Parks and Recreation Recap: End of the World
When they put their minds to it, Leslie and Ben really know how to break our hearts. Watching their reluctant but necessary split in the season premiere was a lesson in gut-wrenching tragedy, and they brought their best devastating aching out again last night in “End of the World,” a relationship-heavy episode improbably driven by a Harold Camping-like doomsday prophet.
Apparently, the cult group “Reasonableism” has been predicting the end of the world at the hands of overlord Zorp for several years in Pawnee, always holding their last night ever vigils in the park. Chris decides that he and Ben should join Leslie in supervising the event, though it’s clear that Ben is wary of hanging around Leslie for too long. Ron also shows up to peddle his hand-crafted flutes to the Reasonableists, in true capitalist fashion.
Jean Ralphio and Tom have officially lost Entertainment 720, but decide to pool their remaining $10,000 to throw one last party for the ages, a party for the end of the world. It involves a drumline and tiger, and is admittedly pretty banging. Even Lucy, Tom’s former girlfriend who shows up at Jean Ralphio’s misguided invitation, thinks so.
April and Andy, in order to spice up their monotonous married life and take up the spirit of this end of the world thing no one actually buys, decide to complete the items on Andy’s bucket list. Over the course of the night, they win ($10 in) the lottery, stage an action movie stunt with Bert Macklin, and, for their final act, drive all the way to the Grand Canyon. They share an adorable moment at this landmark, punctuated by Andy’s realization that they are not, in fact, at Mount Rushmore.
Back at the Zorp fest, Leslie is not handling the flirtation between Ben and Pawnee’s only newspaper reporter, Shauna Malwae-Tweep, well. After sending Shauna away through sheer awkwardness, Leslie drives Ben to a gas station, making up a story of how Mick Jagger once owned it, in order to keep him and Shauna apart. Ben gets fed up with Leslie's act, so Leslie apologizes to him the next morning, saying she’s just now realizing their romance is over and will stop sabotaging his relationships.
I don’t know, what do you think, my fellow Pawneeians? I have a hard time believing Ben and Leslie are done for good, especially given the face Ben made when Leslie said their romance was through. Parks and Rec doesn’t seem like the type of show that would put us through an excruciating Ross and Rachel situation, but they are keenly aware of how much viewers love Ben and Leslie. I predict some sort of relapse later this season, one that will likely have implications in Leslie’s campaign. Or could even spur Ben to move out of town. Jeez. Between this and Party Down, Adam Scott is the new king of star-crossed relationships.