'Parks and Recreation' Recap: 'Smallest Park'

Thursday night, NBC decided to spare us the pain of a whole season of will-they, won't-they (which is pretty considerate, given they already did this for a good half of last season) and consummated the whole Ben-Leslie fiasco. Well, by "consummated," I mean they kissed in a tiny park, but hey, it was a pretty damn satisfying kiss. All too often on Parks and Rec, romance ends tragically (Tom and Wendy, Ron and Wendy, Leslie and Officer Dave, etc.), so it's great to see one actually working...at least for now.

When the city's last phone booths are ripped up, Leslie and Ben decide to create the state's smallest park to draw tourism. Leslie's super excited about their collaboration, until Ben tells her this will be their last project together. After it, he explains, he's going to ask Chris to transfer him to other departments. This sends Leslie spiraling into a crazy, manipulative frenzy, in which she tries to delay the project as long as possible.

Andy decides he's going to better himself by taking a class at the community college. Both April and Ron give him different advice on what to pick. April says he should choose an easy "A," like beginner's guitar (which Andy finds boring), while Ron says he should pick something challenging, like Intro to Lasers (which is not, to Andy's extreme dismay, a class that lets him play with lasers). After two disappointments, Andy randomly decides to try a women's studies class. All three of the class shoppers are enthralled; this is definitely Andy's course. Only, he doesn't realize the steep enrollment fee it comes with. Luckily, he receives a Ron Swanson Scholarship, in yet another installment of "look-how-oddly-endearing-Ron-can-be."

Chris asks Tom and Jerry to redesign the Parks and Rec logo, which really just means pick a new font. Of course, grandiose Tom won't settle for a simple text update and runs wild with ideas of Apple Store-inspired building improvements. Jerry snaps that Tom needs to stick to the assignment, since this kind of thinking sunk his company. Tom is bummed for a minute, until Jerry flashes his retro ID, which gives Tom an oddly perfect marketing plan. Even Chris approves.

Leslie's desperate attempts to rile citizen protests finally get the best of Ben, who yells at her for being a steamroller. He tells Chris he needs to stop working with her immediately and storms off. After some damage control by Ann, Leslie and Ben meet at their new park after hours to talk things out. Leslie apologizes for being a steamroller, and says she'll respect whatever he wants, even though she wants him in her life. He wants to be around her, too, but it's just too painful, so Leslie says screw our jobs and the campaign, let's go for it. Only, of course, if he wants to. She gets a pretty clear answer when he goes in for a kiss.

Next week is surely going to be a look at the consequences of Ben and Leslie's decision, but right now, who cares? They're together, it's adorable as always, and that should be savored. Episodes like this one are tailor-made for the show's Ben and Leslie shippers, so if you're one of them, please enjoy the following clip on loop. I know I will.