Parks And Recreation: 5 Reasons Why "Moving Up" Would Have Been A Perfect Ending For The Show

3. Scale

All things considered, this was a big episode. While previous jaunts to Washington D.C., London, and Paris have proved that Parks and Recreation is not afraid to go on location, the San Francisco scenes in the first half leant a scale to the hour that felt relevant to the plot rather than for the sake of spectacle. The stakes were visibly higher, and the reality of what Leslie's job with the National Parks would entail became clearer. The images of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, and the forest moon of Endor all make concrete the abstract dilemma that has been facing Leslie, and it's impossible to blame her for being swept up by the scope of it all. Honestly, who wouldn't accept the job after taking in that view? Also, the First Lady of the United States was there dispensing high-fives. That would also be pretty persuasive. Surprisingly, the scale was not lessened by the return to Indiana. The second half of the episode saw the long-awaited Unity Concert in full swing, complete with a variety of musical guests, a sprawling outdoor set, thousands of extras, a holographic miniature horse, and a woefully off-camera stand of "fried meat quilts." The production value far surpassed all earlier installments, and the entire affair felt as though the show was determined to go out with all of the bangs, bells, and whistles that it could manage in the time left. Between the scenery pornography of San Francisco and the grandeur of the Unity Concert, "Moving Up" would have been one heck of a last hurrah for Parks and Recreation...and will undoubtedly be difficult to top.