Over its six-year runtime, Parks And Recreation — created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur — became one of the most well-loved and quoted sitcoms of its time. There's no shortage of beloved episodes that remain entertaining no matter how much time passes since their release, such as "Hunting Trip," for how bizarre and hilarious their premises are. Combine this with the phenomenal acting of the cast, and how much fun they seem to have on set, and all of the pieces for a classic political sitcom fell into place.
While the first season was met with mixed reviews, the team took the feedback they received and made major positive changes to Leslie's character, helping each season from the second on reach critical acclaim. Some of the most memorable episodes are those that have weird premises or moments that help them stick in fans' minds all the clearer.
10 Ron Hilariously Tries To Eat Healthier (Season 5, Episode 18)
Some episodes are remembered not for having a weird plot overall, but rather a B-plot that's so hilariously strange that it deserves mentioning regardless. Such is the case with Season 5, Episode 18, titled "Animal Control."
The episode mainly focuses on Leslie trying to find a new director for the Animal Control department and Ben trying to get more donations for the Sweetums foundation. However, the most memorable part is the strange sub-plot of Ron attempting to eat more healthy food by placing a banana directly onto his Paunch Burger burger.
9 Chardbodies Advertises Their Disgusting Drink With Innuendos (Season 6, Episode 12)
The twelfth episode of Season Six, fittingly titled "Farmer's Market," deals with advertising and how far is too far when it comes to using sexual innuendos to sell one's product. The episode focuses on the incredibly odd brand "Chardbodies," using scantily-clad models and innuendos to try to sell 'chard,' their absolutely vile health drink.
The fight over whether their marketing is ethical or not isn't weird, but the idea of Chardbodies itself is. They even use slogans such as "get a chard on," and the whole concept is just hilariously strange.
8 Fans Get A Glimpse Of Ron's Hilariously Cryptic Will (Season 6, Episode 5)
"Gin It Up!", the fifth episode of the sixth season, is another where it's not the main plot of the episode that's weirdly memorable. Rather, it's another sub-plot involving Ron Swanson that ended up not only becoming a fan-favorite, but a large online meme as well.
Ben discovers that Ron doesn't have a will, which he finds concerning as Ron is now a husband as well as a father and has a new family to prioritize. Ron hands him a slip of paper that reads, "upon my death, all of my belongings will transfer to the man or animal that killed me." When asked what the cryptic sigils underneath it mean, he simply says, "the man who killed me will know," becoming one of his most iconic moments.
7 Leslie's MRI Date Is Straight Out Of A Nightmare (Season 2, Episode 13)
"The Set Up" is the thirteenth episode of the second season and is one of the earliest dives into Leslie's troubled love life that fans get to see. She really does end up lucking out with Ben because her other attempts are so strange that they're almost uncomfortable to watch.
Leslie goes on a date with an MRI technician named Chris, who takes her to the hospital to receive an MRI when she admits she's never had one. As if this isn't weird enough, he makes several overly creepy comments about her body as he performs the scan, prompting Leslie to end things immediately after.
6 The Parks Department Hilariously Simulates A Town-Wide Epidemic (Season 5, Episode 13)
The thirteenth episode of Season Five, "Emergency Response," has quite a few unforgettable moments that are made even better by just how wacky the concept is. Jeremy Jamm sabotages Leslie's proposal for Lot 48 by calling in the Indiana Department Of Emergency Preparedness for a surprise drill.
He then continues to sabotage Leslie at every turn during the drill to make sure she won't be able to get out in time to make her proposal. To counter this, she begins doing everything against the book to kill everyone in the drill's simulated Pawnee to end things as quickly as possible, going against her usual ethics to do so.
5 Leslie's Old Flame Dave Returns, But Should Have Stayed Gone (Season 4, Episode 15)
"Dave Returns" is the fifteenth episode of Season 4, and it's another weird episode that's more uncomfortable than anything else. Leslie is finally happily open in her relationship with Ben when one of her old lovers re-appears.
This in itself isn't weird, but Dave then spends the entire episode berating Ben and trying to get close to and hit on Leslie as if they're still close. He even handcuffs Ben in the men's bathroom so he can be alone with Leslie, making this episode stand out as creepy and oftentimes hard to re-watch.
4 The Parks Department Deals With A Widespread Flu (Season 3, Episode 2)
Season Three of the series has incredibly strong opening episodes, including Episode Two, "Flu Season," which later gets a second part that's equally funny. The first one stands out more due to viewers getting to see what characters like Leslie, April, and Chris act like when they're sick.
Leslie understandably tries to act like nothing's wrong and ends up sneaking out of the hospital, while Chris has a meltdown over not being the superhuman he thought he was. Finally, April abuses her situation of having Ann at her beck-and-call, which leads to a satisfying scene of Ann letting out all of her anger as soon as she's off the clock.
3 Tom's New Alcohol Renders Everyone Hilariously Incoherent (Season 3, Episode 13)
"The Fight" is the thirteenth episode of Season Three and has one of the funniest moments involving the entire main cast in the entire series. Tom invites everyone out to drink and help promote his new drink, called Snake Juice, which Donna fittingly notes is "basically rat poison."
Immediately after, a montage plays of all of the Parks Department employees — plus Ann and Andy — drunk out of their minds. This even includes characters like Ron and Ben, who are portrayed as mostly stoic up until this point, as Ben hasn't quite yet developed into the openly nerdy man that Leslie falls for.
2 Jerry Paints Leslie, And Later Tom, As Beautifully Strange Centaurs (Season 3, Episode 11)
"Jerry's Painting" is the eleventh episode of Season Three and is one of the best Jerry-focused episodes in the series, while also being one of the most weirdly memorable. Jerry paints a picture of a fictional centaur Greek goddess that's topless, which wouldn't be too strange, except it looks exactly like Leslie.
The entire episode is a fight over whether the painting should be kept, thrown away, or destroyed entirely. They end up settling on making a second version that's modeled after Tom instead that they can hang up without any issues.
1 Ron's Love Life Is Far More Volatile Than Anyone Imagined (Season 2, Episode 8)
"Ron And Tammy" is the eighth episode of Season Two and is one of the most memorable as well as the single strangest episode of the series. Viewers are given a look into Ron's love life and just how horrific his ex-wife Tammy One is.
The two of them begin vehemently despising each other but end up back in a heated fling where they lose all sense of themselves. This is especially true for Ron, who's been portrayed as nothing but stoic, wise, and reserved up until this point.
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