Proposed spinoffs notwithstanding, last night was the last episode of Parks and Recreation, the last time we’ll get to see Leslie Knope, Ron Swanson, Tom Haverford, and the whole Pawnee gang. The finale was an incredibly sweet swan song to the entire cast, showing **spoiler alert** what the distant future held for every major character. But if the ensemble’s comments during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers are to be believed, Chris Pratt had a very different (and very morbid) idea for how to end the show.
According to Schur, Pratt texted him suggesting they end the show in a similar vein as the final scene of Six Feet Under, in which **spoiler alert** the entire cast’s deaths are shown in a flash-forward sequence.
“I thought just, like, a little line of how everyone died,” Pratt said. “The first one, when you saw April, she would be ‘died of a broken heart.'”
*awwws from the crowd*
“And then you would see that Andy died cuz he was left in a hot car with the windows rolled up.”
Even though, as Schur said, that ending wouldn’t actually have been funny, this small interaction perfectly encapsulates the tone of Parks and Rec. In an age when meta-humor, irony, and detached sarcasm rule, Parks and Rec managed to pack as many jokes into each episode as any sitcom while never sacrificing its heart. Even though last night’s finale was heavy on the sentiment, it never let up on the laughs.
For every heart-rending moment like **final spoiler alert** April giving birth or Jerry dying at age 100, there were moments like Jean-Ralphio and Mona-Lisa faking their own funeral to escape to Tajikistan or Craig and his husband Typhoon bickering in a futuristic glass airplane as old men celebrating their wedding anniversary.
And then in typical Parks and Rec fashion, the cast’s appearance ended with a sing-along tribute to Li’l Sebastian while April and Jerry made out. Stay crazy, you guys.
