In Parks and Recreation, the Parks Department is responsible for putting Pawnee, Indiana on the map in a big way. Once isolated from the world, the citizens lived simply, indulging in Paunch Burger and dealing with raccoon infestations. The people responsible for putting this small town on the map had more failures than successes. Except for Donna Meagle (Retta), who rarely fails, each of her colleagues faces a variety of health, romantic, and professional failures.
Regardless of their collective failures, the Parks employees persevere. Jerry Gergich faced failure hourly, yet managed to lead a happy life. Jerry’s colleague Tom Haverford, however, fails so much that he literally wrote a book about it. The workplace TV comedy may focus on the uphill battle in government, but the main message is to never give up because we’re all rainbow-infused space unicorns. Here’s a look at each Parks and Recreation characters’ experience with failure, and, more importantly, how they persevered.
10 Donna Meagle’s Twitter-Gate (Season 6, Episode 5)
Donna Meagle (Retta) is the queen of luxury and honesty. When her boss, Leslie, is recalled, her honesty on the Parks Department’s Twitter landed her in some hot water. The hurt between Leslie and Donna became so bad that the city manager intervened. After a heart-to-heart on Leslie’s favorite bench, they mended their friendship.
9 Jerry Gergich and the Campaign Flyers (Season 4, Episode 22)
Jerry Gergich, portrayed by Jim O’Heir, is the clumsiest person in the Parks Department. Among his unlimited mistakes, Jerry can get quite fixated on a task. Indeed, this concentration proves to complicate things when he mixes up the flyers he has to hang and mail. He realizes his mistake when he is practically finished! Jerry quickly fixes his mistake with Donna looking on, amazed.
8 April Ludgate’s Parks Website Video (Season 1, Episode 4)
April Ludgate was created exclusively for Audrey Plaza, creator Michael Schur revealed to the AV Club. April began being unmotivated and driven by her emotions. While waiting for her sister to pick her up from work, she gets inebriated, videotapes it, and uploads the video to the official Parks Department website. She bounces back in a big way by working on a congressional campaign, running the animal department, and finding her true calling with the American Service foundation.
7 Andy Dwyer’s Failed Police Personality Exam (Season 5, Episode 13)
When Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) and April play pretend-FBI Agent, April encourages Andy to apply to the police department. After he fails the personality test, he goes into a deep depression. But Ben, working at the Sweetums Foundation, offers a position to Andy. After a meeting with a wealthy English family, he works for their foundation for some time. Eventually, he makes his way back to music, becoming TV sensation Johnny Karate.
6 Ben Wyatt’s Ice Town (Season 3, Episode 1)
Before settling in Pawnee, Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) made history twice before turning 20 years old. He was the youngest person elected mayor of his hometown, and soon after, he bankrupted his town by building Ice Town. He started working for the state of Indiana, helping towns on the verge of bankruptcy. When Leslie announced her run for City Council, Ben ran such a successful campaign, a Congressman hired him to run his campaign in Washington D.C.
5 Chris Traeger’s Obsession with Fitness (Episode 3, Episode 2)NBC
Vulture reports that Rob Lowe’s delivery of ‘literally’ as city manager Chris Traegar was due to Schur finding it hilarious. Of course, Chris’ literal excitement for life wasn’t enough to prevent him from contracting a horrible flu. He repeatedly said that his body was failing him. Much of Chris’ focus was on his physical health, which frustrated the women he dated. After a huge heartbreak, he began therapy, which allowed him to focus on the moment and not his body.
4 Tom Haverford’s Book on Failure (Season 7, Episode 12)
Donna’s ‘Treat Yourself’ best friend Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) was obsessed with being the next big entrepreneur. Screen Rant delivers a complete list of each of Tom’s business ideas that also failed for one reason or another. Though his failures were short-lived, Tom eventually got back on his feet with a new idea. In the end, he wrote a book about all he learned, referencing his Parks Department colleagues as different archetypes.
3 Ann Perkins’ Dating Life (Season 3, Episode 13)
Ann Perkins, portrayed by Rashida Jones, was Leslie’s best friend and the best nurse in Pawnee. Though her dating life was a disaster. During a clubbing event to support Tom, Ann and Leslie got into a huge argument over her dating life; with Leslie citing that Ann absorbs her boyfriend’s personality and Ann arguing that Leslie is suppressing her feelings for Ben. They make up the next morning and make profound shifts in their dating lives. With Leslie and Donna as her dating guides, Ann learns to be her true self when dating.
2 Ron Swanson Breaking Tiaras (Season 5, Episode 5)
The stoic Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) was happy alone until he began dating a single mom named Diane (Lucy Lawless). When Diane gets called into work on Halloween, Ron and Andy take her daughters trick-or-treating. The girls get into a fight and one of their tiaras breaks, which Ron uses as validation to break the other tiara. When his relationship with Diane is in jeopardy, he makes things up to Diane and her daughters by taking them trick-or-treating the next day.
1 Leslie Knope is Recalled (Season 6, Episode 7)
The formidable force that is Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) experienced many failures in her interim as a public servant. Yet, her most crushing failure was being recalled from city counselor. On Ben’s behalf, Jennifer Barkley (Kathryn Hahn) intervenes and helps steer Leslie to bigger and better career options. She takes on many titles, but her biggest accomplishment is being elected Governor of Indiana.
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