10 Parks And Recreation Episodes To Skip On A Rewatch

Even though it's been off the air for over a decade now, "Parks and Recreation" has stood the test of time as one of the best comfort shows of the 2010s. What originally began as a spin-off to "The Office" slowly became a standout of NBC's sitcom lineup, with a star-studded cast including Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Rashida Jones, and Chris Pratt. Though the show's cast has stayed close-knit in the public eye since the final season, there's nothing quite like doing a good, old-fashioned binge-watch to remind yourself of just how fun it was to have them on your TV every week.

"Parks and Recreation" mainly centers on the daily operations of Pawnee, Indiana's titular urban planning department, led by the politically optimistic Leslie Knope (Poehler), who frequently butts heads with her libertarian director Ron Swanson (Offerman), unfriendly intern April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza), and other eclectic citizens of their small town. There's endless episodic potential to a show that spoofs the ins and outs of local government, but in the process, there have been several "Parks and Rec" episodes that underwhelm. 

Of the over 100 episodes of "Parks and Rec" that aired across its seven seasons, these are 10 you probably won't miss if you skip them on a rewatch. Whether it's because their characters appear underdeveloped or it just can't shake off its associations with "The Office," these episodes overall aren't the best representations of the iconic sitcom. 

"Parks and Recreation" Season 1 is home to most of the episodes you can skip since it's only a measly six episodes long, and the show has plenty of room to grow beyond the shadow of "The Office." A great example of this is the third episode, "The Reporter," in which Leslie tries to get a reporter, Shauna (Alison Becker), to write about the department's plans to turn "the pit" into a park. As to be expected, the quotes she acquires about the park are all pretty pessimistic despite Leslie's hopes, and things only get more complicated after city planner Mark (Paul Schneider) sleeps with her.

For a show that was trying to distinguish itself from other sitcoms that came before, "The Reporter" mostly plays out in pretty predictable fashion. Amy Poehler's go-getter Leslie had yet to be properly defined, making her come off as just an incompetent goody-two-shoes rather than an aspiring politician with good intentions. The mismatched addition of the unlikable Mark in the cast further proves why no "Parks and Rec" fan considers him to be among the show's best characters. 

Ultimately, the cast of "Parks and Recreation" just comes off as too one-dimensional in "The Reporter," which isn't surprising given it's only the third episode that aired. Given it was also produced so quickly after the pilot was shot, the episode could've probably benefited from more time spent fleshing out the characters. 

Skipping the "Boys' Club" episode from "Parks and Recreation" Season 1 won't make your series rewatch suffer, given that, tonally, it feels so off from the rest of the show. The episode finds Leslie attempting to ingratiate herself into Mark's "boys' club," a mission that feels pretty out of character for the city official who'd later coin the idea of "Galentine's Day." Desperate to be accepted by Mark and his beer-drinking friends, Leslie breaks a couple of rules by offering a bottle of wine from a gift basket sent to the department, which the underage April ends up drinking. 

Although Leslie technically gets off with a letter in her file, her desperation to be liked by random men — Mark's friends especially — is rather disappointing to see. It's especially frustrating knowing that Leslie's thin characterization throughout Season 1 as a naive rule-follower isn't even consistent across six episodes, with this one making her feel more like Michael Scott from "The Office" in terms of her insecurity and incompetence.

The real highlight of the episode, for some critics, is Andy's (Pratt) story, in which he attempts to clean his and Ann's (Jones) house. It says a lot that, only four episodes in, "Parks and Recreation" had a better handle on its male recurring character than its female protagonist. Thankfully, this is a quality the show had reversed by the end. 

It's not entirely surprising when rewatching hit shows from the 2000s that some jokes do not land with modern-day audiences. "The Banquet" is one of the few "Parks and Recreation" episodes that fall into this category. Before the show had really landed on its feel-good, wholesome tone, its first season trended towards some edgier humor, such as Leslie and Ann attending a banquet for Pawnee government officials and being mistaken for a lesbian couple due to Leslie's boyish new haircut.

Though a faux pas like this would be typical of a Michael Scott or Liz Lemon, it feels pretty bold for a show like "Parks and Rec" to stereotype two female characters as lesbians this early on in its run. It's obviously not unlike NBC sitcoms to do this ("Community" treads similar ground in its second season episode "Early 21st Century Romanticism"), but knowing that "Parks and Rec" would evolve into a show that's more conscious of LGBTQ+ issues and inclusive of queer-coded characters makes "The Banquet" stick out like a sore thumb on rewatch. 

Ultimately, "The Banquet" was exemplary of everything "Parks and Recreation" needed to fix heading into its second season, lucky as they were to get it. The show needed to settle on its tone, define the relationships between its characters, and make its cast feel more like a cohesive ensemble. Even though they'd do that and more, future seasons would still have episodes we'd prefer to skip on streaming services. 

We could simply point out that "Parks and Recreation" features several episodes in which Louis C.K. guest-stars as a romantic interest for Leslie Knope, and that would probably convince enough viewers to skip past them. However, "Greg Pikitis" from Season 2 has a lot more to dislike than one controversial comedian. The Halloween-themed episode sees Leslie determined to catch her arch-nemesis, the titular high schooler (Cody Klop), in the act of vandalizing a local statue as he does every year.

Theoretically, the idea that Leslie's type-A personality brings her into conflict with a teenage boy is funny, but the execution throughout the episode is lackluster. Although one highlight sees Andy originate his "Burt Macklin" character to interrogate the kid, all these adults are outsmarted by him in the end, as he successfully vandalizes the statue and trashes the parks and recreation offices. Apparently, the moral of this story is that adults are stupid and pranks are funny, which might resonate... if you're the same age as Greg Pikitis, that is.

What's worthwhile about "Greg Pikitis" as an episode is that it heavily relies on the dynamic between Leslie and Andy, which results in several iconic moments throughout the show. However, the tension between Leslie's rule-following and Andy's recklessness is done so much better in future episodes. 

What makes "Leslie's House" a particularly egregious episode to watch is the knowledge that "The Office" did the same premise two years prior in "Dinner Party." What begins as Leslie Knope's attempt to impress a boyfriend (played by guest star Justin Theroux) coming to her place results in her unintentionally abusing her governing power by inviting teachers from a local school whose classes are due to be cut for budgeting purposes, with the teachers believing it's their opportunity to earn favor with Leslie and not have their classes cut.

Though Leslie is pretty incompetent as a politician throughout Season 1, by this point in Season 2, it's just plain out of character for her to do something so egregiously corrupt, and for a boyfriend, no less. Even as the episode ends with Leslie being called in front of a disciplinary committee under suspicion of abusing power, she uses the opportunity to find out how her new lover felt about the party. Sure, Leslie might cut corners from time to time, but always for the good of the people of Pawnee, not for her own selfish goals.

Elsewhere in the episode, there's some enjoyment to be found in the continued dynamic building between April and Andy, but the other major subplot concerns a short-lived love triangle between Tom (Aziz Ansari), Ron (Nick Offerman), and Tom's ex-wife Wendy (Jama Williamson). It's definitely a less-interesting romance for Ron compared to the many Tammys.

"The Treaty" takes place at a peculiar time in the "Parks and Recreation" continuity. At the start of Season 4, Leslie and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) have broken up so that Leslie can focus on her campaign for city council, knowing that an illicit relationship between co-workers could jeopardize such a high-stakes run for office. However, only seven episodes into the season, the friction between the former lovers gets so tough to handle that it's better to just skip ahead to the episode immediately after, in which Leslie and Ben finally rekindle their romance.

In "The Treaty," the two are tasked with leading a Model UN at Pawnee Central High School, though Ben's resistance to being friendly with Leslie post-breakup ends up having residual effects on global relations between the countries they're posing as. Their petty squabble gets them kicked out of the Model UN entirely, and while it's kind of fun to see Ben and Leslie so wrapped up in the reality of Model UN, their conflict is hard to watch for ardent shippers. 

Paired with "Greg Pikitis," "The Treaty" makes a strong case that "Parks and Rec" is better when it's not about high school, especially with regard to how its characters behave. It's a small speed bump on the road to reconciliation between Leslie and Ben, but perhaps if their conflict here didn't feel so frivolous, fans would be more open to seeing them in opposition to one another. 

An episode like "Ben's Parents" should be a pivotal moment for Leslie and Ben's relationship, finally introducing the people who made Ben Wyatt who he is. As fans know, his backstory has plenty of details that make the question of who raised him even more interesting, like his two-month stint as the teenage mayor of Partridge, Minnesota. However, "Ben's Parents" sadly drops the ball on fleshing out Ben's already-developed history, even with perfect casting in Jonathan Banks and Glenne Headly. 

Namely, the major conflict of the Season 5 episode revolves around Leslie and Ben's engagement party, which Ben's mom and dad have both RSVP'd to — even though they're divorced and unable to be in the same room as one another. Although Leslie is eager to mend their relationship with a carefully crafted quilt, their bitterness toward one another doesn't exactly make the audience root for them to come together. How exactly a household this toxic could've produced a child mayor is a mystery to us.

Ultimately, nobody's insisting that Ben's mom and dad have to be the best TV parents of all time, but what could've been a fun episode showcasing the people who made Ben who he is just underwhelmed and, frankly, frustrated a lot of fans. If you're eager to see more of Jonathan Banks in a sitcom, stick with Season 5 of "Community," not Season 5 of "Parks and Rec." 

By Season 6, it's surprising that an episode premise like "New Slogan" hadn't already been done in "Parks and Recreation," especially considering it feels so much like a Season 1 episode in execution. In "New Slogan," Leslie fields the Pawnee community for new town slogans, only for her to naively court slogans that openly antagonize her and the town. 

It's easy to imagine this sort of thing happening to Leslie earlier in the show given how incompetent she was depicted. However, by Season 6, Leslie has shown real ambition to make Pawnee a better place, so the fact that she has nothing to show for it reputation-wise makes "New Slogan" fall flat as an episode. This late in the run of "Parks and Recreation," completely inappropriate jokes at Leslie's expense shouldn't just be unwarranted, but specifically related to what she has or hasn't done for her community. 

What's even worse about "New Slogan" is that there's so much comedic potential behind the idea. If you're expecting a laugh-out-loud selection of potential slogans, don't; the ones with the most steam behind them in this episode are "Welcome to D—-e Nation" and "Home of the Stick Up Leslie Knope's Butt." It must've been a tough week in the writers' room. 

Time jumps are always risky moves for TV shows to make, but in the case of "Parks and Recreation," it's baffling why they felt the best move for the series' final season was to fundamentally change the status quo fans have grown so accustomed to. The Season 7 premiere, aptly titled "2017," takes place three years after the Season 6 finale, with much of the core cast having moved on from the titular department, begging the question... what is "Parks and Rec" even about anymore?

"2017" certainly takes the cake of all the episodes in Season 7 as the most awkward at handling this transition. Although Leslie and Ben still navigate the ins and outs of Pawnee government, the time jump has skipped over an unexplained falling out between Leslie and Ron that's since turned her former director into her bitter rival. Though future episodes dive into the feud between the two, its out-of-context presence in "2017" is more confusing than it is a strong storytelling move.

Even the episode's subplot involving April and Andy growing dissatisfied with their comfortable, domestic life is proof that, by Season 7, the "Parks and Rec" crew had written themselves into quite the corner. Stuck between not letting their characters change and changing them so much the show is unrecognizable, "2017" is a rough start to the show's final season, but thankfully it all ties together in the finale.

For the final season of any sitcom, it's often the time to celebrate the show's ensemble and remind audiences why all of these characters work so well together. Or, for "Parks and Recreation," highlight the cast member who had just starred in a blockbuster Marvel movie in one of the last episodes before the series finale. Maybe if it had appeared in an earlier season, fans would feel more positive about "The Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show," an episode-within-an-episode in which Andy's children's show features a guest appearance by his former boss and local politician, Leslie Knope. 

Though there's some fun to be had in seeing Andy's reinterpretation of Ron as Carpenter Ron, or Ben as Professor Smartbrain, most of the episode just comes off as rather annoying and immature. What's meant to be a celebration of Andy Dwyer as a character ends up feeling rather unnecessary, given the character hadn't gone anywhere and would still be present over the show's final two episodes.

Ultimately, "The Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show" wastes one of the last episodes of "Parks and Recreation" doing the opposite of what the show did best: assemble incredible actors and characters into a beautifully lovable cast. Here, all the focus is on the cast addition that, while having been a part of the funniest moments from the show's run, suffers from overabundance.