expand his bistro business all over the country. However, the venture failed a few years later after the stock market tanked and America ran out of beef, and Tom has gone bankrupt. Depressed at his failures, he's become despondent and stuck in his glory days. After some encouragement from Lucy, however, Tom bounces back, becoming a motivational speaker and publishing a successful self-help book about how to succeed after a failure.

On their way to the department, Tom and Leslie run into Jean-Ralphio along the way. Jean-Ralphio asks Leslie for help in his newest scheme, only for her to politely shoot him down. She nevertheless wishes him a long and happy life. In the future, Jean-Ralphio has died, and people are gathered around his gravestone, listening to his favorite song as per his will. However, Jean-Ralphio is still alive, and faked his death to claim insurance money with Mona Lisa. He is then discovered, due to his dancing and singing, and runs away as his mourners chase him.

Tom and Leslie discover the department they're trying to reach is closed on Fridays. They go to Garry for help. As Interim Mayor, he's able to pull some strings. Leslie says goodbye to Garry and the future shows that after a massive write-in during the election, Garry is officially voted in as the Mayor of Pawnee. He holds the position for ten terms before he passes away shortly after his 100th birthday, surrounded by his large loving family. Leslie and Ben attend his funeral, with Secret Service members surrounding them, suggesting that at least one of them has become the President of the United States. Garry's tombstone is misspelled as "Garry Girgich"; Ben points this out and Leslie states it's "close enough".

At the park, Leslie has an interview with Shauna Mulwae-Tweep. Leslie reassures Shauna that she'll find happiness eventually. And she does - after being left at the altar by her fiance, a crying Shauna crosses paths with Bobby Newport, who comforts her. They get married a few hours later.

Ron helps to fix the broken swing in the park. Once he's done, he and Leslie share a moment. A few years after this, Ron decides to leave his job at Very Good Construction, leaving it to his brother. He finds that he is once more at a personal crossroad. Deciding not to make the same mistake again, he visits Leslie for advice. They meet again at the National Park that Leslie succeeded in building, where Leslie tells him that she has pulled some strings and is offering Ron the job of superintendent. Although Ron has his reservations, Leslie convinces him to take the job, as it gives him the quiet time he likes while spending time in nature. Ron accepts the job and greets the other rangers under him before paddling away happily on a canoe in the lake.

Leslie and Ben talk about the future and their hopes and worries. At a gala in Washington DC, both Leslie and Ben are approached to run for governor of Indiana separately. The two are unsure of what to do and decide to discuss it when they return to Pawnee for a visit. Ben surprises Leslie in Pawnee: not only has he gathered everyone at the old Parks and Rec department office, but he has also invited Ann and Chris. Everyone catches up: April reveals she is pregnant with a second child, Ann and Leslie are excited that their children are befriending each other and might end up dating, and Chris gets a fear of cancer. However, neither Ben nor Leslie get a chance to discuss their situation with anyone. They both decide to flip a coin before everyone to decide, but as Leslie is about to announce their situation, Ben declares that Leslie is running for governor, deciding not to compete with Leslie. Later, Leslie, who's served for two terms as governor of Indiana, speaks at a commencement ceremony at Indiana State University. She concludes her speech by telling everyone to "go find your team, and then get to work". The university president then announces that they will be naming their new library after Leslie, much to her displeasure.

The swing is fixed and everyone is set to go their separate ways. However, Garry asks for a picture for Gayle, so they pose for one last picture together. As they're taking the picture, Ben asks Leslie, "You ready, babe?" and she replies, "Yes, I'm ready."

Tropes:

• And the Adventure Continues: The flashforwards show the various ways the characters continue to achieve new things as their lives unfold.
• Attending Your Own Funeral: Jean-Ralphio and Mona-Lisa hide behind a tree at Jean-Ralphio's outdoor funeral after faking his death for the insurance money. Both twins are quickly discovered after they stupidly blow their cover.
• Babies Ever After: For Andy and April, who decide to have children in the future. Ann and Chris are also revealed to have had a second child, a daughter named after Leslie, in the future.
• Back for the Finale: Ann and Chris visit in one of the flashforwards, and announce that they're moving back to Pawnee. Many other side characters appear as well, including Shauna Mulwae-Tweep (who finally finds romantic happiness), Bobby Newport (who gets together with Shauna), and Brandi Maxxxx (who achieves her goal of attaining public office as City Council president). Notably, this is averted for Mark, proving to be the final nail in the coffin of his Chuck Cunningham Syndrome.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: In a scene at Jerry's hundredth birthday party, Jerry is surrounded by his wife, daughters, sons-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His wife and daughters do not appear to have aged a day (especially notable as all the daughters' husbands are grey-haired old men).
• Broken Aesop: In the producer's cut of the episode, after Leslie declares the swing getting fixed as "local government at its very best", Ron points out that most of them are now private citizens and Leslie herself overreached her authority as a federal government employee, meaning the real lesson is that local government is ineffective. Leslie tells him to be quiet.
• Call-Back: Several.
  • Leslie expresses Tranquil Fury when the University of Indiana names their school library after her.
    (whispers through a fake smile) "A (bleep)ing library?!"
  • Ron at one point stated that, to him, the National Parks Department is the only branch of government that doesn't completely suck. Leslie helps get him a job supervising the Pawnee National Park, with Willie Nelson's "Buddy" (the song that played during Leslie and Ron's reconciliation in "Leslie & Ron") playing in the background.
  • The man who comes in to tell the Parks and Rec Department that a swing is broken is the same man who was stuck in the slide in the pilot.
• Clip Show: Inverted. The gang gets back together for one final adventure and Leslie reminisces of past times they've worked together. Her memories don't lead into montages of clips from past shows, but instead, we get to see several flash-forwards of the characters' lives. There is a quick sequence at the end of the episode of Leslie reminiscing on the department's escapades though.
• Distant Finale: The episode jumps between the present day and the future at different intervals for each character, with 2048 being the furthest seen.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Donna and Ann are sporting colored streaks in the flash-forwards.
• Faking the Dead: Jean-Ralphio fakes his own death, intending to take the money and start a casino in Tajikistan. Of course, he and Mona Lisa end up getting caught by the Rabbi during his "funeral".
• Grand Finale: The show's characters are about to go their separate ways en route to accomplishing their goals and dreams, and as they say goodbye to each other, it is intercut with flashforwards to their happy futures.
• Flashback B-Plot: Flash forward, more accurately - as each character takes a role in the last job to fix a broken swing set, they get a lengthy look into what their lives will be like in the future.
• Flash Forward: Between the characters performing one last job together as a team, glimpses are seen into their future lives.
• Grow Old with Me: Craig and Typhoon's flash-forward shows them as senior citizens and still happily married to each other.
• Happily Married:
  • The show's official couples (Ben/Leslie, Andy/April, Garry/Gayle, Chris/Ann, Tom/Lucy, Ron/Diane, and Donna/Joe) stay happily married as far as we see.
  • Craig and Typhoon become this later on.
  • As do Shauna Mulwae-Tweep and Bobby Newport, after the former was left at the altar (in a deleted scene).
• Heads or Tails?: When Ben and Leslie are separately asked to run for Governor, Leslie seriously proposes they flip a coin. Ben lampshades how out of character this is for her.
• Left Hanging: The fact that Ben and Leslie are accompanied by Secret Service detail at Garry's funeral hints at one of them becoming President or Vice President of the US, but we get nothing conclusive on the matter. Word of God confirms this was deliberate.
• Like Father, Like Son: A photograph shows that Ron's son John is just like his dad in looks and demeanor.
• No-Paper Future: Pawnee City Hall has apparently gone paperless by 2017. Ethel Beavers still accepts Leslie's paper requisition form but points out how old-fashioned it is.
• Notary Nonsense: In Garry's Distant Finale future, he became mayor of Pawnee and lived to 100, with the scene showing his funeral. As a member of the "Indiana Notary Society", he receives their most coveted honor at his funeral — a 21-stamp salute.
• One Nation Under Copyright: Implied; in the far future, the characters live in the "Corporate States of America". Though given the man who was saying this was decrying how Garry's constant reelection as mayor is indicative of how the "entrenched powers hold all the cards", it could be taken as a joke with a grain of salt.
• Overly Long Name: Andy and April's son's full name is Burt Snakehole Ludgate Karate Dracula Macklin Demon Jack-o-Lantern Dwyer. They call him "Jack" for short.
• Pair the Spares: Shauna Mulwae-Tweep and Bobby Newport. They get married just a few hours after meeting each other.
• Rewatch Bonus: It's easy to miss the first time, but in the scene where Donna and April are telling Joe about "Teach Yo'Self", April is visibly pregnant.
• Shipper on Deck: Leslie becomes excited when she sees her and Ben's daughter interacting with Ann and Chris' son, hoping the two will fall in love with each other. Ann tells her not to look too approving of it.
• Universally Beloved Leader: In the greatest kind of Throw the Dog a Bone fashion, Garry was so beloved as Intermediary Mayor by the people of Pawnee that he was voted in for real and occupied the position for the rest of his life.
• With Catlike Tread: The Saperstien sibling's "don't be suspicious" song and dance after faking their own death, at their funeral, maybe 20ft from the congregation. Naturally, it immediately blows their cover.