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

2. Callbacks

On a subjective level, "Moving Up" was delightfully self-indulgent in the relatively obscure callbacks and cameos from past years that would have been exactly what long-time viewers would deserve of a season finale. Mouse Rat makes a reappearance to perform the touching ode to Li'l Sebastian that debuted in the Season 3 finale and is undeniably 5,000 times better than "Candle In The Wind." Donna's cousin Ginuwine--first mentioned in Season 4--appears and dedicates his 90s hit "Pony" to Li'l Sebastian. Ben still does not understand Pawnee's infatuation with the dearly departed miniature horse, although he does get into the festivities as he brings back the Letters to Cleo t-shirt that he wore in his post-resigning-in-disgrace depression in Season 4. The children's stage is sponsored by Jamm Orthodontics, Jerry's dog is called Lord Sheldon, and Leslie sneaks in a reference to the awesomeness of waffles. And then there were the cameos, some of which were organic enough to mesh with the plot...and some of which were clearly inserted just for the fun of it. Joan Callamezzo, Jean-Ralphio, and Dr. Saperstein were the most relevant, but there was something awfully entertaining about the totally unnecessary scenes with others. We got what could have been one last stilted line delivery out of Perd Hapley. We got a wildly inappropriate innuendo out of--in Ron's words--the "sewer-dwelling gutter witch" that is Tammy 2. Councilman Jamm has a moment of ridiculousness as he invites Leslie to a Pawnee secession rally featuring the bass player of a Warrant cover band (called "Cherry Pie") as the main attraction. Possibly most hilarious, however, was the reappearance of Barney. The poor accountant remains utterly enamored of Ben's wits and wants nothing more than to bring him back to work at his firm, going so far as to copyright Cones of Dunshire in Ben's name...only to have his dreams dashed once again as Ben is preparing to say "Cal-cu-later!" to Pawnee. Well, at least the renewal gives Barney one more season to try to recruit Ben. Fifth time's the charm!