Amy Poehler stars as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation

The Parks and Recreation Reunion Brought on the Tears

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Parks and Recreation is the kind of show that makes you want to cry and be a better person all at the same time, so the cast reunion is bringing up all the emotions.

The production would often have “fun runs,” where they would do a take of a given scene where all bets were off. The cast could do whatever they wanted, say whatever they wanted, and run around and just have fun. So to see that some of the fun runs made the cut for the episode is incredible!

Remember Chris Traeger saying, “Stop. Pooping”? That’s a fun run!

One of my favorite stories from Parks and Recreation is that Chris Pratt improvised one of the greatest lines from the show, and from last night, it’s clear that Mike Schur is still mad about it. (He has stated in multiple interviews that this kind of improvised line is infuriating because, as a writer, he watched Pratt come up with an amazing joke in two seconds.)

As someone who is very much a Leslie Knope, there is one character I’ve loved most of all ever since he ended up on the show. I’ll give you one guess who he is … (He’s also Leslie Knope’s favorite person next to Ann Perkins.) Yup, Ben Wyatt is one of those characters that is just filled with goodness and loves everything in his life and can’t stop being infatuated with Leslie.

Ben’s other infatuation, though? His nerdy interests. He loves things like Star Trek, Star Wars, and most importantly, Game of Thrones. When Ben got into Game of Thrones, so did Adam Scott.

We all know Chris Pratt’s name now, but before he was Peter Quill or Owen Grady, he was Andy Dwyer, the lovable goof who loved April Ludgate so much.

So … how does this all make fans of the show feel? Pretty much like we want it back in our lives more now than ever before.

If you’re like me, you love Parks and Recreation more than anything else in this world, and seeing the cast together again, ready to talk about this series and their love for it, reminds you that Pawnee is always there for us.

(image: NBC)

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Rachel Leishman
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.