Episode Review: Parks and Recreation Series Finale
Parks and Recreation, Episode 712/713: "One Last Ride"
Original airdate: February 24, 2015 on NBC
Spoiler warning: This page contains descriptions of events in this and previous episodes.
Written by star Amy Poehler and series co-creator Mike Schur (who also directed), last night's one-hour series finale for Parks and Recreation was filled with Six Feet Under-style glimpses at how each character's life would play out even further into the future, revealing a happy ending for everyone on the show. What did critics think? A sampling of their comments can be found below. (Click on any publication name to read the full review; scores are provided only in cases where a publication assigned a grade to the episode.)
Extremely positive reviews
100
Alasdair Wilkins
A.V. Club
The experience of watching “One Last Ride” was something I’m not sure I’ve ever had before with a television show.
100
Jeff Jensen
Entertainment Weekly
It honored the characters, actors, and the fans in the inspired, inventive ways that both played to what we expect from TV finales and challenged conventions, all while being Parks to the core.
Pilot Viruet
Flavorwire
Parks and Recreation comes pretty damn close at providing one of the sweetest finales ever of a sitcom. It’s lowkey funny, and perhaps a little too neat, but it’s 100 percent Pawnee and that’s what it should be.
Alan Sepinwall
HitFix
On the whole, this was a gorgeous, touching and, on occasion, very funny way for "Parks" to say goodbye to all its characters, and to us.
100
Matt Fowler
IGN
What a magical experience this finale was. ... Doing what the show does best, Parks knocked it clear out of the park with "One Last Ride."
Linda Holmes
NPR
There aren't many shows that could get away with so many big final victories, with so much happiness for everyone that it sloshed over the rim of the show's world and felt even more like augmented reality than it usually does. But what distinguished the brand of happiness the writers delivered in this final pass was that it was specific to the characters and true to who they were. This was wish fulfillment as character exploration.
Tom Gliatto
People
Charming, touching and abundantly ridiculous.
Gail Pennington
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The hour, which culiminated a final season built on the impending goodbye, wasn't full of laughs. But the episode ... was flawlessly true to the loving, optimistic heart of the show.
Kaitlin Thomas
TV.com
It nailed its ending and preserved its legacy as one of the funniest, most heartwarming comedies in history.
Geoff Berkshire
Variety
Every carefully crafted payoff played like a great big hug to not only the characters but the audience. Under Schur’s steady hand as director, the narrative weaved back and forth through time with precision and grace. Fans got resolution without finality, waving goodbye while leaving viewers with a profound sense that all these lives continue on.
Ken Tucker
Yahoo!
It’s not often that I reach for the word “beautiful” to describe a sitcom, but Parks and Recreation was beautiful. It was a unique TV creation: at once sincere and hip; unironic yet sharp-witted; idealistic yet realistic — in a sometimes surrealistic way.
Positive reviews
Kevin Fallon
The Daily Beast
Few TV comedies dare to balance pathos and quirk with tight, rapid-fire comedy the way that Parks has over its six seasons. And while Tuesday night’s series finale was more moving and emotionally rewarding—and dare we say dangerously close to sappy—than it was particularly funny, it’s a sweet send-off that was earned.
Brian Moylan
The Guardian
It was everything that fans of the show could have wanted, designed to have them reaching for their Kleenex. ... Yet the final show pushed the sweetness off the scale; the equivalent of a Cadbury Crème Egg soaked in orange soda and dusted with powdered sugar. If, like me, you weren’t a diehard fan but occasionally watched whenever you needed a palate-cleanser from coarser shows, the finale was treacly and over-long.
Alessandra Stanley
The New York Times
The series finale, which kept flashing forward, lovingly tied up loose ends without undoing the bond among the show’s core characters.
Verne Gay
Newsday
It was a finale, I suspect, conceived mostly for the cast and crew: A distillation of their hopes and dreams the last seven years condensed into one 43-minute happy whole. Because this finale was so true to the gentle, genial and generous spirit of the entire enterprise, it worked and worked surprisingly well. Perfect? No.
Mitch Salem
ShowBuzzDaily
The final hour ... was more conceptual than one might have expected, in a way that made it feel more like an epilogue than a conclusion. ... The result had less emotional punch than some of Parks‘ previous season finales.
James Poniewozik
Time
Even by the standards of sitcom endings, this one was more sweet than bittersweet–at times, it hit the Sweetums a bit hard–with the characters not just finding happiness in the future but succeeding wildly in ways that were appropriate to them.
Ben Travers
Indiewire
While it's hard to be upset about the beloved characters of "Parks" reaping just rewards for their professional endeavors, did they have to come at the expense of one geographic equality? Until Season 7, viewers were taught a full and exciting life could be lived somewhere besides a congested concrete jungle laden with skyscrapers. Then, suddenly, the decree was reversed without warning or necessity, making it seem like the only way to reach your full professional potential was by being elevated to a bigger stage in a bigger role in a bigger city.
Mixed/so-so reviews
Willa Paskin
Slate
Nothing, not even a surprisingly unfunny and saccharine finale, can take away from the series’ legacy as a comedy unique for being as touching as it was hilarious. The episode congratulated itself for its own sweetness, instead of recognizing that a hint of sourness has always been part of what made Parks and Recreation so delicious.
What do you think?
What did you think of the Parks & Rec finale? Let us know in the comments section below.
