4x22 Win, Lose, or Draw

[9.8/10] It’s easy for me to forget that Parks and Recreation started life as a spinoff of The Office. Ann was supposed to be Jim’s ex Karen starting a new life elsewhere. Instead, Michael Shur (whom you may remember as Dwight’s cousin Mose on The Office) started fresh, and despite the shared mockumentary format and commitment to regular, if exaggerated folks, P&R quickly cut its own path and distinguished itself from its predecessor.

But it’s episodes like “Win, Lose, or Draw” that remind me where Parks and Rec came from. It reminded me of “Casino Night,” one of The Office’s biggest episodes, not because the two share much in plot or character or even comedy. It’s because they share an energy, a toned, a heightened sense of this being a finale that captures the personal and universal, the wacky and the rawly human, and everything in between.

This is, after all, the episode where Leslie stands in the voting booth, fulfills a lifelong dream of voting for herself in a real election, and starts to tear up as the enormity of that moment begins to dawn on her. Awards are silly, but it is a damn shame that Amy Poehler never won an Emmy for her performance as Leslie Knope. She is such a multitalented comic actress, who knows how to go big and deliver a punchline and turn on a dime. But she’s also just as capable of selling those big dramatic moments that tug your heartstrings like no other.

But it’s also the episode where immediately afterward, she has to help Bobby Newport in the neighboring booth because he managed to get ink all over his hand and detach his “pen thing.” That is just this show in a nutshell. One of those gripping emotional moments is punctuated by a bit of dopey-feller hilarity and charm.

That’s what’s so impressive about what is arguably P&R’s greatest season finale. It balances so many things. Of course, there is the drama and excitement as to who is going to win the election, a story that the show has been building to since the end of last season. But “Win” also packs in a story that could have sustained its own episode and maybe two or three – whether Ben will accept Jennifer Barkley’s job offer – that immediately complicates things for Leslie and Ben on a night that should be the culmination of their triumph or tragedy on the campaign trail. Suddenly, the waters are muddied, and the thing that has consumed them for nine months (more? less? the timeline’s always been a bit fuzzy) is suddenly secondary, or at least clouded, by yet another event that tests their relationship and what it means to care about someone.

In the midst of all of this, “Win” also includes tons of little stories that give you little slices of all the series’ characters who are a little more tangential to the action that drives the episode. Tom has an outrageous dream that he and Ann will get back together (and their drunken deal to not only date but move in together afterward is a nice button to it.) Jerry gets a prototypical Jerry story where he forgets to vote and adorably frets the whole night that his single vote will cost Leslie the election. Chris Trager finds that the solution to his recent funk was having some futon-based fun with Jennifer Barkley, and the pair have one last fling before she ships out to D.C., which is, once again, kind of an odd capper to his storyline this season, but it works well enough.

Last, but certainly not least, April accidentally deletes all the files in the Parks Dept. and Andy tries to cheer her up. Much of this, which is the most fulsome of the B-stories, is just a good comic opportunity for Andy to play up his lovable idiot side (like his hilarious attempts to fix April’s computer like he “fixes” their XBOX). It’s also, however, a nice opportunity for Donna to get to save the day (and their three-man hug is sweet as heck), but on top of that, it’s a way to show that for however much April complains and slacks off, she cares about her job and she cares about disappointing Leslie.

That’s the cinch of the episode. Ron is back to playing Yoda to Leslie’s Luke Skywalker, comforting her when the election results come back and she’s lost by twenty-one votes, and the recount is on. When Leslie tells him that she’s worried about letting everyone down, about how much time and effort they put into her campaign, and the responsibility to vindicate them rests on her shoulders, he tells her that they didn’t do it because they wanted to ride her coattails to glory. They did it because they care about her, and that’s what you do for people you care about. It’s a personal thing, something Ron isn’t apt to say to most people, but Leslie isn’t most people, and it’s what she needs to hear.

It’s what she needs to hear because it’s what prompts her to tell Ben to take Jennifer Barkley’s offer to run a congressional campaign in D.C. Leslie and Ben care about one another like mad, and Leslie notes that Ben put his whole life on hold for her to pursue her dream; she wants to return the favor. It’s such an incredible moment, because it represents a great sacrifice from Leslie, giving up the chance for a normal life with Ben after months of madness, but also a great kindness, a sign that she really loves him, as much as his willingness to give up that dream to stay with her shows he loves her too. Only this show could bind up such an incredible personal moment with one of its biggest plot moments ever.

Reader, she wins the election. The recount is a bit cheesy as heightened drama, and as Leslie herself points out, Ann’s fake out with the delivery is a little sneaky, but holy cow does that moment land with so much force. From the maniacal laughter when Leslie thinks she lost, to the hard but heartening moment when she tells Ben to follow his dream, to the gobsmacked, grateful, poignant reaction she has on hearing that she pulled it out, you get every shade of Leslie Knope here, and the episode saves the best for last.

Leslie and Ben are, as Ron notes, the sort of people who hold hands and jump off a cliff, ready to face whatever comes next. That’s not Ron, who decides to stay where he is rather than take Ben’s old job, but it is Ben himself, who doesn’t write a concession speech for Leslie because even uber-prepared Mr. Wyatt believes in Leslie Knope that much.

The speech Leslie gives after the election results are released sum up Parks and Recreation’s worldview as well as any sentiment in the rest of the series. It evinces a belief that the great achievements in life come thanks to the people we surround ourselves with, that they are a product of a great deal of support and risk-taking and hard work from people who care. That may be the thing Parks and Recreation shares the most with The Office, despite the different directions the two series took – a belief that regular people, banding together, at work or off the clock, make the meaning in our lives, comforting us through our greatest losses, spurring us to our greatest victories, and making us laugh, smile, and be thankful in between.