shrinkthemoon:

talking-bird:

Alright, guys. Let’s chat for a moment about parallels. Or, specifically, the insanely well executed use of them in Parks and Recreation.

Parks is unique from a lot of sitcoms (though it’s becoming more commonplace lately) in that its characters are allowed to grow, learn, and change. It’s pretty wonderful and makes every season incredibly satisfying because the characters are in a different place at the end then they were in the beginning. The care and effort the writers put into this is so wonderful, and one way they’ve really flaunted this is through parallels.

“Freddy Spaghetti” and “Li’l Sebastian” are nearly companion episodes. A year apart, they both cinch together their seasons with a staged event for a beloved Pawnee icon. The kick is obviously Ben and Leslie – last season found them at odds, building a small mutual understanding and begrudging respect of each other. The moment happens beside the stage, as Ben deals with his first time helping Pawnee (or probably any town in a long, long time) and Leslie helps him remember how wonderful providing for people feels. Conversely, a year later is another staged event, but now they’re enamored with each other and together. Ben’s helping the town because it’s his actual job now, a job that he enjoys. And beside the stage, rather than earning each other’s respect, they’re trying to figure out how to hide their affection.

Even the bare physical parallels are seriously great – they’re clearly on the side of a stage near fencing, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in “Freddy Spaghetti” but facing each other in “Li’l Sebastian.” Ben even has the same jacket just in a different color, and Leslie’s blazers are closely similar. The spyshots through metalwork are similar. And the scene doesn’t close season 3 in the way it closes season 2, but it shows just how much these two people have grown together over the course of a year, and how they’ve come to naturally work together instead of surprising each other by breaking first impressions.