Parks and Recreation’s Greatest Couples

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Parks and Rec: Fundraiser Edition

Thursday’s episode of Parks and Recreation featured a major progression towards Leslie’s dream coming true- the lot becoming a park. The trouble, of course, is money, as it requires $30,000 to make Leslie’s dream a reality. Councilman Jamm has the cash, and he wanted the Paunchburger to break ground. The competition is fierce, but Leslie and Ben have a strike of genius when they decide to dedicate their wedding registry to park materials, such as dedicated benches and playground materials.

Everyone is diligently helping out where they can. Donna is in charge of furniture logistics, Tom is looking for catering donations and Ben is the project manager overseeing it all. Leslie, Ann and Chris were looking forward to working hard on the project as well, but they were taken by surprise when an unexpected guest shows up. A man from the department of the emergency services is holding a drill- conveniently on that very day! Since emergencies are unexpected, so are the drills. Leslie is the Pawnee Emergency Czar, and she is crucial to leading the drill.

Due to Leslie, Chris and Ann’s absence, the show must go on with the rest of the crew planning on the outside. The crisis is selected as avian flu, and Chris is one of the citizens “infected.” Leslie and the other city council workers must notify the citizens as fast as the can and help a flustered animal control.

On the outside, Ben faces many challenges as project manager. Donna only had tables delivered and not chairs. Tom cannot find a caterer willing to donate tons of food for charity. Ron has to awkwardly stand in for Leslie on the Pawnee TV station, despite a hung over Joan Callamezzo, the TV anchorwoman. He tries his best to promote the fundraiser even though Joan is comatose in her interview chair.

Eventually, Leslie discovers that Councilman Jamm set up the emergency drill to purposely hinder the fundraiser. Leslie cares so much about the city of Pawnee, but she knows this drill is ready to be over. She conspires with Ann and Chris to kill the whole city with avian flu and end the drill. They instruct animal control to give the birds mouth to mouth resuscitation and tell people to go outdoors. The city is wiped out almost completely and the Emergency Services drill leader lets them leave.

They arrive to the fundraiser site to see that Ben, Ron, Tom, and Donna have gotten things all under control. Tom had the competitors of the fast food industry donate food to protest the Paunchburger’s opening. Donna got the furniture situation under control and everything looked beautiful. Ron’s TV promotion was so successful that there were tons of attendance, and Ben was on top of the world when Leslie arrived. Ben was so ecstatic, that he decided to ask Leslie to marry him- TONIGHT. The climatic ending was the cliffhanger we’ve all been waiting for. Amidst all of the wedding planning, could the nuptials be held in the next episode already? OF COURSE- and we can’t wait.

Parks and Recreation- Bachelor/Bachelorette Party Edition

This week’s episode of “Parks and Recreation” involved a ton of character development and was significantly important to moving along the fifth season. As Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt are quickly approaching their wedding, the couple has their bachelor and bachelorette parties.

Leslie’s party, planned by Anne Perkins began as a cozy evening with the girls and things got a little crazy when an Abraham Lincoln stripper appears. Leslie can’t let go of the fact that a “Paunchburger” is breaking ground on her park site, so she certainly can’t enjoy her own bachelorette party or a stripper dressed like one of her favorite politicians. An inebriated Leslie makes a run for the park site and spreads Wamapo Indian artifacts in the dirt. Fun fact: Indiana state laws immediately halt construction if artifacts are found at the site. Not so fun fact: Leslie wakes up hungover and full of regret.

Meanwhile, Ben’s bachelor party was planned by the ultimate people-pleaser, Chris Traeger. The party opens with Ben’s favorite game, “Settlers of Canter,” and naturally Ben wins. After a quick snore the boys all realize that they never got a real bachelor party. For assorted reasons (Tom’s green card wedding, Jerry’s medical snafu, Andys elopement or Ron’s exes being to insane), all of the partygoers had missed out on a good old fashioned raunchy and debauchery-filled bachelor party. Each man decides to pick a part of the night to redeem themselves. They end up visiting a ton of fun places: Jerry’s favorite ice cream parlor, Tom’s dream nightclub, a steakhouse for Ron and Lucas Oil Stadium for Andy. The stadium scene looked like the most fun, since it featured cameos of the Colts’ coach and some NFL athletes. When the night concluded, all men were satisfied but they noticed Chris Traeger has been unhappily single for a long time now.

Meanwhile, the next day Leslie comes clean to the Wamapoke Tribal Leader Ken Hotante, and miraculously he takes pity on her. During the negotiation meeting, he does not expose Leslie’s misdeed. Although the artifacts were not proven to be original, Ken gets clever and threatens the Ponchburger franchises within his casinos. Leslie feels bad about the situation, but happy that Ken respected her dedication to the site.

The rotating bachelor party crew reconvenes in Chris’s office. They hand him a “best man” trophy and give him a very encouraging pep-talk. They tell him any lady is lucky to have him, and it brightens Chris’s spirits.

This episode gets viewers more and more excited for the wedding of Ben and Leslie. It was definitely not a filler episode and is a great memory of all of the characters.