lady-penny-face:

Top 12 Leslie/Ben Moments
5. ‘Mean Ben has a soft spot.’

Leslie: Why did you do this?
Ben: Well, I’m not a monster. I want the kids to have their concert.
Leslie: Ah, Mean Ben has a soft spot.
Ben: Is that what you guys call me? Mean Ben?
Leslie: [laughing] No, no. No no no.
Ben: Look, this is really great, today. But there’s gonna be a lot of pain ahead, Leslie, we have to cut 32% of the - 
Leslie: Just, just, please, just stop it, ok? Just, for one moment, enjoy the fact that you provided a service for people, not a cut. A service. And they love it.
Ben: I think the service was getting you to stop singing.
[he watches and smiles as she walks away]

MEAN BEN HAS A SOFT SPOT. MEAN BEN HAS A SOFT SPOT. MEAN BEN HAS A SOFT SPOT. This line is glorious; this line speaks volumes about who Ben Wyatt is, who he used to be, who he was forced to become, who he wants to be. And while his whole life since he was 18 has been shaped around being ‘Mean Ben’, here in Pawnee he (grudgingly, gradually) lets himself be defined by his soft spot. He pays for Freddy Spaghetti, and he brings Leslie chicken soup and waffles when she’s sick. He suggests calzones, and freaks out in front of the cameras. He not only lets the Parks department bring back the Harvest Festival, but he throws himself into working on it almost as hard as Leslie Knope herself.

He lets himself make friends that are more than Facebook ones, he gets roommates and teaches them how to be adults, he goes camping, he gets drunk on Snake Juice and he falls in love.

talking-bird:

Alright, guys. Let’s chat for a moment about parallels. Or, specifically, the insanely well executed use of them in Parks and Recreation.

Parks is unique from a lot of sitcoms (though it’s becoming more commonplace lately) in that its characters are allowed to grow, learn, and change. It’s pretty wonderful and makes every season incredibly satisfying because the characters are in a different place at the end then they were in the beginning. The care and effort the writers put into this is so wonderful, and one way they’ve really flaunted this is through parallels.

“Freddy Spaghetti” and “Li’l Sebastian” are nearly companion episodes. A year apart, they both cinch together their seasons with a staged event for a beloved Pawnee icon. The kick is obviously Ben and Leslie - last season found them at odds, building a small mutual understanding and begrudging respect of each other. The moment happens beside the stage, as Ben deals with his first time helping Pawnee (or probably any town in a long, long time) and Leslie helps him remember how wonderful providing for people feels. Conversely, a year later is another staged event, but now they’re enamored with each other and together. Ben’s helping the town because it’s his actual job now, a job that he enjoys. And beside the stage, rather than earning each other’s respect, they’re trying to figure out how to hide their affection.

Even the bare physical parallels are seriously great - they’re clearly on the side of a stage near fencing, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in “Freddy Spaghetti” but facing each other in “Li’l Sebastian.” Ben even has the same jacket just in a different color, and Leslie’s blazers are closely similar. The spyshots through metalwork are similar. And the scene doesn’t close season 3 in the way it closes season 2, but it shows just how much these two people have grown together over the course of a year, and how they’ve come to naturally work together instead of surprising each other by breaking first impressions.

marinersubmariner:

When I first met you I thought you were a fascist hardass.

foreveryellowskies:

2.24, Freddy Spaghetti/3.14, Road Trip

“Pawnee is not special.” - 2x24, Freddy Spaghetti

“I’ve been to 40 some-odd town in Indiana. Pawnee is special.” - 3x13, Road Trip

intoyoursunlight:

five favorite ben and leslie caps per episode~
Parks and Recreation - 2x24: Freddy Spaghetti

teethspots:

lyric/graphic meme

@shrinkthemoon gave:

Nobody told you, that I could just waltz through and shake up your style.
I’m inside, like a wrecking ball through your eyes,
And I change it all from inside.

alwaysaboom:

Our love is like the wind - I can’t see it, but I sure can feel it.

“The government has been shut down for two days, and one city employee has tried to schedule 14 meetings with me.”