Season 5 ended on a fairly shaky hook for the next season involving Leslie facing a recall vote. It only makes sense that Season 6 is at its best when it's far removed from that fairly depressing premise.
I'm not going to sugarcoat it, Parks And Rec's sixth season gets off to a rough start. After a pretty fun premiere, the season starts with a story arc where Leslie gets recalled from city council, which just doesn't sit well with me. Pawnee's citizens have always been a bit insensitive, but it's usually played for comedy, and you can still understand why Leslie loves the town so much. This arc has pretty much everyone Leslie has worked for throughout the show turn against her, which just feels antithetical to the idealistic tone Parks And Rec has been maintaining these past few seasons, instead this whole initial arc just felt cynical. Thankfully, the rest of this season had some pretty great storylines to make up for it. I thought the merger with Eagleton was a super cool premise, and I wish the season devoted more time to it. I also thought Ann and Chris's departure was well-executed, along with that big unity concert at the end of the season.
While I'm not a fan of the direction this season went in a lot of the time, the writing is shockingly consistent with the past four Parks And Rec seasons. Most of the episodes are generally still funny, especially post-recall vote, and at its best, this season has some of the best moments in the series. The final storyline about the unity concert in particular feels like it could have ended the show as a whole, tying up everyone's storylines in a satisfying manner. My only other gripe with the season is with how many characters left at certain points. Andy leaves to London for the first half of the season, and once he returns, Ann and Chris leave soon after. They're replaced by a character named Craig, who can definitely be entertaining at times, but he also screams nonstop. Just hearing him talk can get grating at times, which is why I'm glad he got toned down a bit in Season 7.
As mentioned before, despite my several issues with this season, its high points are some of the show's highest:
London: I love how grand this season premiere is. It starts with a wedding between Ron and Diane, and evolves into a big trip to London. It's a lot of fun to see the characters goofing around in London, but I also really liked seeing Leslie snap from the frustration of dealing with Pawnee. She was definitely echoing my opinions on the whole recall vote situation.
Ann And Chris: This episode was a perfect sendoff to these two. After six seasons, the Pawnee Commons are finally opened in one of the most satisfying scenes of the series. And the final shot where Ann and Chris drive off and the rest of the team goes off to get brunch could once again be a perfect end to the series as a whole.
Flu Season II: While probably not as good as the original, this is still an incredibly funny and entertaining sequel to one of the show's most iconic episodes. And the big reveal at the end that Leslie is pregnant is an exciting way to kickstart the end of the season.
Moving Up: This is one of my favorite season finales of all time, it's perfect in nearly every way. It's funny, it's heartwarming, it's emotional, and while it packs a super enticing hook for Season 7, it could have been a perfect series finale as well. The trip to San Francisco was fun, Leslie's conflict about leaving Pawnee was engrossing, the Unity Concert was beautiful (especially 5,000 Candles In The Wind), Tom's restaurant success was satisfying, Ron revealing Duke Silver was awesome, and once again, the time jump was exciting. I adore Moving Up, it's easily one of the show's best.
Overall, Season 6 struggles from an oddly depressing start and a bunch of character absences, but its high points are insanely high, and it sticks the landing better than any other season in the series.
3/5 Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment