(S7Ep11) Two Funerals!

"Death makes brothers of us all" This episode is so full of sincere, thoughtful moments! Donna and Andy step up Ron in his time of need, Tom creates a proposal plan with Leslie, Ben has closure on Ice-Town and our boy Gary gets a huge, perfect surprise! This ending was so beautiful and just truly perfect. Well done writers! And well done Ian Phillips, the sign employee who is actually the production designer on Parks yay!!! 

Thank you also to Burly for sending in fantastic emails about his last few times on set, omg! 

Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe please! And don't forget to support your local library becuase the resources are UNMATCHED! We love! 

Sources: 

https://www.salon.com/2015/02/18/bill_murray_to_parks_and_rec_i_hear_you_might_have_some_dead_work_for_me/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ted-williams-frozen-in-two-pieces/

https://abcnews.com/US/story?id=91481&page=1

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3784620/

Transcript

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Holly (00:25.373)
Okay. All right. Hello everyone and welcome. We are on to funerals. my gosh, so crazy. I do have a follow-up from last episode, but before I say that, I do want to mention really quickly that I might be speaking just a little bit lower because my internet was fucked up and I hate it, but I have come to a solution for the last like three episodes, I guess. Maybe hopefully it'll be better. But I'm booking a library room, which I thought was so like accurate for parks and rec, honestly. And by library room

Madi (00:53.133)
Yes.

Holly (00:55.539)
They have these things called privacy pods, which is what I'm in right now. And honestly, if I had known about these during college or even high school, or even like work in general, I might eat come in here because it's super small. It's basically like a voiceover booth. So it might even sound better than my home, like you know, setup. But anyhow, no one knows that I'm recording in here. And hopefully they can't hear me. But I have heard that people record or not record, take calls in here.

Madi (01:02.742)
Mm.

Holly (01:22.855)
So hopefully, you know, it's just like totally normal for people to be speaking in here.

Madi (01:27.692)
I'm sure it's fine. And we're getting sexy library voice, Holly. It's

Holly (01:30.823)
A sexy library voice and this internet is so much better. my gosh. So I can't wait for that to be like just amazing. But hopefully my next yeah, pristine. Hopefully my next internet will be great. But honestly, like seriously, this is not sponsored by any means. This was a total accident. But if you have a library card, most libraries have privacy pods or just like rooms you can book in general, like sh small little like crap.

Madi (01:37.816)
Pristine.

Holly (01:52.829)
Classroom type of things. I knew they had like conference rooms or whatever. but I did not know that they had this. So holler at the library because it's free. It's free. my god.

Madi (01:57.07)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (02:03.531)
Yeah. This is very and not Leslie of you, but I am so with you that they are awesome.

Holly (02:07.483)
Yes. If Leslie liked libraries, this would be her for sure. And I'm very glad that I didn't bring my mic stand. I almost did, but this is like so small and first of all it doesn't fit, but secondly that would be so suspicious. And I was like, Maybe I shouldn't like draw attention to myself 'cause I don't have like one of those small ones. But that's okay. We're doing what we're doing and it's gonna be great. So I just wanted to let everyone know that it might sound a tiny different. Not that you guys care, but

Madi (02:13.877)
Yes.

Madi (02:23.116)
Yeah.

Madi (02:28.599)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Holly (02:35.549)
I also wanted to talk about the library, of course. So anyway, okay. Okay, so I have a bit of a follow-up from last episode. So I messaged Burley, Andrew Burlington, aka our lovely guitar player from Mouse Rat, and I was like, my God, we're on your last, last episode. This is crazy. This was last week that I messaged him, but he just got back to me. And he thought I was talking about the one where he plays Puppy Hating Dan or whatever when

Madi (02:39.884)
Love it.

Madi (02:48.524)
Yes.

Madi (02:55.831)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (03:03.533)
Yeah.

Holly (03:04.041)
Tom is trying to get Andy like repped better or have like more rights as Johnny Karate. So I'll just like read his email and then we'll go into the one where he remembers his last episode too. Okay, so he says, Wow, congrats on reaching this point. So fun. I've actually been re-watching the show for the first time ever with my daughter, who is finally old enough to watch it and we're having a blast. She knows all these actors from other stuff, so she thinks it's really funny when I pop up.

For this one, I remember that Prat had to wear a fake beard to look like Andy because he was in between shooting some Star Lord stuff. It was a super fun episode. Amy directed and lots of crew members' kids were in that crowd. Total blast. And I loved getting to finally play a somewhat big character. Other than that, the only thing I remember is trying to sneak off with my puppy hating Dan t-shirt, but a wardrobe assistant caught me. Hope you're great. Definitely stay in touch. But I'm sad that the wardrobe assistant wouldn't let him keep it.

Madi (04:01.23)
Hey no. Like where do all those things go if if not to the people who wear them?

Holly (04:02.813)
I think he deserves it.

Holly (04:07.831)
I know. I was thinking that they're gonna put it back in the wardrobe thing, 'cause like they're not gonna reuse that shirt, I feel. I don't know.

Madi (04:13.25)
Mm-hmm.

No. For what? I love that they had all the kids, like crew members, cast members, kids in the audience. That's such a such a cool memory for like that's the like the coolest take your kid to work day.

Holly (04:27.839)
Yeah, totally. And we were saying that, in the last episode too, with the Johnny Karate episode that we love that there was a live audience of kids and like they all had their like Johnny Karate merch or the one kid who had his Dr. Smart Brain or whatever the hell Professor Smart Brain outfit on. So yeah, that's cool to know that they were crew members' kids. anyway, so then I was like, Burley, that was that's awesome. Love that memory, but I'm talking about the Johnny Karate episode, where you were in the rockumentary and he goes,

Madi (04:42.605)
Yeah.

Madi (04:47.49)
Yeah.

Holly (04:57.363)
That one, LOL. I honestly have no idea when those episodes were shot. All I remember from that day was how chill it was on set for that little segment. Pretty quiet and laid back. All the people who were talking heads in that segment were just sort of milling around, catching up and whatnot. I spent some time talking to Kirsten Mann and Dean Holland, the sound folks, the camera folks, etc. Every time I was there, I was welcomed with such warmth, and I couldn't believe they actually went through with the joke of sending Rivers to rabbinical school.

Madi (05:16.11)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (05:25.742)
So cool.

Holly (05:28.113)
I love that. Yes, we've talked to Kirsten Mann, the costume designer, and I have put out a plea to Dean Holland in my last episode. So hopefully he'll get back to me soon.

Madi (05:39.415)
that would be amazing.

Holly (05:41.222)
I know. Okay, so now we're on to funerals, season seven, episode eleven, the penultimate episode, insane. Original air date, February seventeenth, two thousand fifteen, written by Jen Stotsky, which is super exciting because I know her now from hacks. Many people do actually. The excellent HBO show, so fun. The last episode she wrote was The Wall in last season, season six. She's also written on The Good Place, Broad City, so many of our favorite shows.

Madi (05:47.148)
Mm.

Madi (05:57.464)
Mm.

Holly (06:08.253)
she was also involved, of course, in the Parks and Rec special that they did in twenty twenty. And this will be her last writing credit on Parks, which what a fantastic last writing credit. This was so good and I love it so much.

Madi (06:19.722)
I agree. Yeah. What I mean and what a burden to carry this second to last episode and the like bringing all these guest stars back. I I was thinking about this the whole time I was watching the episode. Was like the the intricacy of bringing all the guest stars back to the same episodes without it feeling forced is it was so well done.

Holly (06:42.718)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's a really good storyline to bring everybody back. Especially this whole this whole sea season, actually. But yeah, this see this episode in particular with the mayor thing. Yeah, totally. Okay, so this was directed by Craig Zisk. Craig has directed so many of our favorite shows as well. he directed five episodes total of Parks. but this one the and all five of those were in season five. the last time we saw him was on the episode Animal Control, which is hilarious, of course.

He's also directed Brooklyn Nine Nine a bunch, Tulsa King, which is the new-ish show with Sylvester Stallone. And truly the only reason I know it is because I've auditioned for it, because I think it shoots in Atlanta or somewhere that's not Tulsa, but like somewhere in the South. Anyhow, and then I also know him, slash remember saying his name from Scrubs. He's directed a lot of Scrubs. New Girl, Niptuck, Veep, Brotherford Falls, like all of these amazing shows on his resume that we absolutely love and you know.

Madi (07:28.717)
Ha ha.

Holly (07:44.082)
love the cast and everything. and I also like I miss Rutherford Falls. I don't know where that went. I don't remember it saying that it got cancelled or anything. For those of you who don't remember, that's the one with Andy Bernard, aka Ed Helms. and yeah, I don't I don't know where it went. I feel like it I don't know if it was like a twenty twenty thing and then it just never came back or what.

Madi (08:03.106)
I don't know, and I feel like I that's happened a lot more since we've started streaming rather than like cable television, where things just drop off the map. There's not like this big it's been canceled and it's no longer there. It's just kind of like o only two seasons kind of thing. Yeah.

Holly (08:18.417)
Yeah, I know. I know. Yeah. Well anyhow, so great job to the writing and directing team on this one. And for Craig, this will hit be his last credit as well, because of course we're almost to the finale. So of course, you know, these are these people's last times, you know, getting that credit. But that's amazing. So here we go. Okay, I'm ready for a summary.

Madi (08:38.848)
All right. Mayor Gunderson has passed away and it's Ben's job to find his replacement, bringing us back to a lot of familiar faces. In an attempt to boost morale with everyone leaving Pawnee, Leslie helps Tom propose to Lucy, and Donna helps Ron mourn the loss of his barber.

Holly (08:56.095)
Mm, poor Ron.

Madi (08:58.526)
I know. This hits him hard.

Holly (09:01.381)
I know. So hard. my gosh. Yeah. And it's really I mean, obviously it's not great to see, but it is interesting to see the layers and depth of him. because he's, you know, even in this episode right before he falls apart, he's like, Death is just natural, whatever. So I like to see this layer that he gets really sad and emotional.

Madi (09:12.045)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (09:21.58)
Yeah, and like what's important to him, you know, like what will make him feel this way. So

Holly (09:27.677)
Yeah, totally. All right. So we start this episode with Ben running into Tom's Bistro, warning everyone that Leslie's about to come in and say something that sounds really boring, but is actually a really big deal. So just cheer like crazy when you see me tell you to do that. And Leslie comes in. What a husband. Yes, Leslie comes in, says she just rolled in Seskidip, which we talked about this seminar when she accepted her promotion in DC, the senior executive service development candidate program.

Madi (09:44.332)
What a husband.

Holly (09:57.76)
She's so excited. Love that.

Madi (09:59.81)
Yeah. So excited. And I do love that everybody, even they though all though even though they all look very confused, they're excited for her.

Holly (10:09.007)
Yeah, totally. And I love that Andy says surprise as if it's a surprise party 'cause he doesn't understand the the assignment.

Madi (10:12.077)
Yeah.

I just but you know what? Chris Pratt understands the assignment of who Andy is because that could very easily be something he improved and it's just because he's like Andy would have no idea what's going on and like he just had a really good grasp as we're closing out the series, like he had such a great grasp on his character.

Holly (10:19.539)
Totally.

Holly (10:35.295)
So true. So so true. my gosh. Okay, so Leslie says it's time to find a place in DC because they're gonna be splitting their time now between DC and Pawnee with her new job. And then, you know, just change begets change begets change. Cause now Donna breaks the news slash has an announcement that she is moving to Seattle. Her and Joe just closed on a house, which is very exciting and honestly happens way later than I anticipated. I don't know why I kind of imagined them.

Madi (11:01.122)
Uh-huh.

Holly (11:02.833)
in Seattle. Like I know sh she goes back and forth and maybe that's why in my brain it was messed up, but I feel like that she's always had a house slash there. Which I know she has a condo there. But I guess I just thought that they moved earlier or something.

Madi (11:15.724)
Yeah, I think in my head they were there the entire seventh season and she was just coming back for for things. But

Holly (11:19.371)
Mm-hmm. Mm. Where I just like imagine that she was like Leslie, kind of splitting her time, which is true, I guess, because she said she has her condo there. So that's probably why my brain messed it up. Anyway. So anyhow, this is also where Gary chimes in and makes his announcement that he's going to finally retire after being pulled back a few different times.

Madi (11:26.104)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Madi (11:43.542)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (11:43.546)
He finally wants to retire and in classic Jerry fashion, Jerry Gary fashion, he gets broken down and April says, This is about people moving. This isn't about you, Jerry. Like not everything is your like it's not about you. Shut up. And I was like, but no, Gary's finally retiring. This is a big deal, I think.

Madi (11:52.46)
Yeah.

Madi (11:56.546)
Yeah.

Madi (12:02.144)
Yeah. It is a it is a big deal. And of course he doesn't get to

Holly (12:05.087)
But also like in a good way, I feel like this is what, say it again?

Madi (12:10.114)
I said, Of course he doesn't get to. Sorry.

Holly (12:11.899)
Yeah, yeah, totally. anyhow, yeah, I think it's also good though because they keep bringing him back in really interesting ways. So which we'll see a little bit later as we get there. Okay. So Leslie says everyone is scattering and bad news comes in threes. So it makes sense, Leslie says, for all of this stuff to be happening, even though Gary retiring is technically four. Leslie is is insistent, like it's three, okay.

And then we see PERD on the TV after Leslie says, you know, we're due for some good news. Like all of that stuff happening. We have to have some good news. And I can already tell that I don't like this. Like when anyone says, like out loud, okay, we're gonna get good news soon, or like things have to turn around, like you obviously know where it's going. Yeah. 

Madi (12:56.266)
Yeah, for real. Even in real life sometimes.

 Okay. So, again, this is where Perd comes in and in classic Perd fashion he says, I have good news is a sentence I won't be saying because actually Pawnee Mayor Walter Gunderson has died. no, this is so sad.

Madi (13:33.12)
I know. Well and did we ever meet Bill Murray as Mayor G we didn't. Like so he's lived as this person in our heads, but we've never met him. Which is kind of crazy with the amount of like government things we're part of as an audience that we've never met him. But yeah, it is still so like he's been here for so long in our heads. It's sad.

Holly (13:50.014)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (13:56.678)
I know. It is interesting too that, especially with him being the mayor, like the literal mayor, like who would probably sign off on some things or like be in some of these meetings, it is interesting that we have not met him yet. He's just kind of this fictitious person character. But

Madi (14:02.445)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (14:13.43)
Yeah. Yeah. And I I wonder what the thought process was behind that. Like we could speculate for days, but I I wonder.

Holly (14:20.669)
Well, so we'll get into a little bit. I did find some things online. but before we do that, I did have a note that I really liked that in true cable fashion it's channel forty six because Andy's Johnny Karate show is on channel forty six. We talked about that last week where it was like just a classic cable channel. You know what I mean? Like it's not channel four, five, seven, and nine, you know, the normal ones. so I thought that was cool that Parks and Rec kept with that, you know, channel forty six.

Madi (14:23.47)
Okay, nice.

Madi (14:35.266)
Mm.

Madi (14:42.904)
Mm.

Holly (14:49.423)
And my gosh. And then Leslie says that it's Gary's fault that the mayor died. He jinxed them. my god. I don't like that. That's mean. And then the next scene we're already at the funeral and to me it kind of seemed like whiplash that we were already at the funeral, but I was like, What?

Madi (14:57.144)
That's that's too much. Yeah, me too. I know.

Madi (15:05.634)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (15:07.507)
We're like here already? But I guess I get it. And then at first when I saw this, I was like, Are we at City Hall? Why are we having the funeral at City Hall? And of course, then Ben explains that, you know, the mayor served Pawnee for thirty nine years and he wishes to lie in state in the city council chambers for a day. Yikes. Ben hates this as much as I do, you can tell. Like that's weird. Also, he served Pawnee for thirty nine years, like as mayor? No, right? Or like

Madi (15:27.606)
Yeah. Why? Why?

Madi (15:36.386)
That's I don't know, that's a good question. Like, did he start in a different position and then grow into mayor? But he's been mayor for almost ten years at least, because he's been the mayor the whole time we've been part of the series, right?

Holly (15:37.616)
As something

Holly (15:50.784)
Yeah, and I w yeah, I guess. I just wonder, I guess he ran uncontested, 'cause I do think that mayors can run for multiple terms depending on, you know, the the town's charter or whatever the hell. But maybe he like just kept winning. I don't know. It's so funny.

Madi (16:04.642)
Look at look at Dexart. He couldn't run unopposed every single time and still won. Ponti doesn't like change.

Holly (16:07.643)
my god. Literally insane. Yeah.

Okay, so this is where we get to see that this is Bill Murray. we did not know that when we learned that Mayor Gunderson has died. We didn't know he was gonna have a funeral. Like Perd didn't really say any of that information. so I Googled, you know, I always Google when I see people on here, especially famous people, where I'm like, how the hell did they get on there? And in later seasons, a lot of the times they just already knew each other. And so they were like, Yeah, sure, like let's get on here, or you can come on here, or or the famous person would ask, like, can I come on? Essentially. But really, it was the first

Madi (16:29.378)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (16:43.835)
excuse or first reason, I guess. So the running joke in two thousand eleven was that Amy Polar joked on late night with Jimmy Fallon that she would pay Murray, Bill Murray, two hundred and fifty dollars

To play the show's mysterious mayor. The staff kept repeating it in public and in private. And then there was a personal connection where Aubrey Plaza worked with Bill Murray in the film world and persistently pursued him. And so did Amy Polar and Rashida Jones. They chimed in. So like everybody was asking him to be a part of the show. And then near the end of the series, both Amy Polar and Aubrey Plaza made a final push, like final plea, like, can you come in here, just lie in a coffin since the mayor was finally dying, and just like

be in the show as a dead person. And apparently he left Mike Sher a voicemail saying, like, I hear you have some dead work for me. I don't know how true exactly that is, but that sounds like Bill Murray to me.

Madi (17:31.16)
my gosh, he's so funny.

Madi (17:36.788)
I agree. So cool that he ended up coming on too.

Holly (17:40.678)
Yeah. I know. And he didn't just do dead work, he did live work as of as we can see by this video that plays, we see a video message from him and he says he wasn't paying attention most of the time and he wasn't really doing anything as mayor. But if there's credit to take, he'll take it. If not, then it's all your fault, basically. What a weird video too.

Madi (17:44.642)
No, yeah.

Madi (17:57.536)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, very interesting. But again, doesn't surprise me with who Pawnee has in some of those leadership p dis positions.

Holly (18:03.378)
And on the

Holly (18:10.215)
Yes, totally. on the bonus features of the DVD, there is a three minute long video of Mayor Gunderson, aka Bill Murray, saying his last words. So you can definitely see how like they cut, you know, from this aired version. And you can also hear the crew laughing in the DVD extras. So I wonder if they kind of gave him like a guideline of a script, but nothing like set in stone. Like, I don't know, a part of me feels like ninety-five percent of this was probably improvised, which totally makes sense because it's Bill Murray.

But also just because like it was so weird. But I have a few clips. I'm not gonna play the full three minute thing, but I have a few like two thirty second clips that I just thought was really funny because again, it goes with like how weird it is. But I also wanted you to hear the crew laughing in the back. Okay, here's here's the first one.

Holly (19:34.639)
That was like laughing in the background too, like take trying to like it almost seemed like they were trying to like cover their mouth or something to laugh at it. and then here's the second one.

Madi (19:37.516)
Yeah.

Holly (20:11.487)
Again, it's just like the weirdest, most random things I feel. And he also has a video where he's talking about like different words that sound fake or no, that are fake but sound real. And it was just like again, so random. I don't know who made up what, but yeah, well done, Bill Murray.

Madi (20:15.874)
Yeah.

Madi (20:29.228)
Yeah, and thank you for your service.

Holly (20:31.939)
Mm-hmm. Yes. So Leslie now has a talking head and says people are dying, moving, retiring, like too many endings are happening and not enough beginnings. So Leslie wants to begin an underground dance competition. dear. But obviously she can't do that because she knows nothing about dance and she catches herself pretty immediately. Mm-hmm. and then this is where Ben asks April to help him select an interim mayor until the special election.

Madi (20:40.974)
Mm.

Madi (20:50.582)
Yeah, good self awareness.

Holly (20:59.847)
And April says, why don't you just appoint yourself? Like, just do it. Because you're basically already mayor. And Ben's like, Well, I wa already was mayor, so he doesn't want to relive that slash make anything go the same way as Ice Town. So, which is understandable. And I like the kind of arc he has on his reasoning and everything, but that would make that make sense in in the moment. and then Ben said Gary can help find an a special interim mayor too, because

he can notarize it and that's very exciting for him for everyone involved, but especially Gary.

Madi (21:31.33)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're very excited about that.

Holly (21:36.202)
And then we've got Tom back. He's finally back after he's been gone for three episodes. Zan Zari. I tried looking up why exactly he was gone for three episodes. I did say in the last I think it was last week I said this that Master of None did come out around the same time. So they could have been filming or doing something, but you know, it doesn't really matter. I was curious as to like the reasoning that Tom would give.

and basically he just said that he was in New York with Lucy and that's why he was gone. He gives her a gift from New York which explains his absence, but it's not really mentioned and it doesn't really need to be. I it was just like out of curiosity because like we talked about in the last three episodes, like you you do notice in a way that he's gone, but it d it doesn't bring attention to it. So it's kind of fine.

Madi (22:15.79)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (22:22.988)
Yeah. D I don't think they even mention it, do they? They don't they they don't say anything like Tom's in New York, which they've done in the past to kind of cover up why somebody isn't there. Yeah. I think there was enough happening with everybody else's stories that it they did a good job. It wasn't like there was a hole.

Holly (22:28.531)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Holly (22:34.547)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (22:39.855)
Yeah, and I think also the way I justified it too. I mean, they explained the New York thing in this episode, but in those episodes I kinda was like, Well, he has a business now. Like Tom Speistro is really like popping off, so that's kinda how I explained it. but yeah, so it is interesting, I guess, that they just kind of mentioned it briefly but didn't need to spend too much time on it. So that's good.

Madi (22:48.397)
Yeah.

Holly (23:00.529)
Anyhow, so he calls Leslie Leslie Blonde, which I thought that was funny. it doesn't roll off the tongue as much as his other nicknames do, but it still is good.

Madi (23:05.038)
It was good.

Madi (23:09.922)
Yeah, yeah.

Holly (23:11.621)
His gift from New York, by the way, is men's loafers. And he says, yeah, you should probably just give those back because that's not gonna work for you. Like they're not gonna fit you and and my god and then you find out that he did that for all the gifts for his friends. Like he just got presents for himself, basically.

Madi (23:19.373)
Yeah.

Madi (23:26.552)
Yeah. Well yeah, the second he said what did he get? it was a tire, a scarf that he got for April and I was like, No.

Holly (23:32.169)
Yeah.

Yeah, that that's not gonna work. Although I could see April wearing it just to like spite Tom and be like, No, you're not getting this back.

Madi (23:36.877)
Mm mm.

For real. She'd create a character around it.

Holly (23:43.668)
Mm-hmm. So Leslie asks how the trip was and it was great. He said he took a lot of meetings that were great and Lucy and him had the best time. They even looked at rings, like both of them are on the same page, which is a really nice like arc, I guess, from or like trajectory from where we were at Tom and or sorry, Donna and Joe's wedding because they were like awkward about that. And so now they've reached that point where they both understand that they, you know, want to get married eventually, which is really nice.

And I like that we kind of acknowledge it.

Madi (24:14.722)
Yeah. Yeah.

Holly (24:16.397)
and then this is where Leslie says to propose right now at the funeral. my gosh, no thanks. But she's trying so hard to make something begin right this second because she said she wants new beginnings and this is like the perfect thing for her to glom onto. so yeah, it's very Leslie fashion of like, let's just do it now. Why don't we just do it now? Why are we waiting?

Madi (24:23.886)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (24:28.524)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (24:32.366)
Yeah. Which is very in line with her.

Holly (24:38.781)
Yeah, and I love that she says that when Tom says like Lucy's not even here right now, so we'd have to wait. I like that she's like, yeah, we probably should want her here for that, maybe. Anyway. Okay, so now we are with Donna, Andy, and Ron. And Andy has this line of makes you consider the postulence of time. And everybody's like, What? But I did look that up.

Madi (24:47.543)
Yeah.

Madi (24:51.586)
That's important.

Madi (25:03.95)
What?

Holly (25:05.063)
I did look it up because I was not sure what that meant, to be honest with you. And because and I also looked it up because I was like, what does he mean? Like what word does he mean? And I don't think that I I maybe he meant the passage of time, but like sometimes it's so close to the actual word that you're like, I can understand what he's trying to say. But this was just like completely out of left field to me. So but a postulant.

Madi (25:12.547)
Mm.

Madi (25:25.987)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (25:28.285)
Is a candidate who asks to enter a religious order, monastery, or church ministry, and postulence, like the word that he use uses, is the time frame that you're a candidate for that religious order. So totally not at all what is right word to use there. In classic Andy fashion.

Madi (25:39.564)
Hmm. Okay.

Madi (25:49.152)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Very interesting. It's a big word for him.

Holly (25:51.87)
Yeah. So Ron I know, I wonder where he even heard that word, or did he just make it up and like not know that it was a real word? That's funny.

Madi (25:56.589)
Yeah.

Both yeah, both logical explanations.

Holly (26:05.321)
So Ron says death is natural and he's just accepting the fact that your body stays as long as you're useful. and then you just kind of go and that's that. And Donna says, Not me, like speak for yourself. She's gonna freeze her head like Ted Williams and put it on a robot robot after it detaws.

Holly (26:24.361)
Did you okay, and he's do you know who Ted Williams is? my god. So I did a whole breakdown because I was like, what the fuck is she talking about? This is crazy. This is real. She is like this is a real thing that baseball legend Ted Williams had his head and body severed and cryogenically frozen at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona, after he died in two thousand two. So go ahead and look up where that is. It's giving severance vibes. I'm just saying.

Madi (26:25.24)
No thanks. No.

Okay, yes.

Madi (26:46.443)
fun.

Madi (26:52.462)
Uh-huh.

Holly (26:53.335)
I know you haven't watched that yet, but you get the vibe. or it's giving like, well, shoot, I don't think you've watched Stranger Things either. You have a lot to add to your list, but it's kind of giving Stranger Things vibes too. Like, you'll see what I mean. When the Stranger Things people know what I'm talking about. Anyhow, so Ted Williams died on July 5th, 2002, at the age of 83 from heart failure. And he was a baseball player, he was a legend, and his son, John Henry Williams, had the body flown to Alcor, which is the company that did this process procedure.

Madi (26:55.602)
yeah, yeah.

Madi (27:01.762)
Yes.

Holly (27:22.675)
Technicians performed what they called a neurosseparation to cut off his head, and his head is kept in a separate steel container and his body sits upright in a nine foot tank filled with liquid nitrogen. And I totally thought that this was something that only

was on the Austin Powers movie, because that is a thing, and just sci-fi in general. But apparently this is real. And online, a couple of the articles that I found said that Ted Williams himself didn't actually want to do this. He wanted to be cremated, but apparently his signature was on some note that his son, the one I just said, mentioned. And so they used that. And there was one daughter who was strongly against it and actually sued because she wanted him

Madi (27:43.906)
My gosh.

Madi (28:05.314)
Her brother?

Holly (28:06.757)
Yeah, she sued her brother. beca but apparently we found out we find out also that it was a half brother. Like they weren't even like fully related, but still like shared blood, whatever. but she sued him and but she ended up losing because of like just exhaustion with the legal battle. And I think she also like didn't have the funds to continue the legal battle. I don't know how he did, but it was just like too much, which is a lot of what happens with legal procedures. Like people are like just settle, give up, whatever.

Madi (28:16.386)
Madi (28:29.43)
That sucks.

Madi (28:33.346)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (28:36.657)
But I don't understand, which that's just terrible in and of itself. Like to see your dad like not get his wishes. Although again, that's like alleged, I don't know. But also I don't understand the plan. Like, not just Ted Williams, because apparently that like other people have done this. It does cost a lot of money. but like I don't really understand the plan of when it will be ready. Like when Donna says I'm gonna de-thought and put it on a robot, I Googled it and I just like

Madi (28:41.791)
Yeah. Uh-huh.

Madi (28:57.453)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (29:03.057)
I I still don't really understand it and they didn't really explain it either. Also, this one article I found said that certain DNA samples may be missing from Ted Williams's like body slash head or whatever. And the son, who was actually the half brother, want may want to or like it's alleged that he wants to sell the DNA. Like, this feels like sci-fi black mirror, orphan black, like insanity shit.

Madi (29:30.38)
This is crazy. I want to watch a documentary on this. Somebody go make it. Like, I know Walt Disney froze his body. I don't know if it was this process. But I had heard that he he froze himself he had himself frozen.

Holly (29:40.623)
Mm.

Holly (29:46.644)
Yeah. And I guess like maybe if other people know more information, like please let me know because I am just confused as to what happens after. Like, are we just waiting for the science to catch up? Are we waiting for like the robot to actually be made that can like have a human head on it to be alive slash like what's the word? Sentient. You know what I mean? I don't I don't know how it works. Which makes it even worse because if Ted Williams' body is just sitting there.

Madi (29:51.65)
Yeah. It's fascinating.

Madi (30:10.904)
Yeah.

Holly (30:16.191)
For this daughter, like what what's happening? Like there's no like closure, I guess, for me. Like I don't I don't understand it. But anyway, that's that's a real thing. And in classic parks fashion I feel like they just had it as a one off like sentence and this is like the wildest thing ever.

Madi (30:17.614)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (30:25.272)
Yeah.

Madi (30:34.166)
Yeah. What the heck? think of the amount of times we've watched that episode and haven't asked what that is and just blindly kept going.

Holly (30:36.574)
Yeah, so

Holly (30:40.767)
Who is that?

Holly (30:46.077)
I mean, well, in the way that she explains it, it just feels like, you know, okay, that must be something that something happened eventually like at some point, whatever. But like when you get into the history of it, it's really wild. Yeah.

Madi (30:51.438)
Crazy. A little

Madi (31:00.16)
Nuts. Well thank you because now I have something to think about for the rest of the day.

Holly (31:05.647)
Yeah, and I'll post the articles in the show notes. So if you guys have more information or want to do some more research or make that documentary, go ahead. But it was a big deal. It was a big deal when it happened. Like a lot of news stories were covering it, like ABC, CBS, all those people were cover like obviously everybody was, but yeah, it's really wild. So there you go. All right. So next up we see Ron seeing Carl, who owns the deli next to his barber Salvatore.

Madi (31:12.534)
Yeah. Please make the documentary.

Holly (31:34.032)
such a wrong sentence, like this is the guy who owns the deli next to where I get my hair cut. and Carl is played by Gil Glasgow. He's been in quite a few things. Veep, Semi Pro, Selena, The Comeback, which was the first rendition of the comeback with Lisa Coudreau, and a bunch of other things, super cool. and no, like I hate when this happens because I feel like a lot of people do it accidentally where they like say

Madi (31:38.807)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Holly (32:02.035)
Bad news, thinking the other person knows and they don't. So there's no way to like soften the blow. But Carl thinks Ron knows. And so off the cuff, he says, it's terrible. First Salvatore, now Mayor Gunderson. And Ron is like, What are you talking about? Explain yourself. And he explains that Salvatore, Ron's barber, passed away yesterday. And Ron basically passes out and takes it really hard, even though, like we just said,

at the beginning of the episode that he said death was natural, but he's really affected by this, and I'm so sorry for Ron.

Madi (32:34.06)
Yeah, I know, me too. And I think he's a guy who's who really relies on and respects his routine. He respects somebody who understands his boundaries. So when he says like Salvatore, like he just they didn't really ever talk, like he he appreciates when he's not forced to do the things he doesn't want to do and just get to get his hair cut and consistency and reliable from Salvatore and now that's all

Muddled up.

Holly (33:05.911)
I know, yeah. And just the idea, I mean, this is basically just reiterating what you said, but just the idea of of pushing on that button of change for Ron and how like he hates it so much. And we've talked about this before, and like he was kinda forced to change in a way with not working at the parks department and now we've got death happening, like to his close like someone that he's close to. And when you're close to someone for Ron, like that's a big deal, you know what mean? So yeah, so sad.

Madi (33:14.326)
Mm.

Madi (33:27.31)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (33:30.966)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So so sad.

Holly (33:37.842)
Well, then we've got Ethel here, which kinda lifts our spirits a bit, or at least it lifted mine, because I'm so glad that she's back. I love that they brought her. Ethel's played by the great Helen Slayton Hughes. We did a w wonderful breakdown on her when she first appeared in the show. we've talked about her so much, like when she's been on and you know, sadly we talked about this as well. She passed away in twenty twenty two, but we always mention her because of course she left such a legacy for us. Like she is so important.

Madi (33:43.298)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Holly (34:04.029)
Such a town staple too, and such a city hall staple, which I think is really important because obviously Kyle is a city hall staple as well for the most part. But Ethel like works there. She helped facilitate Ron and Diane's wedding. She just has so like so many as she signed the paper for Ben and Leslie to get married. Like she is really important in our little town government. And I just I love that they brought her back for this.

Madi (34:13.058)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (34:19.274)
Yeah.

Madi (34:25.005)
Yeah.

Madi (34:31.308)
Yeah, and they they looped it back because there's that time when April and Andy show up at her house and she's like, I had a day tonight, it went well, and he there's a guy there in her house. Yeah, he's staying over. So, so awesome. So it's almost like we we were a little prepared for this to be kind of Ethel's vibe that she'd, you know, but it still had the shock value of like, wait, what? So

Holly (34:41.427)
He's staying over.

Holly (34:50.761)
Totally.

Holly (34:56.411)
Mm-hmm. Yes, totally. So Ben says that Ethel will say a few words because she's a longtime friend and coworker. And she says Mayor Gunderson and his wife had an open marriage, which I don't think most of us knew, even if you live in the town. And we learned that Ethel had relations with the mayor, and it kept her happy, him happy, and all the above. And I love the way Leslie said, and I liked it even before.

But she says the way the way Leslie says, What is happening? I just really like that performance. But I also had such a like deja vu visceral reaction because it reminded me of how Michael Scott set would say that. What I no, the way she says it is just so Michael Scott to me.

Madi (35:29.803)
Yeah.

Madi (35:38.978)
Yeah.

Madi (35:42.888)
Yeah. Yeah. That w good good pickup on that because I couldn't tell why I loved it so much and why it felt so familiar. But yeah, that so good. And I love that her his wife is sitting in the front row. She's not speaking at the funeral, but she like gives a nice nod to Ethel, like, I know, and we did and it's just and I think she said forty six years.

Holly (35:49.798)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Holly (36:04.165)
Yeah, I yes, forty six years. And yeah, to your point, I really love that the wife knew and was like happy about it in a way. Not happy, but you know what I mean? Like they had an understanding and I really appreciated that 'cause I didn't want the drama and the open mindedness of the open marriage was really interesting for a small town like Pawnee and the idea that both of all of them are super old.

Madi (36:13.942)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (36:24.343)
Yeah.

Madi (36:30.423)
Yeah, right.

Holly (36:32.339)
And yeah, my God. We j sh Ethel just keeps on going, saying forty-six years he explored every nook and cranny of my body. Go, Ethel, though. Go, Ethel. Go, Ethel. Pop off, queen. my God. And she loved him. That's another thing too. Like she loved him. It wasn't just a lay. Like he was a dynamite lay, she says. But it wasn't just that. It was that she loved him.

Madi (36:38.616)
Mm.

Didn't need that.

For real. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Madi (36:58.488)
Yeah.

Holly (36:58.967)
And what a wonderful confidence that she has to, you know, talk about that. I just like it a lot and it's really special.

Madi (37:06.985)
Yes. What a what an ad.

Holly (37:09.991)
Yeah. All right. So Leslie uses this ap as an opportunity to talk Tom into proposing immediately because of Ethel's love for the mayor and the wife hit her love as well. And Tom kind of agrees, like especially since, you know, we just talked about he knows they want to be together. He knows that they're meant to, you know, be married and stay together for the rest of their lives. So for the proposal, Tom says off the top of his head

His idea of a proposal would be a multi platform media experience, which my god, brings back entertainment seven twenty kind of, which I don't know if it was on purpose, but I was like, Tom, Tom, I don't know if we need to be doing that. An action movie with graphics. I mean it's very Tom, but also like yikes. Also, I gotta say, I totally like

Madi (37:42.99)
Mm-hmm.

Yep. Yeah.

It is very Tom.

Yeah.

Holly (37:58.324)
forgot about this whole jewelry store thing. I know it's awful because we've interviewed Brian Stack, who plays Ted, whom I am obsessed with and love him so much. But I was like, my God, I don't know why. I just I guess I forgot about the whole like action movie thing.

Madi (38:05.784)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (38:14.124)
Yeah. Yeah. I also totally forgot about the action movie. And I love I love Leslie's buy-in to it.

Holly (38:19.039)
Yeah.

Holly (38:25.789)
Yeah. Yeah. And how like well, she's so invested because this is her beginning too. You know what I mean? Like this is a sign for her to have some hope and optimism for the future since everything else is ending. But I also love that Leslie goes into the sign store and I didn't realize I don't think I did, maybe I did, but she or maybe it was shown at the beginning when we did signs before, like for her campaign. But the sign store is called Scientologist. And I was like, my God, that's perfect. I love it.

Madi (38:31.661)
Yeah.

Madi (38:55.53)
Well done. What a great name. They are really good at doing that. I I love the energy brought into that store too. Hmm.

Holly (38:56.521)
They're so good at doing that.

Holly (39:03.615)
Mm, totally. So she walks into the store on the phone saying she wants two hundred doves to spell out Lucy, will you marry me? Like how hard is it to do that? You shouldn't call yourself a pet store if you can't do that. God, no.

Madi (39:19.072)
No, no, no. Yeah. Very strong energy. I've spent this much money over this many years. You will make the sign I want.

Holly (39:26.479)
Yes. So she goes in, she talks to the sign store worker who's already annoyed because she knows him on a first name basis and says she needs a sign for this proposal by tomorrow. And he's like, No, impossible. And again, yeah, crazy. Over the past fifteen years, she spent a hundred thousand dollars there. That's a lot of fucking money, dude. And also like he has a Rolex. Tom points out that he has a Rolex probably because of Leslie. And in my head, and in my head t truly, I was like, Yeah, actually. How dare you say no to her?

Madi (39:49.006)
Yeah, good point out.

Holly (39:55.294)
If she spent a hundred thousand dollars on this Podunk sign store, I know you do good work and I know that you she like really pressures you and make like makes you stretch your limits. But if you have a fucking Rolex because of Leslie Nope, then you better be making that sign and walking on, like bowing down at the floor that she walks on. Okay. That's crazy. That's literally crazy.

Madi (40:15.01)
Yes. You better be crying she's leaving town. Yeah, yeah. Make the sign.

Holly (40:21.919)
Anyway, there is a deleted scene here that Leslie has a punch card, but he says he can't honor it because she made the punch card. It was not even like for the science store or not like officially or whatever, which my gosh, I think that's fantastic. And honestly, that's a great idea. I feel like there's a lot of companies slash like places that I think should have punch cards but don't. And so honestly, Leslie, I I think that's a good idea. And I'm surprised they didn't take you up on it, honestly. Because the you know, I don't know.

Madi (40:32.289)
my gosh. None of that surprises me.

Madi (40:44.27)
Yeah.

Madi (40:50.199)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (40:52.153)
I guess I just don't want to work with Leslie as much as she wants to work with him.

Madi (40:56.237)
Yeah.

Holly (40:57.991)
So Ian, the design store worker is actually played by Ian Phillips, who is on the crew for Parks. He was the production designer starting in season two until the very end. So he's really been a part of the tapestry of Parks, which is amazing. And I reached out to him and he is looking at his calendar to see when we can have an interview because I said this last yeah, it's really exciting. I and I I had reached out to him earlier in the series. and I don't I don't really remember when, but I found

Madi (41:03.542)
Mm.

Madi (41:15.083)
How great.

Holly (41:24.413)
the old email and I was like, hey, we're and I've been saying this to everybody basically, like we're wrapping up the show. It'd be great to talk to you guys just as a, you know, a bookend to the show and just to kind of wrap it up completely. And he did message back and so he's gonna check his schedule. And I said this last week and probably couple weeks before that where, you know, I'd still love to interview people, even if the reviews of the show is over. so hopefully he can come on and we can like add him into the interview season, you know.

Madi (41:46.348)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (41:53.866)
Yeah. No, I think that'd be great. I'm hoping that as as people find the podcast and and whatnot that we get we get more people who want to be interviewed and talk about their experience on parks.

Holly (42:06.407)
Mm-hmm. he also worked on Twilight, which is a legend. he worked on A Man on the Inside as well with Ted Danson and Mike Scher. So we've got some connection there. He also worked on Celeste and Jesse Forever, with that's the movie with Rashida Jones and I believe Andy Sandberg, which is super fun. so yeah, hopefully we can talk to Ian and get some really cool information because I'd love to know more about what a production designer does and how involved you are in that aspect.

Madi (42:30.25)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure.

Holly (42:35.313)
Okay, so now we've got Bobby, Bobby Newport, coming into Ben's office because they're interviewing people for the new interim mayor. And Bobby asks how Leslie is and he literally cannot remember what they ran for. my God. He did not deserve to get as close as he did. Can you believe that guy almost won if it wasn't for the recount?

Madi (42:38.612)
Yes,

Madi (42:48.032)
I can't I know.

For real. my gosh. So on par for him though, he didn't even really know what he was running for when he was running for it.

Holly (42:59.259)
Mm-mm. No, not at all. I'm just so glad they brought Rudd back. How amazing and fun. I just love that so much. And I love his sweater, by the way. I love Bobby Newport's sweater. Yeah, he has such like preppy, like cool clothes, I feel though.

Madi (43:05.94)
Yeah. yeah. So well done.

Uh-huh. They always dress him so well.

Madi (43:17.259)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Holly (43:19.395)
so he says he doesn't know if he can be the interim mayor because he's getting ready for a big trip to space. And my gosh, this is so funny because I don't think this was on purpose for Parkson Wreck to have a prediction like this because we've talked about Parks and Rec being so on point with their predictions. But Bobby would totally be the people that paid a bajillion dollars to go to space. He would be right there with Katy Perry. Like this actually happened where people paid.

Madi (43:30.733)
Yeah.

Madi (43:40.204)
Uh-huh. Absolutely. No question.

Holly (43:46.855)
A lot of money to go to space, celebrities and the like, and that's just so funny.

Madi (43:52.044)
Yeah. Very on on brand.

Holly (43:53.764)
I totally on brand. I love that him and Gary get along because of everything being fun. Like life is just fun. And Gary's like, yeah, totally. And I can't believe I never saw it before. So I'm glad they gave them that little interaction.

Madi (43:59.83)
Yeah. Yeah.

Madi (44:06.241)
Yeah.

Holly (44:08.119)
and he Bobby does invite Ben. He's like, You could totally go to space too, but do you have six hundred thousand dollars? Because that's that's like what you need and that's just the deposit. and he's like, I'm sure the Russian guy would be totally like find space for you. my God.

Madi (44:14.518)
Yeah.

Madi (44:20.174)
Yeah.

man. That's not what I'm using six hundred thousand dollars for if I had it.

Holly (44:27.797)
my gosh. And then I love that April like, I've already been in space. Like I'm I'm Buzz Aldrin. Like I've I've been there. And I love that Bobby like doesn't understand. Like, nice try. That's the guy from Toy Story. my God. It's so good. Also, this is random a little bit, but there was like a sound effect or something that was like a phone or a computer going off in the background. And I paused it to make sure that it wasn't

Madi (44:38.667)
Yeah.

Yeah.

One of my favorite lines.

Holly (44:56.837)
Me, but there's definitely something going off in the background. So I'll chalk it up to just like Ben's computer or something on his desk or whatever. But there was definitely something sound wise that was happening.

Madi (45:08.854)
Yeah. Interesting. I did not catch it. No.

Holly (45:10.185)
Did you notice it or no? Okay. Anyway. Okay, so then we're now at Salvatore's funeral. By the way, Salvatore is played by the actor Cletus Young, and he sadly passed away in 2016. So him and Ethel are living in Parks and Wreck Heaven together. Rest in peace. And he was actually in season one, if anyone remembers the banquet episode, which is so lovely that they brought him back. Like, talk about full circle. Season one, that's

Madi (45:23.837)
Yes.

Madi (45:37.335)
Yeah.

Holly (45:37.853)
Kind of crazy. Not a lot of guest stars were in season one, that are all the way back in season seven. So and lots of stuff on his resume too. Like he was a great journeyman actor. So well done and rest in peace to both Salvatore and Cletus.

Madi (45:41.847)
R yeah.

Madi (45:51.84)
Yes.

Holly (45:54.27)
And it's very sad. Donna's asking if you know, if they were close and let him and Ron, Salvatore and Ron. but and you know, we talked about this already, where like to Ron they were close because the first Tuesday of the month for the past four decades he got his hair cut for eight dollars, same chair, same cape, same conversation, or well I guess lack of conversation, really. Like that's Ron's heaven, you know, eight dollars even for a men's care haircut, that is not possible anymore in us even in a small town.

Madi (46:05.581)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (46:14.23)
Lack of

Madi (46:18.892)
Yeah.

Madi (46:23.476)
Mm mm. No. No, you pay about at least three times that for a child's haircut, if not more. Yeah.

Holly (46:25.383)
Even for a child's haircut, like no.

Holly (46:34.097)
It's so crazy. So

Madi (46:36.652)
Holly (46:39.026)
no. Somehow my notes got signed out. Why is it doing this to me?

Holly (46:49.351)
It just like refreshed itself.

Stop it! Okay, here we go. Now I have to go all the way back.

You have been signed out. You must sign in again to save changes to this file. What are you talking about? I'm signed in.

Madi (47:07.042)
Is this in Word or like your notes app?

Holly (47:09.243)
It's in my Gmail. Like I I do Google documents on Google Drive. Okay. So I signed back into my email.

Madi (47:13.096)
yeah.

Holly (47:19.197)
It looks like it's doing it now. Okay, let me see. Where was I?

Okay. I think we're good.

Okay. Ron's Heaven. Okay, yeah. And it is cute that Donna and Andy went with him to this funeral. I think it's really nice show of support.

Madi (47:42.294)
Yeah, I I agree. And I think we're s we're just seeing a lot of that in the last two seasons, I would say, that nobody really lets anybody go through anything alone. And it's really nice. I think that's happened several times this season where it's like somebody's just tagging along to be emotional support. I love that.

Holly (47:52.095)
Holly (47:59.644)
Yeah. I do too. I think it's really nice, really, really nice. And building on the characters of these and and and the fact that they're coworkers too. and they stayed friends after everyone has not is not working together, that's really special.

Madi (48:14.348)
Yeah, for sure.

Holly (48:16.875)
okay, so moving on here, let's see. the three most important people in a man's life, this is when Ron is at the coffin, are his barber, his butcher, and his lover. And he puts ten dollars in the coffin, but he says he doesn't believe in tipping, so he's gonna collect the change from Salator's wife.

my gosh, so sad.

Madi (48:38.424)
That's a also just not not the time or place for that, Ronald.

Holly (48:43.569)
I know. I know. my God. gosh. But again, I just feel like he's so sad here. Like he's trying to be all tough and saying he doesn't believe in tipping and he's gonna collect the change or whatever, but he's like really spiraling, I feel. And I love that he had an appointment, but he think like a hair appointment, but now he's like spiraling as well because he thinks he looks really raggedy. my god. I know.

Madi (48:57.208)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep.

Madi (49:08.002)
Yeah. It's like look at my hair.

Holly (49:12.733)
When it and it's literally the same.

Madi (49:14.754)
Yeah, literally.

Holly (49:17.117)
Okay, so now we're at the jewelry store. Leslie is basically directing him, telling Tom where his mark is and everything. And then we've got Ted here. I already talked about him a little bit before, but my gosh, Brian Stack, we love. We interviewed him a while back, and he is just the sweetest dude in all the land. I was so obsessed with the interview that he did. I kept waiting for like

I don't know, the other shoe to drop because I the he is just so nice. And if you haven't listened to it, and I mean, I really think of this about all of our interviews, but especially Brian's, he's just so nice because I love talking to actors about their characters. And if you don't know Brian, he is really famous for being on both Conan and Colbert as a writer, but also as a sketch performer. And he wrote a lot of his characters. And I just love talking to actors about like their process and how they came up with the idea and

how it grew and all that kind of stuff. And he was just so patient and funny talking to me about all of that and answering all my crazy dumb questions. So I just I love this so much. So well done to Brian Stack and great job for Ted. But at the same time I was like, Ted, why did you agree to this? After everything they've put you through, why did you think that this was g just gonna go well?

Madi (50:18.038)
Yeah.

Madi (50:23.088)
yeah. I I'm sure he didn't think so. I'm sure n Leslie used the same kind of tactics she did on the the sign people to to make him feel like he needed to do it. And he he just he's does such a great job of playing this guy who's like, I'm here to help, but I also have no idea what I'm doing and I'm also really uncomfortable with how close you guys are getting to my stuff and like there's so many different emotions that he's going through in that scene.

Holly (50:32.212)
my god.

Madi (50:51.692)
And he just he does such a great job of hel helping us feel them with him.

Holly (50:56.411)
Yeah, totally. And I think it's funny. Well, I don't know, I just think it's funny 'cause the sign people like Leslie has a reason to like have leverage over them. But Leslie has not really done anything for Ted apart from taking his name out of the Ted party day. Maybe that's what it was. my gosh. But Brian Stack has been in three episodes total and this will be his last. So I just wanted to give a sh a series rap shout out to the great character of Ted and great dude of Brian Stack. Well done.

Madi (51:03.822)
True. Mm-hmm.

Madi (51:10.06)
I think I think she I think she used that. In my head, that's how that went.

Madi (51:26.572)
Yes, for sure.

Holly (51:27.743)
So we we cut to black and white and Leslie is in the film. I love the last two episodes has black and white scenes as like a crime technique thing. Like Johnny Karate did that. And I also mentioned that that was something that Michael Scott did in his movie too, with like the jazz playing in the background as well. So I just love that we're getting this like crime situation happening. It's so funny to me. And then Leslie doing an accent and it immediately cutting to color because Tom is like.

Madi (51:38.124)
Yeah.

Madi (51:42.701)
Yep.

Holly (51:53.972)
Taken out of character, like why are you doing an accent? What's happening? But she committed to the role. She has a backstory. Me too. my gosh. And then John Ralphio comes back, and I don't think we've seen him in like our wrap up of the series. So I'm glad that we're getting to see him now. I like that he calls Tom Haver Fraud. I love that, actually. I think that's really good. Not so fast, have her fraud.

Madi (51:56.759)
Yeah.

Madi (52:01.666)
Which I love.

Madi (52:07.135)
Yeah.

Madi (52:16.545)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (52:20.433)
And then they say freeze and they I like that Leslie's like stunt doubles and then they switch into that into the fight scene, which is so funny. I looked it up too and I could not find these stunt doubles. Usually they're listed on IMDb, like I've definitely seen them listed before because they've you wouldn't think it, but Parks and Rec does use stunt people for like random ass little things and little scenes and I've talked about it before. but I could not find these people. I really wanted to reach out and ask how it was, but

Madi (52:25.569)
Yeah.

Madi (52:34.389)
Mm.

Holly (52:48.019)
Yeah, so if you're out there and you were a stunt double or if you know who these stunt people are and know their names, let me know because I want to talk to them or at least give them credit.

Madi (52:56.629)
Mm hmm. Absolutely. Yeah, 'cause what a fun stunt double scene to be part of.

Holly (53:01.623)
Yeah, which speaking of which, how is John Ralphio in there? Like they had to have done some coordination with that because that looks so real and awful, like John Ralphio falling over the glass, smashing the glass and everything inside.

Madi (53:13.655)
I wonder if Ben was just like, I'll do it.

Holly (53:16.533)
my god. I mean I'm sure he would have. Yeah. Total that's probably the end of that story. It's just like, yeah, that's fine. Plus, this can't be real glass. Yeah, for the comedy. It wouldn't I mean it looks really real, but it can't be real glass because if that was true, like he would have cuts all over his body. Like, come on. my god. But Tom keeps going.

Madi (53:21.835)
Yeah.

For the comedy.

Madi (53:33.203)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Holly (53:37.296)
w after this crash happens, even though it definitely wasn't scripted, which is honestly kind of great, I guess, for the camera in a way. Like it looks super cool. And he says, Your mission, should you to choose to accept it, is to marry me. Great ending look by Tom there. And I also love that Ted, I I was laughing out loud because I was like, Ted, you're still filming. Like the kind of going back to what you were saying, like I w I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm still filming here. I'm trying to do my best, I guess. And he pans down to Tom

Madi (53:50.509)
Mm.

Madi (53:58.102)
Yeah.

Holly (54:06.859)
In this ending zine, even though his store was just wrecked. It's so funny. And he catches that ending shot. He does his job.

Madi (54:10.358)
Right. my gosh, yeah. It was so well done.

That he does. That he does. He in his head he's probably like, I don't wanna have to do this again.

Holly (54:20.135)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. That's true. my God. And then he says, or Leslie says, Everybody in the van, we're headed to the next location. And I'm like, the next location? What the hell? Like what? I thought it was like that, isn't that done? But I love it. And I love that Leslie is like, You like this is this is showbiz, honey. Like, what are you talking about? Like to Ted and 'cause Ted is obviously upset and Leslie's like, You know what you were getting into. Come on. Which honestly, Ted, you did.

Madi (54:30.348)
Yeah. That was I thought that was the video. Yeah. my gosh.

Madi (54:41.495)
Yeah.

Madi (54:48.652)
Yeah, that's fair. That is fair.

Holly (54:52.379)
Okay, so now we're interviewing Joan to be the next interim mayor, but she is saying that she's only twenty seven years old, so she cannot possibly be the next mayor, and she's taking her pills right in front of them. Joan, you have gone downhill, my friend.

Madi (55:04.448)
Yeah. Yeah. It hasn't gotten better over the years. It's really just kept kept going downward. But April still loves her so much. The way that April's talking to her. It reminds me of how April talks to Tinnefer. And like it's like that like, I'm gonna stoop to like where you're at kind of vibe. but yeah, it's just so fun to watch April with her. Is this the last time we see Joan?

Holly (55:13.799)
Of course.

Holly (55:18.119)
Mm.

Holly (55:23.357)
Yeah. Yeah.

It's so fun to watch. my gosh. Yeah, I have a note here. It says I'd be says this is her last episode. She was in 19 episodes total. What a legend. Mo Collins, always the queen. but it doesn't say that she is she's not listed in the last episode, so that's a series wrap on Joan. I know.

Madi (55:39.043)
Wow.

Madi (55:44.862)
Okay. wow, well what a I'm so glad they brought her in for this 'cause it would have been so sad to not see her one last time. and how comical but also kind of makes sense to ask her to be the interim mayor.

Holly (55:53.897)
Totally.

Holly (55:59.734)
my gosh, can you imagine? That's my god. I can't imagine all the like changes that she would have made in her time, her small t her short small time. Well, then we've got Henry Winkler coming back, speaking of people that they're bringing back. And I don't see like how he fits into like being the face of Pawnee, because that's what Ben's whole thing is, of like making a famous person from Pawnee be the interim mayor.

Madi (56:08.364)
Yeah. Yeah.

Madi (56:15.458)
Yeah.

Madi (56:21.475)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (56:25.885)
But I mean, I guess he's rich and owns a lot of businesses, so maybe that's like the explanation. But also it's just a way to get Henry Winkler back, which I'm fine with.

Madi (56:33.066)
Yeah. Yeah. We needed him to come back. Too big of a name to also not bring back. So

Holly (56:35.077)
Mm-hmm. And he exactly. Yeah, totally. And he does come back for the last episode. so he'll be here for the next one. But I wanted to look up how many episodes he's actually been in. And it says eight. And to me, it seems like he has been in less than that for some reason. I don't know. There, like, well, I'll talk about it a little bit later on. There's some people that I mentioned how many episodes they've been in, and I'm like, wow, it seems like you were in so much more to me. but

Madi (57:03.256)
Like Joan, like Joan seems like more than nineteen to me, even though nineteen is still a lot.

Holly (57:06.301)
Yeah. Right. Yeah, crazy. Yeah, I thought for Joan it was like maybe a little bit more, but right around the same area. For Henry Winkler, I was like, eight, really? Like, I guess that makes sense. It's 'cause of Tom's business and stuff and then Anne having her baby and him being the G Y N and whatever. But I don't know, to me it was like really eight eight episodes. That's crazy. But amazing. He's such he what a presence, like what a character. I'm so glad that

Madi (57:21.494)
Mm. And being pregnant, yeah.

Madi (57:28.162)
Yeah.

Holly (57:32.199)
He agreed to do this role. It's so good. I love him so much. He's such a great actor. Have you watched Barry yet?

Madi (57:35.968)
Agreed.

Madi (57:39.756)
Yes, I've seen the first sorry, a child came in. I love you.

Okay. Sorry. I have seen Barry. I've seen I think the first two seasons. How many are there? I think I've just haven't seen the last season.

Holly (57:55.082)
Okay. Yeah, I don't know honestly how many there are. I kinda fell off, but I just know that Henry Winkler is fantastic.

Madi (57:58.349)
Yeah. He he's so good. Yeah, he's so good in that. I have a husband who struggles to emotionally let go of TV shows. So we haven't seen the final season of Game of Thrones because if we watch it, then it's over in his head. So other TV shows and stuff. I know.

Holly (58:14.771)
But it's not over. There's like nine thousand like extra things. No, but nine thousand like things of Game of Thrones. Like it's not over and it will never be over. You know? Also, honey, I hate to break it to you, but you will not be like excited by the end of Game of Thrones. Like it's not you're like you're not you know what I mean? Like, don't get your hopes up.

Madi (58:23.104)
Yeah, yeah. So it's just it's it's so funny.

Madi (58:37.836)
Yeah, for real. Yeah. And I I watched the final of How I Met Your Mother and because I was like, I'm not waiting for you, like I'm just watching it. And then I was like, It's fine if you don't watch it. Like, you're probably better off.

Holly (58:47.763)
Yeah. Yeah. I think you should watch Game of Thrones too.

Okay, so let's see here. okay, so he can't do it. Henry Henry Winkler, aka he my gosh, Dr. Saperstein can't do it because he has his practice, his business, his terrible children. And then we get Jenny Slate coming back. my god. And she thinks that they're asking him asking her to do John Mayer, not be the mayor. And I think that's so funny. I I love that for her.

Madi (59:15.502)
That's so on brand too, genuinely. Like that's so funny.

Holly (59:19.067)
Yes. And I love that she has her little like classic sign or singing thing that the saper scenes do of like, You took too long and I got bored 'cause she was in the car waiting for him. And then she asks Ben for money and he won't give it to her, so she crashes everything. And wow, I don't know. It just was like almost scary. Most of the time she's funny, but this time it was kinda scary and I was like, my God, what are you gonna do if you don't give her any money?

Madi (59:31.17)
Yeah.

Madi (59:42.626)
Well now he now I feel like we know what the dad like what Dr. Saperstein goes through where he's just like, This is why I give her money. It's just easier to give her money because this is how she behaves. It's like he didn't catch it when she was like five and couldn't do any damage. And it just got worse. For real. It was like Ben's not gonna pay her. You have to pay her. Like he didn't create this.

Holly (59:56.85)
Right.

Holly (01:00:01.338)
Yeah, I was gonna say, this is your fault, Doctor Saperstein, so

Holly (01:00:09.785)
Yeah, I I know. That's what I was like waiting for too. I was like, Doctor Sepperstein, hello, you give her money. my god. Anyway.

Madi (01:00:17.078)
Yeah. I quote this all the time and I know I talked about it the first time she ever did it, but we quote this all the time. Like if one of us is running into the store and the other one's holding our credit card or whatever, we always go, Money, please. Like, so great. I love also that they brought John Ralphio and Mona Lisa back in the same episode, but separated, like in their own realm. And I think I I liked that because they they do they are more together in the final episode, but this kind of gave us

Holly (01:00:28.957)
Yes.

Holly (01:00:40.606)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:00:46.99)
Who they are independently.

Holly (01:00:49.415)
I do too. I like that too. Yeah. That's good. Okay, so this is where the douche comes in now. What a fantastic way to get all these cast of crazies in here. It's truly amazing to see everybody come back. Also, I love again how they bring his depth into it too. Like he worked on two political campaigns, but then he has a sound effect prepared for like his nasty douche side. And yeah, I just was like, What? What a crazy character.

Madi (01:01:05.684)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:01:14.952)
Y you Yeah, such a crazy character and such a weird dynamic. Like you sit there and you're like, Okay, I can see it. I can buy that he would be and there it is. Okay.

Holly (01:01:25.823)
Yep, yep, yep, exactly. and I you know, this is a series wrap on Nick Kroll, actually. He's been in five episodes total. To me, that was one where I like, Really? Only five? For me it felt like more. I don't know why. So amazing. But yeah.

Madi (01:01:32.248)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:01:37.676)
Mm-hmm.

I think it's because when we think of Dr. Saperstein, he doesn't play like minor like pieces in the episode where it's just like one minute where as like the douche and Joan, they're like talk shows. So it's like sometimes Leslie's there for the cold open, or sometimes she's there to just give like an interview for two minutes of the episode and then go, if that makes sense. So it seems like she would have done a lot more of those. That's how it it's living in my brain.

Holly (01:02:06.867)
Hmm. But yeah. But yeah, so I mean, great work to all these people and amazing for however many episodes they were in. I also think I had a note too, I don't know why, but I just when I was listening to him talk, I do think he would have been a great like second choice for a baby daddy to Anne, honestly. Just with his depth of character, maybe he would have tried to get another job somewhere. and h his sec his his good intellectual side always tricks me.

Madi (01:02:13.248)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:02:23.586)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:02:35.137)
Yeah, for real.

Holly (01:02:37.843)
So April again suggests that he Ben should be interim mayor. Like we're not finding anybody. You should do it. You have the skills, you're qualified. This would erase Ice Town. And she actually has a really sincere moment, which again she, you know, proves that she's April because she's like, that made me feel gross to be nice to someone. But it is sincere and she does mention it and it's not a bad idea, but I do like how we end it way better than Ben being the interim mayor too.

Madi (01:02:55.66)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:03:04.992)
I agree. He's in the middle of a his own campaign too. Like imagine trying to do all of that. Imagine also what would it look like if you appointed yourself as interimnate mayor, you know. But

Holly (01:03:10.173)
That's true.

Holly (01:03:16.027)
Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I don't think anyone could like deny it, but yeah, I guess that's a good point. And then Douche comes back in to and says that he would name it the Oral Office instead of May Oral Office. Had to pop it again. Had to. Had to.

Madi (01:03:21.876)
No. Yeah.

Madi (01:03:29.512)
I can't. Yeah. Had to had to, had to.

Holly (01:03:35.262)
In a deleted scene here, they actually do ask Perd to be the interim mayor as well, which I was kinda wondering where he was, because he is a face of Pawnee, so they do ask him in a deleted scene. They just don't show it. but he said his he can't do it because his primary residence is actually in West Virginia and he's like commuting back and forth to Pawnee. It's so weird. And I'm like, okay, I get why they cut it, but you could have given him a better line, I guess. But also he was in the Yeah, it is so funny, but

Madi (01:03:41.613)
Yeah.

Madi (01:03:59.318)
Yeah. my gosh, that's so funny.

Holly (01:04:03.697)
I mean, I guess he was al already in the episodes like saying that Mayor Gunderson had died so they didn't need another scene maybe. I don't know. But just in case you were curious, because he is a big face, the he was asked, so

Madi (01:04:10.668)
Mm-hmm. Possible.

Madi (01:04:16.632)
Yeah.

Holly (01:04:18.495)
All right, so now Donna, Andy, and Ron are at Tom's Bistro having a drink, and Donna is saying, Sal lived a really good long life. Like you shouldn't be super like sad about that part. but Ron, you know, goes back to his kind of core and says, you know, so much is changing and he's never been a fan of change.

Then my God, I'm so excited for Sam Elliott coming back. Ron Don comes back obsessed. This makes me so happy. And this will be Sam Elliott's last appearance as Ron Donne. He's been in three episodes total, including this one, which makes sense logically, but I don't know. He seems like such an amazing part of Parks that I think to me I was like he had I don't know, it's like a mixture of like he had a little bit more in my head, but he also just like was such a presence in that first episode that I'm like, Really? You've been in three? You know, so

Madi (01:04:39.402)
Yes,

Madi (01:04:44.417)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:04:48.68)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:05:03.073)
Yes.

Holly (01:05:05.545)
But yeah, th it it's so great that they got him and I just love it so much. Like what a perfect role and so very random but so beautiful with the opposition of both rons. I just love that.

Madi (01:05:17.686)
Yeah, such a nice it was a nice surprise too. 'Cause I w I we're not expecting to hit a guest star in that scene.

Holly (01:05:22.067)
Yes.

Holly (01:05:25.641)
Totally. And I mean, much less him because we don't really get many guest stars from the doppelgangers episode, you know? So I mean, but he is the one that has come back the most, I feel, apart from Craig, of course, but I he doesn't count 'cause Craig is now like a main character for the most part. But I love Ron's Ron Dunn's lines too. Again, that's what I mean by like the juxtaposition of both of them having such poetic, like beautiful sayings. And I love this every time we lose a compadre, our collective lantern gets a little bit dimmer.

Madi (01:05:28.547)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:05:33.121)
Yeah.

Madi (01:05:38.039)
Yes.

Madi (01:05:46.051)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (01:05:55.622)
Ugh That's really nice. And I love that they're in the Frisbee Golf League together, him and Andy, but they're on different teams. He's like, You look real familiar. And Ron tries to get all like intellectual and say, like, you probably know me from this like life of ours, paths and w another life of my whatever. Yeah. And he's like, Nope. I also love I think this is my favorite line of the whole episode, really, and I know that it's like

Madi (01:05:56.79)
Yeah, I feel that.

Madi (01:06:02.625)
Yes, I know.

Madi (01:06:13.415)
yeah. In another life. Randy's Andy's like, No

Holly (01:06:25.139)
Weird for this like funny episode, but the death makes brothers of us all. That just like really cuts to my core, man.

Madi (01:06:30.23)
Mm.

Yeah. Yeah. You and you see that in tragedy anywhere in our in our life. Like I'll all like Holly, you and I lived in Boston during the Boston bombing. And that always comes back to my brain sometimes, like ab around like tragedy really brings us together. And it's sad. It's sad that that's what it takes sometimes. But that's it was so beautifully written in this episode, that feeling.

Holly (01:06:52.467)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (01:07:00.669)
Yeah, and like with everybody passing away, you know, in the last couple of weeks and all of the awful things that are happening, like it really does bring us together, which is really sad 'cause you do start to get like, what's the word? Philosophical about it because you're like, couldn't we have just been like on each other's side before this? And it just really makes you think. but yeah, death really does make brothers of us all. And brothers being like a non gendered term, you know what I mean? Like, it's wild. But I love that they wrote that.

Madi (01:07:14.734)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:07:19.202)
Yeah.

Madi (01:07:25.91)
Yeah.

Yeah, beautiful and relatable to I think to everybody.

Holly (01:07:31.963)
Mm-hmm. So this is where Ron Dunn says he turns to Eastern wisdom at times like this. And Ron Ron Swanson says his scotch from Scotland is as Eastern as his wisdom is gonna get. But Donna says, Donna kinda gloms on to this and says, you know what? I may have an idea slash Ron Dunn may have a point. and I also love that Ron Dunn's hair just sheds itself off. Like he doesn't get haircuts. It's just like ready to live its life. Whenever it needs to leave, it leaves.

Madi (01:07:42.582)
Yeah.

Madi (01:07:54.583)
I can't.

Madi (01:07:59.926)
I could I could feel as he was saying that that Ron was gonna wanna punch him.

Holly (01:08:03.997)
Yep. Yep. my god. I love their little brotherhood. It's so funny to me. And in real life they are friends, which is so cute.

Madi (01:08:09.238)
Yeah.

Madi (01:08:14.018)
Yeah, I love that.

Holly (01:08:16.457)
So now we're at the airport, and Tom and Leslie are there to see Lucy slash finish the proposal moment. And Tom says that Leslie is cool, and Leslie is so honored and excited by that. my god, I had this experience recently with a friend of mine who has like a 16-year-old cousin, and we showed them when we went to the Hollywood sign, and she was like, That's Loki cool. And I was like, my god, my god, I'm cool. I really felt like Leslie in this moment.

Madi (01:08:38.038)
Yeah.

Madi (01:08:42.018)
So cool. That's awesome.

Holly (01:08:44.115)
So Tom sees Lucy and I I kinda like this a lot where Lucy or where Tom immediately is like, Nope, it's wrong. We're calling off. Everything we did was not the vibe. And Tom says to grab John Ralphio, get these three things and meet at the Snake Hole Lounge in thirty minutes. And Leslie's like, Okay, I don't know what's going on, but you seem like James Bond right now. And I love that. I love it. So cute.

Madi (01:08:49.399)
Yeah.

Madi (01:09:04.608)
I love that she just trusts that he knows because I think there's a version of Leslie that we've lived with in this series that would have been like, No, we did this thing and this is what we have to like, we put all this effort in, this is what we gotta do. And she just sees the confidence in his face and trusts and goes with it. And I really appreciate that because I also appreciate this growth that we see in Tom in this moment that he's like, How I envisioned this isn't what she's gonna want. Like this isn't what it's gonna

Holly (01:09:31.891)
Right.

Madi (01:09:33.218)
This isn't gonna be our story. And yeah, just so much growth in that like one little moment. So

Holly (01:09:34.889)
Totally. Yeah.

Holly (01:09:39.24)
Yeah, yeah. And it's nice to see that Leslie also like knows that it's still gonna happen. It might not happen in her way, but it's still gonna happen. So the beginning i is still ha like going to do something, regardless of how it's done. Like the end goal is still there. Hopefully that doesn't sound like word salad, but anyway.

Madi (01:09:48.077)
Mm.

Madi (01:09:57.612)
Yeah.

Holly (01:10:01.768)
I was wondering where the airport was filmed, by the way, because this looks like a real airport. And sometimes they do get real airports. there's this one particularly and I believe it's called Ontario, in in California that's a little bit outside of LA. And they use it sometimes. They actually use that for the office scene when Michael leaves and Pam sees the plane fly away. But this is actually on the CBS soundstage for s and you can kind of tell like

Madi (01:10:04.622)
Cool.

Madi (01:10:20.854)
Mm.

Madi (01:10:25.237)
wow.

Holly (01:10:26.173)
You don't see any planes take off. You really just see that little room and Lucy walking through the security thing. But like, that's kinda cool. I thought that maybe they would r have rented out an airport for this, but you don't yeah, you didn't they I guess they didn't need it.

Madi (01:10:40.258)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they did a good job setting it up.

Holly (01:10:41.565)
So in case anyone was wondering.

Mm-hmm. So now we're at the Snake Hole Lounge and they got everything for Tom and John Ralphio. and John Ralphio got condoms because apparently girls get super horny when they get proposed to, so he does it all the time.

Madi (01:10:58.922)
Holly (01:10:59.401)
John Ralphia. And apparently online it's special. Apparently online, it says that there is a real brand of intimate wipes and lubricant called Sweetems.

Madi (01:11:01.87)
Special.

Madi (01:11:11.733)
my gosh That's crazy.

Holly (01:11:13.821)
my God. I know. And Leslie is like, What are you doing? Like what's happening? also when she said there's hundreds of people waiting for us, I was like, What the hell? What do you mean? And again, we don't find that out until the end. But in my head, I guess I don't know, it almost felt like this last half of the episode is like my first time watching it. And I'm like, have I not watched slash like had this on repeat as many times as the other episodes? 'Cause I was like, damn, I don't remember that. Anyhow, so she says they'll leave, but Tom is like

Madi (01:11:26.53)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:11:39.224)
Yeah.

Holly (01:11:43.743)
Do you wanna stay and watch? You can watch it. It's fine. Which is really cute.

Madi (01:11:47.39)
Yeah. I'm glad that he does that for her because I think she would have been a little broken if she didn't get to see it.

Holly (01:11:53.438)
Me too, especially after she worked really hard to get the sign and the doves and you know, been a part of this the whole time. Yeah, I think it's nice. Okay, so we have decided at this point in time that Ben will be the interim mayor. He's kind of agreed to it at this point. he can't believe that he's about to be doing this. And then Gary says he can't believe he's about to notarize it. And there is a deleted scene here right before Ben signs that Gary says he might win a stampy if he does this, because it's like the Nobel Prize of the notary community.

Madi (01:11:59.031)
Yeah.

Holly (01:12:23.197)
I think that's really cute actually.

Madi (01:12:24.768)
Yeah. Yeah. He's he's just he really has been a retired sixty, seventy year old man this entire series. Like hi the things he cares about and how he wants to spend his time.

Holly (01:12:34.588)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Holly (01:12:39.817)
Totally. So Ben is about to sign this really important piece of paper saying he's gonna be the mayor, but then he stops himself and he says he doesn't wanna do it. And this is what we were talking about before, where he kinda comes to the conclusion that Ice Town is a part of his life. He doesn't want to forget it. It led him to the best parts of his life. It led him to Leslie. He doesn't want to erase it. And I think this is like one of the best Ben moments to me because

Madi (01:12:55.022)
Mm.

Holly (01:13:02.695)
I think this is something that has been haunting him for so long. And to be completely fair or frank, I guess, like I didn't really expect closure on Ice Town because I kind of was just like, This is like a part of his life. It is what it is. And he has done so much for the town. Like he's more than Ice Town. We all know that. But to have him acknowledge it and say, like, I don't want to erase it because it brought me here is really, really special and way deeper than I think I anticipated. So I'm really glad that they did this.

Madi (01:13:12.375)
Yeah.

Madi (01:13:31.296)
Yeah, I agree. And I think we look at, you know, I I was just mentioning the growth of Tom and Leslie, who are characters that we love, but definitely had things that they needed to work on. Ben, obviously, we all have things we need to work on, but his are a little less glaring. And so for him to also have this growth moment of, you know, this this doesn't have to define me in a negative way. This is something that was a stepping stone for me. And then realizing he doesn't need to redeem himself.

Holly (01:13:46.153)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (01:13:54.226)
Yeah.

Holly (01:14:00.916)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:14:01.408)
in that area, like what for me was like, Ben gets to grow too. Like that's so cool.

Holly (01:14:07.025)
Yeah. It is really nice. Yeah, I like that a lot. It's good. They did a really good job writing it. Adam did a great scop great job acting it. Yeah, love it. And then April's like, Fine, but we're back to square one. Like who's gonna be the interim mayor? And Ben looks at Gary with that meaningful look and is like Gary can do it. And honestly, April to me had a serious overreaction. This screaming is very April, but to me I was like, par for the course, dude. Like I would have just sighed if I was sitting there.

Madi (01:14:15.35)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Madi (01:14:32.31)
Yeah.

Holly (01:14:36.479)
But that's so cute. That's a really great thing that Gary gets to, you know, he loves this town. He loves this town just as much as Leslie, maybe even more, in a different way. And so for him to get to serve in this way is so sweet and beautiful. And I'm surprised they hadn't done it earlier. But this is a great timing for him. He's gonna retire and now he's gonna be the mayor. Great.

Madi (01:14:37.568)
Yeah.

Madi (01:14:42.592)
He does.

Madi (01:14:53.664)
Yeah, I l I love this too. Or yeah, and remember when he wanted to have lunch in that one cafeteria and he couldn't? Like now he's gonna be able to. That's what I thought about. It's like good for you.

Holly (01:15:02.907)
Yeah great point. So cute. my god, what a dream. It is his literal dream. And he now he gets to do it. that's so beautiful. Love that. Okay, so I love that Tom now has this other beautiful moment. This episode is just well, this season in general is just chock full of beautiful, sincere moments. But Tom has one himself and he says Snake Hole Lounge is where they first met, which my gosh, what a fantastic reminder.

Madi (01:15:11.992)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Holly (01:15:30.071)
I definitely needed to be reminded of that because that is exactly right. And look at how far he's come because he was he met her because he was coming back to pay that bill for all these women slash people that he bought drinks for, thinking that like he would either hook up with them or have a girlfriend or whatever. And then she he met her and it's so beautiful. She was a bartender. And then on the first date, he gave her a single daisy. So he gives her the daisy.

Madi (01:15:30.465)
Yeah, wow.

Holly (01:15:56.296)
And then they ate late night pancakes at JJ's and he pulls out a deck of cards because at JJ's he did a magic trick, but he failed at it, and Lucy made fun of him ruthlessly. So those are the three things that he asked John Ralphio and Leslie to get. And this is so sweet and like stupid romantic. I just love it so much. He says he wants to try the trick again that he tried on the first date and kind of points her in the right direction to pick the right card, which I thought was really funny, because yeah, you do think like how's how's she gonna get the right one?

Madi (01:16:24.748)
Yeah, for real. He would have had to do it do it for all of

Holly (01:16:25.235)
Ha ha ha.

Yeah, exactly. I know. I kind of anticipated that too, like just writing that on every single card. but the card she picks says, Will you marry me? And he has the ring and she says yes. And I love this whole like back and forth exchange thing of like, Yes, really? Yay. I just love it.

Madi (01:16:33.39)
Yeah.

Madi (01:16:43.542)
Yeah.

Yeah, I love that he he simplified it because they both love the extravagant things that he loves, but it's like it's not those things that make me love you. It's like these it's these little moments. And so yeah, just so well done. I'm so proud of Tom watching this episode.

Holly (01:16:51.635)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (01:17:02.269)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Holly (01:17:09.563)
Me too. Me too. Me too. Me too. And then we get a comedic break where John Ralphio asks how married Leslie is. He loves her down bad. He really does. And I love that they bring that up in the finale. Are you like, are you down to clown? And what did he say? Are you in that rude mood? I've never heard of that one. And then this is one of Jo go ahead.

Madi (01:17:19.372)
He does, he really does.

Yeah.

Madi (01:17:30.87)
Yeah, I hadn't heard that either. But you know what I love? No, go ahead. I think you're gonna say the same thing that I was gonna say.

Holly (01:17:37.695)
Yes, exactly. Like i I feel like this is one of his most famous lines, where she asks, Why are you like this? And he says, Pills, baby. Yep. So John Raphael, so Ben Schwartz. Very memorable.

Madi (01:17:46.008)
Pills, baby.

So great. Yeah. He and Joan were perfect for each other.

Holly (01:17:55.564)
my god. The chaos. I feel like they're more like sibling vibes to me personally, but or like partners in crime. Who maybe occasionally like have some doing it. I don't know.

Madi (01:18:00.172)
That's fair. partners in crime, yeah.

Madi (01:18:09.11)
Yeah. Yeah.

Holly (01:18:13.051)
Okay, so now we're moving on to see Typhoon again, which is amazing, played by the wonderful actor Rodney Toe. before we get into the Typhoon haircut, there was a deleted scene where Andy suggests his his barber, Andy's barber, and it actually ends up being a children's barber shop. It's actually so cute and a great way to get their h kids' haircut because there's like games and like a little arcade in the front and like fun stuff to do in the barbersh barbershop. I'm just gonna play the deleted scene though, really quickly, because it's just so funny. It's called and also the barbershop is called

Madi (01:18:16.163)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:18:34.19)
Cute.

Holly (01:18:42.108)
Silly Sam's

Madi (01:18:44.142)
Thank you.

Holly (01:19:19.007)
And there are I don't it's so funny. That's actually the funny like visual comedy because it really is like a tiny little airplane ride looking thing. Like there's no way that Andy fits in it. So I don't know how he where he sits when he does this. I'm sure maybe he just like f plops in there somehow, but that's what's so funny to me.

Madi (01:19:19.882)
So funny.

Madi (01:19:27.949)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:19:37.482)
Yeah, I love that. Well, 'cause I I can picture him 'cause Kelly gets his hair cut at a place that has like little baby cars that he gets to sit in and ha there's like a little wheel. Yeah, so when he said that I could picture him standing next to something that's so tiny.

Holly (01:19:43.151)
Mm mm, exactly. That's exactly right. Yep.

Holly (01:19:50.548)
Yes, that's exactly right. my god. So we're at Typhoon because Donna suggests that Ron gets his hair cut with Typhoon, who cuts and does Donna's hair. And Typhoon is like, This is crazy. Like I'm an artist and the human head is my canvas. And Donna's like, Shut up, just charge him eight dollars. It'll take you four minutes. Like, please just do this. And I love to see Donna step up for her friends like this. The last couple episodes have been amazing choice episodes for Donna. Like the way that she stands up for Jerry.

Gary, getting his keys out, bringing the oranges for the orange juice, like being a fri a true friend to him. And now she's a true friend to Ron. It really is not just workplace proximity associates anymore. Like they are friends and she is going out of her way to try to make him happy, both of them happy. And especially in this episode where Ron is like so against change, but she's like making the the sacri not a sacrifice, but like asking someone else to make the sacrifice, I guess. And like

Madi (01:20:27.127)
Yeah.

Madi (01:20:37.752)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (01:20:49.065)
Just being so thoughtful and considerate and compassionate, I think it's such a beautiful look for Donna.

Madi (01:20:54.996)
I agree. And I I I looked at it like Leslie is h saying her goodbye and leaving her stamp in a very loud way. And Donna's doing it very quietly. Not that there's a wrong way, but in Donna Donna's way is very quiet as she as she steps out of Pawnee.

Holly (01:21:05.245)
Mm. Yeah.

Holly (01:21:11.495)
Yeah, totally. So let's see, Ron is asking Typhoon what he likes to do for fun when he finally gets in the chair. To me, that gave me pause. It was really weird. I was like, You're making conversation? Are you just like making the best out of a bad situation? Or like it was just really strange and it pulled me out of it for a little bit for Ron's character. I like, This is not real to me. This doesn't seem like it would go.

Madi (01:21:20.899)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:21:28.419)
Mm.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like he doesn't know what to do 'cause he's done it for forty years and so he like been doing the same thing for forty years. So now he sits down and he's like, I don't know what this is.

Holly (01:21:42.996)
Yeah, totally. But I mean this gives us the reason why it's so good because Typhoon's answer is that he's writing an opera about Brittany Murphy, which by the way I would love to see, and he does the chandelier design for his friend's puppet drag show, which I would also love to see. But he says all he really wants to do is dance, but the warehouse raves are all filled with Euro trash, which makes see Ron see something in common with Typhoon. And I love that. It's so sweet. Like you can really start to see Ron start to relax and

Madi (01:21:57.358)
Yeah.

Holly (01:22:10.853)
And he's laughing at Typhoon's hate of Europe and the stupid bikes and like when you find something in common, which this is also I mean, maybe it's not as like deep as they made it to be, but are as I took it. But it was just like you if you can find one thing in common, we have more alike than we don't. You know what I mean? And you can make it work. And I just I think this is a really funny pairing, you know, when you put two people together that you would not see normally. You know what I mean? I just I like that a lot.

Madi (01:22:28.27)
Yeah.

Madi (01:22:38.701)
Yeah, agree.

Holly (01:22:40.123)
And Rodney Toe, the actor, does such a good job here too. I just yeah, it's really fun.

Madi (01:22:47.106)
Yeah, I I I've loved him and I loved how he's fet fit into the and I love that it wasn't forced. So yeah. I've loved how he's fit into the each character.

Holly (01:22:53.394)
Mm-hmm. Totally.

Holly (01:22:58.503)
Me too. So Leslie says that there's still a big celebration and that's where we find that that's what she meant. Like when Lucy says yes, there were gonna be people waiting to celebrate with Tom and Lucy. But Tom thinks Lucy will just want to hang by themselves tonight, which is so nice and kind of goes back to what you were saying. But just building off of that, I'm really so proud of him for thinking about what she wants and what she'd like because all of Flash and Party would be so Tom and so for him. And Lucy does like it too. Like she did go to that entertainment seven twenty party and everything, but it

Madi (01:23:13.016)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (01:23:28.379)
is really sweet to see Tom like think about the compassion for Lucy instead. because and putting putting her wants and needs above his own is like so shocking to see in a way, but so wonderful and beautiful and precious and romantic and sweet. And I just I love seeing that because we do not see Tom be selfless a lot. And he will be selfless for Lucy. And that's how you can tell that it's real because

Madi (01:23:34.22)
Yeah.

Madi (01:23:52.78)
Yeah.

Holly (01:23:58.024)
He means it, you know? And so I just I think that's a really, really wonderful like acknowledgement of how Lucy is his person.

Madi (01:23:59.958)
Yeah.

Madi (01:24:07.052)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And and I love that Leslie doesn't pressure it, she accepts it and she's like, We can repurpose this.

Holly (01:24:17.735)
Yeah, totally. And I like that he calls her Jennifer Nopez and she says Tomegranate juice, which is and and I like that he compliments her and says, like, that's actually good, really. 

Holly (01:25:42.176)
Okay, so Leslie is now getting a call, and there's good news that Tom first of all, Tom is engaged, she tells Ben who called, and Gary is going to be the mayor. And Leslie has this wonderful idea to repurpose that beautiful celebration. And she goes to the sign store again. God. She goes to the sign store. She says sh to throw away the Tom and Lucy banner. But I think they could still use it. Like they don't need to throw it away. I think they could give it to Tom and Lucy.

Madi (01:26:06.464)
Yeah.

Yeah, they could still do an engagement party or like at the like at the wedding, you know, you're it's still gonna need to say congratulations, you know. So

Holly (01:26:18.035)
Yeah, I agree. I agree. So I I think she's just being like over yeah, exactly. Dramatic. Yeah. But she does need a new sign and she needs it in 20 minutes. But she I I love that she thinks that this industry is high stakes. Like she says, you know, you shouldn't have gotten into this business if you didn't want to be twenty four on seven or twenty four seven on call for the high stakes world of banner making. my god.

Madi (01:26:23.648)
In the moment energy. Yeah.

Madi (01:26:31.446)
Yeah.

Madi (01:26:45.388)
Yeah. So funny.

Holly (01:26:48.041)
This is the best ending ever, okay? I am so obsessed with this ending. Okay, I know that we have been saying that for a lot of these episodes in the last season, but this one truly is just perfection. There's a huge celebration party thing. Everyone is there. There's Trojan soldier looking people around in costume. Leslie brings Gary out of this van, which by the way is a whole other like celebrity moment, I feel that's happening where Gary never gets to experience that. Like to your point about the executive.

Madi (01:26:50.619)
I love this.

Madi (01:27:06.754)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:27:15.831)
Yeah.

Holly (01:27:17.771)
dining room or whatever. And then this choir starts singing all my life. And for some reason, okay, I'm gonna be honest again, with the same thing with the jewelry store. I didn't really remember this celebration party was for Tom or was for supposed to be for Tom. Which I guess that makes sense that I didn't remember that if I didn't remember the jewelry store thing. But they made it for Gary after they switched the proposal. And it's so cute. And like the idea that that song slash this whole celebration doesn't really match

Madi (01:27:30.506)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Same.

Madi (01:27:42.049)
Yeah.

Holly (01:27:46.292)
The Gary thing, but it kind of could, you know? And it did all his life. He's waited for someone like him. And there's a throne. And Leslie's saying, Happy Inauguration Day, buddy, is so sweet and cute. And then a hot air balloon, like, my God. All these people lifting Gary up on the red carpet, like the little Trojan men or whatever in his throne. Like, what a way to have an episode, but also to end this character.

Madi (01:27:48.32)
Yeah. All his life he's worked in the government.

Madi (01:27:54.848)
Yeah.

Madi (01:28:01.282)
Yeah.

Madi (01:28:07.351)
Yeah.

Holly (01:28:15.209)
For Jim O'Hare. I mean, I know we have one more episode left, but like this is the start of the rest of his life, I feel, and it's so great. And Jim O'Hare did such a fantastic job too here. And just giving Gary the actual love and like compassion that he deserves is really, really special to me.

Madi (01:28:17.515)
Yeah.

Madi (01:28:21.399)
Yeah.

Madi (01:28:31.47)
Hmm. I know. I I was emotional about it as well because you look back at six seasons of him not really getting, you know, you have moments where Donna's sweet to him and and Ben wants to be his friend, like little moments like that. But for the most part, he's kind of the punching bag. And so for him to get this like promotion into mayor, basically, while he's trying to retire, and then they give him this wonderful little party, it's just so

Holly (01:28:54.559)
It's so cute.

Madi (01:29:01.184)
It's so wonderful. I love it so much. It's such a vibe.

Holly (01:29:03.889)
I do too. I do too. And the way that it all worked out, I mean, the writers always do such a good job of this of like they had the ending probably in mind, maybe not, but that's a lot of times what happens. And I just think it's really sweet that also Leslie gets her win too. where, you know, we are starting a beginning and she is on board supporting

Madi (01:29:20.558)
Mm.

Holly (01:29:25.843)
him as mayor. And I also love that there's a congratulations, Mayor Gergic sign. Like the sign did get done. Everything worked out for the best. And I love Leslie giving a speech. And it's honestly so beautiful and sentimental. And of course Gary can't make a speech in true Gary fashion because the balloon cuts him off. my God. But we had to have something of the old Gary come in here. my God. And then

Madi (01:29:32.333)
Yeah.

Madi (01:29:43.351)
Of course.

Madi (01:29:47.412)
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

Holly (01:29:52.426)
So Gary is saying I'm flying as he goes in the air, he's like, I'm flying. Apparently this is a reference to the line I'm sailing, which was spoken slash acted by Bill Murray in What About Bob for n the nineteen ninety one movie. I did not know that.

Madi (01:30:02.702)
Okay. Nice. No, me either.

Holly (01:30:08.345)
And yeah, I just think it's great a great ending to the episode. there is a super funny deleted scene actually with Gary and Perd, relating to the balloon. I'm just gonna play it really fast. It's so stupid and funny.

Madi (01:30:41.164)
Madi (01:30:55.884)
Okay. my gosh. Yeah.

Holly (01:30:56.841)
So Perth still doesn't believe that he's alive. He's just like, well, you must have died and turned into a ghost and that's how you're here right now.

Madi (01:31:02.028)
Yeah. He's like I've already reported that you're dead, so

Holly (01:31:05.103)
Honestly, I was waiting for this too because I was like, There's no way that Gary gets in a hot air balloon and it just works out. You know what I mean? Like, even though it was supposed to be for Tom and Lucy, like there's just no way that there's not gonna be some sort of chaos or like situation going on. It reminded me of when they do the test for the covet type thing or whatever and they have to shut the town down, but it's not real, and Gary runs after his family and is like, my god, Gail, the girls and no one actually tells him that it's fine.

Madi (01:31:11.468)
Yeah. Yeah.

Madi (01:31:30.05)
Yes.

Holly (01:31:33.809)
He kind of disappears for a while. my God. Yes. So that is the end of my notes on this, but I do have something I meant to play it at the beginning. my gosh. So do you have anything else on two funerals?

Madi (01:31:35.67)
Yeah. It's like you guys didn't tell me. poor poor Gary.

Madi (01:31:47.615)
No, that no, that was where I ended that I just absolutely love this ending and they made it almost feel like it could be the end of the show. but I'm so glad that we have this last episode. Mm-hmm.

Holly (01:31:57.107)
That's so true.

More. Yeah, I I think that they did a good job with that pretty much in every episode almost of this season, because that's what season six was supposed to be was the ending kind of. But no, you're right. To this this episode in particular, you're like, wow, everything's looking up. Like they're moving to DC, like every character has wrapped up their shit. You know what I mean? And so so good. so yeah, great point. Okay, so

Madi (01:32:10.318)
Yeah.

Madi (01:32:20.61)
Yeah.

Holly (01:32:25.929)
To end our episode, it might even be better that it's at the ending. I was watching John Oliver, one of my fave TV shows. If you haven't watched it yet, it's on HBO Max. And he does a really funny bit about Taco Bell giving everybody cyclospora, or Taco Bell's lettuce in particular, the Taylor Farms giving everybody cyclospora. And he does kind of a commercial. and Taco Bell is like saying that it's sorry or whatever. And it ha it gave such

Madi (01:32:44.494)
Mm-hmm.

Holly (01:32:53.243)
Vibes of the Ponchburger commercial with like the cheese sauce and being really wet and nasty and gross. And there was even a part of it, because we talked about this last episode where Molly and I were kind of like, I brought this up where I was like, if you choose Ponchburger, unfortunately the commercial's kind of right in the sense of like you're not coming here to be healthy. Like it really is your choice, you know what I mean? and they kind of

Madi (01:32:58.914)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:33:17.559)
Yeah, yeah.

Holly (01:33:20.169)
point to that. So I'm just gonna play this really fast. It's a minute and thirty seconds. I'm just gonna play it because it's so it just gave me such deja vu and I'm it's it's just Parks and Rick does this so well of making parodies of real life. And yeah, I'll just play it.

Madi (01:33:34.595)
Yeah.

Holly (01:35:07.519)
That was it, but my god, isn't that so funny?

Madi (01:35:10.824)
That's so funny. Who is that again?

Holly (01:35:13.687)
So John Oliver is the one is the show that it was on, but the voiceover I think was done. I can't remember his name, but he I he it sounds like I didn't look it up. It sounds like the guy who's on the Mindy project, not Ike Bernholtz, but the other guy. he's also a comedian. But this is on John Oliver's show, which you should 100% watch. It's so funny. And it's my god, comedy legend, n news legend. But yeah, it's yeah. So he was doing a story on the Taco Bell Cyclospora thing, and then he did this, and I was like,

Madi (01:35:17.057)
Yeah.

Madi (01:35:26.133)
Okay.

Madi (01:35:31.384)
I love John Oliver.

Madi (01:35:35.628)
Yeah.

Madi (01:35:40.226)
Yeah.

Holly (01:35:42.085)
my god, this is so perfect, so Punch Burger vibes.

Madi (01:35:45.164)
Yeah. It almost sounded like Seth Green for a second, who voices Chris Griffin on Family Guy. Like but not but yeah, in the middle. Like there was like a whoa, that sounded like Chris Griffin moment. But yeah, that's yeah, so great. I love all these little things that like our like our comedian talk show hosts do on the side. Like so, so funny.

Holly (01:35:48.755)
It could've I'll have to look it up.

Holly (01:35:57.276)
Yeah.

Holly (01:36:10.613)
my gosh. Yes. Yeah, I love that so much. So well done, John Oliver and the writers to John Oliver. I'm always so impressed by the writers because they work so hard and get so much information. So yeah, I'm r kind of behind actually. I can't believe how like they take breaks every now and again, but like I can't believe how much they have, you know, to to report on, especially these days. And yeah, anyway. So I just had to play that because it all relates back to parks and that was just so funny. I couldn't resist sharing it with the world. So

Madi (01:36:14.574)
Mm.

Madi (01:36:29.922)
Mm-hmm.

Madi (01:36:36.387)
Yeah.

Holly (01:36:39.017)
Thank you to John Oliver. And thank you to everyone for listening. Don't forget to rate, review, subscribe. Thank you to Burley for sending in those emails. And hopefully we'll get to talk to Ian Phillips and maybe the stunt people will reach out to me at some point if the universe decides that they want to hear this. But yeah, so we are on to the finale. We'll have an interview after this, but then we'll do our two episodes of the finales, breaking it into two since it technically aired, I think, as two episodes. But yeah, very exciting. Moving on along.

Madi (01:36:40.706)
Yeah.

Madi (01:36:51.213)
Yeah.

Madi (01:37:08.428)
Yeah, crazy how close we are.

Holly (01:37:10.417)
Mm-hmm. Well, have a good weekend, everybody slash week, whenever you're listening to this, and we'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening. Bye.

Madi (01:37:17.602)
Bye.

Holly (01:37:28.618)
Stop on.