Don’t Fall Into The Pit: Parks And Recreation

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Leslie’s intrepid Pit subcommittee, which also includes teenage intern April, weathers many, well, pitfalls. There’s a second town meeting, which almost ends in disaster; a newspaper column, which almost ends in disaster; and Leslie’s attempt to schmooze at an awards banquet, which does end in disaster. Everything comes to a head in the last episode, when Andy gets his casts removed. When he has trouble adjusting to not having them, his doctor tells Ann that the casts could have come off two weeks earlier.

Later that night, Andy’s band has a concert. Leslie’s mom has tricked her into a blind date that same night, with a much older man, but she persuades him to join her friends at the concert. Mark Brendanawicz isn’t having a much better night. Mark is shocked when Tom introduces his wife, because they had recently gone out together cruising for women. He also recognizes that he is the only person he knows that’s there without a partner. After getting shot down by Ann, he flirts with Leslie. Soon enough, they retire to the edge of the Pit, to keep drinking and talking.

At the Pit, Mark jokingly says that it’s already a park—transforming garbage and dirt mounds into places to play. This brings the series full circle, as Leslie had used similar shtick early on. When asked, he speaks frankly about how difficult her project will be. With characteristic optimism, she says she’ll do it anyway. Impulsively, he kisses her.

“This is not the way I want this to happen again,” she says.

“Leslie, this is not that big a deal,” he replies.

In a rare moment of clarity, she realizes that whatever happens will mean more to her than to him. And she decides to go home. He apologizes, but as he rises to leave. . . he falls into the Pit.

Meanwhile Andy admits to Ann that he kept his casts on because he enjoyed her waiting on him. Furious, she forces him outside for a walk. Instead, he witnesses both the kiss and Mark’s tumble. He knocks on the front door of his and Ann’s house laughing, telling Ann that Mark is probably hurt. The music of Andy’s many-named band plays as Ann runs outside with her bag and he settles in front of the television.

I fell into the Pit/You fell into the Pit/We all fell into the Pit.

It was then that I realized: this is a show about government, but it’s about so much more. The Pit is a metaphor for the unexamined life. Everyone in the series is living in it, to different degrees and in different ways. Leslie and Ann have both come a lot closer to reality. . . but not without it being as painful as a fall to the bottom.

I am eager to see what happens next, when Parks and Recreation resumes in September. Until then, the first season’s episodes will be available in full on NBC’s website.

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