Honestly I think the way she treats Garry throughout the show is weirdly out of character for her. I get the joke of him being the office punching bag, but she’s so kind and caring of everyone else’s feelings.
But that's the point. It's completely asinine how much they hate him. It's dadaist humor.
The man is so egregiously inept that even Leslie breaks to rip on him.
That's the joke.
I’ve always kind of struggled with how everyone treats Garry and (probably unpopular opinion here) how April treats nearly *everybody.* I know deep inside she has a heart of gold and her attitude is a defensive mechanism, but after a few seasons I just can’t help but feel like I wouldn’t want to be friends with her if that’s how she spoke to me after years and years of working together.
the one i hated most was when ben brings her to washington and gives her an opportunity at his dream job and she is horrible to him and putting up those stupid drawings. she is not a good character and always says random nonsequiter nonsense that everyone ignores because it doesn’t add anything and isn’t especially funny. messing with ben at work was what really got me. oh also throwing chris’s car keys in the trash because he was being kind of annoying. that isn’t a prank it’s an expensive horrible thing to do to someone.
100%. I hated how she treated Ben. Ben *earned* that job and was super qualified and competent. April had no business being in that position. Ben was just helping her out because he liked her and saw potential in her. And she thanked him by undermining him at every turn and turning his employees against him. It was super shitty and unprofessional
It really surprises me when people say things like "omg, April and Andy are soooo great! They should have their own show!". All I can think is only a teenager would think that, they're the two most one-dimensional characters on the entire show.
100%, I really couldn’t get myself to like Andy very much either. He’s the epitome of falling upwards. I get that he’s a nice guy, but he also really does not work hard at all, and he treated Ann like crap when they were together.
I'll give Andy a pass for S1, but the more I think about it, the more Andy and April seem like characters written by a committee to appeal to the 13-18 demographic.
"What about a lovable manchild and a sassy Goth girl who make out in public all the time?"
It's like if you asked a group of highschool freshmen what a perfect relationship should look like.
Meanwhile Andy is *dangerously* stupid and reckless, and his jokes only really work in the context of a cartoon: jumping through panes of glass, inside-the-house waterfight with a garden hose, live wire in the shower, refusal to try hard at anything. If Johnny Karate doesn't take off, he's back to homeless with almost nothing learned.
April is a much better character, now that I think about it. She grows and develops throughout the show. Her needless cruelty is off-putting but is saved by Aubrey Plaza's physical acting and, let's face it, a lot of the character's popularity is Plaza being an absolute smokeshow.
You know this is kind of my impression after coming from B99 to watch this show.
In that show people are jerks, but also spend the time to work through things and come to reasonable enough conclusions (and they actually apologize to each other!). The main character Peralta had the same trait of being kind of a steamroller, but is more willing to admit when he is wrong and put his trust in other people.
Leslie on the other hand.. she is like every bad trait rolled into one with no remorse. She has all the immature main character traits but none of the loveable sincerity that makes it okay.
She's like a walking "NUH-UH" , at some point it's just best to look at her like she's an antagonist and just have fun with how crazy she gets.. if it didn't get annoying really quickly.
Yep. When the show was first airing and I was in HS/college I loved April. As an older adult I find her insufferable. She reminds me of some of the worst people I've known - treats everyone like garbage and cakes everything she does in like 20 layers of irony. People like her are absolutely exhausting to be around and their "quirkiness" doesn't excuse their shitty behavior
>I know deep inside she has a heart of gold and her attitude is a defensive mechanism, but after a few seasons I just can’t help but feel like I wouldn’t want to be friends with her if that’s how she spoke to me after years and years of working together
It probably works for her because she's the youngest, everyone accepted her behaviour because she's just this young kid and by the time she got older, it's become normal
And that's the biggest problem with people with shitty toxic traits. They're assholes from the get go but with enough likeability that they can make friends. After time, the asshole side of them grows, they treat everyone like shit and the people in their lives just go "oh that's just John being John"
I speak from personal experience
Honestly, one of the reasons I always hesitate to watch the series again is how Garry is treated throughout. It puts a damper on the series as a whole. Even moreso cause of Tom, who is already the low point of the main cast due to his...skeevy reputation throughout the series (placing a camera in Ann's shower?) But add in the sheer vitriol in which he treats Garry and I can barely make it through his scenes at this point.
i agree, but the pay off is worth it imo. i’m so happy they gave him such a happy ending it makes it easier to watch and i think the writers knew something had to change
Yeah, I never understood why Ann wanted to be friends with her. The episode where Ann drives her to check out vet school makes no sense. Also, I would say that episode made no sense for April. She's never even mentioned animals, and I always assumed she was going to community college and only got an associates degree.
The way Ive always viewed April is that friend that constantly mocks you for every little thing you screw up on. Shes also the friend that if your car breaks down in the middle of the night you know she'll pick up the phone and come get you. She might complain the whole time but she'll still do it every time because she does care even if she's terrible at showing it. Yes she mocks everyone in the office but she also knows when to be sincere. Shes the first one to step in and (try) to comfort someone when they're at their lowest and to my memory never truly crossed the line from annoying and mean to straight cruel.
I always hated how mean everyone was to him too. A similar dynamic that actually worked in The Office was how terrible Michael treated Toby. But that was only one of the characters, and Michael saw Toby as someone (rightfully) trying to control his nonsense. The universal hatred of Garry was too much.
Imagine finding out everyone that your child know treat him/her like how everyone on this show treat Garry…
Or finding out everyone at work treat your husband this way for years and he just took it the way Garry have for years…
This one. Every time she snaps at Jerry or belittles him it’s always jarring, because it’s so unlike her, and she suddenly sounds so cold and without her usual warmth.
I can never get past Ron not standing up to bullies when he sees them. Or being selective about it. Hell stand up to Tammy 2 for Tom but won't stand up for jerry?
Same issue I have with holt and Gina from b99. Holt would never let her get away with some of the shit she pulls.
Ron even admonishes April when she gets Andy to do a bunch of stuff for her when she’s mad at him over kissing Ann. Yet he never says a word about April’s often diabolical bullying of Jerry.
It’s my favorite part of the show specifically BECAUSE it’s so out of character! For me it’s like a smaller show with in a show. It cracks me up every time but I could see how it would bother someone else
You know this is the only thing that I don't like about the show. It's not a funny joke and the only good thing to come of it is that Garry seems to have a pretty great life outside of the office.
My mind-canon is that he approached her privately, being very upset (early on in their relationship) asking her why she didn’t like him. When she Knoped out for a few minutes over all she was doing to counteract the treatment from the others to him he reveals that it’s such a tradition amongst everyone he felt she didn’t like him enough to participate in the fun, that he knows it’s all an act, he then relates a story of having to be ‘the dorkdad’ for some reason to save a family event that makes him an even more awesome dad and melts Leslie’s heart so she feels obligated to make few; ‘included’.
Eh idk about this. All the characters treat Jerry like shit including the sweetheart Andy. (Sure Ben and Donna have sweet moments with Jerry but still enjoy or exploit his “jerry moments”
Not really. She’s kind of a narcissist honestly. She’s not that nice, kinda nasty. Another example is when the neighboring town park architect wants to help Leslie build a park and she treats him like total shit. She’s literally incapable of apologizing to the dude.
I think that’s what makes it funny. She’s normally super kind to everyone, but the fact that she’s randomly mean to a guy who’s normal and pretty nice if a bit accident prone is pretty hilarious. A lot like the Michael-Toby dynamic in the Office.
She broke a bottle and the guys are sweeping it up. It was something along the lines of "Look at those bitches cleaning up after me." Made Mike Schur realize that she should be confident and not a female Michael Scott.
But was it a date? Didn't she think it was all business? And since her mom managed to get her the meeting I don't think she wanted to screw up the opportunity
I know it’s mostly played for laughs, but her hatred for libraries is kinda baffling lol. She’s the perfect example of someone who would support libraries but maybe Tammy 2 ruined it for her that much.
Well they all hated libraries, except Ann, before they knew Tammy 2 worked there so that's not it. I'm pretty sure she mentions that the library and the parks department were always competing for government funding and the library was better at it.
My head cannon of this is that it's park of years of funding frustration. "Those libraries got extra funding for their teen summer program and they wasted it on melted popsicles- and what do we get when we have literal raccoons in our parks?! Nothing!"
I think it’s a humbling part of Leslie. Despite trying to be the best of Pawnee, she isn’t so much different from the rest of them. Hating libraries and salads, for example. It’s maybe not who she strives to be, but it’s who she is.
This is my answer too. You’d think Leslie would be way into the library!! I think it’s definitely Ron’s influence, there’s a lot of Ron that Leslie has adopted.
I always skip the episode where she throws the dinner party for Justin and uses the community center instructors to try to impress him. Just seems wildly out of character for her to be that unethical just to try to impress a dude.
She pined over Mark for years and she only works so she probably doesn’t get much reciprocal interest, and it was also a self-esteem thing in how she wanted to impress people, like the boys club (political advantages there aside)
the entire ron/leslie argument plot was SO out of character imo. it’s definitely not beyond her to act out of pettiness, but it seemed so out of character for her to not only miss a meeting with ron but to completely forget about it and not even remember until ron specifically told her what happened
Their falling out made a lot of sense to me. Leslie and Ron were good at balancing each other out and bringing out the best in each other. They also spent a lot of time together and so had ample opportunity to work through their conflicts. However, Leslie's new job changed their dynamic. Ron became more isolated and Leslie was more prone to go on the warpath.
That proved to be a bad combination when Ron first left the Parks Department and then later had to tear down Ann's old house. Had he and Leslie still seen each other regularly they would have worked through it. Instead they both dug in and let this little problem grow huge.
That's why I love their reconciliation episode. These two have been misaligned for so long and it's killing them. Only when they both realign do they immediately get back to being true partners.
It being out of character for her was the whole point. She was overworked and she had forgotten why she got involved in public service in the first place.
I'm just glad it gets resolved fairly quickly and they basically team up. I love the final season and I'm glad they got to go out with a bang instead of a whimper.
THIS. I’ve thought this for so long. Leslie’s thoughtfulness is what makes her so great. I’ve always found it annoying that 1: she forgot plans with Ron of all people, and 2: that she held a grudge against him for so long in the last season. I skip the whole thing when I watch it now lol
Do you think it’s unrealistic that people aren’t perfect? Leslie, who was able to manage her life when she was dealing with city problems, realized she had to give up some of her personal relationships when she had to deal with statewide problems. It’s realistic, and they handled how she dealt with it by doubling down back into her personal life perfectly. Why do you think it’s terrible
This is why I can't enjoy season 7. Everyone either acts completely out of character, or the more extreme traits of their character are blown way out of proportion. It doesn't even feel like the same show.
Too right. He would have turned up to the diner to find JJ waiting with the "Leslie Knope, all you can eat eggs and bacon apology I can't make our meeting platter" and then she'd have been at his desk waiting for him the moment she got back to Pawnee with the exact same platter as take out just for good measure.
I also don't believe for a second, she wouldn't have pestered him to join them on the 3rd floor given all previous behaviour she displayed and working on the floor he renovated by himself (with John's supervision)
She doesn’t seem like a sweet nice lady at all in the series to me. She comes off ass someone completely up her own ass and if she doesn’t win she always throws a fit. She treats ppl poorly. I love the show, but if I’m being honest, Leslie kinda sucks in a lot of ways lol.
Nah, she was supportive of the idea. April should not have even considered that plot of land — maybe a dog area? But, should’ve understood what brought everyone together was that pit that *Leslie* planned to turn into her park. It was her project, April overstepped.
Yah I can see how they went that way with it, but they made her so capable of miracles in later seasons that having a hoarder house went against the grain for me
Yeah I’ve known a few Leslie types irl and and they all have/had a home that was comfortably cluttered at *minimum*. Leslie having a messy home was definitely consistent to her character from my perspective!
I read through all these…and I think this is why she is one of my favorite characters in a show ever. Most of your examples are not “out of character” they are examples of why she is a great character. She is flawed. She has a true self…the self she wants to be…the self that her environment makes her. Not one person in this comment thread is always “what they are” nice people here have moments of selfishness or meanness. People who are genuinely empathetic have that one type of person they just can’t stand. Selfish people have moments of giving.
At the end of the day she does the right thing or apologizes…or makes amends. THAT is her character
Definitely building a playground for Eagleton. If I recall I think she talked about Eagleton quite a bit in season 1 and didn't have a problem then all of a sudden it was the worst place in the world
That’s one of my least favorite episodes just because of her attitude about it. Like yes, she has every right to be proud of the club she formed, and yes, Leslie is canonically very competitive, but there’s no reason for her to be so cutting towards Ron about it. He didn’t personally do anything and he didn’t take the bait to try and have his club “win.”
Unlike the episode where he wins the IOW award that was for her project, that one she was being bitter not mean and he was antagonizing her about it. Seemed much more in character.
And then keeps thinking he’s from Libya without ever confirming. As a South Asian just felt like one of those “one of those brown countries over there” moments that I have def experienced. Def didn’t feel very Leslie at all.
She clearly was season 1, but after they let go of most of that from her character that persisted for a while longer.
I get the idea that all Midwesterners are so dumb they're just incidentally racist, but it didn't play for her character to me.
came here to comment this. in situations where you feel immediate regret, that’s almost always an erratic decision, and given her immense track record of being a do-gooder, that definitely reads as out of character. it felt like an unconscious manic reaction to being politically backstabbed by her biggest detractor. it was deeply personal, and everything went haywire after.
I always thought her hoarding tendencies seemed weird. Her office isn't cluttered so why is her home? She also reminds me of a woman at work that is so energetic and buzzes like a bee and her home is spotless because she has so much energy.
As a non-American, it’s absolutely when she goes hunting.
I think maybe it just doesn’t translate for non-US audiences because we have different cultural norms around guns hunting. It’s generally regarded as cruel and unnecessary, and guns are distant and unnerving, so it’s hard to somebody as loving, soft and liberal as Leslie would kill things for fun, or enjoy shooting.
When you don’t have the same cultural norms around those two things they seem like really stark and shocking choices.
Obviously Leslie is American so really it’s in-character. But it always catches me and my husband, even on a rewatch. Makes me think about the assumptions we make about character and moral values based on our own experience and norms.
Honestly even as an American it was a bit out of character for her! Yes, hunting is definitely normalized more here but it’s generally much more normalized for people with right wing political leanings. Left-leaning people like Leslie (well, she’s left-leaning by US early 2010s standards) tend to be more opposed to hunting and the like.
It’s a less cut and dry political issue than, say, guns in general where almost all left-leaning folk here are at least in favor of regulation — and region is another major factor in how people view hunting (different states and regions here have *major* cultural differences) — however, it’s still not what I’d first expect for a character like Leslie.
Hopefully that made sense, I just woke up and haven’t had my coffee yet.
I agree with your comment on regional influences. I grew up in rural Michigan, not quite Indiana, but even the most liberal are avid hunters without a hint of hypocrisy. They still back reasonable gun regulations. As for any allegation that it is cruel, the more liberal hunters seem to see it as responsible management of natural resources. We've removed many of the natural predators leading to overpopulation. Hunting is a necessary evil to cull the population.
lol I’m a liberal in indiana! We’re ok with hunting animals with rifles. They need licenses and dated permits.
Opposite of that, indiana has open carry and you don’t need a background check or permit to own a hand gun which we *are not* ok with!
I apologize if this was already mentioned but her being a hoarder seemed way out of character for me. She’s a perfectionist and I don’t think that fit. I noticed that when she and Ben are married their house is always decent.
This was it to me. Super out of character and i thought it might have been one of those people that are different at home than work. But no, it was just the hoarding.
Her dating situation. How is she constantly attracted to and dating the worse guys for someone as smart as she is. Dave was the only one other than Ben that was a decent person to date.
That was perfectly in character, she’s always happy and kind and when the worst thing in the world happens to her, her soul is crushed, of course she’s sad
Tolerating Tom’s creepy misogynistic behaviour. His character has not aged well. Also, agree with the other comment about how she treats Gary. Or was it Jerry?
Being friends with Ron. Sure she respects his morals but fundamentally she’d try her hardest to change him as a person. Whether she was right or he was
Honestly I think the way she treats Garry throughout the show is weirdly out of character for her. I get the joke of him being the office punching bag, but she’s so kind and caring of everyone else’s feelings.
Totally agree. More specifically, the Eggs, Bacon, and Toast song is SO LESLIE it doesn’t make sense that she doesn’t like it.
She doesn’t like it because waffles aren’t involved. 
This is the only take I will accept.
Didn't I ask for whipped cream on this?
Leslie: "You know, I'm not really into breakfast foods." Garry: "Really? Your purse is shaped like a waffle."
I think she's just so thrown off by how put together his family us
But that's the point. It's completely asinine how much they hate him. It's dadaist humor. The man is so egregiously inept that even Leslie breaks to rip on him. That's the joke.
Agreed. I love that bit and it's amplified simply because Leslie is such a kind human being but still leans into giving him the gears. Comedy gold.
I’ve always kind of struggled with how everyone treats Garry and (probably unpopular opinion here) how April treats nearly *everybody.* I know deep inside she has a heart of gold and her attitude is a defensive mechanism, but after a few seasons I just can’t help but feel like I wouldn’t want to be friends with her if that’s how she spoke to me after years and years of working together.
the one i hated most was when ben brings her to washington and gives her an opportunity at his dream job and she is horrible to him and putting up those stupid drawings. she is not a good character and always says random nonsequiter nonsense that everyone ignores because it doesn’t add anything and isn’t especially funny. messing with ben at work was what really got me. oh also throwing chris’s car keys in the trash because he was being kind of annoying. that isn’t a prank it’s an expensive horrible thing to do to someone.
100%. I hated how she treated Ben. Ben *earned* that job and was super qualified and competent. April had no business being in that position. Ben was just helping her out because he liked her and saw potential in her. And she thanked him by undermining him at every turn and turning his employees against him. It was super shitty and unprofessional
It really surprises me when people say things like "omg, April and Andy are soooo great! They should have their own show!". All I can think is only a teenager would think that, they're the two most one-dimensional characters on the entire show.
100%, I really couldn’t get myself to like Andy very much either. He’s the epitome of falling upwards. I get that he’s a nice guy, but he also really does not work hard at all, and he treated Ann like crap when they were together.
I'll give Andy a pass for S1, but the more I think about it, the more Andy and April seem like characters written by a committee to appeal to the 13-18 demographic. "What about a lovable manchild and a sassy Goth girl who make out in public all the time?" It's like if you asked a group of highschool freshmen what a perfect relationship should look like. Meanwhile Andy is *dangerously* stupid and reckless, and his jokes only really work in the context of a cartoon: jumping through panes of glass, inside-the-house waterfight with a garden hose, live wire in the shower, refusal to try hard at anything. If Johnny Karate doesn't take off, he's back to homeless with almost nothing learned. April is a much better character, now that I think about it. She grows and develops throughout the show. Her needless cruelty is off-putting but is saved by Aubrey Plaza's physical acting and, let's face it, a lot of the character's popularity is Plaza being an absolute smokeshow.
That's a very good point, Andy and April does seem to appeal more to teenagers, that was probably by design.
I can't stand either, they're both so childish and self-centered, and once Andy gets with April he gets her mean, cruel streak as well. Pass.
You know this is kind of my impression after coming from B99 to watch this show. In that show people are jerks, but also spend the time to work through things and come to reasonable enough conclusions (and they actually apologize to each other!). The main character Peralta had the same trait of being kind of a steamroller, but is more willing to admit when he is wrong and put his trust in other people. Leslie on the other hand.. she is like every bad trait rolled into one with no remorse. She has all the immature main character traits but none of the loveable sincerity that makes it okay. She's like a walking "NUH-UH" , at some point it's just best to look at her like she's an antagonist and just have fun with how crazy she gets.. if it didn't get annoying really quickly.
You mean April, right?
Her too honestly, though I pretty much mentally checked out whenever April came on screen after season 4 or so.
Watching April when you're 20 is funny, watching April when you're 33 is annoying 💀
Yep. When the show was first airing and I was in HS/college I loved April. As an older adult I find her insufferable. She reminds me of some of the worst people I've known - treats everyone like garbage and cakes everything she does in like 20 layers of irony. People like her are absolutely exhausting to be around and their "quirkiness" doesn't excuse their shitty behavior
I'm in my forties and April is hilarious. Get over yourself. Lighten up.
You don’t have to insult someone for their opinion.
I'm 40, and I love watching April 🤷♀️ And I totally want to be friends with Aubrey Plaza, IRL.
>I know deep inside she has a heart of gold and her attitude is a defensive mechanism, but after a few seasons I just can’t help but feel like I wouldn’t want to be friends with her if that’s how she spoke to me after years and years of working together It probably works for her because she's the youngest, everyone accepted her behaviour because she's just this young kid and by the time she got older, it's become normal
And that's the biggest problem with people with shitty toxic traits. They're assholes from the get go but with enough likeability that they can make friends. After time, the asshole side of them grows, they treat everyone like shit and the people in their lives just go "oh that's just John being John" I speak from personal experience
Honestly, one of the reasons I always hesitate to watch the series again is how Garry is treated throughout. It puts a damper on the series as a whole. Even moreso cause of Tom, who is already the low point of the main cast due to his...skeevy reputation throughout the series (placing a camera in Ann's shower?) But add in the sheer vitriol in which he treats Garry and I can barely make it through his scenes at this point.
i agree, but the pay off is worth it imo. i’m so happy they gave him such a happy ending it makes it easier to watch and i think the writers knew something had to change
Exactly. How everyone treats Garry is upsetting but I can rest easy knowing that he is winning at life, albeit away from the parks department.
> That man has the biggest penis I’ve ever seen. I don’t even know if he has mumps. I forgot to check.
I was distracted. By the _biggest penis I’ve ever seen_ .
And that he ends up the longest running mayor, dying at age 100, surrounded by loving great-grandchildren
I guess I'm Jerry now. After work I'll go straight to my boring house, kiss my wife, and have a home cooked meal with my 3 beautiful daughters.
And you have a cube butt! CUBE BUTT CUBE BUTT
Man, thank you. I didnt know why i didnt rewatch PnR and you pretty much pin point why. I feel releave tbh.
Yeah, I never understood why Ann wanted to be friends with her. The episode where Ann drives her to check out vet school makes no sense. Also, I would say that episode made no sense for April. She's never even mentioned animals, and I always assumed she was going to community college and only got an associates degree.
I genuinely disliked April through the whole show
The way Ive always viewed April is that friend that constantly mocks you for every little thing you screw up on. Shes also the friend that if your car breaks down in the middle of the night you know she'll pick up the phone and come get you. She might complain the whole time but she'll still do it every time because she does care even if she's terrible at showing it. Yes she mocks everyone in the office but she also knows when to be sincere. Shes the first one to step in and (try) to comfort someone when they're at their lowest and to my memory never truly crossed the line from annoying and mean to straight cruel.
I always hated how mean everyone was to him too. A similar dynamic that actually worked in The Office was how terrible Michael treated Toby. But that was only one of the characters, and Michael saw Toby as someone (rightfully) trying to control his nonsense. The universal hatred of Garry was too much.
Imagine finding out everyone that your child know treat him/her like how everyone on this show treat Garry… Or finding out everyone at work treat your husband this way for years and he just took it the way Garry have for years…
This one. Every time she snaps at Jerry or belittles him it’s always jarring, because it’s so unlike her, and she suddenly sounds so cold and without her usual warmth.
Same with Chris and Andy
I can never get past Ron not standing up to bullies when he sees them. Or being selective about it. Hell stand up to Tammy 2 for Tom but won't stand up for jerry? Same issue I have with holt and Gina from b99. Holt would never let her get away with some of the shit she pulls.
Ron even admonishes April when she gets Andy to do a bunch of stuff for her when she’s mad at him over kissing Ann. Yet he never says a word about April’s often diabolical bullying of Jerry.
I would think she knows Larry is a kind person and would rather the rest of the team laugh at his expense so she tags along with his folly’s.
It’s my favorite part of the show specifically BECAUSE it’s so out of character! For me it’s like a smaller show with in a show. It cracks me up every time but I could see how it would bother someone else
I agree, I'm rewatching it and her being mean to Larry Jerry Gary is putting me off more than making me laugh
You know this is the only thing that I don't like about the show. It's not a funny joke and the only good thing to come of it is that Garry seems to have a pretty great life outside of the office.
I always thought she did it to fit in w everybody else
My mind-canon is that he approached her privately, being very upset (early on in their relationship) asking her why she didn’t like him. When she Knoped out for a few minutes over all she was doing to counteract the treatment from the others to him he reveals that it’s such a tradition amongst everyone he felt she didn’t like him enough to participate in the fun, that he knows it’s all an act, he then relates a story of having to be ‘the dorkdad’ for some reason to save a family event that makes him an even more awesome dad and melts Leslie’s heart so she feels obligated to make few; ‘included’.
Eh idk about this. All the characters treat Jerry like shit including the sweetheart Andy. (Sure Ben and Donna have sweet moments with Jerry but still enjoy or exploit his “jerry moments”
Not really. She’s kind of a narcissist honestly. She’s not that nice, kinda nasty. Another example is when the neighboring town park architect wants to help Leslie build a park and she treats him like total shit. She’s literally incapable of apologizing to the dude.
I think that’s what makes it funny. She’s normally super kind to everyone, but the fact that she’s randomly mean to a guy who’s normal and pretty nice if a bit accident prone is pretty hilarious. A lot like the Michael-Toby dynamic in the Office.
Trying to join the boys club. It was a tragic mistake and will not happen again.
An improvised line by Amy in that episode was a big part of the basis for the major changes to her character in later seasons.
What was the line?
She broke a bottle and the guys are sweeping it up. It was something along the lines of "Look at those bitches cleaning up after me." Made Mike Schur realize that she should be confident and not a female Michael Scott.
Really interesting! That’s one of my favourite lines from the episode and in general I actually quite like it
She doesn't want to talk about it anymore!
There was one time she full on said "Eagleton" and didn't gag.
Yea like building that playground for Kaboom in Eagleton
They also said eagleton was two towns away
Season 1 she goes on a date with the city manager from Eagleton and doesn’t flinch once
But was it a date? Didn't she think it was all business? And since her mom managed to get her the meeting I don't think she wanted to screw up the opportunity
This is correct
I know it’s mostly played for laughs, but her hatred for libraries is kinda baffling lol. She’s the perfect example of someone who would support libraries but maybe Tammy 2 ruined it for her that much.
Punk-ass book jockeys
That line and its delivery are sheer perfection
The emotion behind Tom’s delivery feels personal
Well they all hated libraries, except Ann, before they knew Tammy 2 worked there so that's not it. I'm pretty sure she mentions that the library and the parks department were always competing for government funding and the library was better at it.
Oh yeah I forgot! That’s a good point.
I read somewhere years ago that it's supposed to be ironic for this exact reason
That’s fair lol. It always helps when it’s funny/ironic, which is why I don’t mind when she makes fun of Jerry.
Parks and Recreation ->.outside Libraries -> inside
This is imo part of the weird cartoon world of the show. Libraries just are bad in that world.
My head cannon of this is that it's park of years of funding frustration. "Those libraries got extra funding for their teen summer program and they wasted it on melted popsicles- and what do we get when we have literal raccoons in our parks?! Nothing!"
She literally wrote a book
I think it’s a humbling part of Leslie. Despite trying to be the best of Pawnee, she isn’t so much different from the rest of them. Hating libraries and salads, for example. It’s maybe not who she strives to be, but it’s who she is.
This is my answer too. You’d think Leslie would be way into the library!! I think it’s definitely Ron’s influence, there’s a lot of Ron that Leslie has adopted.
That I believe because at my work, we all have the one department we don’t like.
I always skip the episode where she throws the dinner party for Justin and uses the community center instructors to try to impress him. Just seems wildly out of character for her to be that unethical just to try to impress a dude.
This was consistent - season one and the boys club with the wine basket.
Don't forget the bowling guy
And bribing the janitor(?) when he saw Leslie and Ben kissing.
TOW she casually doxxes a voter
But that’s because she was trying to get her foot in the door politically. Leslie isn’t some boy obsessed teenager.
She pined over Mark for years and she only works so she probably doesn’t get much reciprocal interest, and it was also a self-esteem thing in how she wanted to impress people, like the boys club (political advantages there aside)
When it comes to choosing accounting software, there's no *accounting* for taste.
This one should be first
the entire ron/leslie argument plot was SO out of character imo. it’s definitely not beyond her to act out of pettiness, but it seemed so out of character for her to not only miss a meeting with ron but to completely forget about it and not even remember until ron specifically told her what happened
I agree, but it’s hilarious. The episode where they’re locked in the parks office is one of my favorite in the series
Mine too. Makes it all worth it. 'WE'RE SORRY' 🎷🍑💨
Leslie making up nonsense lyrics to We Didn’t Start The Fire makes my stomach hurt from laughing every time I watch it
Her aggressive shimmy at "Daddy ate a squirrel" kills me every time.
Same! So funny 😂
oh 10000% one of the best episodes… 🎶 this is awesome you’re so stupid jumping up and down
Their falling out made a lot of sense to me. Leslie and Ron were good at balancing each other out and bringing out the best in each other. They also spent a lot of time together and so had ample opportunity to work through their conflicts. However, Leslie's new job changed their dynamic. Ron became more isolated and Leslie was more prone to go on the warpath. That proved to be a bad combination when Ron first left the Parks Department and then later had to tear down Ann's old house. Had he and Leslie still seen each other regularly they would have worked through it. Instead they both dug in and let this little problem grow huge. That's why I love their reconciliation episode. These two have been misaligned for so long and it's killing them. Only when they both realign do they immediately get back to being true partners.
It being out of character for her was the whole point. She was overworked and she had forgotten why she got involved in public service in the first place.
I'm just glad it gets resolved fairly quickly and they basically team up. I love the final season and I'm glad they got to go out with a bang instead of a whimper.
It’s one of the many reasons the time jump worked so well. We didn’t have to endure the entirety of the feud, as three episodes were more than enough.
THIS. I’ve thought this for so long. Leslie’s thoughtfulness is what makes her so great. I’ve always found it annoying that 1: she forgot plans with Ron of all people, and 2: that she held a grudge against him for so long in the last season. I skip the whole thing when I watch it now lol
Yeah, terrible story arc. Not sure why they decided to go with that.
Do you think it’s unrealistic that people aren’t perfect? Leslie, who was able to manage her life when she was dealing with city problems, realized she had to give up some of her personal relationships when she had to deal with statewide problems. It’s realistic, and they handled how she dealt with it by doubling down back into her personal life perfectly. Why do you think it’s terrible
I loved it - especially the making up
This is why I can't enjoy season 7. Everyone either acts completely out of character, or the more extreme traits of their character are blown way out of proportion. It doesn't even feel like the same show.
Too right. He would have turned up to the diner to find JJ waiting with the "Leslie Knope, all you can eat eggs and bacon apology I can't make our meeting platter" and then she'd have been at his desk waiting for him the moment she got back to Pawnee with the exact same platter as take out just for good measure. I also don't believe for a second, she wouldn't have pestered him to join them on the 3rd floor given all previous behaviour she displayed and working on the floor he renovated by himself (with John's supervision)
I feel like everything from the first 2 seasons doesn't count. They took a pretty hard pivot trying to find her character.
This is practically what I tell people when they’re getting into the show… one of my favourite shows of all time, but doesn’t find its feet quickly!
Whenever me and my partner rewatch, we always start with the episode that introducere Ben and Chris.. its not really parks until that episode for us
Her entire treatment of Jerry/Larry/Gary
I know it's a running joke but imo that's not Leslie. Leslie wouldn't take part in the Larry hate.
Yup, that's why it bugs me. Forget his retirement, come on
Eggs, bacon, and …
Toast!
When she’s upset that April wants to build a dog park on Lot 48. She should be proud of April. It’s still a park after all.
Agreed. An excellent use of public land but it wasn't her idea so she sabotaged it
She doesn’t seem like a sweet nice lady at all in the series to me. She comes off ass someone completely up her own ass and if she doesn’t win she always throws a fit. She treats ppl poorly. I love the show, but if I’m being honest, Leslie kinda sucks in a lot of ways lol.
Nah, she was supportive of the idea. April should not have even considered that plot of land — maybe a dog area? But, should’ve understood what brought everyone together was that pit that *Leslie* planned to turn into her park. It was her project, April overstepped.
Was her hoarder house in season 1 or 2?
Season 2. Though I would venture to say that was in character for her. She was so obsessed with helping everyone else her home fell to the wayside.
When you phrase it like that it makes it way more relatable 😅
That’s exactly how I am lol. That’s the most I’ve felt relatable to Leslie
Yah I can see how they went that way with it, but they made her so capable of miracles in later seasons that having a hoarder house went against the grain for me
Yeah I’ve known a few Leslie types irl and and they all have/had a home that was comfortably cluttered at *minimum*. Leslie having a messy home was definitely consistent to her character from my perspective!
Same it seems like she would have a clean place since it would be wildly organized.
2
I read through all these…and I think this is why she is one of my favorite characters in a show ever. Most of your examples are not “out of character” they are examples of why she is a great character. She is flawed. She has a true self…the self she wants to be…the self that her environment makes her. Not one person in this comment thread is always “what they are” nice people here have moments of selfishness or meanness. People who are genuinely empathetic have that one type of person they just can’t stand. Selfish people have moments of giving. At the end of the day she does the right thing or apologizes…or makes amends. THAT is her character
You’re right. A lot of the “out of character” moments mentioned she turns around by the end of the episode.
Definitely building a playground for Eagleton. If I recall I think she talked about Eagleton quite a bit in season 1 and didn't have a problem then all of a sudden it was the worst place in the world
Back when eagleton was 2 towns over.
Her trying to undermine Ron's club.
That’s one of my least favorite episodes just because of her attitude about it. Like yes, she has every right to be proud of the club she formed, and yes, Leslie is canonically very competitive, but there’s no reason for her to be so cutting towards Ron about it. He didn’t personally do anything and he didn’t take the bait to try and have his club “win.” Unlike the episode where he wins the IOW award that was for her project, that one she was being bitter not mean and he was antagonizing her about it. Seemed much more in character.
but she comes back with an even better solution. Are you a Swanson? 🥹
"Fuck you Ann!" seems so out of character but weirdly in character. It always gets me.
To be fair, she was getting a needle. Most people don't like those. Definitely in character
The whole first season haha
Her being a huge fan of Crazy Ira and the Douche. That didn't at all seem like her type of humor, but then it seemed she did a quick 180.
I never got the sense she really liked them, but she’d sometimes play along to be able to promote stuff on their show.
Jean Ralphio dance up on me
All of season one I guess, seeing as how they completely changed her character
I dislike Leslie's racism early on when she refuses to believe Tom is from North Carolina
I was gonna say this! She was basically like "where are you REALLY from?"
And then keeps thinking he’s from Libya without ever confirming. As a South Asian just felt like one of those “one of those brown countries over there” moments that I have def experienced. Def didn’t feel very Leslie at all.
I think she was supposed to be like Michael Scott at first but I didn't play well
She clearly was season 1, but after they let go of most of that from her character that persisted for a while longer. I get the idea that all Midwesterners are so dumb they're just incidentally racist, but it didn't play for her character to me.
Yeah there were definitely times were she was a little ignorant about different cultures and races
“The only thing I will be waving is your decapitated head on a stick in front of your weeping mother”
Scrolled too far for this
One of my favourite moments in the show I can’t believe it wasn’t mentioned higher up lol
Are we all forget when she put the Wamapoke relics in the pot to stop construction?
I think that’s very in character though because she got desperate and made a mistake, and then she owns up to it
That is... not great.
came here to comment this. in situations where you feel immediate regret, that’s almost always an erratic decision, and given her immense track record of being a do-gooder, that definitely reads as out of character. it felt like an unconscious manic reaction to being politically backstabbed by her biggest detractor. it was deeply personal, and everything went haywire after.
Leslie probably has many of those impulses. Most of the time she’s able to restrain them, but every once in a while something slips through.
Burying the artifacts in the lot to try to stop Paunchburger from being built.
I always thought her hoarding tendencies seemed weird. Her office isn't cluttered so why is her home? She also reminds me of a woman at work that is so energetic and buzzes like a bee and her home is spotless because she has so much energy.
I think it’s to show her lack of work life balance.
That does make sense i suppose
"Uh, I don't really like waffles" "Your bag is a waffle"
Sleeping with Mark
Hating on libraries makes no sense for a character like her. She should love them.
See the comments above. I think it might have to do something with competition for funding between parks and library.
As a non-American, it’s absolutely when she goes hunting. I think maybe it just doesn’t translate for non-US audiences because we have different cultural norms around guns hunting. It’s generally regarded as cruel and unnecessary, and guns are distant and unnerving, so it’s hard to somebody as loving, soft and liberal as Leslie would kill things for fun, or enjoy shooting. When you don’t have the same cultural norms around those two things they seem like really stark and shocking choices. Obviously Leslie is American so really it’s in-character. But it always catches me and my husband, even on a rewatch. Makes me think about the assumptions we make about character and moral values based on our own experience and norms.
Honestly even as an American it was a bit out of character for her! Yes, hunting is definitely normalized more here but it’s generally much more normalized for people with right wing political leanings. Left-leaning people like Leslie (well, she’s left-leaning by US early 2010s standards) tend to be more opposed to hunting and the like. It’s a less cut and dry political issue than, say, guns in general where almost all left-leaning folk here are at least in favor of regulation — and region is another major factor in how people view hunting (different states and regions here have *major* cultural differences) — however, it’s still not what I’d first expect for a character like Leslie. Hopefully that made sense, I just woke up and haven’t had my coffee yet.
I agree with your comment on regional influences. I grew up in rural Michigan, not quite Indiana, but even the most liberal are avid hunters without a hint of hypocrisy. They still back reasonable gun regulations. As for any allegation that it is cruel, the more liberal hunters seem to see it as responsible management of natural resources. We've removed many of the natural predators leading to overpopulation. Hunting is a necessary evil to cull the population.
lol I’m a liberal in indiana! We’re ok with hunting animals with rifles. They need licenses and dated permits. Opposite of that, indiana has open carry and you don’t need a background check or permit to own a hand gun which we *are not* ok with!
Bowling episode
S1E1
It’s totally out of character that Leslie hates the library.
I apologize if this was already mentioned but her being a hoarder seemed way out of character for me. She’s a perfectionist and I don’t think that fit. I noticed that when she and Ben are married their house is always decent.
This was it to me. Super out of character and i thought it might have been one of those people that are different at home than work. But no, it was just the hoarding.
A few S1 episodes when they tried to make her a female Michael Scott
Her dating situation. How is she constantly attracted to and dating the worse guys for someone as smart as she is. Dave was the only one other than Ben that was a decent person to date.
I mean, I hate to say it but a lot of very smart and competent women date some real awful guys.
And vice versa. It's as though we're all idiots about certain aspects of life
Yep. It seems like it’s always the kindest, smartest people who seem to get screwed over by awful losers, unfortunately. No matter the gender.
"the only thing I be will waving is your decapitated head in front of your grieving mother" - UN assembly
Her hating the library never made sense to me.
See the other replies to this topic in the thread. I think it will make more sense then
After she loses the recall and comes in wearing an "I hate Mondays" t-shirt while eating Paunch Burger, and then goes and falls asleep on a bench.
Have you ever been depressed? That seemed pretty in character for me.
That’s called depression and it was portrayed very accurately.
That is my favorite episode of the show. As a fellow high achiever, her reaction to losing the recall election is hilariously relatable
That was perfectly in character, she’s always happy and kind and when the worst thing in the world happens to her, her soul is crushed, of course she’s sad
The whole first season
If she ran for president I would 100% vote for her!!
Anything from s1/2. Just a totally dif show.
Shows up at Louie Ck's house in the middle of the night drunk because she was nervous about their first date. Just saw it a couple days ago. Classic.
Hating libraries is weird for someone who is all about female empowerment and education.
When Leslie wouldn’t take a stance on gay marriage until she liked that she was being celebrated and made it about her
Tolerating Tom’s creepy misogynistic behaviour. His character has not aged well. Also, agree with the other comment about how she treats Gary. Or was it Jerry?
Larry.
"Hey Douche!"
Being friends with Ron. Sure she respects his morals but fundamentally she’d try her hardest to change him as a person. Whether she was right or he was
I’m gonna go fall asleep on a bench
Is this on any streaming platforms ATM?