I think I’ve figured out where Parks and Recreation went wrong in the later seasons

Parks and Recreation, the popular workplace comedy, struggled to find its stride in the initial seasons, but the quirky romance between Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt elevated the show's status to new heights.

Their secret love affair is threatened when Leslie gets the opportunity to run for city council in Season 3, but I just realised that this was also the beginning of a repetitive trend: constant and abrupt job opportunities.

While Leslie's season 3 job opportunity was still believable and she actually had to prove herself with a campaign, the show became too repetitive and overused this plot device, and went downhill in the later seasons.

Being a workplace sitcom, Parks and Recreation heavily relied on its characters' career decisions. The show felt that the best way to implement it was by throwing away job opportunities in their way. In doing so, the sitcom drifted away from what it did best- showing how the characters struggled to keep their current jobs and prove their prowess by working in the Pawnee government.

More on this in our story.

I think Parks and Recreation followed similar storylines after Season 3

Parks and Recreation Season 3 finally started to give its characters major decisions about their jobs and future, but it soon became overdone and repetitive.

While I appreciated that Leslie was finally moving ahead and chasing her dreams when she got the opportunity to run for city council in the Season 3 finale, I did not know that the show would overuse this plot device with every character.

One of the things that I liked about Parks and Recreation as a workplace comedy was the characters' constant struggle to achieve their career goals. Leslie and the others were constantly struggling to climb up the ranks in their jobs and their underdog story was what made the show so enjoyable.

While the characters mostly failed miserably, their never-giving-up attitude made Parks and Recreation enjoyable and even believable as a workplace sitcom. But after season 3, the show stopped expanding on their underdog status, and they were just thrown promotions and better job opportunities on a platter.

In Season 5, Leslie's proposal to the Department of the Interior was a disaster, but it had no real effect on her because she was immediately offered a job running the National Park Service Midwest Region.

From Ben's job offer to work with Jennifer Barkley and Andy Dwyer in England to Ron being offered Ben's old job of Deputy City Manager, the sitcom relied heavily on new job opportunities out of nowhere.

While I understand that Parks and Recreation wanted to create internal conflict among the characters with such life-changing decisions, it became repetitive and boring.

Parks and Recreation stopped challenging its characters in the later seasons

In addition to the job opportunity storyline being overtly repetitive (for every character), the sitcom stopped challenging its characters in the latter seasons. While I found Leslie's can-do attitude a little annoying initially, it grew on me, and her constant efforts to prove herself resulted in hilarious situations.

Her stint with converting a park from an empty lot in Parks and Recreation Season 1 and the team's efforts to pull together the Harvest Festival to save their jobs were when the sitcom was at its peak. However, with numerous job opportunities and promotions, the characters became less active and their can-do attitude ultimately drifted away.

A workplace comedy can use healthy competition to create hilarious situations. The characters fighting among themselves for a job opportunity or a promotion would have brought out the best in them. Instead, they were too busy choosing from the job opportunities already placed in their lap that there was no conflict among them.

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Also Read: Top 5 moments of Adam Scott as Ben Wyatt from Parks and Recreation

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