Parks & Recreation has a habit of throwing its whole world into flux at the end of seasons. Season 3 ended with the news that Leslie was being approached for a run for political office, Season 4 ended with Leslie winning the campaign and Ben jetting off to Washington, Season 5 ended with the announcement of a forthcoming Baby Swanson, etc. According to Amy Poehler, this season — which comes to a close Thursday night, and already introduced plenty of chaos by dropping pregnancy/triplets bombshells — will be no different.
From E! Online:
“The last minute or so of our season finale … the last moments are really important and big things happen that kind of show you where we’re going and where a lot of the characters are going or shows you where they may go,” series star Amy Poehler told reporters. “I would encourage everybody to make sure they watch until the very end. It ends with, I don’t know, a pretty exciting and — dare I say, in a good way — very exciting last moment. I’m very excited for people to see it.”
Quick aside: How great was it that the show just plopped Leslie’s pregnancy news in the first half of an episode two weeks before the finale? Most sitcoms would have kept that sucker chambered until the very last moments of the season. Instead, Mike Schur and company were all “Hi. Real quick: Leslie’s pregnant. AND THAT’S NOT EVEN THE CRAZY PART.” I have great respect for this decision.
Moving along.
“Even though this is the first time she’s pregnant and going to have children, she’s actually been a working mother for a while, even before she was married,” Poehler said. “Pawnee is her kid, so she’s been like always torn between her town and doing what’s right for it and making sure she gives it enough time, and herself and her career…We always believed that Pawnee was Leslie’s kid and she wanted the best for it. That’s why when she’s trying to decide to take a new job or when her real, actual, physical family may get in the way of her life in Pawnee, it just creates more challenges. I think she’s always been a pretty maternal and paternal [Laughs.] force at the same time on the show. It will be fun to see which baby wins. Baby fight!”
Baby Fight sounds like the title of a reality show that I can’t believe no one has made yet. I mean, I’m not saying we should have a show about infants fighting each other in a tiny UFC ring in front of a crowd of other infants, with toddlers handling the referee and announcer duties, it’s just … it would fit right in with NBC’s new line-up. That’s all I’m saying.
