Why This Episode Of Parks And Recreation Is Perfection 

Season 2 absolutely deserves some credit as the show's turning point :) The shift in its tone and characterizations is unmistakable. All the same, you are so right about Harvest Fest being especially notable in its quality not just as an episode, but as the foundation for the type of story that would continue to unfold.

What? Season 1 isn't great, but I've never heard anyone say you have to "power through" Season 2.

I feel like it only took the first season for Parks and Rec to find it’s footing, once season 2 rolled around everything feels homogeneous. The people of Pawnee have been a pain since season 1

I'm kinda blown away you discredited season 2 so hard, considering that is when the show really starts to change and make you like its characters. Seems a bit silly just to justify the video's thesis.

Adding Chris and Ben LITERALLY fixed the show

Powering through to 3.7 is pretty harsh IMO. Sure season 1 doesnt distinguish itself from the Office, but the character writing is strong and it’s laying foundations. Season 2 is a good season. Not the best of them all, but you’re certainly not powering through it

I've always liked Season 4 Episode 11 "The Comeback Kid." The ice rink scene is one of my favorites in the series as well as Ben's Avatar-rivaling epic claymation film.

I always said that I liked P&R more than The Office, because the characters love each other more, try to outdo each other in kindness. I never thought about their role as government employees factoring into that, but it makes so much sense. People in corporations can be bad at their jobs, but we don’t want to be reminded of that at the government level.

For me it was after the first season. Those first 6 episodes are ROUGH. After that I fell in love with the show. Leslie turns the crew from office workers to a lovable bunch. All the cameos were just amazing and everyone they kept bringing in just clicked. I even loved the Ralphios. Their crazy selfs 😂😂😂

Season one is rough Season two is when it starts getting better. Season three it became the best show on tv.

I swear Ron's reaction when he sees little Sebastian is probably one of the funniest moments of this entire series!! 1:59

I LOVE season 3 episode 2 Flu Season - specifically, I love the scene towards the end where Leslie gives a *perfect* speech after being completely incomprehensible from the flu and her medicine overdose. That's one of the first major signs of her character change, that she is smart and capable even under the worst of circumstances. ... We also get to see Ben's impressed face :)

I love the Office but Parks n Rec is so much better, imo. It’s like a live action Simpsons in a way, where the town as a whole becomes the one of the main characters. Masterpiece of a show.

A lot of credit to the cast as well. Once they found their characters every character in the show was gold

Parks and rec is one of those few shows where each season gets progressively better

The episode "Greg Pikitis" is when show finally clicked personally. It's still one of my favourite episodes. Season 2 has a lot of bangers IMO, but it does become more itself in Season 3.

I loved Parks and Rec from the beginning. I never understood why some people say to start with season 3. Leslie was always a smart, competent, and more interesting Michael Scott. The towns folk were always the antagonist. I usually like these videos, but I disagree with this one a lot.

I'm sorry but it didn't take that long for the show to get good. Did it get better? Of course, but it got good in season 2.

I would actually say that from the episode that Ben and Chris are introduced, the show feels different. Balanced. And flu season is truly, in my opinion, one of the top 3 episodes of the show. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve rewatched it. Touching on the addition of Ben and Chris might be a more universal turning point for the series, in my opinion.

0:15 Fun fact: Leslie isn't actually in charge of the Parks Dept. Ron's the boss. He just doesn't care.

S4E6 "End of the World" has always been my favorite episode of this show and maybe, imo, the best episode of any show to air on television. It makes me cry every time.

For me, it was “the comeback kid”. That ice rink scene and Ben’s stop motion movie was comedy GOLD. You fans know what I’m talking about 😉

Now I know why my wife hates this show. She was turned off by the first season and never returned. I, on the other hand, watched only from sometime around Season 3 and beyond. Maybe it’s time we watched it together for the seasons where the show finally found its way into the hearts of the audience.

It's a great episode but imo the show found its footing the moment Ben and Chris showed up

My favorite show of all time. Season 2 gets better and better. And then quality of the show keeps going up until an amazing final season.

Looking through the list of Season 2 episodes, I highly disagree that it wasn't until Season 3 that the show found it's footing. In fact, I'd argue that it was as early as Season 2 Episode 7 Greg Pikitis that we started getting a few all-time classic episodes. I mean that episode in and of itself is hilarious and great, but then shortly after you get Ron and Tammy, Hunting Trip, Tom's Divorce, Sweetums, Galentine's Day, Woman of the Year, The Possum, 94 Meetings, and Telethon, all of which can be argued to be among the series' best.

Season 3?… No episode 1 of season 2 was the start

Umm yea season 1 isn’t great but how is season 2 hard to watch?

Really doing season 2 dirty

s1 gets a bad rep but its such an amazing show from start to finish imo !! s7ep4 "leslie and ron" always makes me cry bc i treasure those characters so much... this show inspired me to work in local government actually ! so its very dear to me

That’s what makes the sauce so awesome

This is one of my Favorite channels on RU-vid

I loved it since day One. It was a goofy show, yet absolutely adorable.

Fantastic showcase and outline of this turnaround and absolutely priceless to hear about a show that became much more popular after it decided to become positive!!

Great pick! Mine will always be, "End of the World, which does a great job of showcasing the characters by showing their reaction to the believed end of the world by a cult. Highlights are Ron, the stalwart capitalist, bilking the cult, who's all too happy to pay because of the world ends, they'll never have to pay their credit bills and Andy fulfilling as bucket list (including looking at the Grand Canyon and wondering where the faces are).

Season 2, Episode 5 - Sister City I think is when the show starts to turn the corner and it is the show’s first perfect episode. Parks and Rec has MANY perfect episodes and Sister City is the first truly flawless one. Then of course the show really took off of course when the characters of Ben and Chris join the cast (and the boring character of Mark is jettisoned.)

This episode is when I went from liking the show to loving it. Because of the style of humor that was pervasive at the time, I expected that the Harvest Festival would fail in a big, catastrophic, cringe-fest. When it didn't and, in fact, succeeded amazingly, I realized the show was going to let these characters grow, and I absolutely wanted to grow with them!

Parks and Rec might be the only show that kept getting better and better as it went on, even the last season is fantastic!

Yeah.. Ron and Tammy episodes are the best.. and it all started in season 2.. everybody knows parks and rec got good in season 2..

Flu Season is probably my favorite episode of the series.

Omg, I rewatched this episode last night, I swear 😭 This episode was one of perfection 😀

Media Blitz is probably my favorite episode of the show. it’s so fucking funny

Sorry, gonna take a lot more convincing arguments to persuade me that the best episode of Parks isn’t The Comeback Kid (s4e10)

Nah, after the first few episodes the show really picks up, season two was great and so was all of season 3

Wow I usually agree with this channel but saying you need to power through the second season is a very strange take imo

In my opinion, Parks and Rec gets good once they purge Mark Brandanowitz and bring in Ben Wyatt and Chris Traeger. It brings a purpose to everyone's character

Season 2 has many of the best episodes of the series, who the fuck needs to "power through" it?

Well it looks like it’s time for another rewatch of Parks & Rec

Are you sure you watched the series? Season 2 is not one to rush through. From the moment Leslie starts singing "Parents Just Don't Understand" it's clear there's been a shift in tone and there's some great episodes in season 2. "Greg Pikitis" being one of my favourites.

You can absolutely make the argument that this is the best episode of Parks and Rec, but this absolutely NOT when the show gets good. It's not fantastic in season 1, but pretty much everyone agrees the show is good from Season 2 on, improving even more so in Season 3 with the introduction of Chris and Ben as permanent cast members. You don't need to "power through" all the way to Harvest Festival to start enjoying the show.

Gotta disagree with you there, it was season 2 that made the show good, they made Leslie less of a crazy and more of a person who cared, while making the Pawnee's citizens the crazies. All the characters found their footing in season 2.

I think S2 gets too much flack. Hunting Trip is my favorite episode, it really solidifies the cast, and gives birth to the April/Andy romance

Glad to see so many people agreeing that you don't have to power through until Season 3

I disagree about powering through to episode 7 of season 3. Season one wasn't great but it was all produced in a short period of time. Season two got better and better as the season went on. When Chris Traeger and Ben Wyatt show up at the end of season two the show really starts to take off.

Disagree that Harvest Festival is the turning point. The turning point is somewhere in the later half of Season 2 where in they started to have banger after banger meaningful episodes.

Everyone was perfect in the show, you would not change a single casting. I always want to pick a fav and hard not to go with Ron or Leslie, but I mean Donna always steals the scene. But how can you not love Andy and April...

I'm so sad I just found out that the show isn't on Netflix anymore literally about an hour before this episode came out. However I do love this RU-vid channel so this does soften the blow of today a little.

Even more unpopular opinion, I love the first season. I think it was really strong, if slow

This is also my favorite episode. I knew exactly which episode the video would be about as soon as I read the title.

I cannot say this enough: Parks and Rec is my absolute favorite show. I've watched it in its entirety at least a dozen full runs and have no intention of stopping. While the office has a pretty strong bell curve of quality, Parks and Rec, IMO, has an upward curve of greatness, only mildly dipping near the very end with some somewhat off-shoot episodes to wrap up the series. The fact that it shifts more from a "mockumentary" to the cast just addressing the audience as if they are, in fact, there, is brilliant and the small cookie crumbs of plot details left in the early seasons that play out later on are absolutely brilliant (i.e., Leslie's blind date with Will Arnet where he says she could have triplets with an oven like that, only to have that play out later on, etc.)

I think season 2 is pretty strong, give it a little credit

I usually skip the first season on rewatches. Season 2 is already pretty solid and Flu Season is the first highlight of season 3.

Season 2 is great and I do not care what anyone says

The biggest miss for me is not having a spin-off mini-series called Library showcasing the library’s side and having Leslie play the “good-meaning, optimistic” antagonist. Would’ve been completely hilarious, but also shine some light on how libraries can also be fascinating in the background (with quirky staff, impossible patrons, and classic attempts of trying to be “to hip” when it’s not needed).

Parks and Rec had clicked way earlier than S3E07. It could be argued to be a few different episodes but I think it was S2E20, the telethon episode. If not then it was the next episode when Ben and Chris joined. Even if it wasn’t perfect yet, you definitely don’t have to power through season two. The whole season was great.

Great episode but to me the perfect episode is season 4 episode 8 smallest park

Parks and Rec is great from season 2 on

I loved season 2, I’ve never had to power through it

I don't advocate powering through. I advocate fully skipping season 1. You really don't miss anything.

this man said to power through season 2 lmao

Lol I actually thought Pawnee was a real city 😅 it sound's legit.

This show deserves more love

my two fav characters the first time I watched was Ben and Chris so I was on board right at the beginning of s3 and the progression to this episode was nice. I love how the concept of the show allows for cameos of different residents like Perd, Joan, or the two hilariously annoying siblings. I always space on their names lol its very much like the MCU. they focus on the ensemble cast and their do good spirit while the villains though many are always defeated and never to be heard of again and then theres the few consistent annoying ones like Joan lol

From what i know, they wrote season 1 all at once and couldnt really change anything. But they immediately made changes to season 2. So even tho shorter run characters like mark are still around, the show already moved away from the awful office format. This episode was definitely a turning point tho!

Completely unrelated but truth ads make me instantly grab my vape so I think they missed the mark, but you know who doesn't miss mark me and the rest of the fans of this show BOOM BROUGHT IT BACK AROUND

For the algorithm. ✊

I love this guy

So it was lil Sebastion who carried

I still say that while the first season of Parks & Rec may feel like The Office 2, if you watch it now, it's still enjoyable and you see shades of the versions we love that the characters eventually turn into.

You really sold me on this being the perfect episode. I would’ve picked one of the last S2 episodes or Flu Season, but it really is this one

So much better than office.

I still think March 31st is the best episode because it showcases everyone's strongest traits

Nah, season 2 slaps. It's only season 1 that's a little rough and to say 30 episodes are rough is just a bad take .

loved the video! parks and rec is so heartwarming, almost therapy!

Flu season, Snake juice, Ben's proposal to Leslie and their wedding. And Flu season 2. Also Episodes with Tammy, Joan, Bernie from the accounting firm and the twins: Mona Lisa & Jean Ralphio. Aw man there are several more. I can’t list them all. Tom losing his driving privileges. Ron going off the grid. I sure do Miss watching it on Netflix.

Probably an unpopular opinion… I’m not that much of a fan of Leslie. Maybe it’s because she is very pro government, and I really don’t care for government, I think the government is incompetent and corrupt. That’s not a left vs right thing. I think both democrats and republicans are terrible. Maybe this show was hitting a nail on the head when it came to citizens not wanting help or something. I mean in real life people keep voting the same two ways hoping for different result… which sounds like the definition of insanity. But it’s not. But, when is see Leslie I start to understand what it’s like to be squidward every time SpongeBob ask him to go jellyfishing. I don’t hate her. But. Naturally I tend to be more of a fan of Ron Fucking Swanson. I know they were using him to make fun of libertarians but… I feel some of his views of government are fairly accurate. Also Andy, April, Tom and Ben are pretty good characters.

April's character development was essentially nonexistent. She mentally remains a teenager the entire show and it's annoying. Even in season 6, episode 3 when her and Ann go to vet school. Ann goes and April is still a terrible person to her, who can't act like an adult for even an hour at orientation. She acts horribly in DC with Ben. In season 7 episode 8, almost the end of the entire series... she STILL cannot have a SINGLE serious conversation with Leslie, who ends up being basically her best friend aside from Andy. Telling her to "look away" when she says something serious. Is sincere for literally 30 seconds and then goes into the "I've decided not to turn you into a sea urchin... I'm a witch with actual powers" nonsense. Her character development finished basically in season 2. She goes from shy teenager to weird 'adult-child'.

Nah. This idea is garbage. Spoken like someone who discovered it years after it was all on streaming and binged it as they played mobile game. There’s plenty of hilarious moments and strong episodes in season 2. I remember, as someone who watched it weekly when it was airing, that I said specifically said to myself in the middle of S2 EP ‘The Stakeout’…”ok, NOW this show is finally really funny”.

Pretty weird to say you have to power through until S3E7. In season 2 the show is already good and really hits its stride in S2E23, when Adam Scott and Rob Lowe are introduced. The thing that bothers me the most about saying you have to power through until S3E7 is that you totally skip what is, for me, the best episode of the series, Flu Season.

I usually start about halfway through season 2. Yes, season 3 is amazing and I agree it’s where it officially “clicks,” but I think season 2 is super important in bridging the gap between the first and third season. Plus season 2 is where we see Andy and April’s love story develop, and those last few episodes where they’re finally getting close to being together are so good!!

I would agree with harvest festival being an amazing episode. However, completely bashing season one, especially the very last episode, and negating season two is shocking. It looks like I’m not the only one here who feel similarly

Season 2. Hunting Party. Perfect. 2 and 3 are peak show. After that it got progressively overwrought and lost its peaceful fun. Once she was running for office the real, cynical world broke the show.

S1 isn't that great, but S2 is. It does take the season to change its tone. Yes, .ore background characters like Donna and Jerry only start getting an actual personality in S3 and the tone feels complete in that season, but the stories in S2 are already really good. My only gripe with the show is how suddenly Mark leaves, and then is treated to never have existed in the first place.

calling everything before harvest fest "30 episodes of a half-baked office lookalike" feels reductive. harvest fest is def one of the best eps, but i really feel that wasn't the turning point for the show. i always thought it found its footing in the beginning of season 2. Season 1 tho is def a half-baked office lookalike lol.

This show is fantastic, yall are tripping if only got good in season 3, and if anything i think the last season is the worst the time jump feels so pointless to me and the weird shitty cgi phones result in the whole season looking like what people back then thought the mordern ara would be like. I love this show but i really think that characters like Diane, Anne, Chris etc did not need to leave the plot and the time jump feels like it was ment to have Ron and Leslie's kids grow up so they could be characters, but they just become the setup for the driest humor in the show and rons kid is only ever shown in person on set in 1 episode why this show was going so well.

Writing off Season 2 is harsh. Yes, ratings were not great at the time and the introduction of Chris and Ben is what is credited as ‘saving’ the show, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t get good until Season 3. There’s lots of great stuff in Season 2 and you certainly don’t have to ‘power through’ it.

huh? what do you mean people had to power through all the episodes until S03E07? who are these people and what made them so hard to not enjoy S02? heck there are some bits off S01 that genuinely made me chuckle

Parks and recreation was one of best sitcmos 2010s it's has many where different yet funny characters who are funny together , I think that parks and recreation to be good from that episode where Leslie trying to caught that teen who made all that prank on Halloween.

And in my opinion I thing parks and rec is overall a better show than the office. I just find the main cast a lot more likable, mostly just cause I like Leslie so much more and is really refreshing to see as a main character in a show like this. And her relationship with Ben is super sweet.

Man I had to power through the first season of The Good Place. I didn't like it. Parks and Recreation I liked from the very beginning. I do think it got better but it was never a chore to watch.